Language

Call for Expression
of Interest (EOI)

Shape the Future of Digital Solutions for Last Mile Health Systems

OpenLMIS, the leading digital supply chain solution in low- and middle-income countries, is seeking private sector partners to expand its platform and strengthen the logistics of national health systems

June 3, 2020

OpenLMIS is a powerful, open source, electronic logistics management information system (LMIS) purpose-built to manage health commodity supply chains. It was built in 2011 as an alternative solution to paper-based national supply chain systems, and today it automates logistics processes at over 11,000 health facilities in eight African countries. OpenLMIS is currently seeking a partnership with a private sector company to manage, scale and sustain the platform.

OpenLMIS At a Glance
OpenLMIS is used to manage data and logistics for all major health programs, including vaccines and HIV/AIDS. In response to COVID-19, OpenLMIS has also been configured to offer a flexible, extensible instance that can be rapidly deployed as a cloud-based standalone system or an add-on to an existing OpenLMIS implementation.

VillageReach, a non-governmental organization that transforms health care delivery to reach everyone, has managed the platform since 2015. OpenLMIS has received financial support from several major donors over the last nine years with a total investment of $5.6 million. These donor contributions funded core operational functions including software product development, governance and community management. As a result of continued donor support OpenLMIS enables countries to:

  • Reduce Stockout Rates: OpenLMIS improves health supply chain performance and access to medicines and supplies. For example, in Mozambique public health stockout rates dropped from 19 percent to 5 percent one year after deployment of OpenLMIS.
  • Save Health Workers’ Time: With OpenLMIS, routine reporting of supply chain data and order calculations are reduced from several hours to less than one minute.
  • Improve Data Visibility: Providing timely, demand-driven access to the right information enables informed decision making and optimizes the supply chain.
  • Promote Alignment: With 100 percent of deployments done in close partnership with national ministries of health, OpenLMIS’ implementations are aligned with country health priorities and connected to adjacent information systems.

Additional information about OpenLMIS can be found in the OpenLMIS Briefing Document.

OpenLMIS’ Value to the Private Sector Partner
A private sector partner would drive the next phase of OpenLMIS’ evolution, enabling the company to both define and spearhead its future direction and expansion. OpenLMIS has built trusted relationships through its proven expertise in logistics processes. A new owner could continue to grow these relationships and benefit from OpenLMIS’ consistent growth, strong local user base, active global contributors, comprehensive data, effective open source platform, robust partner network and certified system.

  • Consistent Growth: OpenLMIS is the leading supply chain management platform on the market. It is a widely known and trusted system, and its user base continues to grow. The system facilitates hundreds of thousands of stock and requisition-related transactions with new countries added each year. Ninety percent of OpenLMIS implementation pilots result in scaled national deployment, effectively extending OpenLMIS’ reach to an average of 1,000 new health facilities with each new implementation.
  • Strong Local User Base: OpenLMIS is implemented at the national or sub-national levels across eight African countries including Angola, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Each implementation is the result of close collaboration with the country’s ministry of health and reflects a unique understanding of the specific country’s supply chain and logistics system.
  • Active Global Contributors: Users within and across countries interact frequently to jointly solve problems, get feedback on ideas and share information about their implementations. OpenLMIS has several structures in place that fosters these connections including working groups, open forums, WhatsApp and Slack channels.
  • Comprehensive Data: OpenLMIS provides access to more complete, accurate and timely data through its automation of critical supply chain processes. The information collected at local, regional and national levels can generate valuable insights and enable more informed decision-making so medicines and supplies can efficiently reach communities on time and in full.
  • Effective Open Source Platform: OpenLMIS has a service-based modular software architecture that enables multiple OpenLMIS implementations to share a single, global open source code base. The OpenLMIS code is listed on GitHub and is protected by a GNU AGPL license, which may be modified per terms of the partner arrangement. The platform supports standards-based interoperability with several application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable data exchange between other systems (e.g. electronic medical record systems, equipment monitoring, warehouse management).
  • Robust Partner Network: OpenLMIS is supported by a multi-country, multi-donor, multi-implementer network commonly referred to as the OpenLMIS Community. This includes donors and thought partners from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Digital Square and the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL). OpenLMIS implementing partners include John Snow Inc (JSI), the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Chemonics, VillageReach (who plays a dual role), and PATH. These implementing partners customize and deploy OpenLMIS in country health systems, and provide professional services enabled by the OpenLMIS platform. OpenLMIS technology partners include SolDevelo, Ona, Softworks, BAO Systems and Empower School of Health.
  • Certified System: OpenLMIS was named a “Qualified LMIS Software Solution” in 2019 by Gavi and the Global Fund, qualifying OpenLMIS to be recommended for country use based on prioritized software standards. OpenLMIS is also an approved global good for investments through Digital Square.

Desired Characteristics of the Private Sector Partner
A private company interested in managing OpenLMIS should demonstrate a business strategy that incorporates the software into its portfolio of products and services. We expect this business strategy to reflect and honor the OpenLMIS mission—to collaboratively develop shared, open source software to improve health commodity distribution in low- and middle-income countries. This will require the applicant to be open to working with multiple partners across the public and private sectors.

The company should have the technical capability to manage the product roadmap, new feature development, bug resolution and relationships with software developers. Applicants should be demonstrate interest, and show its ability to make software improvements. We are not considering companies that plan to simply maintain OpenLMIS in its current form. The company should be financially stable, and have the capacity to allocate personnel and resources to support OpenLMIS upon signing of the contract.

The private sector partner will be obligated to:

  • Maintain the existing OpenLMIS code base as a digital public good or offer an open source version of the OpenLMIS platform that is available to the public health sector.
  • Support partners with existing implementations.
  • Incorporate OpenLMIS into its portfolio within 12-18 months.

VillageReach will provide staff support and actively share its knowledge and relationships to guide an effective transition of OpenLMIS’ core activities. This will involve the co-creation of a communication plan, as well as collaboration with OpenLMIS implementation partners and its current customer base.

Procedure for Expression of Interest (EOI)
The OpenLMIS Partnership Working Group, which includes representatives from VillageReach, JSI, CHAI, BMGF, USAID, PATH, and SolDevelo has been given the responsibility to manage the identification and evaluation of private sector partners.

Interested parties are asked to formally submit their interest through the OpenLMIS Expression of Interest online form by no later than July 31st, 2020. Once a submission is received qualified candidates will be contacted to pitch to our Working Group their vision for incorporating OpenLMIS into their portfolio.

If you have questions, please review our Summarized Q&A documentation or send an email to the OpenLMIS Community Manager at Rebecca.Alban@openlmis.org.