USAID_Lebanon_IDEAS BAA_Amendment 5_.pdf

BAA Amendment 5: January 20, 2021

BAA Amendment 4: November 16, 2020

BAA Amendment 3: July 22, 2020

BAA Amendment 2: May 13, 2020

BAA Amendment 1: April 2, 2020

Issuance Date: March 18, 2020

Open Period: March 18, 2020 to March 17, 2021 17:00 EST

Round 1 Due: April 24, 2020 at 17:00 EST (closed): AOI 2: Solid Waste Management

Round 2 Due: January 11, 2021 at 17:00 EST: AOI 3: Renewable Electricity Supply

Round 3 Due: February 1, 2021 at 17:00 EST – CANCELLED

Round 4 Due: March 17, 2021 at 17:00 EST – CANCELLED

The USAID Broad Agency Announcement for

Initiative to Deliver Essential Assistance and Services (IDEAS)

No. 720268BAA2000001

I. Overview

The United States Government, represented by the United States Agency for International

Development (USAID) through the Mission in Lebanon, is issuing this Broad Agency

Announcement (BAA) to seek participants to co-create, co-design, co-invest, and collaborate on research and development1 interventions to improve delivery of essential assistance and services at the municipal level. USAID invites for-profit and non-profit, public and private organizations to submit Expression(s) of Interest (EOI), as provided in Section III Stage 1 below.

The intent of the BAA is to allow co-creation and co-design to develop high quality, effective partnerships that increase the impact of service delivery to Lebanese communities. The BAA also advances USAID’s Acquisition and Assistance Strategy2 and New Partner Initiative,3 which seek innovative approaches to procurement and ways to expand and diversify the partner base. USAID will invite selected entities, as detailed below in Section III Stage 2, to co-create research and development (R&D) innovative and sustainable solutions to the Problem and Challenge

1 Research is defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 2.101 as: "Basic research” means that research directed toward increasing knowledge in science. The primary aim of basic research is a fuller knowledge or understanding of the subject under study, rather than any practical application of that knowledge. And in FAR

35.001: “Applied research” means that effort which (1) normally follows basic research, but may not be severable from the related basic research, (2) attempts to determine and exploit the potential of scientific discoveries or improvements in technology, materials, processes, methods, devices, or techniques, and (3) attempts to advance the state of the art. Applied research does not include efforts whose principal aim is design, development, or test of specific items or services to be considered for sale; these efforts are within the definition of the term “development,” defined in this subsection. FAR 35.001: “Development” as used in this part, means the systematic use of scientific and technical knowledge in the design, development, testing, or evaluation of a potential new product or service (or of an improvement in an existing product or service) to meet specific performance requirements or objectives. It includes the functions of design engineering, prototyping, and engineering testing; it excludes subcontracted technical effort that is for the sole purpose of developing an additional source for an existing product.

2 https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/how-to-work-with-usaid/acquisition-and-assistance-strategy 3 https://www.usaid.gov/npi https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/how-to-work-with-usaid/acquisition-and-assistance-strategy https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/how-to-work-with-usaid/acquisition-and-assistance-strategy https://www.usaid.gov/npi

Statements stated in this BAA, including those entities that have expertise, resources, and/or funding to add to potential solutions.

A. Federal Agency Name: The United States Agency for International Development

(USAID)

B. Opportunity Title: USAID/Lebanon Initiative to Deliver Essential Assistance and

Services (IDEAS) Activity

C. Opportunity Number: 72026820BAA00001

D. Authority: This BAA is issued under Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 35.016

(c). This is not a FAR Part 15 Procurement.

E. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 98.001 USAID Foreign

Assistance Programs for Overseas

II. Problem and Challenge Statements

PROBLEM:

In October 2019, widespread public discontent directed at the Lebanese political establishment erupted into nation-wide demonstrations. Two underlying drivers of these protests have been the lack of available jobs and poor delivery of essential services by the Government of Lebanon

(GOL). In the former instance, “the Lebanese labor market is mostly characterized by low activity and high unemployment rates. There is low contribution of women in the labor force, a large informal sector, a large mismatch of skills, a high influx of foreign workers and a large number of skilled Lebanese people seeking and obtaining employment abroad.”4 Unemployment in rural areas remains high as well due to remoteness from economic centers and weak infrastructure. In the absence of reliable public transportation, workers must spend large sums of money to commute, which hinders participation in the labor market. These trends have only worsened under the strain of an acute financial crisis that manifested itself once the protests began. Lebanon’s abundant cultural, historical, and natural patrimony could provide more opportunities than it currently does to help communities generate income, but this requires greater efforts by local governments to nurture a better enabling environment and to increase collaboration with the private sector to exploit fully opportunities.

In the latter instance, Lebanon’s dysfunctional political system and fragile economy have led to significantly diminished and, in some cases, a complete absence of essential services in many communities that are supposed to be provided by the central government. Similarly, the central government, which heavily subsidizes the country’s electric utility, Electricite du Liban (EDL), runs ageing power plants that are unable to deliver consistent electricity, leaving many

4 Joumana Brihi, Dr. Abir Takieddine, and Myriam Zmeter, Unemployment in Lebanon: Findings and

Recommendations, Analysis for ECOSOC, prepared on behalf of GOPA, March 2019, p. 9.

communities and households reliant on their own generators or private neighborhood suppliers who charge sizeable fees. The lack of reliable electricity transmission has implications for other services, including such water-related services as electric-operated small pump stations and wells that are managed by municipalities. The high cost of back-up generators for these water services has serious cost implications for municipalities and their residents. The central government has promised change but has thus far struggled to deliver much needed reforms of essential services.

The inability of the central government to deliver many essential services has shifted the burden of providing many of these services to municipalities and non-governmental service providers.

The Municipal Act of Lebanon (118/1977) grants municipalities authorities to implement a broad spectrum of public service projects, including infrastructure, kindergartens, public schools, electricity generation, vocational training centers, playgrounds, medical dispensaries, public hospitals, and public housing.5 Although empowered by law to deliver many of these essential services, the vast majority of Lebanon’s municipalities, particularly those in smaller and rural communities, individually lack the financial and human resources as well as the technical capacity to fulfill this mandate. The continued presence of approximately 1.5 million refugees from the

Syria crisis and more recently the adverse impact of the financial crisis have further diminished resources and further strained the ability of local governments to address the needs of their constituents. The central government’s discretionary power over Independent Municipal Fund, one of the main income sources for municipalities,6 and burdensome levers of administrative and financial oversight also prevent municipalities from exercising the legal authorities. Encouraging clusters of municipalities to collaborate may offer a way to overcome some of the aforementioned constraints. For example, municipal unions, which are permitted under the Municipal Act, can undertake joint projects that benefit all or some of its constituent members. They are autonomous legal personalities that can manage their own finances and develop budgets and they can have specialized units that can provide much-needed support to member municipalities.

CHALLENGE:

This BAA addresses the challenge of improving delivery of essential services through clusters of municipalities in partnership with the private and not-for-profit sectors. USAID/Lebanon and selected participants will co-develop new ways to harness the power of science, technology, innovation, and partnership to design, develop, test, or evaluate new knowledge, tools, and approaches that engage groups of municipalities, the private and non-profit sectors, and other relevant stakeholders to deliver essential services more effectively. USAID seeks to work with selected participants to implement collaborative solutions that are sustainable, scalable, and impactful and that allow communities to lead their own locally-driven development journey towards sustainability of service delivery.

5 Arts. 49 and 50, Municipal Act, Decree-Law No.118. See English translation at https://www.pseau.org/outils/ouvrages/Ministry_of_interiror_and_municipalities_1977.pdf. Also see The Lebanese

Center for Policy Studies, About Administrative Decentralization in Lebanon, pp. 5,6, 19, 2015.

6 Democracy Reporting International, Reforming Decentralization in Lebanon: The State of Play, Briefing Paper

80, April 2017, p. 1. See www. Democracy-reporting.org.

https://www.pseau.org/outils/ouvrages/Ministry_of_interiror_and_municipalities_1977.pdf

Interested parties are strongly advised to incorporate approaches and interventions that address the following considerations into their proposed Expressions of Interest (EOI) submitted in response to this BAA:

● USAID/Lebanon strongly encourages approaches that promote Lebanon’s Journey to Self-

Reliance,7 which empowers host country governments and our partners to achieve locally-sustained results, helps countries mobilize public and private revenues, strengthens local capacities, and accelerates enterprise-driven development;

● Responsiveness to USAID’s Private Sector Engagement Policy8, which promotes an intentional shift toward enterprise-driven development as a more sustainable way to empower people, communities, and countries on their journey to self-reliance. Where appropriate, EOIs may consider utilizing existing USAID tools for engaging with the private sector, such as the

USAID Global Development Alliance (GDA)9 to develop and implement activities that leverage and apply our respective assets and expertise to advance core business interests, achieve USAID’s development objectives, and increase the sustainable impact of USAID's development investments;

● Contributions to the New Partnership Initiative (NPI),10 which engages new and underutilized partners, such as local entities, locally established partners, as well as new U.S.

and locally-based small businesses. The NPI also supports more facilitative partnerships and encourages leveraging significant private and/or non-U.S. government funding for effective local engagement;

● Leveraging of existing assistance activities under the Mission’s local development, economic growth, and education portfolios to increase the impact of assistance activities (see Attachment

1 for USAID/Lebanon’s Activity Fact Sheets for more information about its current assistance activities);

● Developing assistance approaches that complement and leverage the assistance interventions of other international development donors active in the field of local development, such as the

United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the United Nations (UN Development

Programme, UNHabitat, and the World Bank) and the European Union;

● Leveraging innovative approaches and technological advances that can provide break-through solutions to the challenges identified in the IDEAS BAA;

7 https://www.usaid.gov/selfreliance, 8 https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/private-sector-engagement 9 GDAs have been USAID’s premier model for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). USAID issued a Global

Development Alliance (GDA) Annual Program Statement (APS) Number APS-OAA-16-000001 to create a process for USAID and the private sector to advance core business interests and achieve sustainable development impact.

USAID seeks to partner with the private sector beyond the term of the GDA APS, which closes on March 27, 2020.

USAID invites the private sector—and organizations committed to engaging the private sector—to work with

USAID to analyze our respective interests and objectives in IDEAS, determine how those interests align, and jointly identify and define problems, challenges, and opportunities where we can develop transformation partnerships. To learn more about USAID PPPs and GDAs, see:

https://www.usaid.gov/gda/ 10 See Footnote 3 above.

https://www.usaid.gov/selfreliance https://www.usaid.gov/selfreliance https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/private-sector-engagement https://www.usaid.gov/npi/fact-sheet https://www.usaid.gov/selfreliance https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/private-sector-engagement

● Involving women and youth in assistance interventions that go beyond training activities by providing springboards for their future involvement as leaders at the local and national level;

● Emphasis on assistance interventions in rural areas across most of the country (North, South, Bekaa, and remote areas of Mount Lebanon) where needs are most urgent and communities are most vulnerable; and

● Alleviating tensions between host communities and Syrian refugees as well as between

Lebanese confessional communities competing over resources.

When developing EOIs, USAID encourages interested parties to review the Self-Reliance Metrics and Country Roadmap for Lebanon,11 which measures and depicts Lebanon’s capacity to plan, finance, and implement solutions to local development changes and its commitment to carry out these changes effectively, inclusively, and with accountability.

AREAS OF INTEREST:

USAID will bring together stakeholders from industry, civil society, research entities, government, implementing partners, and other donors in a co-creation process that will consider assistance interventions that address the Areas of Interest indicated below. The EOI must include a proposed

R&D intervention to address at least one or any combination of the three Areas listed below with the ultimate goal of improving service delivery by municipalities. These three Areas may be submitted as integrated or separate EOIs. There is no limit on the number of EOIs that may be submitted.

Although USAID/Lebanon is open to addressing other essential services covered under the

Municipal Act of Lebanon (118/1977), USAID anticipates focusing on the following essential services that lend themselves to collaboration among groups of municipalities based on scale. Due to existing programming and policy considerations, USAID will not consider assistance interventions in the educational and health sectors for this solicitation.

(1) Renewable electricity supply: The objective is to identify and employ economies of scale and networks of municipalities to increase the cost effectiveness, eco-friendliness, sustainability, and reliability of solar-powered systems and other types of eco-friendly energy systems to operate such public services as potable water, irrigation, house electricity, and others services that require electric power, at reduced costs. USAID/Lebanon strongly encourages the development of public-private partnerships between municipalities and the private and non-profit sectors for more effective coordination and cooperation in tackling this development challenge. Other

USAID/Lebanon projects working in this sector include the Building Alliances for Local

Advancement, Development and Investment (BALADI) Activities and Community Support

Program (CSP), which provide individual communities with solar-powered systems and generators to address the need for back up energy during significant blackout periods. (See

Attachment 1). Proposed programming ideas should consider leveraging these existing interventions to achieve a more robust assistance impact and to avoid programmatic overlaps.

11 https://selfreliance.usaid.gov/ https://selfreliance.usaid.gov/ https://selfreliance.usaid.gov/

III. The BAA Process

The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the concepts received and the availability of funds from USAID and other resource partners. Some award types, such as

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), may not include any funding. The award process under this BAA has the following steps:

STAGE 1 - SUBMISSION OF EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (EOIs)

Please submit your EOI(s) addressing the criteria below and indicating the research, new approaches, or development idea that address the problem and challenges sections above. Each

EOI should identify which area(s) of interests to be addressed, a description of proposed solutions with sufficient detail to demonstrate subject matter knowledge and feasibility of proposed interventions. Each EOI can address a single or any combination of the above-listed areas of interest. Applicants may also submit EOIs for other essential services, except for education- and health-related interventions, but must include concise and compelling justifications why USAID should consider assistance interventions in this area. Any applicant may submit more than one

EOI.

Interested parties are strongly encouraged to collaborate with other international and local private and non-profit sector organizations that bring differing perspectives and/or comparative technical and other specialized advantages to proposed interventions. In addition, applicants should describe any resource cost-share, matching, or leveraging if and as they see fit.

USAID will review the EOIs to determine the extent to which each one addresses the criteria/eligibility stated below. Not all organizations that submit an EOI will be invited to proceed to the next stage of the process. Due to the number of expected Expressions of Interest to be received, USAID is unable to provide details on why Expressions of Interest were not selected.

Please note that Round 1 focused on Area of Interest 2: Solid Waste Management due to the need to limit participants as a result of COVID-19. Organizations that have already submitted

EOIs for consideration in Round 1 related to Area of Interest 2: Solid Waste Management have been notified of whether they were or were not invited to participate in the co-creation workshop.

USAID/Lebanon will not consider future EOIs for Solid Waste Management after Round 1.

Organizations that have submitted EOIs for consideration in Round 1 related to Area of Interest

1: Renewable Electricity Supply and/or Area of Interest 3: Promoting Local Livelihoods

Opportunities, or a combination of AOIs, will be considered in Rounds 2, 3 or 4 and organizations do not need to resubmit their EOI for consideration. Should the organization wish to submit an additional EOI for consideration in Rounds 2, 3, and/or 4, organizations are encouraged to submit additional EOIs by the due dates for each Round.

Round 2 will focus on Area of Interest 1: Renewable Electricity Supply. The focus of Rounds 3 and 4 will be determined and the BAA will be amended to specify the applicable AOI after

Round 2 has closed.

Criteria for EOIs:

The following criteria will be applied to all EOIs:

1. Idea/Approach: Soundness of your idea/approach, including appropriate evidence, to fostering systems that address challenges and harness opportunities. USAID will focus on how the applicant contributes fresh, informed, and realistic thinking and uses supporting evidence and analysis to clearly demonstrate how the proposed idea will address the challenge. Equally important are the unique qualities that the applicant would bring to the discussion.

2. Partnership expectations and value: Strengths of the applicant as a partner to USAID, including your ability to make a unique contribution to the critical development challenge. USAID seeks the ability to connect relevant stakeholders as well as connecting with experts in nontraditional and diverse sectors. EOIs that include the use teaming agreements with U.S. small businesses, local entities, and minority-serving institutions are strongly encouraged, particularly those with specialized country and technical knowledge and expertise in the aforementioned areas of interest.

3. Diversity of perspectives and capabilities: USAID seeks to bring together a diverse set of co-creators to enable broader thinking and innovation, which may include organizations and entities with which USAID does not typically partner. Additionally, USAID values experience implementing adaptive and/or iterative activities, managing successful peer-to-peer networks, and catalyzing new ideas effectively. The selection of individual applicants will be made with the goal of achieving this diversity.

4. Impact and goals of the activities: Describe the intended outcomes and goals of the concept and how they relate to USAID’s policies and objectives.

5. Institutional reputation/past performance: USAID will consider the reputation of an organization and its past performance in assessing the ability of the organization to contribute to the co-creation.

USAID is not obligated to issue financial instruments or awards as a result of this BAA. USAID may at its discretion decide not to proceed with any EOI. USAID may invite submitters of EOIs to participate in one or more co-creation workshops with other successful applicants to develop basic research, applied research, and/or research and development/pilot activities jointly for potential funding. All applicants are encouraged to read the full announcement closely for guidance on the stages of co-creation. USAID will not pay for any EOI preparation costs. If a respondent does not follow the instructions set forth herein, the respondent’s EOI may be eliminated from further consideration.

STAGE 2 - CO-CREATION, CO-DEVELOPMENT, AND CO-INVESTMENT OF THE

CONCEPT PAPER

During Stage 2, key stakeholders will Co-Create potential solutions to the Problem/Challenge by brainstorming and proposing innovative solutions and use of resources, potentially leading to concept papers that USAID or other resource partners will consider for funding.

Co-Creation

USAID will review the EOIs and will select those organizations that USAID determines have addressed the criteria/eligibility stated in the BAA and to an extent that the organizations will make a significant contribution to the Co-Creation. The Co-Creation will also include USAID and other co-investment organizations that may be able to contribute cash and other resources, both tangible and intangible, such as in-kind contributions, expertise, intellectual property, brand value, high-value coordination, and/or access to key people, places, and information. For more information on co-creation and its design approaches, see https://usaidlearninglab.org/library/co-creation-discussion-note-ads-201.

Co-Creations may take the form of a workshop, conference, meeting, or other method at the discretion of the USAID. The specific date(s), time(s), and location(s) of the co-creation workshop(s) will be determined after the deadline for receipt of EOIs. Unless provided otherwise, organizations are responsible for all costs incurred by the organization to participate in the Co-

Creation.

Co-Development of Concept Papers

Working together, USAID and the potential partner(s) will collaborate on Concept Paper(s), taking a holistic approach to addressing the Problem/Challenge based on learnings from the Co-Creation and identifying creative approaches to resourcing projects. Such Concept Papers will consider and include additional implementing and co-investment partners to complement the project, including reasonable cost sharing, leverage, or other exchange of resource arrangements.

Not all organizations that participate in the Co-Creation may be invited to submit a Concept Paper for review by the Peer and Scientific Review Board (Stage 3). Concept Papers are generally 5-10 pages in length and provide sufficient further detail to explain the project.

Co-Investment of Concept Papers

Under this BAA USAID seeks to align its assistance objectives with partner know-how and experience and to facilitate the sharing of responsibility, risks, and resourcing. Shared resourcing requires that cash and other resources, both tangible and intangible, such as in-kind contributions, expertise, intellectual property, brand value, high-value coordination, and access to key people, places, and information, are directed towards reaching the solution to the Problem/Challenge. Co-investing does not require equal shared resources (such as 1:1 leverage), but rather resource contributions that are appropriate to the specific project’s objectives, considering the comparative advantages brought by the participation of each party.

Concept Papers must indicate what co-investment resources are available to bring to bear on the solution, including those from the submitting organization and those from other third party businesses, donors, foundations, or other organizations. Such resources include cash and other resources, both tangible and intangible, such as in-kind contributions, expertise, intellectual property, brand value, high-value coordination, and access to key people, places, and information.

https://usaidlearninglab.org/library/co-creation-discussion-note-ads-201 https://usaidlearninglab.org/library/co-creation-discussion-note-ads-201

STAGE 3 - REVIEW BY THE PEER AND SCIENTIFIC REVIEW BOARD

USAID and the organizations connected with each Concept Papers will present the Concept Paper to the Peer and Scientific Review Board, comprised of experts from USAID, partners, and/or outside parties. The Peer and Scientific Review Board will review Concept Papers and recommend which applicants should be considered Apparently Successful Partners. Using its technical expertise, the Peer and Scientific Review Board will recommend whether to move forward with the project, including revisions/additions to the project, and potential partners and resources.

Not all organizations that present a Concept Paper to the Peer and Scientific Review Board will be invited to move to Stage 4.

STAGE 4 - AWARD DETERMINATION

USAID will review the Peer and Scientific Review Board’s recommendations and consider other information, such as resource availability and Agency priorities, and will make a determination whether to move forward with a Concept Paper. For Concept Papers that demonstrate a valid innovation to address the Problem/Challenge Statement, the Contracting/Agreement Officer will assess the partner’s responsibility and identify the anticipated instrument type to facilitate project design.

Request for Additional Information. USAID will work with partners identified by the

Peer and Scientific Review Board and will co-design the project and assist the partner to provide additional information with respect to the proposer’s technical approach, capacity, management and organization, past performance, and budget, as well as representations and certifications, as needed.

Final Review and Negotiation. The USAID Contract/ Agreement Officer will engage in final review, negotiation, responsibility, cost reasonableness, etc. and will co-develop/craft an award instrument with the Apparently Successful Partner. If the Apparently Successful Applicant and

USAID cannot arrive at a mutually agreeable arrangement, USAID may cancel the project at no cost to the Government.

Award. Awards under this BAA will be made to the Apparently Successful Partners on the basis of their ability to achieve solutions to the Problems/Challenges, as provided herein. The standard clauses or provisions for awards are generally prescribed by law and regulation and will vary considerably by award type. Information regarding clauses and provisions will be offered to the

Apparently Successful Applicant when the award type is identified

IV. Additional Considerations

A. EOIs are not evaluated against other EOIs, but solely on whether USAID believes that the submitter will be a valuable contributor to the co-creation process. USAID may limit the number of initial submissions selected to move forward based on efficiencies.

B. Concept Papers are not evaluated against other Concept Papers but solely based on

USAID’s determination that a Concept Paper will successfully address the Problem and

Challenges set forth herein. USAID may limit the number of Concept Papers selected to move forward based on efficiencies.

C. Decisions regarding USAID’s pursuit of a particular project, technology, or relationship are based on all available information, evidence, data, and resulting analysis.

D. Eligibility Information. Public, private, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations, as well as institutions of higher education, public international organizations, non-governmental organizations, U.S. and non-U.S. governmental organizations, multilateral and international donor organizations are eligible under this BAA. All organizations must be determined to be responsive to the BAA and sufficiently responsible to perform or participate in the final award type.

E. The USAID/Lebanon Peer and Scientific Review Board will meet within 30 days of the submission due date for each Round to evaluate the EOIs. Applicants will be notified within 45 days of the submission due date for each Round on whether their EOI(s) will advance to the next phase.

F. Each Round will hold a co-creation session. USAID will consider Concept Papers for funding after each Round’s co-creation session. USAID is under no obligation to make an award under any Round and awards are subject to the availability of funding.

V. Specific Rights Reserved for the Government under this BAA

The Government reserves specific rights, in addition to rights described elsewhere in this document or by law or regulation, including:

1. The right to award multiple awards, a single award, or no awards.

2. The right to make award without discussions or to conduct discussions and/or negotiations, whichever is determined to be in the Government’s interest.

3. The right to accept proposals in their entirety or to select only portions of proposals for award or co-investment.

4. The right to select for award an instrument type that is appropriate to the specific development context, partner relationship, and proposal selected for award. Instruments types include, but are not limited to, contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, public-private partnerships, Inter-Agency Agreements, Government to Government Agreements, Donor to

Donor Agreements, and Memorandums of Understanding. In addition, the Government may craft a new instrument type to meet the needs of a specific relationship.

5. The right to co-create projects with one or more proposers under the BAA, when it is in the best interest of the Government.

6. The right to request any additional, necessary documentation upon initial review. Such additional information may include but is not limited to a further detailed proposal, budget, and representations and certifications.

7. The right to fund or co-invest in proposals in phases, with options for continued work at the end of one or more of the phases.

8. The right to award instruments under this BAA that do not commit or exchange monetary resources.

9. The right to remove organizations from the BAA process if USAID determines it is no longer in the best interests of the Government to proceed with the organization.

10. The right to determine the Area of Interest to be reviewed during each Round.

VI. Information Protection

USAID’s goal is to facilitate research and development that will lead to innovative, and potentially commercially viable, solutions. Understanding the sensitive nature of submitters’ information, USAID will work with organizations to protect intellectual property.

EOIs must be free of any intellectual property that submitter wishes to protect, as the EOI will be shared with USAID partners as part of the selection process. However, once submitters have been invited to advance beyond co-creation, submitters can work with USAID to identify proprietary information that requires protection.

Therefore, organizations making submissions under this BAA grant to USAID a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to use, disclose, reproduce, and prepare derivative works, and to have or permit others to do so to any information contained in the EOIs submitted under the

BAA. If USAID further engages with the organization regarding its submission, the parties can negotiate further intellectual property protection for the organization’s intellectual property.

Organizations must ensure that any submissions under this BAA are free of any third party proprietary data rights that would impact the license granted to USAID herein.

VII. Expression of Interest Information Formatting

Questions regarding the BAA must be submitted electronically by March 26, 2020 at 17:00 Beirut local time to Contracting/Agreement Officer Amy McQuade at IDEASBAALebanon@usaid.gov.

EOIs must:

A. Be in English, no more than 2 pages in length, and no smaller than 12 point font;

B. To be considered for participation in Round 1 of the BAA, EOIs must be submitted electronically to Contracting/Agreement Officer Amy McQuade at

IDEASBAALebanon@usaid.gov before April 24, 2020 at 17:00 EST. Closed

C. To be considered for participation in Round 2 of the BAA, EOIs must be submitted electronically to Contracting/Agreement Officer Amy McQuade at

IDEASBAALebanon@usaid.gov before January 11, 2021 at 17:00 EST.

D. To be considered for participation in Round 3 of the BAA, EOIs must be submitted electronically to Contracting/Agreement Officer Amy McQuade at

IDEASBAALebanon@usaid.gov before February 1, 2021 at 17:00 EST.

E. To be considered for participation in Round 4 of the BAA, EOIs must be submitted electronically to Contracting/Agreement Officer Amy McQuade at

IDEASBAALebanon@usaid.gov before March 17, 2021 at 17:00 EST.

F. Contain a header with the following information (not included in the page count; not to exceed 1 page):

a. Respondent Name/Group and Contact Information;

b. Response Title;

c. BAA Name/Number;

d. Optional graphic that fits on an 8.5”x11” or A4 piece of paper (not included in the page limit; not to exceed 1 page);

G. Be in .pdf, .docx, or .odf format mailto:IDEASBAALebanon@usaid.gov mailto:IDEASBAALebanon@usaid.gov