SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF FOOD BASKETS

Missio Urban Refugee and Host Community Youth Project (2026-2027)

Important: Late submissions will not be considered. Suppliers should read this RFP in full and include all mandatory documents and signed declarations.

1.    Background

Caritas Nairobi is the aid and development agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi. Inspired by Gospel values and Catholic Social Teaching, it responds to disasters, promotes integral human development, and advocates on the causes of poverty and conflict.

Caritas Nairobi is implementing the Missio München-funded Empowering Urban Refugee and Host Community Youth for Inclusive Livelihoods and Resilience project in Nairobi and Kiambu counties. The project seeks to strengthen self-reliance and social cohesion among refugee and host-community youth.

As part of the project interventions, Caritas Nairobi intends to provide food support to 600 beneficiaries to improve their caloric and nutritional intake. Qualified suppliers are therefore invited to supply, package, and deliver 600 complete food baskets to designated distribution points serving Kayole, Kasarani, Githurai, and Eastleigh.

2.   Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this procurement is to obtain complete, safe, and good-quality food baskets and have them delivered efficiently to the designated distribution points within the required delivery window.

1. Ensure timely supply and delivery of all 600 complete food
2. Provide nutritious food items that meet the stated specifications and applicable food-safety standards.
3. Maintain quality, traceability, equitable allocation, and proper delivery
4. Minimize delivery, contamination, substitution, and implementation

3.   Scope of Supply

The successful supplier shall:

1. Source, assemble, package, transport, offload, and deliver the specified food baskets at the supplier’s cost.
2. Provide genuine products in original manufacturer packaging and in the approved brands or approved equivalents.
3. Submit product information, samples, batch details, and supporting quality documentation when requested.
4. Deliver only to the designated distribution points and on the dates confirmed in the contract or purchase order. Caritas Nairobi will manage distribution to individual
5. Provide delivery notes, packing lists, invoices, batch or lot information, and signed proof of receipt for each location.
6. Replace, at the supplier’s cost, any damaged, expired, contaminated, short-supplied, or otherwise non-conforming goods within 48 hours of notification.
7. Comply with all applicable Kenyan laws and standards relating to food safety, public health, labour, transport, taxation, and business operations.

4.   Food Basket Specifications

Each of the 600 food baskets shall contain all items and quantities shown below.

Equivalent products: Named brands indicate the required quality benchmark. A supplier proposing an equivalent must identify it clearly and provide sufficient specifications or samples for evaluation. No substitution is permitted after award without prior written approval from Caritas Nairobi.

All supplied items shall:

1. Be wholesome, genuine, of good quality, and fit for human use or consumption, as
2. Have at least six months’ remaining shelf life on the delivery date, unless Caritas Nairobi approves otherwise in writing.
3. Be sealed, properly labelled, traceable by batch or lot, and free from damage, infestation, moisture, contamination, or tampering.
4. Comply with applicable Kenya Bureau of Standards, public-health, labelling, weights-and-measures, and food-safety requirements.

5.   Packaging and Labelling

1. Each complete basket shall be packed in a new, clean, durable, tear-resistant bag suitable for safe transport of at least 20 kg and secured with a tamper-evident closure.
2. Food items shall remain in their original sealed retail or manufacturer packaging. Bar soap shall be separately sealed within the outer bag to prevent contact, odour transfer, or contamination of food items.
3. The outer bag shall not carry supplier advertising. Use of the Caritas Nairobi name, logo, project branding, or artwork is permitted only where Caritas Nairobi supplies or approves the artwork in writing.
4. Each outer bag shall carry a clear, water-resistant label showing: Caritas Nairobi; project name; ‘FOOD BASKET – NOT FOR SALE’; intended distribution location; supplier batch or lot number; packing date; and a unique basket sequence number.
5. Beneficiary names, telephone numbers, or other personal data shall not appear on the outer bag unless Caritas Nairobi expressly instructs otherwise in writing.

6.   Quantities and Delivery Logistics

For pricing and logistical planning, suppliers shall assume up to four location-based consignments, with one consignment to each designated distribution point. Caritas Nairobi will confirm the exact delivery address and location-level date in the contract, purchase order, or written call-off schedule, normally at least 48 hours before delivery.

2026. Delivery window: 21st -24th September All goods must be accepted within this period unless Caritas Nairobi issues a written variation.
2027. Delivery point: designated distribution points only; the supplier shall not deliver directly to beneficiaries unless separately instructed in writing.
2028. Supplier responsibility: transport, loading, offloading, labour, equipment, security of goods in transit, and delivery documentation are included in the quoted price.
2029. Partial or early deliveries require prior written Risk and title remain with the supplier until the goods are inspected and accepted at the relevant delivery point.

7.   Inspection, Acceptance, and Quality Assurance

Caritas Nairobi may inspect the supplier’s premises, stock, packaging process, and samples before dispatch. Such inspection does not constitute final acceptance or relieve the supplier of responsibility for conformity.

At each delivery point, authorized Caritas Nairobi representatives may:

1. Verify the delivered count against the location schedule and delivery
2. Open a reasonable random sample of baskets and confirm item identity, brand or approved equivalent, quantity, weight, packaging integrity, batch or lot details, and remaining shelf
3. Inspect goods for infestation, contamination, moisture, damage, tampering, or other
4. Reject or quarantine any non-conforming consignment and record the reason on the delivery documentation.

Acceptance occurs only after completion of inspection and signature of the Goods Received Note or equivalent acceptance document by an authorized Caritas Nairobi representative. Payment is not evidence of acceptance of latent defects.

8.   Supplier Eligibility

Each applicant must be legally eligible to contract and must submit the following documents. Requirements, as applicable, will be assessed based on the applicant’s legal form and selected category.

1. Completed and signed Prequalification Application Form in Annex
2. Certificate of incorporation, registration or other evidence of legal
3. Valid Kenya Revenue Authority PIN certificate and valid tax compliance
4. Valid county business permit or equivalent authorization, where legally
5. Current ownership and beneficial-ownership particulars, such as CR12 or an equivalent record for the applicant’s legal form.
6. Valid VAT registration evidence, where
7. Signed declarations on conflict of interest, anti-bribery, non-collusion, debarment, insolvency, fair employment practices and accuracy of information.
8. Evidence that the applicant is not insolvent, in receivership, bankrupt or being wound

9.   Proposal Requirements

The proposal shall be organized in three clearly separated parts:

1. Part A – Mandatory documents: all eligibility documents listed above and the signed declaration in Annex A.
2. Part B – Technical proposal: company profile; understanding of the assignment; proposed products and brands; compliance statement against every specification; packaging approach; delivery methodology and logistics plan; quality-control arrangements; experience; staffing and transport capacity; and three client references.
3. Part C – Financial proposal: complete price schedule in Annex C or an equivalent clearly itemized schedule showing cost per item, total unit cost per complete basket, transport and delivery costs, applicable taxes, and the total for 600 baskets.

Prices shall be quoted in Kenya Shillings (KES), inclusive of all applicable taxes and all costs necessary to perform the contract. Prices shall remain fixed throughout the contract period.

7.  Integrity, Conflict of Interest and Accuracy Declarations

Each applicant must disclose any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest, including personal, financial, professional or organizational relationships with Caritas Nairobi, its employees, representatives or any party involved in this process.

1. Applicants must not offer gifts, payments, employment, favours or other inducements in connection with this process.
2. Applicants must not collude, misrepresent information or interfere with another applicant’s
3. Applicants must disclose any current debarment, sanctions, material litigation, criminal conviction, serious contract default or termination relevant to their suitability.
4. Materially false, misleading or concealed information may result in disqualification, removal from the list or termination of a resulting contract.

10.  Submission Instructions

Each submission must include:

1. A completed and signed application form in Annex
2. All mandatory and category-specific supporting
3. A clear index and category schedule for every category applied
4. Ethical and integrity compliance declarations required by this
5. The applicant’s registered name, active telephone number, physical location and email

Electronic submissions should be sent as a single searchable PDF, or a clearly numbered set of PDF files, to procurement@caritasnairobi.org. The email subject should read: PROPOSAL FOR SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF FOOD BASKETS FOR THE URBAN REFUGEE AND HOST COMMUNITY YOUTH PROJECT – RFP NO. RFP/FB/2026-2027/01

Clarifications: Requests for clarification shall be sent to procurement@caritasnairobi.org no later than 10th September 2026 at 12:00 noon EAT, using the subject line: ‘Clarification – RFP/FB/2026-2027/01’.

11.  Closing Date

Closing date: 10/09/2026

Closing time: 12:00 pm East Africa Time

Applications must be received by the stated deadline. Late applications will not be considered, except where Caritas Nairobi has formally extended the deadline and communicated the extension to all applicants.

12.  Notification and Management of the Prequalified List

1. Applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome after approval of the evaluation
2. Prequalified status remains subject to continuing eligibility, valid licences, satisfactory performance and periodic verification.

1. Caritas Nairobi may suspend or remove a vendor for fraud, corruption, serious non-performance, loss of eligibility, unmanaged conflict of interest or materially false information, after giving notice and an opportunity to respond where appropriate.
2. Future invitations may be issued to all or a fair, documented selection of vendors in the relevant category in accordance with the applicable procurement policy.

13.  Data Protection and Confidentiality

Caritas Nairobi will process information submitted for vendor assessment, due diligence, procurement, contract administration, audit and legal compliance. Information will be limited to what is necessary, accessed only by authorized persons, protected using reasonable security measures and retained only for the applicable procurement, audit and legal-retention period.

Applicants should not submit unnecessary personal data. Sensitive identification or financial information requested during verification must be transmitted through the secure method specified by Caritas Nairobi. Applicants should ensure that they have authority to provide personal information relating to their personnel and referees. Data-protection enquiries may be sent to procurement@caritasnairobi.org for routing to the responsible office.

14.  Reservation of Rights and Cancellation

Caritas Nairobi may verify information, request permissible clarification, amend the timetable or cancel the process where there is a documented operational, governance, legal, funding or integrity reason. Any material amendment or cancellation will be communicated to applicants. Decisions to qualify or reject an applicant will be based on the published requirements and documented in the evaluation record.

Applicants bear their own costs of preparing and submitting applications. Caritas Nairobi will not be liable for those costs merely because this process is amended, cancelled or does not result in future business.

ANNEX A: PREQUALIFICATION APPLICATION FORM

Applicants should complete every applicable field. Use additional pages where necessary and label each attachment clearly.

A1. Applicant Details

A3. Ownership and Management

A4. Relevant Experience

Provide at least three comparable assignments completed or substantially performed within the last three years.

A5. References

A6. Technical and Financial Capacity

A7. Mandatory Document Checklist

A8. Applicant Declaration

I/We certify that the information provided in this application and its attachments is complete and accurate. I/We authorize Caritas Nairobi to verify the information and contact the stated referees. I/We declare all actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest and confirm that the applicant has not offered any inducement, colluded with another applicant or knowingly submitted false information. I/We confirm that the applicant is not insolvent or debarred except as expressly disclosed, supports fair employment practices, and will comply with applicable safeguarding, environmental and ethical requirements. I/We undertake to notify Caritas Nairobi promptly of any material change affecting eligibility or capacity.

ANNEX B: DETAILED EVALUATION MATRIX

Stage 1 is pass/fail. Only applicants meeting every applicable mandatory requirement proceed to Stage 2. At Stage 2, evaluators will use the following published evidence and rating scale.

Preliminary Evaluation – Pass/Fail

A proposal that fails a material mandatory requirement will not be evaluated further.

Technical Evaluation – 80 Points

Minimum technical threshold: 56 out of 80 points (70%). Only proposals meeting or exceeding this threshold will proceed to financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation – 20 Points

Financial proposals of technically qualified bidders will be checked for completeness and arithmetic accuracy. Subject to the RFP terms, the lowest evaluated responsive price will receive 20 points. Other responsive financial proposals will be scored as follows:

Financial score = (Lowest evaluated responsive price / Bidder’s evaluated responsive price) x 20

The final combined score will be the technical score plus the financial score, for a maximum of 100 points. Subject to due diligence, responsiveness, and approval, award is intended for the bidder with the highest combined score. In the event of a tie, the higher technical score will prevail.

Annex C – Financial Proposal Schedule

Complete the schedule below or provide an equivalent itemized schedule containing all requested information. All prices shall be in KES and inclusive of applicable taxes unless separately identified.