72011520R00010-0001.pdf

(x)

72011520R00010 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 electronic communication 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 letter or electronic communication, provided each letter or electronic communication makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

x

N/A

Not Applicable

720115

Almaty 050010, Kazakhstan 41 Kazibek Bi St.

USAID/Central Asia/Kazakhstan

04/01/20200001

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

04/01/2020

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 data, 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.)

The purpose of this Amendment is to incorporate changes in the RFP and answer the questions from potential Offerors. See continuation pages for specific changes.

This amendment include one attachment:

1. Questions and Answers

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)

Joshua Schramm

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 11/2016)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

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 .

4/28/2020/e/

RFP 72011520R00010

USAID’s Central Asia Regional Water and Vulnerable Environment Activity

Amendment 0001

Accordingly, the RFP is amended as follows:

SECTION D - PACKAGING AND MARKING

1. Page 9, Section D.3 BRANDING STRATEGY, delete in its entirely and replace with –

D.3 BRANDING STRATEGY

The Contractor’s approach to marking and branding will be governed by standard USAID marking and branding guidelines in the ADS, as well as the Branding Strategy outlined below.

The name of the activity: The full project name is “USAID’s Central Asia Regional Water and Vulnerable Environment Activity”. The name USAID’s Central Asia Regional Water and Vulnerable Environment Activity may not be used alone without being preceded by USAID.

Translations other applicable languages must be proposed by the contractor and approved by USAID as part of the Branding Implementation Plan.

Materials and communications positioning: Any materials and communications produced by any subcontractor must follow USAID branding requirements. In all project communications and materials, the project will be referred to as USAID’s. In all public events and public communications, the project will also acknowledge and make it visible and understandable that the project, all its activities and/or materials/deliverables are made possible by the American People. Any materials and communications produced by any sub-grantee must follow USAID branding requirements as applicable to grants.

Desired level of visibility: The contractor must ensure that the project (as well as the fact that it is made possible by the American people through USAID) receives broad visibility not only among its beneficiaries, partners and counterparts, but also among the broader business sector and the general public. USAID’s experience demonstrates the critical importance and multiple opportunities for public outreach through positive information dissemination.

Communication and Outreach Strategy: The contractor and USAID will agree on a communication and outreach strategy that will detail how the desired level of visibility will be achieved. More specifically, the Communication and Outreach Strategy will detail: overall goal, objectives, intermediate results, indicative activities, communication products and how they will be distributed and to whom, budget, messaging, and an indicative monitoring and evaluation plan to assess to which extent the implementation of the strategy is achieving its target results.

Communication Activities: The Contractor and USAID will agree on the type of activities, including frequency and geographic coverage, which will be designed and implemented to achieve the Strategy’s objectives. These may include but may not be limited to opening or closing events, national or international day celebrations, regional or national media campaigns, community mobilization, cultural celebrations, partnerships with public figures, etc.

Communication Products: The contractor will detail what communication tools and platforms it will utilize, with details on distribution, dissemination, and utilization of each. Communication tools may include, but are not limited to brochures, flyers, posters, social media sites, television, radio, blogs, online publication, websites, newspaper, infographics, billboards, etc. The communication tools should be proposed while demonstrating how they are relevant to the context of this project and the targeted audiences.

Amendment 0001

Content Creation and Acquisition: The contractor will explain how it will acquire professional, high quality content for the design and publication of its communication products. Content includes, and is not limited to photography, video or films, written text, infographics, illustrations, graphics, pictograms, maps, GIFs, etc. The contractor will share with USAID a list or group of professional and reputable content creators, along with their portfolios, that it proposes to hire for specific assignments. While the contractor is encouraged to work with creatives and artists to produce original content for its communication and outreach activities, a certain amount of licensed or stock content may be utilized instead.

Any other organizations to be acknowledged: Co-branding and co-marking of public communications with local partners, in particular national governments and partners in public-private partnerships, is allowable and encouraged in order to promote local ownership of the initiatives supported by USAID. Co-branding and co-marking are to be specified in the branding implementation plan and will require approval by USAID.

SECTION H - SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

2. Page 50, Section H.23 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING SYSTEM (PMRS), second paragraph is deleted in its entirely.

SECTION L - INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS, AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

3. Page 81, Section L.7.2.1 Technical Approach – TO No. 1, “TO No.1” is deleted.

4. Page 81, Section L.7.2 Content of the Technical Proposal, 4. Technical Proposal, delete “(1) Draft Year One Work Plan (2) Draft Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan”

5. Page 81, Section L.7.2 Content of the Technical Proposal, 4. Technical Proposal, delete list of annexes and replace with following:

Annex 1: Draft Year One Work Plan (not exceed 4 pages) Annex 2: Organizational Chart/s.

Annex 3: Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan.

Annex 4: Branding and Marking Plan.

Annex 5: Resumes and letters of commitment for proposed key personnel.

Annex 6: Contractor Past Performance Information.

Annex 7: Outreach and Communication Plan.

Annex 8: Environmental Compliance.

6. Page 83, Section L.7.2.3 Management Approach, last two sentences of the first paragraph “In addition, successful management of task orders will require a demonstrated ability to propose the best methodology for the Tasks in this award. The Offeror is expected to demonstrate capability to provide strong, competent direction and oversight during the implementation of task orders due to the short timeline” are deleted.

7. Page 83, Section L.7.2.4 Technical Proposal Annexes, delete in its entirely and replace with following:

Amendment 0001

Annex 1: Draft Year One Work Plan (not exceed 4 pages) As part of the draft first year annual work plan, the Offeror must include the strategy for a rapid and effective launch of project activities within 60 days in Year 1 and a realistic approach to implement the PSW and to achieve the results. Each activity should be clearly linked to an outcome or impact.

The plan must provide a detailed explanation (narrative, graphic, or both) of proposed activities and their sequencing, with an illustrative work plan for Year 1, and will include major program milestones/activities for subsequent years.

Annex 2: Organizational Chart/s.

An organizational chart highlighting roles and responsibilities for the contract should be included to support the staffing plan narrative.

Annex 3: Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan.

The QASP (see Attachment J.5) will become a contractual document used to determine if the contractor’s performance meets the performance standards contained in the contract. To complete the QASP, fill out completely the sections in the attachment that are highlighted in yellow. Of important note, Offerors are expected to provide (1) the key services or deliverables that will provide under the contract and (2) how the Offeror defines an acceptable level of quality for these services or deliverables.

Annex 4: Branding and Marking Plan.

Offerors must include a Branding Implementation Plan and Marking Plan in line with the Branding Strategy included in this RFP. The plans from the apparent successful Offeror will be reviewed and be subject to CO approval prior to awarding of the contract.

Annex 5: Resumes and letters of commitment for proposed key personnel.

For each key personnel listed, please include the resume and signed letter of commitment for the individual.

Resumes will be no longer than three pages, including references. No information or data beyond the third page will be considered.

Resumes should, at a minimum, include the following:

Experience in developing countries and the extent of participation and level of responsibility undertaken in similar support work.

Appropriateness of technical backgrounds and academic credentials.

The individuals’ language capabilities.

The work experience will be presented chronologically and should contain sufficient details to enable the technical review team to evaluate the qualifications and experience.

The resumes must contain contact information (e-mail and phone number) of supervisors for the three most recent positions the candidate has held.

Each resume shall be accompanied by a SIGNED letter of commitment from each candidate indicating his/her:

1. Availability to serve in the stated position, in terms of days after award;

2. Intention to serve for a stated term of the service; and

3. Agreement to the compensation levels which corresponds to the levels set forth in the cost proposal.

Amendment 0001

Note: USAID neither requests nor desires exclusivity agreements between contractors and proposed personnel.

Annex 6: Contractor Past Performance Information.

A. The Offeror (including all partners of a joint venture) must provide performance information for itself and each major subcontractor (one whose proposed cost exceeds 25% of the Offeror’s total proposed cost) in accordance with the following:

1. List in an annex to the technical proposal up to five (5) of the most recent (active or ended no more than three years ago) and relevant contracts/agreements for efforts similar to the work in the subject proposal for the Offeror and up to (3) three for each major subcontractor using the template provided in Attachment J.7. The most relevant indicators of performance are contracts of similar scope, size, geographic coverage and/or complexity.

2. For all contracts listed above that are not in CPARS, provide a list of contact names, job titles, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, explanation of relevance to the proposed acquisition and a description of the performance to include:

Scope of work or complexity/diversity of tasks;

Primary location(s) of work;

Period of performance;

Skills/expertise required;

Dollar value; and Contract type, i.e., fixed-price, cost reimbursement, etc.

Note: USAID recommends that the Offeror alert the contacts that their names have been submitted and that they are authorized to provide performance information concerning the listed contracts if and when USAID requests it.

B. If extraordinary problems impacted any of the referenced contracts, provide a short explanation and the corrective action taken (FAR 15.305(a)(2)).

C. Describe any quality awards or certifications that indicate exceptional capacity to provide the service or product described in the statement of work. This information may be included in an annex and is not included in the page limitation.

D. Performance in using Small Business (SB) Concerns (as defined in FAR 19.001)

a. This section is not applicable to offers from small business concerns.

b. As part of the evaluation of performance in Section M of this solicitation, USAID will evaluate the extent the Offeror used and promoted the use of SB concerns under current and prior contracts. The evaluation will assess the extent SB concerns participated in these contracts relative to the size/value of the contracts, the complexity and variety of the work SB concerns performed, and compliance with your SB subcontracting plan or other similar SB incentive programs set out in your contract(s).

c. In order for USAID to fully and fairly evaluate performance in this area, all Offerors who are not SB concerns must do the following:

Provide a narrative summary of your organization's use of small business concerns over the past three years. Describe how you actually use small businesses—as subcontractors, as joint venture partners, through other teaming arrangements, etc.

Explain the nature of the work small businesses performed-- substantive technical

Amendment 0001 professional services, administrative support, logistics support, etc. Describe the extent of your compliance with your SB subcontracting plan(s) or other similar SB incentive programs set out in your contract(s) and explain any mitigating circumstances if goals were not achieved.

To supplement the narrative summary in (A), provide a list of contracts over the past 3 years for which you submitted subcontract reports to eSRS (FAR 52.219-9(d)(10)) and a copy of up to 10 similarly recent subcontracting reports if they were not submitted to eSRS. Provide the names and addresses of three SB concerns for us to contact for their assessment of your performance in using SB concerns. Provide a brief summary of the type of work each SB concern provided to your organization, and the name of a contact person, his/her title, phone number, and email address for each.

Annex 7: Outreach and Communication Plan.

The Offerors should develop a high-quality outreach and communication plan as described in section D.4 and Attachment J.6.

Annex 8: Environmental Compliance.

The Offerors should use information in the Section H.21 and Environmental Review Checklist for Identifying Potential Environmental Impacts of Project Activities and Processes (ERC) Template 2019 provided as an Attachment J.13

8. Page 85, Section L.8 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE COST VOLUME, first paragraph, sentence “Within this total estimated range for this hybrid contract, Offerors must budget at least 80 percent of proposed costs for the CPFF - Contract Line Item Number (CLIN 0001) and at most 20 percent of proposed costs for the IDIQ – CLIN 0002” is deleted and replaced with:

“Within this total estimated range for this hybrid contract, costs under CLIN 0002 will not exceed $3,000,000 over the life of the contract”.

9. Page 87, Section L.8 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE COST VOLUME, Salary and Wages, last sentence of the second paragraph is deleted.

10. Page 89, Section L.8 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE COST VOLUME, Subsection “Project Fund” is deleted.

11. Page 92, Section L.8 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE COST VOLUME, Environmental Compliance, delete “Offerors may propose costs to complete environmental assessments or comply with requirements, if any” and replace with “Offerors should propose costs to complete environmental assessments or comply with requirements, if any”.

12. Page 93, Section L.8 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE COST VOLUME, CPFF-IDIQ CLINs, is delete and replaced is follows:

“Within this total estimated range for this hybrid contract, costs under CLIN 0002 will not exceed $3,000,000 over the life of the contract. The Offeror should propose a plug figure of $3,000,000 for CLIN 0002. When CLIN 0002 is activated, a detailed Scope of Work and a Budget will be requested.

Amendment 0001

SECTION M - EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

13. Page 97, Section M.3 TECHNICAL EVALUATION CRITERIA, 2. Key Personnel and Staffing Plan, first sentence “The extent to which the Offeror demonstrates a convincing approach to recruiting and mobilizing qualified personnel as well as identifying and partnering with organizations for task order implementation’” is deleted.

14. Page 100, Section M.4 COST EVALUATION CRITERIA, delete in its entirely and replace with:

“Each Cost Proposal will be evaluated but will not be assigned a rating. The proposed cost/price will be evaluated for realism and reasonableness in accordance with FAR 15.404.

Cost realism is an assessment of accuracy with which proposed costs represent the most probable cost of performance. Cost realism evaluation will be performed as part of the evaluation process:

(a) To assess and verify the Offeror’s understandings of the requirements;

(b) To assess the degree to which the cost/price proposal accurately reflects the Offerors understanding of the SOO, as well as the risk that the Offeror will provide the supplies or services for the offered prices/cost; and

(c) To assess the degree to which the cost included in the cost/price proposal accurately represents the Offeror’s unique technical approach to implement the SOO.

In evaluating the Offeror’s Cost Proposal, the Government will estimate the overall cost to the Government, including fee, which in the Government’s judgment will result from the Offeror’s performance of the Contract. In making this determination, if the proposed cost is considered to be unrealistic, the Offeror’s proposed cost, including proposed fee, will be adjusted upward or downward to reflect more realistic costs. Therefore, the evaluated cost, including fee, will be used in making a selection decision. Unrealistic cost proposals may result in a re-evaluation and concurrent rescoring of Technical Proposals. Such re-evaluation based on cost or realistic cost analysis could negatively impact the technical rating and overall rating of the proposal”.

[End of Amendment 0001]