About IRAP
IRAP is a dynamic and growing legal and policy advocacy organization that works to develop and enforce a system of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced people around the world. We are the leading organization providing free and comprehensive legal services to people in need of a safe place to live and a safe way to get there. IRAP operates offices in the U.S., Jordan, Lebanon, and Germany. In addition to our work providing legal assistance, we also work for systemic change by making critical legal information accessible to both refugees and legal practitioners, advocating for refugee-friendly policies, and promoting the development of a refugee ecosystem in which affected people of all backgrounds and abilities are meaningful participants.
About the Tech Department
The Technology Department leverages data and technology to enhance service delivery, advocacy, and litigation while ensuring data integrity, security, and accessibility.
Opportunity
IRAP currently operates multiple external-facing platforms that serve three distinct but overlapping audiences: refugees and other displaced persons, legal practitioners, and the general public. At this time, most of these platforms use different tech stacks and are only minimally integrated from a back-end perspective. Representative examples include:
● Main website (WordPress)
● Ask an Expert portal (Salesforce)
● Legal info site (Zendesk)
● Partner library (Airtable, Softr)
● Email listservs (Salesforce, Google Groups)
There are also several internal products that are used for managing content, the platforms themselves, and related project work; these are primarily based on Google Drive, Softr, and Airtable. At this time, the main means of integration is via third-party automation software (e.g. API requests through Make.com). Aside from the challenges of managing multiple integrations, the ability of these tools to meet the ultimate needs of our audiences has proven limited.
Over the coming year, IRAP plans to integrate these tools into a user-friendly, scalable system under the umbrella term “AccessIRAP”, with phase 1 of the project dedicated to scoping, phase 2 focused on platforms that serve refugees and other displaced persons, phase 3 on tools and
platforms for legal practitioners, and phase 4 on platforms that serve the general public. Throughout this phased approach, the emphasis will be on developing a stack that is flexible, scalable, and easy for non-technologists to use on a daily basis.
IRAP is ultimately agnostic about the tech stack used for this project and will prioritize the selection of technology that best meets the needs of the organization. However, other parts of the organization have a pre-existing stack that will not change. IRAP uses Salesforce (NPSP and Marketing Cloud) for legal case intake & management, donor communication & coordination, and some email-based outreach work, and IRAP uses Box.com for secure document management. Therefore, any recommendations for vendors, products, etc. must take this into account; a key requirement of AccessIRAP will be its ability to integrate well with the rest of IRAP’s technology ecosystem, regardless of whether or not it utilizes these tools.
Objectives and Output
This RFP aims to address Phase 1 of the AccessIRAP project. Its objective is to determine the most effective way to integrate these platforms and tools into a user-friendly, scalable system. The deliverable will be used to inform vendor selection and product development for the rest of the project.
Based on an initial survey of internal and external user needs, the following system requirements are likely:
● Strong cross-language support, particularly for RTL languages;
● Built-in accessibility features, with 503 compliance serving as a baseline;
● Ability to publish to multiple platforms under multiple accounts and to engage with users across a variety of existing third-party channels such as Facebook and WhatsApp;
● Dynamic user interfaces that surface content in a non-linear fashion based on user inputs and priorities and/or an agent that enables targeted content retrieval (such as a chatbot);
● Full-text searchability across multiple languages that enables cross-language resource discovery;
● Options for low- and high-bandwidth interfaces;
● Ability to make content and basic aesthetic changes to the platform(s) without coding;
● Ability to maintain GDPR compliance (e.g., making it feasible to fulfill data subject requests);
● An easy-to-use backend content and (potentially) project management system that will enable internal users to effectively manage various types of content through the publication process and develop and/or maintain dynamic workflows as needed.
These requirements are preliminary, and a large part of this phase of the project will involve the contractor surfacing and documenting additional requirements. The initial work that IRAP has done to identify stakeholders and design requirements will be shared with the contractor upon commencement of the assignment.
The output is described in the next section.
Scope of Work and Deliverables:
Discovery & Stakeholder Engagement
● Conduct interviews with key internal stakeholders to understand workflows, challenges, and future needs.
● Review existing IRAP assessments and conduct interviews where needed with representative external users to determine design requirements.
● Review and map IRAP’s current systems, drawing on existing documentation where applicable, and identify related gaps, inefficiencies, and pain points.
● Develop a comprehensive and prioritized set of requirements for AccessIRAP based on the research above.
Technology Assessment & Recommendations
● Analyze potential integration options based on the requirements and research above. This analysis should compare a Salesforce-based approach with alternative solutions (e.g., open-source tools, middleware, no-code integrations), identifying advantages, limitations, and costs of each approach.
● Recommend an implementation roadmap with short-term and long-term strategies, including vendor and/or product recommendations, content migration, required maintenance and staffing, and considerations for future-proofing.
Final Report & Presentation
● Deliver a written report summarizing findings, recommendations, and proposed next steps. This report should include, at a minimum:
○ Summary of requirements based on stakeholder research and engagement ○ Systems mapping and documentation
○ Overview of tech options and implementation roadmap as described above.
● Present findings to organizational leadership and answer questions.
Timeline
The consultant will produce all products, including the final report, within 8 weeks of the start of work.
Location, Time Zone, Work Schedule
This is a part-time project-based role, and the chosen candidate/team is assumed to be remote. The role should be available for meetings within U.S. Eastern Time work hours (9 am-5 pm).
Selection Criteria:
Proposals will be evaluated based on:
● Expertise in technology strategy and platform integration;
● Experience working with and/or evaluating both Salesforce and non-Salesforce ecosystems;
● Understanding of nonprofit or budget-conscious organizations;
● Proposed approach and clarity of methodology;
● Cost-effectiveness and value for money.
Compensation/Payment Schedule
We are seeking cost-effective proposals and request vendors to outline their estimated fees. Proposals should include an estimated range of hours and hourly rates or a fixed-fee option if available. No advance payment is to be made. Payments will be made against each deliverable and only upon IRAP’s acceptance of the work performed.
Payment will be made upon the receipt of a financial claim/invoice and acceptance of work within 2 weeks via bank transfer.
Consultancy Management
The consultant will work under the supervision of the Assistant Director of Technology. Acceptance of deliverables will be assessed based on quality, timeliness, and relevance.
How to Apply:
Application
Interested Consultants should submit proposals to AccessIRAP_RFP@refugeerights.org, including the following:
● Company background and relevant experience
● Approach and methodology for scoping and assessment
● Project timeline (expected duration: 6-8 weeks)
● Budget estimate (hourly vs. fixed cost options)
● Key personnel assigned to the project
● Relevant case studies of similar work
● At least two references related to your qualifications
Preference will be given to proposals submitted electronically to AccessIRAP_RFP@refugeerights.org by May 12, 2025.
For any clarifications or questions, please submit inquiries to AccessIRAP_RFP@refugeerights.org by May 9, 2025.
