72011219R00001_PSA_RFP_Amendment_0001.pdf

(x)

72011219R00001 x x copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted ; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT

THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted , such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

x

720112

Baku AZ1007 111, Azadlig Avenue USAID/Azerbaijan

02/15/20190001

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) is not extended.is extended, Items 8 and 15, and returning

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended , by one of the following methods: (a) By completing

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

FACILITY CODE CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)CODE 6. ISSUED BY

PAGE OF PAGES

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.3. EFFECTIVE DATE2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

02/15/2019

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority) appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return __________________ copies to the issuing office.

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

Private Sector Activity

1. The RFP 72011219R00001 is amended as shown on the attached Changed Pages highlighted in yellow. Please substitute the pages. The final contract will be modified to reflect these changes.

2. Potential Offerors are advised that Questions and Answers document is posted on

FebBizOpps as of the date of this amendment.

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

15C. DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer)

Michael Rossman

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9 A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect .

SOL-72011219R00001

7. Equip, Vehicles and Freight

8. Training

9. Subcontractors

10. Grants Under Contracts

11. General and Administrative

Subtotal Contract Total Estimated Cost

II. Fixed Fee

III. Total Estimated Contract Cost Plus Fixed Fee

B.6 PAYMENT OF FIXED FEE

a) The Government shall pay the Contractor for performing this contract the fixed fee specified in the

Schedule.

b) In accordance with FAR 52.216-8 “Fixed Fee (JUN 2011),” USAID reserves the right to withhold and reserve not to exceed $100,000. The Contracting Officer shall release 75 percent of all fee withholds under this contract after receipt of an adequate certified final indirect cost rate proposal covering the year of physical completion of this contract, provided the Contractor has satisfied all other contract terms and conditions, including the submission of the final patent and royalty reports, and is not delinquent in submitting final vouchers on prior years’ settlements. The Contracting Officer may release up to 90 percent of the fee withholds under this contract based on the Contractor’s past performance related to the submission and settlement of final indirect cost rate proposals.

B.7 INDIRECT COSTS

The contract clause entitled “Allowable Cost and Payment (JUN 2013)”, FAR 52.216-7, specifies that the indirect cost rates shall be established for each of the contractor’s accounting periods that apply to this contract. Pending establishment of revised provisional or final indirect cost rates, allowable indirect costs shall be reimbursed on the basis of the following negotiated provisional or predetermined rates and the appropriate bases:

Description Rate Base Type Period

TBD TBD% 1/ 1/ 1/

TBD TBD% 2/ 2/ 2/

1/ Base of Application: TBD

Type of Rate: TBD

Period: TBD

2/ Base of Application: TBD

Type of Rate: TBD

Period: TBD

B.8 ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING ON CEILING INDIRECT COST RATES AND FINAL

REIMBURSEMENT FOR INDIRECT COSTS

(a) The Contractor must make no change in its established method of classifying or allocating indirect costs without the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

(b) Reimbursement for indirect costs must be at the lower of the negotiated final provisional/pre-determined rates or the following ceiling rates:

RATIO of NUMBER of recommendations provided to Azerbaijani reformers responsible for improvements in economic diversification and the enabling environment for businesses.

NUMBER of technical and policy recommendations implemented by the GoAJ.

C.4 CONTRACT TECHNICAL DELIVERABLES

USAID is committed to quantifiable results. Through the three contract objectives, this activity must achieve the minimum results listed in the table below.

Offerors are welcome to propose more than the minimum requirements listed, in correlation with the proposed technical approach.

The minimum deliverables for this contract are as follows:

Table 1: Contract Deliverables

Number Result Contract Year Contract Total

1 2 3 4 5

1 Dollar value of cost-share leveraged from grant recipient organizations

TBD TBD TBD TBD

TBD $7 million

2 Increased agricultural exports to developed markets in Eastern

Europe, Middle East Gulf states, and Asia

TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD 30% increase in targeted farm products exported to developed markets

3 Percentage increase in sales by assisted enterprises

TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD 50%

4 Improved rural livelihoods in targeted regions

TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD 50% increase in income of beneficiary households engaged in targeted sectors

5 Increased value of US exports to Azerbaijan in targeted sectors

TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD $20 million

6 Number of farmers using new agronomy and business practices

TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD 30,000

7 Amount of business loans to private sector facilitated under the activity

TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD $5 million

8 Number of economic administrative barriers removed

TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD 10 barriers

8 Value Chain Prioritization and

Gaps Assessment and other Special

Assessments and Reports

F.7.h 135 days after award for Value Chain

Prioritization and Gaps Assessment; to be determined for other Special Assessments and

Reports

9 Bumpers Analyses H.37 As required.

10 Short-term Consultants Reports F.6.i To be determined

11 Close-out Plan F.6.j 180 days before contract completion date

12 Final Report F.6.k 30 days before to contract completion date

a) START-UP AND PRELIMINARY WORK PLAN

In consultation with the COR, the Contractor will develop a start-up plan that will serve as the basic blueprint for the first three months of the contract. The start-up plan will be submitted to the COR for written approval within 130 days of award and will outline the key tasks required to make the project fully operational. These include but are not limited to:

(1) Establishing an office;

(2) Developing a staffing plan;

(3) Consulting with stakeholders and donors;

(4) Developing a mechanism and procedures for grant making

(5) Developing a performance monitoring plan;

(6) Preparation of the first year work plan.

Note: The Contractor’s Chief of Party is required to arrive in-country no later than 30 days following the contract award date.

b) ANNUAL WORK PLANS

The annual work plan is the key document for contract performance against which contractor performance shall be monitored and evaluated by both the COR and the contractor. The contractor will documents lessons learned from the implementation of the previous years’ work plan and utilize them in developing work plans for the following years. The contractor will organize and hold several work planning sessions with COR in developing the work plans. During contract performance, the annual work plan will be updated, as required, subject to COR approval. Contracting officer's approval of annual work plan updates shall be required if the proposed changes impact on the use of available contract funds. It is anticipated that USAID Mission staff and relevant host country officials will review the annual work plan updates in order to provide comments thereon and to recommend changes. Such comments and changes, however, if accepted by the contractor, shall not constitute a change from the terms of the contract.

Annual work plans shall describe the activities and interventions required to meet the contract outputs, including:

(I) Proposed activities for the given year;

(2) Corresponding time frame for implementation of annual activities;

(3) Detailed budget for implementation;

(4) Information on how activities will be implemented in a collaborative and coordinated manner with implementing partners and other Government of Azerbaijan entities;

(5) Review of previous year's accomplishments, problems, and progress towards achieving contract outputs; and

(6) Proposed annual accomplishments and progress towards achieving outputs.

The annual work plans are intended to be working documents for the use of the contractor and USAID;

much of the information may be presented in tabular format and there is no expectation of widespread public dissemination. The first year work plan is due no later than 60 days90 days following contract award. If the time period for the first year work plan does not align with US Government fiscal year

(October I - September 30), then the COR shall determine the time period to be covered by the first year work plan. Annual work plans for subsequent years shall be submitted no later than 30 days before the end of the US Government fiscal year.

As an annex to the work plan, the contractor shall submit a performance monitoring plan (PMP) that includes objectives, expected results and indicators. A detailed and complete PMP will be developed and submitted for COR approval with the first annual work plan. The contractor and the COR will agree upon the final choice of performance indicators useful for timely management decisions. The contractor will collect data for performance indicators, monitor progress, and report status at least annually to the COR.

PMP data must meet reasonable quality criteria of validity, reliability, timeliness, precision and integrity, and be disaggregated by gender as appropriate and feasible. The contractor shall report on the PMP on a quarterly basis as part of the periodic progress reports.

c) MONITORING AND EVALUATION AND LEARNING (MEL) PLAN AND DATA

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan

To ensure the achievement of activity objectives and track progress, monitoring, evaluation and learning

(MEL) will be a core focus of the Private Sector Activity, as specified in Section F. The Contractor must implement a robust MEL system based on rigorous data collection, timely reporting and adaptive management. The Contractor must also report on a variety of indicators and targets agreed to through the

Contract and work planning process, including relevant standard indicators from USAID’s Foreign

Assistance Framework.

Monitoring, evaluation and learning will be an on-going, collaborative process with the participation of the Contractor, USAID, counterparts, and other stakeholders. The Contractor will develop and submit, with the initial annual Work Plan an overall Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan to the COR for review and approval. The MEL plan shall track: standard indicators of the F structure that are reported annually; other activity specific performance indicators (both input/output and outcome) as suggested by the Contractor and/or USAID; project appraisal document (PAD)-level indicators as suggested by

USAID; results, milestones, and clearly defined benchmarks including the relevant targets and timeframe;

baseline information; data quality assessment plans; performance indicator reference sheets (PIRS); and a learning plan that must include learning opportunities and events that will be conducted over the course of the contract. The COR will work with the Contractor to ensure that the MEL plan is consistent with and meet the data collection needs of the Project MEL Plan, the Mission's Performance Monitoring Plan

(PMP), and the Performance Plan and Report (PPR).

Analysis and review of MEL data will ensure that the MEL effectively captures and adequately measures the expected outputs, results, outcomes, and high-level targeted results outlined in the work plan. The contractor will provide regular MEL updates on the progress being made in the quarterly and annual reports, and during stakeholder events, such as USAID portfolio reviews.

following form: (1) a grant letter; (2) a Schedule; (3) a Program Description to be developed by the grantee and the Contractor; and (4)(i) the mandatory standard provisions and (ii) any applicable required-as-applicable standard provisions.

(12). The total value of all grants that provide funds (as opposed to in-kind assistance) to a particular partner government entity (for example, ministry, municipality, district, etc.) must not exceed $2 million for the duration of the Contract.

(13). The Contractor will close-out all grants prior to the estimated completion date of this Contract. In closing-out grants, the Contractor will comply in all material respects with ADS 303 and ADS 302sat

“Guidance on Closeout Procedures for A&A Awards.”

H.34 FACILITIES USED FOR RELIGIOUS ACTVITIES

Unless otherwise authorized in writing by the Contracting Officer, the Contractor will not use contract funds for any work related to facilities of any type where the intended use of such a facility is for inherently religious activities. In cases where work addressed by this provision is authorized by the

Contracting Officer, such authorization will be limited and explicit.

H.35 SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN, ISRs AND SSRs

In accordance with FAR 52.219-9, and if applicable, the Contractor shall submit ISRs and SSRs using the web-based eSRS at http://www.esrs.gov.

H.36 THIRD COUNTRY TRAINING

Third-country training must not take place in countries that are considered unfriendly by the U.S.

Department of State and to which travel by U.S. citizens is prohibited or identified as terrorist countries by the Department of State.

H.37 PERSONNEL APPROVALS

All personnel must be hired in compliance with the provisions of AIDAR 752.7007 – Personnel

Compensation, and AIDAR 752.7027 – Personnel. Contracting Officer approval is deemed provided for any personnel submitted in the Contractor’s Final Approved Proposal Budget. The Contractor must submit all other personnel to the Contracting Officer’s Representative for concurrence prior to hiring. To obtain concurrence, the submission package must include the relevant USAID Form

1420-17 and accompanying Curriculum Vitae.

H.38 BUMPERS ANALYSES AND COR APPROVALS

In accordance with Section 7025(a) and 7025(b) of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018” (or any subsequent provision in any future appropriations act), prior to working in an agriculture sector or with an agriculture commodity, a “Bumpers Analysis” must be written and submitted by the Contractor to the

COR for COR approval in order to ensure such work does not foster competition with a similar commodity grown or produced in the United States. Additional guidance may be found at https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnaav460.pdf .

END OF SECTION H

http://www.esrs.gov/ https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnaav460.pdf

L.5 SUBMISSION/DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS

Electronic responses are required for this solicitation.

Offerors must submit their proposals via email to ksalimova@usaid.gov and mrossman@usaid.gov by the stated closing date and time specified in the Cover Letter. Receipt time is when the proposal is received by the USAID internet server. If a proposal is received on time by at least one of the email addresses above, it will be considered timely. A proposal must be received by the Government by the due date for it to be considered. Late proposals will not be considered. The proposal must be accompanied by a cover letter typed on official organizational letterhead and signed by a person who has signatory authority for the organization. Total email size cannot exceed 30 MB.

Multiple emails may be sent to accommodate the proposal size and content. All attachments must be in

MSWord, Adobe PDF, or MSExcel readable format, with all cell formulas present. OFFERORS MUST

NOT SUBMIT ZIPPED FILES.

If an Offeror sends a proposal by multiple emails, indicate in the subject line of the email whether the email relates to the technical or cost proposal, and the desired sequence of multiple emails (if more than one is sent) and of attachments (e.g. "no. 1 of 4", etc.). USAID’s preference is that each technical and each cost proposal be submitted as a single email attachment, e.g., that you consolidate the various parts of a technical proposal into a single document before sending it. For Section K, Offerors shall comply with FAR Clause 52.204-7, System for Award Management and complete the annual representations and certifications electronically via the Online Representations and Certifications and other Statements of

Offerors website at via the System for Award Management, www.sam.gov .

The proposal shall be prepared in two separate parts: the Technical Proposal shall address technical aspects, only, while the Business (Cost) Proposal shall present the price. and address related issues such as past performance and responsibility. Proposals must be signed by an official who is authorized to bind the entire organization.

The Technical Proposal and Cost Proposal must be kept separate from each other. Technical Proposals must not make reference to pricing data in order that the technical evaluation may be made strictly on the basis of technical merit.

Questions: All questions and requests for clarification must be received in writing by the date and time and by the contacts indicated on the cover page of the RFP. The written requests for clarifications/questions must contain a subject line, sample: “ABXY, Inc. SOL-72011219R00001: “The

USAID Private Sector Activity.” Any information given to an Offeror concerning the RFP will also be furnished to all other Offerors as an Amendment to the RFP, if that information is necessary in submitting proposals or if the lack of it would be prejudicial to any other Offerors.

Offerors must retain for their records one copy of the proposal and all enclosures which accompany their proposal. Erasures or other changes must be initialed by the person signing the proposal. To facilitate the competitive review of the proposals, USAID will consider only proposals conforming to the format prescribed below.

Government Obligation: The issuance of this solicitation does not in any way obligate the US

Government to award a contract nor does it commit the U.S. Government to pay for costs incurred in the mailto:ksalimova@usaid.gov mailto:mrossman@usaid.gov http://www.sam.gov/

1. Technical Approach:

This section must detail the technical approach in a narrative section not to exceed twenty (20) pages. The offeror’s technical approach must include a clear description and understanding of the conceptual approach and the general strategy (i.e., methodologies and techniques) being proposed for the implementation of each technical component. In this narrative, the offeror will propose an approach that describes its methodology to prioritize sectors and value chains within these sectors and identify gaps and interventions to strengthen these value chains, the timing and allocation of grants between different types of potential grant recipients, approach to mapping and design of public private partnership (PPP) opportunities, and integration of implementation requirements including women’s and youth economic participation, environment, the value chain approach to supporting sector development, and sustainability of program interventions. The offeror’s technical approach narrative section shall include a results table by program year as an annex to the Technical proposal and indicateing the results of the contract at a minimum of the required number provided in Table 1 in Section C or at additional amounts provided by the offeror which will become part of the resulting contract as deliverables. Note offerors cannot add additional results to this table, but may exceed the currently stated targets for results. In this results table, the offeror will break down results by project year. As part of their proposal, offeror’s shall also provide an illustrative first year work plan not to exceed 2 pages. This illustrative work plan must demonstrate how the activities described in the narrative section will contribute to the achievement of the results indicated in the results table. This illustrative work plan can be a combination of narrative and a Gantt chart or similar type of chart that illustrates schedules for different activity areas and dependency relationships between. As part of their response, offerors are reminded to provide a summary statement re: teaming, partners, and subcontractors and their respective roles and responsibilities, technical expertise and experience, and methods utilized as part of their technical approach.

Neither the work plan nor the results table counts towards the twenty page narrative limit.

The Offeror must demonstrate a good understanding of the existing activities and conditions in order to ensure better coordinated results. For instance, the nature and pace of the business environment, financial sector, non-oil sector development remains to be seen, so the Offeror must display an understanding of the current state of affairs, the key actors, and clearly illustrate immediate, medium-, and long-term strategies for achieving Objectives 2 and 3. This will also be reflected in the submitted Year One work plan.

USAID encourages the offerors to familiarize with lessons learned and strategies employed by legacy

USAID/Azerbaijan projects (such as USAID ACT and USAID ASAP, which is ongoing) about providing support to private sector and government institutions engaged in reforms. Various programmatic and technical reports developed by current and closed USAID-funded projects in Azerbaijan are available at the Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) website (http://www.dec.org/). The offeror must highlight proven approaches to transferring best practices to host country stakeholders. If the technical approach utilizes intensive training or development of administrative systems for government officials/offices, then it must utilize a methodology that tracks changes in behavior, knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

(4) Have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics;

(5) Have the necessary organization, experience, accounting and operational controls, and technical skills, or the ability to obtain them (including, as appropriate, such elements as production control procedures, property control systems, quality assurance measures, and safety programs applicable to materials to be produced or services to be performed by the prospective contractor and subcontractors). (See FAR 9.104-

3(a));

(6) Have the necessary production, construction, and technical equipment and facilities, or the ability to obtain them (See FAR 9.104- 3(a)); and

(7) Be otherwise qualified and eligible to receive an award under applicable laws and regulations (e.g., Equal Opportunity, Clean Air and Water, Small Business Subcontracting, etc.).

(f) Part 6 - Letters of Commitment (Subcontractors)

The Cost/Business Proposal must include a letter, on subcontractor letterhead, and signed by the authorized representative of each subcontractor, which specifically indicates the subcontractor's agreement to be included in the offeror’s proposed teaming arrangement.

(g) Part 7 - Information to Support Consent to Subcontractors

The offeror must address each of the elements in FAR 44.202-2 in order for proposed subcontractors to be considered by the contracting officer for consent of subcontractors to be granted with the initial award.

(h) Part 8 - Information Concerning Work-Day, Work-Week, and Paid Absences

(1) The offeror and each proposed major subcontractor must indicate the number of hours and days in its normal work-day and its normal work-week, both domestically and overseas, for employees and consultants. In addition, the offeror and each proposed major subcontractor must indicate how paid absences (US holidays, local holidays, vacation and sick) will be compensated.

(2) A normal work-year, including paid absences (holidays, vacations, and sick leave) is 2,080 hours (260 days x 8 hours per day). However, some organizations do not have an 8-hour workday, and some accounting systems normally provide for direct recovery of paid absences by using a work-year of less than 2,080 hours to compute individuals' unburdened daily rates. The offeror and major subcontractors must describe their core work day and work week policies.

(3) The work day and work week policies and the method of accounting for paid absences for the offeror and major subcontractors will be incorporated into the content in Section B.

(i) Part 9 – Branding and Marking Plan

Offeror(s) shall submit a preliminary BIP and MP (not to exceed two pages) as a separate annex to the

Technical cost proposal, which complies with Section D.

(j) Part 10 - Employee Biographical Data Sheets for Key Personnel

Offerors must provide Biographical Data Sheets (SF-1420-17) for all key and non-key identified personnel. Offerors must also include letters of commitment signed by each person proposed as key

ATTACHMENT 2 - DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES

Please complete this form to disclose lobbying activities pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 1352.

The form is located at: http://www.usaid.gov/forms/

Offerors must provide the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities Form within the cost proposal as an annex.

The form must also be provided for major subcontractors. The form may be accessed here:

https://www.gsa.gov/forms-library/disclosure-lobbying-activities.

https://www.gsa.gov/forms-library/disclosure-lobbying-activities