PPL Organizational Capacity Reviews RFP Amendment 1.docx.pdf

ISSUE DATE OF AMENDMENT: August 27, 2021

AMENDMENT VERSION: Amendment No. 01 to RFP

TITLE: PPL Organizational Capacity Reviews Mechanism

QUESTIONS DUE: August 20, 2021, 12PM, EST

CLOSING DATE: September 14, 2021, 12PM EST

SUBJECT : Request for Quote (RFP) No.

7200AA21R00089

Dear Prospective Offerors:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is issuing Amendment #1 to solicitation number 7200AA21R00089. The purpose of this amendment is to respond to questions received during the period for questions and update the language in L.3.5 Organizational Capability and Past Performance References page 74 of the RFP.. All other terms and conditions remain unchanged. Any submissions forwarded after the aforementioned period will not be considered.

Sincerely, /s/

Roderick Watson Supervisory Contracting Officer-Branch Chief SIDP-B

Question 1- Request for additional Information from USAID:

Would USAID kindly share following information with all Offerors:

● Any self-reporting by the PIOs under review regarding identification or allegations of fraud, waste or abuse

● Any conducted assessments or evaluation reports compiled on each of the PIOs under review

● Past Performance information on each of the PIOs under review

● Also can we receive from USAID OIG Any substantiated allegations for each of the PIOs under review, including any other concerns that they are tracking or could share.

USAID Response: Any such information that is both a) not publicly available, and b) relevant to an assigned Organizational Capacity Review, will be provided to the selected contractor on a need-to-know basis and in accordance with disclosure of information requirements.

Question 2- Can TCNs living outside the US be proposed as part of Key Personnel?

USAID Response: Yes, TCNs living outside the US may be proposed as part of Key Personnel.

Question 3- Would USAID consider proposals from Start-Up organizations meeting all requirements of systems, policies, procedures, and proper staffing to minimize USAID´s risks managing USGov resources?

USAID Response: Organizations meeting the requirements of this RFP will be considered.

Question 4- What is the expected number of Organizational Capacity Reviews (OCR) per year? Can we assume a maximum of six per year for the purposes of estimating the overall level of effort in order to respond to the RFP?

USAID Response: C.3. states the following: “The awardee should deliver a minimum of six and up to ten completed OCRs, approved by USAID, per year.”

Question 5- How many reviews are expected to proceed in parallel (simultaneously)?

USAID Response: USAID expects that 1-2 reviews are most likely at any one time, but there is a possibility of up to three reviews overlapping at times.

Question 6- Some OCRs are expected to be more complex than others. Will this be taken into account when scheduling the reviews?

USAID Response: Yes, USAID will take this into account.

Question 7- Given that the time required for each OCR is dependent on the size and complexity of the organization, can you provide any guidance on how we should accommodate this in responding to the RFP?

USAID Response: Offerers should include information on how they will manage an annual work plan of OCRs, including taking into account the size and complexity of the PIOs up for review in a given year..

Question 8- Is there any most recent Organizational Capacity Reviews conducted available to bidders as a good practice sample? If so, can you share the document?

USAID Response: Organizational Capacity Reviews are internal documents and cannot be shared as sample documents.

Question 9- Is there a Contractor doing this work currently? If so, could you share the Contractor Number?

USAID Response: There is no contractor currently conducting this work.

Question 10- Was an RFI conducted to determine whether a small business could execute the requirements in the SOW?

USAID Response: An RFI was sent and no responses were received.

Question 11- Is this a new requirement? If not, who is the incumbent?

USAID Response: See response to number #9.

Question 12- In reference to Section L.3.3 and L.3.4 on pages 70 and 71 respectively, the roles and responsibilities of all team members are required in two places--under L.3.3 2. Workplan and Timeline and L.3.4. 1. Staffing Structure. Does USAID wish this information to be repeated in both sections or would it suffice to have it one of the two sections?

USAID Response: Yes, please include this information in both sections.

Question 13- Section L.3.5 Organizational Capability and Past Performance References, there is a reference to a ‘writing sample’. What type of writing sample is required here? What is the purpose of the writing sample and what does USAID want to assess from it?

USAID Response: No writing sample is required. The past performance language in Section L.3.5 Organizational Capability and Past Performance References (4 Pages Maximum) page 74 is updated as follows:

This section must describe the Offeror’s existing capabilities—or its ability to obtain those capabilities— to effectively and efficiently provide the qualified technical expertise required in Section C. The Offeror must provide concrete examples of its applicable experience as it applies to the subject areas in Section C and its experience in addressing them. The Offeror and its team must describe experience and ability to plan, implement, and manage similar projects (in size, technical nature, and complexity). This section must provide concrete examples of applicable experience. The offeror should provide three relevant references for similar work performed with similar scope and size to the work in the subject proposal over the past 3 years. The reference information must include the type of agreement/contract, name of organization/company, program/project manager contact information, dollar value, time-period of performance and summary description of the work performed. For each of the projects listed, provide a list of contact names, job titles, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. Submission of past performance references, as described above, is acceptable for past performance if it is not available in the U.S. Government wide Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). See ADS 302mbh for guidance. (1-2 pages).

Question 14- On page 83, a. Instructions to Offeror—regarding the third paragraph starting with: “Given the breadth of topics included in the OCR, offerors should include detailed information to demonstrate they possess competencies in the following required areas:....” For competencies #2 through #7, are these vis-a-vis the offeror's own company standards and practices or are they related to the offeror's capacity to assess these competencies in other organizations?

USAID Response: USAID expects offerers to possess the list of competencies in order to be able to assess PIOs’ organizational and business practices as part of the OCR process.

Question 15- There are over 200 UN agencies, and they vary by sector and technical responsibilities; so, can USAID provide indications of what sectors will be involved? Would semi-stand-alone UN entities, such as PAHO (a regional branch of WHO) be the subject of a separate assessment? Would the large OCHA office (part of the UN Secretariat) be included?

Would multilateral trust funds, such as the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS/TB/Malaria be included?

Does USAID contemplate the possibility that the World Bank or regional development banks would be the subject of an OCR?

USAID Response: USAID Automated Directive System (ADS) Mandatory Reference 308maa “List of Public International Organizations'' includes the full list of organizations determined by USAID to be PIOs (note that this list is subject to change). This activity will focus primarily, though not exclusively, on those PIOs identified as “Category 1” in ADS 308maa.

Question 16- Is there any extent to which this Activity would interact with other entities that have addressed comparable issues with PIOs, such as USAID or State Inspector General Offices, or the GAO?

USAID Response: USAID expects the offeror to consider internal and external audits, reviews, evaluations, and assessments of a PIO’s U.S. Government-funded programs, including but not limited to those performed by the PIO itself, independent auditors, U.S. Government Agency Inspectors General, the GAO, and the Departments of State and Treasury as part of the OCR process.

Question 17- The solicitation says several times that the methodology is "largely" a desk audit.

What methods or travel does USAID foresee that would be outside the desk approach?

USAID Response: USAID anticipates that the OCR process may include local travel within the Washington, DC area to facilitate consultations, interviews, etc.

Question 18- Section C.2 references the possibility of buy-ins to the mechanism. Does USAID contemplate the possibility that buy-ins may occur from the Department of State, which tends to have the largest involvement with UN agencies, the IOM, ICRC and regional multilaterals.

USAID Response: No, only USAID operating units may buy-in to this mechanism.

Question 19- The solicitation references documents and document review, including public documents. Does USAID prefer, expect or leave open whether the contractor would directly interact with the PIO itself?

USAID Response: USAID does not expect the contractor to contact the PIO itself. If such contact becomes necessary, USAID will facilitate such engagement.

Question 20- Page 10 references surveys of USAID staff. Should the offeror also articulate methods that include one-on-one interviews, roundtable meetings, focus group discussions, etc?

USAID Response: Yes, offerors should provide information on how they will collect and evaluate relevant information as part of the OCR process.

Question 22- B.4 states an “estimated cost” of $1,200,000, whereas the subheader reads “ceiling.” If the two option years were exercised, including buy-ins, might the total value exceed $1,200,000?

USAID Response: The Total Estimated Cost for this procurement is $1,200,000.

Question 23- Would USAID consider extending the deadline for a few days to allow for the strongest possible teaming agreements to meet your needs?

USAID Response: No. USAID is unable to grant an extension on the deadline for submissions.

Question 24- With Reference to M.1 EVALUATION FACTORS

(b) The Government intends to evaluate contract proposals using the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable Methodology. Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection process (FAR 15.101-2) is where the government determines that the lowest price is awardable over the complaint technical offering of all proposals.

Under the current version of the RFP, USAID intends to award the contract on a Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA). Given that the services in question will require specialized knowledge-based expertise we would request that USAID revise the RFP to be awarded on a best value basis in accordance with FAR 15.101-2(d), which instructs agencies to avoid using the LPTA selection process for procurements that are predominantly for “knowledge-based professional services.

USAID Response: USAID will utilize the methodology that it deems most suitable and appropriate for this procurement.

Question 25- With this requirement being LPTA, would the government consider reducing the requirements of the response as it seems overly burdensome on the contractor for the contract value and complexity of the work? Specifically, the personnel and management plan which could be incorporated into the technical approach.

USAID Response: USAID reserves the right to maintain the structure of its requirements as it pertains to this procurement.

Question 26- With that introduction, can you name for me, please, the potential prime contractors that USAID is anticipating proposals from, and any Points of Contact for them? Or is that information I should request from USAID's OSDBU personnel? If the latter is true, would you please provide a Point Of Contact for your OSDBU section?

USAID is accepting proposals from organizations for this requirement. Therefore no potential prime contractors have been identified for this requirement.

Question 27- Are resumes of proposed personnel expected in the body of the proposal or in Annexes? (with the implication of whether they may count against the page count).

USAID Response: The resume of proposed personnel can be added in the annexes.