US-SEGA_Amendment_(1).pdf

7200AA18R00055 – USAID/US-Support for Economic Growth in Asia (US-SEGA) Program Clarification Questions

1. The cover letter lists both June 18th and June 17th as submission dates for the technical proposal. Since June 17th is a Sunday, can USAID please confirm that technical proposals are due June 18th, 2018 at 12 noon EST?

- The submission date is June 18th, 2018 at 12 noon EST.

2. May the offeror include a list of acronyms and abbreviations that does not count against the 20-page limit?

- Yes.

3. Can USAID please confirm that the Executive Summary does not count against the 20-page limit?

- No, the Executive Summary does count against the 20-page limit.

4. Will USAID provide an estimated total contract value or level of effort for this activity?

- No, contractors are required to establish the necessary level of effort and contract value as part of their unique technical approach to the award.

5. Will USAID indicate when they plan to inform Stage 1 bidders whether or not they are invited to participate in Stage 2 of the procurement process?

- Stage 1 bidders will be notified once the Stage 1 review process has been completed.

6. Section C.5 Key Personnel denotes COP and DCOP as US-SEGA Key Personnel, yet section F.8 Key Personnel appears to task the offeror with determining key personnel positions. Can USAID confirm that Section C.5 Key Personnel section overrides the identically titled Section F.8 Key Personnel?

- The Key personnel identified in section C.5 also belong in section F.8.

7. In Section E.2 of the RFP on page 27, the principal place of performance is listed as

Vietnam. Also Section I.4 on page 50 indicates “Any tax or duty from which the United States Government is exempt by agreement with the Government of Vietnam, or from which the Contractor or any subcontractor under this contract is exempt under the laws of Vietnam...” Can USAID please confirm that the place of performance is across multiple economies and countries as noted in C.3.1 on pages 12-13?

- In Section E. delete reference to Vietnam, and in Section I.4 replace Vietnam with the term “the applicable host country”

8. Section L.5 on page 63 lists a draft implementation plan as an annex, but this is not listed in the “Authorized Annexes” list on page 67. Can USAID please confirm that a draft implementation plan is not required at this stage?

- A draft implementation plan is not required, all pertinent information should be conveyed in the technical proposal.

9. Can USAID confirm that the Draft Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plan annex, referenced on page 67, does not count against the 20-page limit?

- The draft Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plan can be disregarded at this stage but one will be required within 30 days after award from the winning contractor.

10. In Section L.5 of the RFP on page 65, USAID indicates that for oral presentations, “the offeror may bring up to three individuals to deliver the presentation in addition to proposed key personnel.” As part of the offeror’s allocation of three individuals (in addition to key personnel), can these three individuals be comprised of a mix of prime and subcontractor staff?

- Yes, the offeror may also include subcontractor staff as part of the oral presentation team.

11. Section L.6 on page 67 states “applicant/offeror must provide a list of all its contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements…involving similar or related programs during the past three years.” Given that applicants may have a large number of relevant projects from the past 3 years, and to allow for greater detail on results and lessons learned from selected programs, would USAID consider allowing applicants to present a sample of their relevant projects instead of all relevant projects? Additionally, on RFP page 66 of Section L.6 “Instructions for Prep of Tech Proposal for Stage 1,” Part (e) Past Performance notes that “the offeror should describe experience implementing activities of similar size and scope.” If offerors do not have a budget range for US-SEGA, how can we determine which past performance references are of similar size?

- Yes, you may provide a sample of relevant projects instead of all relevant projects.

By “similar size and scope” we are not referring to size as a dollar amount but rather the size and scope of the technical work as described in Section C.

12. The Cover Letter of the US-SEGA RFP cites two dates for submission – June 17 and June 18, 2018. Please clarify which is correct.

- See response to question 1.

13. Section E.2 (page 27) and Section I.5 (page 50) refer to Vietnam as the principal place of business and the tax authority for US-SEGA. Please confirm.

- See response to question 7.

14. Page 63 of the RFP lists a draft implementation plan as an element not included in the proposal page limitation. This plan is not mentioned anywhere else in the RFP. Is USAID referring instead to the Draft Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plan noted in L.6.g as a five-page annex?

- Yes, draft implementation plan is referring to the Draft Activity and Monitoring and Evaluation

Plan noted in L.6 as a five-page annex. See response to question 9.

15. Please confirm that the Draft Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plan annex does not count in the proposal page limitation.

- See response to question 9

16. Pages 64-65 of the RFP outline the requirements and expectations for the US-SEGA oral presentation. Please provide further guidance for this phase of the process:

a. How much time will be allotted for the oral presentation?

- Details of the oral presentation will be communicated separately to the offerors that are invited to the second stage of the selection process.

b. The RFP states that the oral presentation will “describe how the technical expertise, education and experience from all staff members is conducive to achieving expected results and how key personnel meet the requirements.” Will USAID clarify whether the oral presentation will include a discussion of the entire team’s qualifications and not only key personnel?

- See response to question 16a.

17. Page 65 of the RFP makes reference to presenting a grants management plan. There are no other references to a grants component in the RFP. Please clarify if USAID expects a grants fund under SEGA. If so, we ask USAID to provide further guidance and instructions on the purpose and expectations for a grants program. We also ask that the template provided in B.4 Contract Budget be amended to include a “grants under contract” line item.

- Please note the “If applicable” qualifier to that paragraph. There will be no grants component to the contract.

18. Please confirm that travel to and from Singapore, the location of the APEC Secretariat, will be authorized under the US-SEGA contract. Please also confirm that technical assistance to APEC and other related institutions may be delivered within Singapore under the resulting contract.

- Travel to Singapore will be authorized. While USAID does not require an on-ground presence in Singapore, USAID is open to a technical approach that provides support to the Secretariat as part of a comprehensive package of assistance that advances the project objectives.

19. The defined Authorized Geographic Code for this procurement is 937 which will limit the ability of the SEGA contractor to perform and deliver services in several of the APEC member countries such as Singapore and Thailand. Will USAID consider changing the code to 935?

- Yes, USAID will change the code to 935.

20. Given that US-SEGA may work in a significant number of economies with widely differing salary ranges, may an Offeror submit only its compensation policies?

- Compensation policies are not required in Stage One which requires only a Technical Proposal submission. Cost components will be only required at stage 2.

21. In order to provide greater opportunity for competition, would USAID please extend the Past Performance period of consideration from 3 years to 5 years?

- No. the Past Performance period will not be considered past 3 years.

22. In order to provide greater opportunity for competition, would USAID please extend the submission deadline to four weeks following issuance of USAID’s answers to bidders’ questions?

- No.

23. Would USAID please provide an estimated cost range for the SEGA project?

- No.

24. In section L.6 USAID specifies that the proposal may use “10-point font in charts and graphs”, please confirm that 10 point font may also be used for text boxes?

- Text boxes are not included as charts and graphs and therefore must use 12-point font size.

25. Would USAID please permit organizational charts, and other graphics to use a readable font that is 8 points, rather than 10?

- 10-point font size is required for charts and graphs.

26. USAID specifies under section L.5 that “Appendix Attachments which contain biographical information” are exempt from the 20 page limit, but could USAID please confirm that all the “Authorized Annexes” listed under section L.6 (page67) are also excluded from the 20 page limitation?

- Yes, Authorized Annexes are excluded from the 20 page limitation

27. Under section C.5 Key Personnel USAID requests 3 recent references with contact information for each of the proposed Key Personnel, could USAID please confirm that these references are to be included as a separate Annex (not in the 20 page limit)?

- References are to be included as a separate Annex and are not included in the 20 page limit

28. The current requirement that the DCOP has “expertise on trade policy issues and facilitation” may exclude some highly qualified candidates, and complementary skill sets between potential COP and DCOP. Would USAID consider re-wording the Key Personnel requirements as follows to make expertise in trade policy issues and trade facilitation a requirement of either the COP or

DCOP?

a. Under section C.5 Key Personnel, delete the following sentence (shown here with strikethrough) from the qualifications, roles and responsibilities for the DCOP:

“2. The Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) shall be responsible for supporting the COP in overall operations/management and advise on trade facilitation. The position requires expertise on trade policy issues and facilitation in order to directly engage in APEC matters with U.S. government stakeholders and counterparts.”

- Yes, the qualifications for DCOP (Section C.5.2) is amended to read: The Deputy Chief of Party

(DCOP) shall be responsible for supporting the COP in overall operations/management and advise on trade facilitation. The position requires experience in trade policy implementation and economic growth program management.

b. Also in section C.5 Key Personnel, under the following paragraph stating “The COP and DCOP must possess the following qualifications:” include a bullet stating:

● Either the DCOP or COP must possess expertise on trade policy issues and trade facilitation in order to directly engage in APEC matters with U.S. government stakeholders and counterparts.

- NO

29. The solicitation makes reference to “task order” (pages 16, 23, 31, and 34). Would USAID confirm that “task order” should be replaced by “contract”?

- Yes, please replace “task order” with contract

30. The RFP uses the acronym “TS” On pages 16 (“TS staff”), 17 (“TS supervision”), 18 (“TS

COR”) and 19 (“TS COR” and “TS Economic Growth Team”). Could USAID please provide a definition for this acronym?

- TS refers to the Technical Support Team in the Asia Bureau

31. Would USAID please provide salary bands or information equivalent to a local compensation plan for Singapore?

- No

32. Would USAID provide the location and office or mission affiliation for the expected Contracting

Officer’s Representative?

- USAID/Washington Asia Bureau, Technical Support Team, Economic Growth

33. Could USAID please provide information as to the bilateral tax exemption under this contract?

What is exempt? Who is exempt? Does exemption apply to TCN labor?

- Further specific information may be provided after award. General information may found online within ADS 155.

- Further information will be provided

34. As this is a CPFF term contract, the fee is based on level of effort. Could USAID please clarify if the contractor is to propose the level of effort against which the fee will be paid? Or does USAID require a specific amount of LOE for types of labor? If the former, should the fee bearing LOE be proposed for professional staff only or for all labor? Also, how is a day of LOE defined (i.e.

how many hours)?

- Offerors must not submit a cost proposal with the technical proposal in Stage 1. At Stage 2

Contractor will propose the level of effort within their cost proposal and fee vearing LOE should be proposed for LOE. A day of LOE is defined as 8 hours.

- 35. The January to December 2017 Annual Report for the U.S.-ATAARI project does not appear to be available on the DEC, could USAID please provide this? Could USAID also please provide the annual U.S.-ATAARI work plans, as well as any mid-term evaluation that may have been conducted?

- We will share the annual reports and the evaluation but we will not share annual US-ATAARI work plans. (See attachments)

36. Does USAID intend for the current U.S.-ATAARI program to overlap with the new program? If not, is there a separate mechanism (now or contemplated) to support APEC activities associated with early autumn 2018 APEC events and meetings?

- US-SEGA will overlap with US-ATAARI.

37. The RFP states on page 66 that a Branding and Marking Plan will be required of offerors who

“are determined to be in the competitive range (should one be established during Stage 2 evaluation), or the apparent successful Offeror should no competitive range be established” but the RFP also states, on page 26, that a Branding & Marking Plan is a required deliverable, due 30 days after award. Would USAID please eliminate the requirement that a Branding and Marking Plan be prepared during the proposal phase? Such a requirement may provide an unfair competitive advantage to a current implementer, which has already developed a USAID-approved Branding and Marking Plan for a similar program to SEGA.

- See Response to question 9.

38. On the cover letter, USAID lists the technical proposal submission date as both June 17 and June

18, can USAID clarify the submission date?

- The submission date is June 18th.

39. Can USAID provide a government estimate or an estimate of professional LOE?

- No.

40. Per section H.6(e), “one annual salary increase not more than 3% may be granted after the employee’s completion of each twelve month period of satisfactory services under the contract.”

This restriction may preclude offerors from complying with AIDAR 752.7007, incorporated in RFP Section H.5, which states that “direct compensation of the Contractor’s personnel will be in accordance with the Contractor’s established policies, procedures, and practices, and the cost principles applicable to this contract.” We respectfully request that USAID revise the annual salary increase percentage to state “to be determined”, thereby allowing offerors to submit cost proposals in accordance with their established policies, procedures, and practice.”

- Annual salary increases will remain capped at 3%.

41. Can USAID confirm that offerors can submit an acronym list that does not count against the page limit?

- Yes, An Acronym list does not count against the page limit.

42. Page 63, L.5. states offerors are to submit a draft implementation plan. Can USAID clarify where offerors are present the draft implementation plan as this is not listed in the specified in the list of annexes on page 67?

- See response to question 14.

43. Page 67, L.5.g. Authorized Annexes, requires offerors to submit a list of past performance information. Would USAID accept a list of five recent and relevant projects? Alternatively, would USAID clarify how many projects offerors should present?

- Yes, a list of five recent and relevant projects is acceptable.