Attachment 3_ Pre Proposal Notes.pdf

Pre-Proposal Conference Notes

Conference Date: October 28, 2019

RFP #72038819R00018

USAID’s Esho Shikhi (Come & Learn)

AGENDA:

Time Description POC

9:00 AM Welcome from the Office of Acquisition and Assistance

(OAA), USAID/Bangladesh and a brief description on the purpose of the subject Pre-Proposal Conference

Abdullah Akbar, Contracting

Officer, OAA, USAID/Bangladesh

9:15 AM Brief overview about the USAID Esho Shikhi (Come &

Learn) Activity

Education Team, USAID/Bangladesh

9:30 AM Questions & Answers Education Team

10:00 AM Brief Presentation on the Solicitation and submission requirements

OAA

10:15 AM Questions & Answers OAA

10:45 AM Break

11:00 AM Questions & Answers OAA, Education Team

12:00 PM Closing Remarks Abdullah Akbar, Contracting

Officer, OAA

OPENING REMARKS

Abdullah Akbar, Contracting Officer, Office of Acquisition and Assistance welcomed all the participants from various organizations to the USAID Esho Shikhi (Come & Learn) Activity Pre-

Proposal Conference on October 28 th at the American Club, Dhaka. The CO began his remarks by thanking all the organizations for their interest and participation in the pre-proposal conference. The CO stated that the purpose of the pre-proposal conference is to provide an

“informal” forum for the potential organizations to ask questions and gain clarification on the requirements identified in the request for proposals. Pre-proposal conferences are conducted to explain the procurement requirements. Nothing stated at the pre-proposal conference would change the request for proposal unless a change is formally made by written addendum.

The CO highlighted the fact that this is a great opportunity for organizations to ask questions as well as make suggestions to USAID to consider in making changes to the RFP. Suggestions made will be reviewed and taken very seriously and incorporated as appropriate to the RFP for potential offerors to facilitate a better understanding of the requirements. The CO also said that questions not answered during the pre-proposal conference, would be noted, reviewed and posted online.

BRIEF OVERVIEW ABOUT THE USAID ESHO SHIKHI (COME & LEARN)

ACTIVITY:

Sudeb Kumar Biswas, Project Management Specialist, Office of Population, Health, Nutrition, and Education gave a brief presentation on the requirement and the context.

Purpose

The objective of the Esho Shikhi (“Come and Learn”) Activity is to improve the learning outcomes of marginalized Bangladeshi children in the crisis-affected district of Cox’s Bazar.

Scope

Esho Shikhi will target primary-age Bangladeshi children in Cox’s Bazar by providing tailored approaches to the unique needs of schools.

Period and Place of Performance

Esho Shikhi is a five-year activity estimated in the amount of $38.5 million that will be implemented in Cox’s Bazar district. Esho Shikhi will support “host communities,” defined as the upazilas (sub-districts) of Ukihya and Teknaf closest to the Rohingya camps, and/or support

“impacted communities,” meaning the other six upazilas of Cox’s Bazar.

Performance Objectives

The goal of Esho Shikhi is to improve student learning outcomes in select subject areas in target primary schools and/or communities in Cox’s Bazar district. The Contractor will provide services to achieve the following four results:

1. Learning opportunities increased.

2. Quality of education in selected subjects improved.

3. District, upazila, and community capacity to plan, manage, and oversee quality education increased.

4. School communities can mitigate or manage the effects of shocks and stressors on education access and quality.

Do No Harm

Interventions under Esho Shikhi must be conflict-sensitive and risk-informed. The principle of

“Do No Harm” must be incorporated into programming by keeping in mind the impact of education assistance on potential conflict.

Gender and Inclusion

USAID’s Education Policy prioritizes reaching marginalized and vulnerable children, especially girls and children with disabilities. Based on the gender and inclusion findings of the Community

Needs Assessments during activity start-up, Esho Shikhi will develop a Gender and Inclusion

Strategy that takes gender and inclusion considerations into account in activity work planning, implementation, monitoring, and staffing.

Government of Bangladesh

To support self-reliance in the education sector, Esho Shikhi must work through the governance structures of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and its implementing agencies at the local and central levels to implement its initiatives under Primary Education Development

Program (PEDP- 4) as a parallel project.

Grants under Contract

Grants under Contract are permitted under this award. Grants under contract will increase local ownership and built capacity within the sector. Support to local organizations is also critical to mitigate potential conflict drivers.

Sustainability

As highlighted in the USAID Education Policy: “measurable and sustainable improvements in students’ learning is our primary goal.” As such, it is critical that Esho Shikhi design and implement its activities in a way that supports the sustainability of results beyond the life of the activity.

Collaborating, Learning, and Adaptation

The Contractor must be able to rapidly incorporate changes in policy, adapt to the changing environment resulting from changes in context and donor involvement, and address emerging needs and evidence to ensure that activities are responsive to new realities.

Esho Shikhi will be implemented as a parallel project under Primary Education Development

Program (PEDP- 4) and the proposal has to be aligned with the PEDP- 4 program document.

That means, Esho Shikhi has to be aligned with the components and subcomponents of PEDP- 4.

The activity has to adapt to a cost effective model, as it will be key to embed any good practice into the regular government education system.

Sustainability will be another key focus area. The activity will be concentrated in the Cox's

Bazar district; with an aim to create best examples to spread across the country.

The Questions and Answers from the different sessions of the conference have been combined and written at the last section with some additional responses that were not provided during the session.

BRIEF REMARKS ON THE SOLICITATION AND SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

Abdullah Akbar, Contracting Officer, OAA/USAID/Bangladesh

Overview: The type of requirement document used in this solicitation is a Statement of

Objectives, whereby the U.S. Government is asking for offerors to describe “How” they will meet the requirements of the activity, in the form of a Performance Work Statement.

USAID is anticipating awarding a single-award holder Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity

(IDIQ) contract with a seven year base period, subject to the availability of funds and satisfactory performance. USAID anticipates that the maximum aggregate ordering limitation for contracts resulting from this RFP will be $38,500,000.00 over the five year ordering period. The specific sections of the RFP that the CO highlighted during the conference included the following:

Pages 12-13, Section B.7 9a) Unburdened Ceiling Daily Rates: Under an Indefinite Delivery

Indefinite Quantity contract ceiling daily rates are fixed for the contract period, and apply to all subcontractors. Actual salaries for all personnel will be negotiated under task orders and final approval is provided by the TOCO.

Page 22, Section E.3: A Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan is required in response to a performance-based acquisition. This is in addition to the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

Plan (Section E.4, page 23).

Page 24, Section F.2 Period of Performance: The period of performance for the IDIQ contract is

7 years. The Task Order ordering period is 5 years; task orders have a maximum period of performance of no more than 5 years, and cannot exceed the IDIQ contract end date.

Page 27, Section F.7.1 Reports- For the IDIQ contract and task order contracts.

Page 36, Section F. 7.2 Deliverables- Community Needs Assessment, PEA, Conflict Sensitivity

Assessments, Student Learning Assessments. The Student Learning Assessments (baseline, midline, and end line). The baseline data will become the basis for USAID and the contractor to negotiate activity targets.

Page 38, Section F.8 Task Ordering Procedure and Administration: Offerors should become familiar with this text.

Page 128, Section L.5 General Instructions to Offerors: Subparagraph (d) Offer Acceptability should be followed while submitting proposals.

Page 129, Section L.7 Submission/Delivery Instructions: Subparagraph (b) questions submitted by November 7 th

4:30 local time. Subparagraph (c) closing date and time- Dec. 5 th

4:30 local time. Subparagraph (d) preparation of e-mails containing Offeror’s Proposals. Subparagraph (g)

Reference Materials.

Page 131, Section L.8 Instructions for the Preparation of the Technical Proposal

Page 138, Section L.10 Instructions for the Preparation of the Cost Proposal

Pages 151-155, Section M Evaluation Factors for Award

Doing Business with USAID: https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/how-to-work-with-usaid and https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/Doing_Business_with_USAID_7.29.1

9_1.pdf

1. Registration Requirements

2. Identifying Funding Opportunities

3. Tips for submitting Proposals

All offers should remain valid for 210 days.

https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/how-to-work-with-usaid https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/Doing_Business_with_USAID_7.29.19_1.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/Doing_Business_with_USAID_7.29.19_1.pdf

Pre-Proposal Conference: Questions asked have been reiterated here. In addition to the responses given during the conference, the notes also reflect USAID’s current position on queries received.

Q: Is pre-primary included in this activity or not? Is there any technical rationale for not including pre-primary and ECD in this activity?

A: It is not included in this activity as per the Statement of Objectives, “Esho Shikhi will not work at the pre-primary level”. Pre-primary-age education is not included in this activity because the previous USAID global education strategy did not include it as a priority, and the

Agency does not have any recent experience of working in this arena in Bangladesh.

After receiving this question at the pre proposal conference, the USAID/Bangladesh Education

Team has re-considered its position on this issue. The team now believes there is good justification for including pre-primary for the sake of ensuring better access to education and quality. USAID now welcomes offerors to include the Pre-Primary level as well as ECD (Early

Childhood Development) in their proposals. Please see attached Amendment to RFP.

Q: Is this activity for the whole Cox’s Bazar or for selective areas/upazilas?

A: It was initially planned for the district of Cox’s Bazar only. As referenced in the SOO, “Esho

Shikhi is a five-year activity that will be implemented in Cox’s Bazar district. Esho Shikhi will support “host communities,” defined as the upazilas (sub-districts) of Ukihya and Teknaf closest to the Rohingya camps, and/or support “impacted communities,” meaning the other six upazilas of Cox’s Bazar that are also experiencing the socio-economic stressors of the Rohingya influx.”

Please see attached Amendment to RFP. USAID proposes to expand the geographical location to include Bandarban, which is also affected by the refugee influx as the neighboring district of

Cox’s Bazar, especially the upazilas close to Cox’s Bazar (Alikadam, Naikhonchari and

Thanchi).

Q: Will this activity cover all grades of primary? And is this only for Government schools? How is this activity planning to reach out-of-school children?

A: As the Statement of Objectives mentions, “The beneficiaries may be children in grades one through five in government primary schools, low-fee private schools, non-governmental organization (NGO) schools, alia madrasahs, non-formal schools, and/or other alternative education for out-of-school children of primary age.”

As stated in the SOO, beneficiaries may be children in grades 1 through 5 in government primary schools, but the SOO also gives the option of going beyond government primary schools. This will largely depend on offerors as to why and how they will be incorporating the beneficiaries in their proposals. Any innovative idea/alternative approach would be beneficial for the activity in reaching hard to reach learners.

Q: Please clarify result 4.

A: This is more in line with Disaster Response Management (DRM) considering Cox’s Bazar as a disaster prone area and how to mitigate the stress due to the refugee influx. It is clearly defined in the SOO and please also consult Rapid Education and Risk Analysis (RERA) report. The SOO states, “Under this component, the Contractor will strengthen school communities’ ability to understand and be resilient to the range of contextual risks present in Cox’s Bazar. As identified in the Rapid Education and Risk Analysis, these risks include preparedness for natural hazards, social cohesion, and collaboration between the school and community.” ‘Social cohesion’ DOES

NOT refer to social cohesion between the host and the refugee community. This activity and its intervention will be confined to the host community.

Q: Do we need to submit ‘gender and inclusion strategy’ within 60 days, or after doing the need assessment?

A: This requirement has been revised. Please see attached Amendment.

Q: The activities stated on Page 161, Preliminary Performance Objectives, is the assumption to conduct this under Task Order 1?

A: Yes

Q: What is the expected weighting or point allocation between the criteria listed on page 151 of the RFP? Which one should be given more importance between technical and financial? Could

USAID assign weightage on evaluation criteria?

A: As the RFP states under M.2 Technical Proposal Evaluation, “Technical Approach” is the most important factor. “Management Approach and Staffing Plan,” “Institutional Capability,” and “Contractor Performance Information” are of equal weight.

The proposal will be evaluated in accordance with FAR Part 15. The technical evaluation committee will use adjectival ratings when evaluating the factors and overall proposal. All evaluation factors other than cost or price, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price.

Q. The rationale behind the contract type mechanism, IDIQ?

A: This activity was initially contemplated to be a single award in the form of a contract.

However, as USAID went through multiple reviews, it was observed that as specific target numbers are unknown, and the implementation approach dependent upon multiple assessments, an IDIQ contract would be appropriate. Also, the projected task orders are so integrally related that only a single contractor can reasonably perform the work and therefore, a multiple award

IDIQ contract would not be in the best interest of the Government.

Q: Classification of task orders.

A: Whether a task order contract type will be cost reimbursement or fixed price will be determined at the RFTOP and TO negotiation stage.

Q: Could you please explain ‘Cohort’?

A: A total number of beneficiaries/target population of Esho Shikhi would be divided into several time periods and ‘Cohort’ refers to each time period to reach out to a specific target number.

Q: In terms of presentation do you expect us to propose ‘how to do the work’ as well as ‘how much to do’?

Answer: This is a Statement of Objectives and offeror will propose a Performance Work

Statement that would include what the Offeror commits to do to achieve the expected results in the Statement of Objectives, including “how to do the work”. How much to do will be determined at the task order level.

Q. Does USAID want the Management Plan to be fixed at the Task Order 1 level or it can be different for different task orders.

A: Please see section L.9 Management Approach and Staffing Plan

‘The Offeror must include a Management Approach and Staffing Plan that clearly describes how the technical experience, operational assets, and organizational structure of the Offeror will achieve the SOO objectives.’

Q. The ceiling for unburdened rates, will USAID provide Labor categories for which it will be applicable?

A: The Offeror will propose a ceiling for unburdened rates as well as the labor categories, as applicable.

Q: Do we need to provide bio-data of technical staff only or of all admin staff?

A: Biographical Data Sheets (Complete form of Attachment J.5) are required for all long-term and short-term expatriate personnel and all long and short-term cooperating country personnel being proposed.

Q: Should the offeror propose illustrative key personnel?

A. Yes

Q: How is USAID thinking of embedding into the government considering Result 3?

A. The Esho Shikhi activity would be aligned with Education in Emergencies component, which is 2.7 of the PEDP- 4 program document. Any exemplary good practice would be embedded into the regular government education system and that will require continuous advocacy with GoB.

The proposal requires to clearly highlight how that can be done. As written in the SOO, “As highlighted in the USAID Education Policy: “measurable and sustainable improvements in students’ learning is our primary goal.” As such, it is critical that Esho Shikhi design and implement its activities in a way that supports the sustainability of results beyond the life of the activity. To achieve this goal, interventions must be country-owned and must leave lasting, integrated impacts at the activity’s end, including the ability of stakeholders and local counterparts to sustainably finance and equitably deliver services that measurably improve learning outcomes.”

Q: Do you mean ‘evaluation plan’ as ‘MEL’ plan?

A. Yes, it is within MEL.

Q: Should Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan be reflective to MEL Plan?

A. These are separate plans, but there has to be a close link between the two. So, the response is

“Yes”.

Q: Do we need to provide an indicators list as an annex, or inside the MEL plan?

A: It will be inside the MEL plan

Q: The Environment Checklist: if any template could be shared?

As the IEE states “Environmental Manual: Prior to the implementation of activities that received a negative determination with conditions in this IEE, the implementer shall develop a practical, easy-to-use environmental manual, which should include: screening, selection and eligibility criteria, forms for climate risk screening, engineering verification, an environmental review checklist and review report, and a Framework Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan.

To prepare this environmental manual, the implementing partner will follow environmental guidelines for small-scale activities (available at: www.usaidgems.org18) and sample environmental manuals approved for other USAID/Bangladesh activities. Activities involving potable water supply shall ensure compliance with national quality.” As this is a post award requirement, USAID will be able to share the customized environment review form and/or checklist as required for the activity.

Q: How to consider other ongoing education activities (USAID/other) of Cox’s Bazar?

A. It will be prudent not to duplicate any ongoing activities in Cox’s Bazar; but rather build on the existing best practices.

Q: Is it mandatory to mention ‘how to engage the private sector’ in the proposal? Do we have to specify the names of the private org. in the proposal?

A. Yes, it is mandatory to describe private sector engagement, but not required to provide names at this stage.

Q: Are there any age limits or category fixed for this activity?

A. Per the policies and laws of the country, age range for formal primary education is 6- 10 years, excluding Pre-Primary as per the National Education Policy 2010. Per the Non-Formal

Education Act 2014 of Bangladesh, the out- of-school children age range is between 8-14 years.

Q: If further detail could be given about the Social Cohesion element.

A. Social cohesion refers to the host community/Bangladesh community living in Cox’s Bazar.

There shall NOT be any link of the host community with the refugee community.

Q: Should CLA be integrated within QASP?

A. The CLA element is more relevant to MEL; however, the offeror can propose as seen relevant.

Q: Should the Social cohesion element be focused to Refugee and/or host community?

A. It will be within the host community. As per the SOO, “The Activity will not target services to the Rohingya people living in the refugee camps because other U.S. government resources are specifically designed to support refugees.”- (page 1)

Q: How USAID is thinking of aligning this activity to PEDP4?

A. Offerors are requested to prepare their proposals after consulting PEDP- 4 program documents. It can be aligned with the Education in Emergencies component of PEDP- 4.

Q: What do you mean by ‘selected subjects’?

A. USAID will not limit learning to any particular subject, i.e., math, reading; offeror will propose the subject(s) with strong rationale/ justification.

Q: Would USAID be willing to provide CDR labor categories, detailing which types of technical experts USAID would like offerors to propose CDRs for?

A: Offerors are required to propose the CDR labor categories as appropriate to support their technical approach and proposal.

Q: Could USAID remove the requirement to price out the entire IDIQ by component for the

IDIQ-level proposal since the individual TO SOWs are expected to be demand-driven and developed over the IDIQ period of performance?

A: The requirement has been revised. Please see amendment to the RFP.

Closing Remarks from the Contracting Officer:

This is the Mission’s initial opportunity in issuing an RFP for an IDIQ contract.

USAID/Bangladesh looks forward to receiving the questions by November 7 th

, and will work on posting responses to questions as soon as possible. The objective of this activity is to improve the education status of the children of Cox’s Bazar which is expected to make an impact on the education system across the country. USAID thanks everyone who participated in the conference.