International Catholic Migration Commission
The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) is an international non-governmental and Catholic-inspired organization working in the areas of migration and refugee assistance and advocacy. ICMC was founded in 1951, in the wake of the massive human displacement caused by the Second World War. It has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Shortly after its creation, the ICMC Secretariat was established in Geneva, Switzerland, with the aim of collaborating closely with the newly created United Nations bodies on migration (IOM) and refugee issues (UNHCR). Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, ICMC has affiliated offices in Brussels (ICMC Europe), Washington, D.C., and Boston (ICMC, Inc.), and operational offices in Greece, Malaysia, Turkey and Lebanon.
ICMC is seeking the services of a qualified pool of sole proprietors, solo-practitioners, companies or law firms (herein after referred to as ‘contractor’) to perform workplace investigations on an as-needed basis and is hereby requesting proposals from qualified contractors to provide workplace investigative services on behalf of ICMC.
General requirements:
The successful contractor will provide workplace investigative services to include, but not limited to, the following:
1) Fraud and malfeasance
2) Harassment and discrimination
3) Abuse of power and authority
4) Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse
5) Financial corruption
Scope of services:
Under the general direction of ICMC, the contractor will perform at minimum, the following:
- Execute professional investigations into sensitive, complex, and other high-risk workplace allegations for cases referred by ICMC;
- Ensure investigations are appropriately triaged and conducted in a timely (in some cases, investigation to be conducted and finalized within six working days of knowing the facts), survivor-centred and professional manner considering the confidentiality and safety of all those involved;
- Inform each participant of the contractor’s purpose in the investigation process, his or her obligation to keep the matter confidential and to be truthful, and of ICMC’s prohibition against retaliation for initiating or participating in an investigation;
- Submit an Investigation Report including a summary of the procedures followed, details of the information obtained, and recommend findings;
- Identify and track trends, lessons learned from investigations to inform learning, adaptation and improvement of policies, procedures and strategies; and
The contractor will also be asked to undertake the following:
- Assess the skills of the staff involved in preliminary assessments and how the office is currently dealing with reports on fraud/malfeasance/misconduct (HR staff and Designated Complaints Officers of the Program Integrity Unit);
- Provide training to the relevant staff who handle complaints on preliminary assessments/fact finding prior to referrals made to the contractor for a full investigation;
- In coordination with ICMC and RSC develop a referral and reporting mechanism.
The contractor can work closely with our lawyers in Turkey and Lebanon on understanding Turkish and Lebanese labor laws if needed.
How to apply
Proposal requirements:
Contractors wishing to provide investigation services to ICMC should respond to this request for proposals by submitting a written proposal setting forth the contractor’s qualifications by sequentially addressing the following:
1. Describe the contractor’s location, form of business organization, and describe all persons who may be involved in workplace investigations for ICMC.
2. Contractors must have a minimum of five years of direct experience providing workplace investigation services. Describe the contractor’s relevant experience over the last three (3) years. Indicate whether the experience was providing investigative services to other non-governmental entities or international organizations. Share the name, title and contact details of 3-4 references/clients, whether from NGOs or UN organizations.
3. Identify the specific individual(s) who would provide investigation services to ICMC. Identify the nature of the work each individual would perform, together with a brief description of the individual’s relevant experience in investigations.
4. Specify individual hourly or daily fees for investigation services and other costs. Please describe how any requests for fee or cost increases would be calculated, understanding that: (a) no increase in fees or costs shall be allowed during the first two years’ engagement; and (b) any increase in hourly fees or costs thereafter must be approved in writing by ICMC.
5. Disclose any relationship and all compensation arrangements that the contractor has or has had within the past eighteen (18) months that could create or appear to create a conflict of interest if the contractor is selected. Include sufficient information about the potential conflict or the representation of a client in matters adverse to ICMC so that ICMC may determine if such conflicts are so significant as to warrant the proposal not to be considered. The contractor shall also certify that if selected it will not take any engagement which could result in a conflict of interest without first receiving the informed consent, confirmed in writing, of ICMC.
6. Provide the form and amount of any liability or malpractice insurance coverage or explain why there is none.
7. Provide a description of how the contractor intends to provide the investigation services including, but not limited to, meeting the scope of services, the method or approach to client relations, determining the scope of an investigation, developing and implementing strategy, identifying and interviewing witnesses, coordinating and disseminating information, oral and written communication strategy, and coordinating testimony or other participating in legal proceedings, when appropriate.
8. Describe the special relevant and relationship resources you will bring to ICMC’s need for workplace investigations.
Selection process
The following criteria will be used to evaluate the proposals submitted in the response to the request for proposal:
1. Experience and success in providing investigation services;
2. Demonstrated understanding of and ability to provide the services requested by ICMC;
3. Meeting the conditions specified in this request for proposals;
5. Cost of the proposed services to ICMC.
To Apply
Proposals must be submitted by 10th February 2024 to [email protected] or posted to:
ICMC
Operations Department
1, rue Varembé
P.O. Box 96
1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
ICMC is committed to offering equal employment opportunity to all applicants regardless of race, gender, color, national origin, religion, physical or mental ability, marital status, and age.
Your application will be treated with strict confidentiality.
Deadline: 10 Feb 2024