Attachment 3_Revised RFP no. 72047220R00001_USAID Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for Good Governance_track changes.pdf

Issuance Date: October 22, 2019 Questions Due Date: October 30, 2019 Questions Due Time: 4:00 PM, Bangkok time Pre-proposal Conference: November 6, 2019 Closing Date: November 29, 2019 Closing Time: 4:00 PM, Bangkok time

SUBJECT: Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 72047220R00001 USAID/Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for Good Governance

Dear Prospective Offerors:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Mission in Timor-Leste (USAID/Timor-Leste) is seeking proposals from U.S. or non-U.S. non-profit or for-profit organizations to achieve the objectives set forth in the attached Request for Proposals (RFP). USAID anticipates awarding one performance-based, firm fixed-price and cost reimbursement hybrid type contract with a five-year period of performance. USAID is utilizing a build-to-budget model for this acquisition and $9.9 million is the amount of total funding reserved for this activity.

This procurement will be conducted under full and open competition procedures, pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15, (48 CFR Chapter 1). If your organization decides to submit a proposal in response to this solicitation, it must be submitted in accordance with Section L - Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors. The Offeror must also carefully review Section M - Evaluation Criteria. Sections B through I of the solicitation will become a substantive part of the anticipated contract with areas to be completed by the Contracting Officer upon award. Section K - Representations, Certifications and Acknowledgements must be completed by the Offeror in full.

This RFP can be viewed and downloaded from www.fbo.gov. USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. Further, be aware that amendments to solicitations are occasionally issued and will be posted on the same website from which you downloaded this solicitation. USAID advises interested parties to regularly check the above website for amendments.

Pre-Proposal Conference: USAID will host a pre-proposal conference to provide potential Offerors with more information on what USAID is seeking, ask questions, and provide an opportunity for potential Offerors to network with potential partners. The conference will be held in Dili, Timor-Leste, on November 6, 2019, from 9:00am to 12.00 am. The venue of the conference will be provided in an amendment to this solicitation. All interested participants are welcome to attend to help understand USAID’s objectives for this activity and understand the procurement process. Please RSVP to Suthicha Chussananalin at the email schussananalin@usaid.gov and Trinitas M. E. Endo at tendo@usaid.gov.

This RFP in no way obligates USAID to award a contract nor does it commit USAID to pay any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal. Award of a contract under this RFP is subject to availability of funds and other internal USAID approvals.

http://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.fedbizopps.gov/ mailto:schussananalin@usaid.gov mailto:tendo@usaid.gov

USAID appreciates the time and effort put into preparing proposals in response to this solicitation.

Sincerely, /s/

Gregory Wang Regional Agreement/Contracting Officer USAID/RDMA, Bangkok, Thailand

SOLICITATION, OFFER AND AWARD

1. THIS CONTRACT IS A RATED ORDER

UNDER DPAS (15 CFR 700)

RATING

N/A

PAGE OF PAGES

2 95

2. CONTRACT NUMBER 3. SOLICITATION NUMBER

72047220R00001

4. TYPE OF SOLICITATION

SEALED BID (IFB)

X NEGOTIATED (RFP)

5. DATE ISSUED

October 22, 2019

6. REQUISITION/PURCHASE NUMBER

7. ISSUED BY CODE 8. ADDRESS OFFER TO (If other than Item 7)

USAID/RDMA

NOTE: In sealed bid solicitations "offer" and "offeror" mean "bid" and "bidder".

SOLICITATION

9. Sealed offers in original and copies for furnishing the supplies or services in the Schedule will be received at the place specified in Item 8, or if handcarried, in the depository located in until local time

(Hour) (Date) CAUTION - LATE Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals: See Section L, Provision No. 52.214-7 or 52.215-1. All Offers are subject to all terms and conditions contained in this solicitation.

10. FOR INFORMATION CALL: A. NAME

Gregory S. Wang

B. TELEPHONE (NO COLLECT CALLS) C. E-MAIL ADDRESS

gwang@usaid.gov

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

11. TABLE OF CONTENTS See Attached Table of Contents

(X) SEC. DESCRIPTION PAGE(S) (X) SEC. DESCRIPTION PAGE(S)

PART I - THE SCHEDULE PART II - CONTRACT CLAUSES

X A SOLICITATION/CONTRACT FORM X I CONTRACT CLAUSES

X B SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS PART III - LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS AND OTHER ATTACH.

C DESCRIPTION/SPECS./WORK STATEMENT X J LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

X D PACKAGING AND MARKING PART IV - REPRESENTATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS

X E INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

X

K

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER

STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS

X F DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

X G CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA X L INSTR., CONDS., AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

X H SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS X M EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

OFFER (Must be fully completed by offeror) NOTE: Item 12 does not apply if the solicitation includes the provisions at 52.214-16, Minimum Bid Acceptance Period.

12. In compliance with the above, the undersigned agrees, if this offer is accepted within calendar days (60 calendar days unless a different period is inserted by the offeror) from the date for receipt of offers specified above, to furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the price set opposite each item, delivered at the designated point(s), within the time specified in the schedule.

13. DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

(See Section I, Clause No. 52-232-8)

10 CALENDAR DAYS (%) 20 CALENDAR DAYS (%) 30 CALENDAR DAYS (%) CALENDAR DAYS (%)

14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF AMENDMENTS

(The offeror acknowledges receipt of amendments to the SOLICITATION for offerors and related documents numbered and dated:

AMENDMENT NO. DATE AMENDMENT NO. DATE

15A. NAME AND

ADDRESS

OF OFFEROR

CODE

FACILITY

16. NAME AND TITLE OF PERSON AUTHORIZED TO SIGN OFFER

(Type or print)

15B. TELEPHONE NUMBER

15C. CHECK IF REMITTANCE ADDRESS IS DIFFERENT FROM

ABOVE - ENTER SUCH ADDRESS IN SCHEDULE

17. SIGNATURE 18. OFFER DATE

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

AWARD (To be completed by Government)

19. ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS NUMBERED 20. AMOUNT 21. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION

22. AUTHORITY FOR USING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

10 U.S.C. 2304(a) ( ) 41 U.S.C. 253(c) ( )

23. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN

(4 copies unless otherwise specified)

ITEM

24. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 7) CODE 25. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE BY CODE

USAID Regional Development Mission Asia (RDMA) Bangkok, Thailand

Office of Financial Management

USAID/RDMA

Athenee Tower, 25th Floor Bangkok, 10330 Thailand

26. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print) 27. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Gregory S. Wang (Signature of Contracting Officer)

28. AWARD DATE

IMPORTANT - Award will be made on this Form, or on Standard Form 26, or by other authorized official written notice.

STANDARD FORM 33 (REV. 9-97)

mailto:%20gwang@usaid.gov

RFP No.: 72047220R00001

PART I—THE SCHEDULE

SECTION B—SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS

B.1 PURPOSE

The purpose of the Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for Good Governance Activity is to expand the Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) enabling environment and strengthen the organizational, research, networking, and financial capacity for 5-10 mid-level local advocacy NGOs in Timor-Leste to provide increased evidence-based, sustainable advocacy services on behalf of citizens.

B.2 CONTRACT TYPE

This is a firm fixed-price (FFP) contract and cost reimbursement hybrid contract. For the FFP CLIN in the contract, the Contractor must provide the deliverables and results described in Section C and Section F of the contract. For the cost CLIN for grants under contract, reimbursement is based on the approved incurred costs for awarded grants under the contract. The Contractor must also comply with all other contract requirements.

B.3 PRICE

Description Total ($)

001: USAID/Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for Good Governance [TBD]

002: Grants Under Contract (GUC) Not to exceed

$650,000

Total Price

[TBD]

Not to exceed $9.9 million

B.4 OBLIGATED AMOUNT

a. For CLIN 001, the amount obligated is [TBD] for supplies/services to be provided as deliverables in the Payment Schedule through the period of performance of Year 1.

The Contractor must not begin performance on goods/services, and the Government will not accept supplies/services outside of the stated period of performance of obligated funding. The Contracting Officer will provide the Contractor notice, to be confirmed in writing, that funds are available for additional work of this contract.

b. For CLIN 002, the amount obligated is [TBD] for grants under contract.

B.5 PAYMENT SCHEDULE

The contractor is eligible to invoice in accordance with the following schedule for CLIN 001:

NO. DUE DATE

MANAGEMENT REPORT/

DELIVERABLE PERCENTAGE

TOTAL

COSTPRICE

Management Outputs

1 See Section F.5

Approval of Annual Work Plan -Year 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

1.25%

(.25% / year) TBD

2 See Section F.5 Approval of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan .25% TBD

3 See Section F.5 Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Analysis .25% TBD

4 See Section F.5 Approval of Annual Reports -Years 1, 2, 3, and 4

1% (.25% / year) TBD

5 See Section F.5 Approval of Final Report .25% TBD

Performance Outputs

5 TBD TBD TBD TBD

6 TBD TBD TBD TBD

7 TBD TBD TBD TBD

[TBD -– Performance Outputs will be inserted here at time of the award Payment schedule tied to deliverables will be inserted here at the time of award.]

B.6 COST REIMBURSABLE

The allowable costs for reimbursement under CLIN 002 are limited to reasonable, allocable, and necessary costs determined in accordance with FAR 52.216-7, Allowable Cost and Payment, and AIRDAR 752.7003, Documentation for Payment.

B.7 CANCELLATION CEILING AND MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT

This contract is a multi-year contract as defined in FAR 17.103. Consequently, this contract is subject to the requirements of FAR 17.106. In the event of cancellation, the Government will negotiate a settlement for work performed in accordance with the procedures of FAR Part 52.249-2 Termination for Convenience of the Government (Fixed-Price) (APR 2012).

Cancellation Dates/Ceiling Amounts:

Contract Year 2 Ceiling Amount: 7% of contract total price.

Contract Year 3 Ceiling Amount: 5% of contract total price.

Contract Year 4 Ceiling Amount: 3% of contract total price.

Contract Year 5 Ceiling Amount: 2% of contract total price.

Contract Year 2 Ceiling Amount: 20% of contract total price but not to exceed the obligated funding.

Contract Year 3 Ceiling Amount: 15% of contract total price but not to exceed the obligated funding.

Contract Year 4 Ceiling Amount: 10% of contract total price but not to exceed the obligated funding.

Contract Year 5 Ceiling Amount: 5% of contract total price but not to exceed the obligated funding.

[END OF SECTION B]

SECTION C— DESCRIPTION/PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

TITLE OF ACTIVITY

USAID/Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for Good Governance

PURPOSE

The purpose of the Activity is to expand the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) enabling environment and strengthen the organizational, research, networking, and financial capacity for 5-10 mid-level local advocacy NGOs in Timor-Leste to provide increased evidence-based, sustainable advocacy services on behalf of citizens. A robust NGO sector is foundational to a democratically-governed, rules-based state.1 High quality and sustainable NGO advocacy services can help hold the government accountable and be transparent and responsive to the public interest, while supporting sound, just, and responsive governance in the region. The Activity will strengthen democratic systems to help the country advance on their road to sustainability. The Activity is expected to be funded with $5-9.9 million for up to 5 years.

BACKGROUND

The Timor-Leste NGO Sector

In 2002, Timor-Leste emerged from a 24-year occupation, and now after 17 years, the nation remains committed to defending democracy including an enabling environment for NGOs. As of 2018 about 350 NGOs were registered with the NGO Forum of Timor-Leste or Forum ONG Timor-Leste (FONGTIL) that serves as an umbrella organization for all NGOs in Timor-Leste. NGOs must register with the Minister of Justice. Some NGOs provide services to include health, education, and legal assistance, and other NGOs advocate for democratic approaches for land, justice, education, and other issues. NGOs operate nationally and sub-nationally. Women hold very few visible leadership and decision making roles in NGOs.

The Government of Timor-Leste (GOTL) recognizes the important role of civil society and NGOs in promoting a healthy and inclusive democracy and fighting poverty. The IV Constitutional Government implemented a multidimensional approach to poverty and promoted collaboration between the public sector and civil society. The partnership among the state, the church, and civil society may open opportunities.2 In response, the GOTL has provided financial assistance to civil society inclusive of NGOs since 2008. The assistance is managed by the Civil Society Support Office under the Office of the Prime Minister. The government and parliament often consult civil society broadly and NGOs specifically regarding policies, regulations, and draft laws. In addition, NGOs serve on some government working groups or state councils, for example the Petroleum Fund Consultative Council.

The VI Constitutional Government initiated a social audit program where NGOs conducted social audits of government health, agriculture, infrastructure, and education programs. The commitment to partner with NGOs continues under the VIII Constitutional Government that aspires to increase NGOs’ involvement in governance.3

Challenges

Many NGOs emerged in 1999 to fill the vacuum of a non-functioning government and help distribute emergency assistance. Some NGOs that exist today continue to provide services, oversight, and advocacy. Too few NGOs demonstrate strong internal organizational capacity to effectively and efficiently articulate and implement their mandate. This is partly due to competing priorities for limited

1 https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1866/USAID-DRG_fina-_6-24-31.pdf 2 http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=16&lang=en 3 http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=19915&lang=en https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1866/USAID-DRG_fina-_6-24-31.pdf http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=16&lang=en http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=19915&lang=en resources between providing services for their constituents or organizational development. Prior development assistance often did not include resources for organizational development, were short-term, and theme focused. The GOTL and some development partners provide grants for technical training and ad-hoc organizational strengthening training as a prerequisite for NGOs to implement a grant. However, this training often lacks a consistent, comprehensive, and long-term approach.

Organizational development is not often continued by the NGOs after the end of funding assistance.

NGO leaders have strong technical expertise (legal degrees, for example) which needs to be complemented with organizational development. Staff retention has and continues to be problematic.

An educated, well-trained, experienced NGO staff is often recruited away with higher salaries, further contributing to a capacity vacuum. Inadequate internal controls leave NGOs vulnerable to fiscal governance and credibility issues. Women’s employment as NGO decision makers and their access to NGO services is hindered by gender inequality.4

NGOs strive to play an important role in overseeing government activities. Some NGOs are involved in policy debate and monitoring of government services while providing feedback and recommendations to strengthen public policy and/or government service delivery. Nascent networks exist for certain sectors, for example in land and education and better data analysis, advocacy, research, and networking would help NGOs prepare high-quality evidence-based recommendations and further influence national and sub-national policy. NGOs inconsistently provide quality, sustainable advocacy services and lack transparent processes for identifying and prioritizing constituents and issues. Some advocacy issues are donor-driven. Citizens have issues but often are unaware what NGO can do to help and how to contact them. NGOs too infrequently explain their roles and mandates to citizens. NGOs often use informal rather than formal mechanisms to research issues and make recommendations while fulfilling their oversight roles.

Many Timorese NGOs rely on development partners for funding and don’t leverage funds from different sources. The GOTL has provided financial assistance to civil society, of which about 20 percent of those funds for NGOs were used to support short term activities. Most development partners do not fund NGO’s administrative and operational costs. Local NGOs generate very little additional revenue. The lack of sustainable and varied funding often undermines many NGOs’ intent to effectively administer activities, develop long-term plans, and retain staff.

The NGO enabling environment in Timor-Leste is relatively open and free. NGOs can generally express their opinions and present recommendations to government institutions without fear of retribution. In addition, Decree Law 5/2005 on Non-Profit-Making Corporate Bodies passed in 2005 regulates the operations of NGOs. The Ministry of Justice issued an extra-legal administrative guideline that required NGOs and non-profit organizations to have $45,000 in capital to be eligible to register, but in 2012 FONGTIL successfully advocated to remove this requirement allowing more NGOs to be eligible to register as a non-profit under the law.5 Nonetheless, NGOs find it difficult to verify data from institutions that are often reluctant to release information. Influencing policy is often very difficult. For example, recommendations on draft laws are submitted but there is no certainty that the recommendations are under consideration. Many NGOs face difficulty monitoring the impact of their recommendations to public institutions. Further promoting an enabling environment responsive to NGOs as they mature and increasingly provide evidence-based advocacy services across a range of sectors must be addressed throughout activity implementation.6

USAID Strategy and Collaboration with Other Donors

The Activity supports the USAID/Timor-Leste’s Development Objective: Institutional and Human Capacity for Development Strengthened to improve the lives of Timor-Leste’s Citizens under the USAID/Timor-Leste’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy, 2013-2020, Intermediate Results (IR) 2 - Increased Capacity to Deliver Responsive Services at National and Sub‐national Levels, Sub‐ IR2.3: Increased community and citizen engagement with government and local institutions.

4 https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/UnderstandingVAWTL_main.pdf 5 https://www.adb.org/publications/civil-society-brief-timor-leste 6 https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1866/USAID-DRG_fina-_6-24-31.pdf https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/UnderstandingVAWTL_main.pdf https://www.adb.org/publications/civil-society-brief-timor-leste https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1866/USAID-DRG_fina-_6-24-31.pdf

The Activity supports the country’s Journey to Self-Reliance by advancing the ability of the government, civil society, and the private sector, to plan, finance, and implement solutions to its development challenges. Self-reliance is driven by two closely-related elements: commitment and capacity7,8. The Activity will help NGOs employ an evidence-based approach to influence policy and legislation to promote democratic norms, including a transparent and accountable government.

The Activity supports the governance pillar of the Indo Pacific Vision, particularly strengthening democratic systems to promote sound, just, and responsive, governance through efforts to counter corruption, while encouraging strong civil society which will contribute to an open, transparent, and rules-based Indo-Pacific.9

The Activity is designed to be implemented in-sync with the GOTL, civil society, development partners, and other stakeholders while respecting local knowledge and context, and international best practices.

Since 2008 the GOTL has been providing financial assistance to civil society including NGOs. USAID has supported organizational development, inclusive of NGOs, with indirect and direct assistance.10,11 Recent USAID activities supported service delivery, advocacy, and some capacity development to ensure compliance with USAID grants.12,13 A number of development partners including the European Union,14 the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT),15 and others have been supporting NGOs improve service delivery and/or advocacy efforts.

THEORY OF CHANGE

The broad theory of change that this activity contributes to is that:

IF advocacy NGOs have strong organizational, research, and networking capacity to identify and prioritize constituents and issues;

IF advocacy NGOs provide high-quality, evidence-based advocacy and other sustainable services on behalf of their constituents; and IF the government enables a robust and independent NGO sector;

THEN NGOs can compete for diverse and regular revenue streams and help hold the government accountable, transparent, and responsive to the public interest.

GOAL, OBJECTIVES, AND RESULTS

ACTIVITY GOAL

The goal of this Activity is to strengthen the organizational, advocacy, research, networking, and financial capacity of 5-10 local advocacy NGOs in Timor-Leste while expanding the broader NGO enabling environment. Participating NGOs will be more responsive to community demand by providing sustainable high-quality advocacy services and independently raising long-term operating revenue.

OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS

Objective 1: Strengthen NGO Organizational Capacity Build organizational capacity of the participating NGOs with a methodology and indicators that track progress improving organizational performance which could include strengthening the structures, policies, and procedures of the NGO.16

7 https://www.usaid.gov/selfreliance 8 https://selfreliance.usaid.gov/country/timor-leste 9 https://www.usaid.gov/indo-pacific-vision/usaid-strategic-approach 10 https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACF509.pdf 11 https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACL747.pdf 12 https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00SXRK.pdf 13 https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00T6VF.pdf 14 https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/roadmap_final.pdf 15 https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/timor-leste-aid-investment-plan-2015-19.pdf 16 https://usaidlearninglab.org/library/measuring-organizational-capacity https://www.usaid.gov/selfreliance https://selfreliance.usaid.gov/country/timor-leste https://www.usaid.gov/indo-pacific-vision/usaid-strategic-approach https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACF509.pdf https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACL747.pdf https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00SXRK.pdf https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00T6VF.pdf https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/roadmap_final.pdf https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/timor-leste-aid-investment-plan-2015-19.pdf https://usaidlearninglab.org/library/measuring-organizational-capacity

Results:

● Organizational capacity for participating NGOs to sustainably implement their mandate improved;

● NGOs demonstrate a commitment to integrating women, youth, and other marginalized groups throughout the organization;

● Participating NGOs adopt human resource systems with gender-neutral hiring and promotion policies that include professional mentoring and leadership opportunities for women and other marginalized groups.

Objective 2: Improve Advocacy, Research/Analysis, and Networking Capacity in Response to Constituents

Assist the participating NGOs to identify constituent advocacy issues through outreach activities, constituent engagement campaigns, and/or learning and adapting mechanisms for NGOs to improve their responsiveness to constituents. Strengthen the NGOs’ research and analysis capacity leading to high-quality, evidenced based advocacy services for transparently selecting issues on behalf of their selected constituents and improve the quality of their advocacy services but not unduly influence the NGO’s selected position. Provide technical assistance to help the participating NGO network regionally and nationally to maximize their respective comparative advantage.

Results:

● Community awareness of and satisfaction with participating NGO advocacy services increased;

● Participating NGOs engagement with and responsiveness to constituents, particularly women, youth, and other marginalized groups increased;

● Participating NGOs adapt and respond to constituent input;

● Participating NGOs knowledge and expertise for research, policy analysis, and use of evidence based advocacy increased;

● Participating NGOs research, analysis, and presentation (e.g. writing and speaking) skills improved;

● Like-minded NGOs effectively collaborate to influence policy, responsiveness, and/or delivery of government services;

Objective 3: More Diverse and Regular Revenue Streams Build capacity of the participating NGOs for mobilizing more diverse and regular resource streams such as identifying fundraising priorities of potential funders, meeting with potential funders, developing robust accounting mechanisms, and improving fundraising communication. Potential funders may include the GOTL, constituents, development partners, the private sector, philanthropists, and others.

Results:

● Performance of participating NGOs in mobilizing financial resources improved;

● Sustainable revenue received from alternative funders e.g. the private sector, philanthropists increased;

● Participating NGOs use market-based approaches to attract investment as a means to accelerate progress on the Journey to Self-Reliance.

Objective 4: Promote an Enabling Environment Fostering Independent NGOs Provide technical assistance to the participating NGOs for researching laws and policies impacting the operating environment including but not limited to developing an inventory and reviewing advocacy, access to information, tax, and other laws and policies impacting the NGO sector. Provide support to the government and/or participating NGOs for increasingly integrating public comments when the government is drafting laws and policies and prevent backsliding in the relatively permissive NGO operating environment. The technical assistance is expected to have pull and push elements by which the government is pulling in the NGOs advocating for their constituents, and the NGOs are pushing their high-quality, evidence informed advocacy services to the government.

Results:

● Laws and policies impacting the NGO operating environment (e.g. tax, access to information, right to assembly) increasingly include public participation for policy making and government decision-making;

● Identify and reduce policy, legal, regulatory, and customary barriers for women and other marginalized groups from participating in advocacy services and otherwise influencing policy making and government decision-making.

● Increase NGO participation in the decision making on policies, regulations and laws governing NGO operations.

CROSS-CUTTING REQUIREMENTS

This Statement of Objectives (SOO) for USAID/Timor-Leste provides the top-level objectives of this acquisition and is provided in the Request for Proposal in lieu of a Government-written statement of work. A SOO does not state how the work is to be accomplished but allows for the flexibility to develop cost-effective solutions and the opportunity to utilize innovative approaches to meet the stated objectives. Therefore, this SOO allows the Offeror to propose and price a solution that achieves the outlined objectives and contributes to measurable improvements in strengthening the local NGOs in Timor-Leste.

A Grants Under Contract (GUC) may be proposed to fund innovative ideas that promotes advocacy services and financial sustainability of the participating Timorese NGOs. Cost share must be considered and selection criteria must include but not be limited to the NGOs organizational capacity to manage the funds in accordance with USAID’s GUC policy.

Creative approaches that harness technology, competition, international best practices, and lessons learned from USAID and other development activities are encouraged.

Local Capacity/Sustainability

A fundamental goal of USAID and expressed in the Journey to Self-reliance is to build the capacity of the partner government, local NGOs, and the private sector while simultaneously accomplishing our immediate development objectives so that improvements introduced are sustainable and entities can continue to advance independently. The Activity will account for and maximize potential for local capacity building, including professional development for local Activity staff to assume higher levels of responsibility, inclusive of women and other marginalized groups. The activity implementation is to be performed with the vision of leaving processes, products, and expertise with the NGOs for use beyond the life of the activity.

Women, Youth, and Other Marginalized Groups

The voices of women, youth and other groups, including but not limited to people with disabilities or ethnic, religious, or sexual minorities, tend to be marginalized in Timorese society unless explicit actions are taken to promote their inclusion.

Women are often restricted from fully participating in civil society and holding leadership roles.17,18 The activity will address barriers to: 1) organizational biases in hiring, internal procedures, practices, training, promotion, and internship opportunity that may limit women’s employment and leadership opportunities within the participating NGOs and throughout the NGO sector; 2) women’s participation in advocacy, research and networking capacity activities undertaken by NGOs; 3) men and women gender specific priority issues and demands or needs for advocacy services; and 4) ensure any policies/laws drafted or revised throughout the course of implementation are gender sensitive and are free of gender bias.

Private Sector Engagement

USAID promotes engagement with the private sector to achieve outcomes of shared interest and

17 https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/498631/civil-society-brief-timor-leste.pdf 18 https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/UnderstandingVAWTL_main.pdf https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/498631/civil-society-brief-timor-leste.pdf https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/UnderstandingVAWTL_main.pdf value. USAID’s Private-Sector Engagement Policy19 is an Agency-wide call to action, and a mandate to work hand-in-hand with the private sector to design and deliver development and humanitarian programs across all sectors, and to harness resources to open markets and other opportunities for U.S. businesses. This policy signals an intentional shift to pursue market-based approaches and investment as a means to accelerate countries progress on the Journey to Self-Reliance.

Changes in the global development context have increased the alignment of interests between the private sector and development actors. The confluence of these trends provides a watershed opportunity for USAID, partner governments, and civil society to increase collaboration with the private sector to support countries on their Journey to Self-Reliance. In embracing enterprise-driven development, USAID recognizes the value of engaging the private sector in development and humanitarian assistance to help shape solutions that achieve sustained impact and can carry forward long after USAID’s support has ended.

Environment, Climate Change, and Climate Risk Management

Timor-Leste is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to natural disasters due to high risk of earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, and heavy rainfall, combined with limited infrastructure and inadequate social safety net programs. The country’s mainly rural population faces increasing temperatures, extreme rainfall events and rising sea levels that threaten to exacerbate flood, storm and landslide risk. These pressures could negatively impact food and water security, health, and other development outcomes. Poorly planned and managed activities may have significant adverse impacts on the environment. USAID policy (ADS 201.mal) requires that all USAID projects and activities systematically assess, address, and adaptively manage climate risks.

Thinking and Working Politically

The impact of the Activity will be heavily influenced by patronage and power relationships within Timor-Leste, and by the broader political economy. The vulnerabilities and opportunities of supporting advocacy-oriented civil society groups in this dynamic political context will be assessed prior to and throughout activity implementation. Methods for gauging political-economy dynamics that might impact Activity implementation, as well as an approach to adapt based on those findings will underpin the success of the Activity.

[TBD] – Contents of Section C will be derived from the Contractor’s proposed PWS.

[END OF SECTION C]

19 https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/private-sector-engagement https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/private-sector-engagement

SECTION D—PACKAGING AND MARKING

D.1 BRANDING STRATEGY

The Contractor must comply with the requirements of the policy directives and required procedures outlined in USAID Automated Directive System (ADS) 320.3.2 “Branding and Marking in USAID Direct Contracting” which can be found at https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/320.pdf;

and USAID “Graphic Standards Manual” available at: www.usaid.gov/branding, or any successor branding policy.

Per ADS 320.3.2.1, the Branding Strategy for this contract is as follows:

The activity name: “USAID/Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for Good Governance” is the title of this activity.

The desired level of visibility: USAID identity must be prominently displayed on commodities or equipment; in printed, audio, visual or electronic public communications; in studies, reports, publications, web sites, and all promotional and informational products; and events.

Other organizations to be acknowledged: Specific events that are supported by USAID together with other partners may require co-branding following the activity’s branding policy.

The Contractor must comply with the requirements of the USAID “Graphic Standards Manual” available at www.usaid.gov/branding, or any successor branding policy. The Contractor must follow the approved Branding Implementation and Marking Plan submitted on [date TBD] and incorporated into this Contract as Attachment [TBD].

D.2 AIDAR 752.7009 MARKING (JAN 1993)

(a) It is USAID policy that USAID-financed commodities and shipping containers, and activity construction sites and other project locations be suitably marked with the USAID emblem.

Shipping containers are also to be marked with the last five digits of the USAID financing document number. As a general rule, marking is not required for raw materials shipped in bulk (such as coal, grain, etc.), or for semi-finished products which are not packaged.

(b) Specific guidance on marking requirements should be obtained prior to procurement of commodities to be shipped, and as early as possible for project construction sites and other project locations. This guidance will be provided through the cognizant technical office indicated on the cover page of this contract, or by the Mission Director in the Cooperating Country to which commodities are being shipped, or in which the project site is located.

(c) Authority to waive marking requirements is vested with the Regional Assistant Administrators, and with Mission Directors.

(d) A copy of any specific marking instructions or waivers from marking requirements is to be sent to the Contracting Officer; the original should be retained by the Contractor.

[END OF SECTION D]

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SECTION E—INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

E.1 NOTICE LISTING CONTRACT CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

The following contract clauses pertinent to this section are hereby incorporated by reference (by Citation Number, Title, and Date) in accordance with the clause at FAR 52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE in Section I of this contract. See FAR 52.252-2 for an internet address (if specified) for electronic access to the full text of a clause.

NUMBER TITLE DATE

52.246-4 Inspection of Services -- Fixed Price AUG 1996 52.246-5 Inspection of Services -- Cost Reimbursement AUG 1996

E.2 INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

USAID inspection and acceptance of services, reports and other required deliverables or outputs will take place at USAID in Dili, Timor-Leste, or at any other location where the services are performed and reports and deliverables or outputs are produced or submitted. The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) listed in Section G has been delegated authority to inspect and accept all services, reports and required deliverables or outputs.

[END OF SECTION E]

SECTION F—DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

F.1 NOTICE LISTING CONTRACT CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

The following contract clauses pertinent to this section are hereby incorporated by reference (by Citation Number, Title, and Date) in accordance with the clause at FAR 52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE" in Section I of this contract. See FAR 52.252-2 for an internet address (if specified) for electronic access to the full text of a clause.

NUMBER TITLE

FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (48 CFR Chapter 1)

DATE

52.242-15 STOP-WORK ORDER AUG 1989

52.242-15 STOP-WORK ORDER ALTERNATE I APR 1984

52.242-17 GOVERNMENT DELAY OF WORK APR 1984

F.2 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance is five (5) years from the date of contract award.

F.3 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The place of performance under this contract is Timor-Leste.

F.4 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

USAID will evaluate the Contractor’s performance in accordance with FAR 42.15, corresponding USAID procedures, the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, and the Contractor’s reporting against its Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (MEL Plan). The CO and the COR will jointly conduct the evaluation of the Contractor’s overall performance. This evaluation will form the basis of the Contractor’s permanent performance record under this contract.

The Contractor’s performance will be evaluated annually and at contract completion, in accordance with the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), utilizing at a minimum, the following factors:

● Quality

● Schedule

● Cost Control

● Management

● Utilization of Small Business

● Regulatory

F.5 REPORTS AND DELIVERABLE OR OUTPUTS

All deliverables must be submitted to USAID within the timeline indicated below and no later than the contract end date. The Contractor must promptly notify the COR of any problems, delays, or adverse conditions which materially impair the Contractor’s ability to meet the requirements of the Contract.

Management Reports/Deliverables:

Report/ Deliverable Version Timeframe

1 Annual Work Plans Draft First Annual Work Plan Within 30 calendar days after contract award date

Note: The first annual work plan will cover the period from the award date to 09/30/2021.

Final First Annual Work Plan Within 60 calendar days after contract award date

Draft Subsequent Annual Work Plans

Within 30 calendar days before the end of each subsequent US fiscal year.

Final Subsequent Annual Work Plans

Within 15 calendar days upon receipt of the COR comments.

2 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (MEL Plan)

Draft MEL Plan Within 30 calendar days after the first Work Plan approved.

Final MEL Plan Within 15 calendar days upon receipt of the COR comments.

3 Quarterly Performance Reports

Draft report Within 15 days after the end of each US fiscal quarter: January 15, April 15, July 15.

Note: the 4th quarterly progress report at the end of US Fiscal year will be included as part of the Annual Report.

Final report Within 15 calendar days upon receipt of the COR comments.

4 Quarterly Financial Reports

Final report Within 30 calendar days after the end of each US fiscal quarter: January 30, April 30, July 30, October 30

5 Quarterly Accrual Reports

Final report Within 20 calendar days before the end of each US fiscal quarter: March 10, June 10, September 10, December 10

6 Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Analysis

Draft Analysis Report Within 90 calendar days after contract award date

Final Analysis Report COR will provide due date following review of Draft Analysis Report.

7 Gender and Inclusive Development Action Plan (GIDAP)

Draft GIDAP COR will provide due date following the approval of GESI.

Final GIDAP COR will provide due date following review of Draft GIDAP.

8 Annual Reports Draft report No later than October 30

Final report Within 15 calendar days upon receipt of COR comments.

9 Annual Program Review

Final Upon request by the COR

10 Demobilization Plan Final No later than 120 calendar days prior to contract end date.

11 Final Report Draft report Within 30 calendar days prior to contract end date.

Final report Within 60 calendar days upon receipt of the COR comments.

12 Weekly Bullets Every Tuesday by close of business

13 Other Ad-Hoc Reports and Other Deliverables

Upon request by the COR

1. Annual Work Plans

The Annual Work Plan (AWP) will form the basis for activities to be initiated in each year of the contract.

For the purpose of the Annual Work Plan, “Annual” is defined according to the U.S. Government fiscal year.

The Contractor must submit annual work plans that describe all contract activities and expected deliverables for each activity year to the COR. The Contractor, where possible and appropriate, must include and coordinate with relevant partners and other stakeholders in the development of the work plan. Annual work plans must consist of an implementation plan for the overall activity period and the activities and assignments required to meet the contract results.

Work plans must describe the activities and interventions required to meet the Contract outputs, including:

1. Proposed interventions, accomplishments and progress towards achieving results for the given year;

2. Corresponding schedule for implementation of activities;

3. Description and estimate of amounts of short-term technical assistance, training, and other support resources required to deliver the impact proposed;

4. Plan on how the Activity will contribute to the Mission’s areas of development interest (Host

Country Commitment and Capacity, Sustainability, Women, Youth, and Other Marginalized Groups, Private Sector Engagement, Environment and Climate Risk Management);

5. Annual Communication and Outreach Plan and Outreach Calendar (listing description of events, expected attendance from local government officials, whether media is present); and,

6. Information on how interventions will be implemented in a collaborative and coordinated manner with partners and other entities

2. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (MEL Plan)

The Contractor must develop a performance monitoring plan aligned with the overall USAID/Timor- Leste Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS). The Contractor must specify the approach that will be used to monitor progress towards the objectives, intermediate results, sub-intermediate results, and performance over the life of the activity. The Contractor’s MEL Plan must allow for tracking and documenting implementation progress against jointly agreed-upon annual and end-of-activity performance indicators and related targets and benchmarks. Reporting against the MEL Plan must be included in the quarterly and annual progress reports, as well as in the final report.

The MEL plan must specify the proposed indicators that will be used to monitor progress towards the planned objectives, along with annual targets, and end of activity targets. The MEL Plan must also include Performance Indicator Reference Sheets (PIRS) which describe indicators in detail and include definitions, data sources, and frequency of data collection and reporting. The PIRS must also identify all baselines and targets for these indicators. The MEL plan must effectively track the inputs and outputs of activities and achievement of contract performance outcomes over the life of the contract.

The MEL Plan must also be able to track sex disaggregated results.

The Contractor’s MEL Plan will be considered final following review, comment, and approval by the COR and will be jointly reviewed and adjusted by the Contractor and the COR from time to time throughout the life of the activity. The Contractor must be prepared to make revisions to indicators, assessment tools and other reporting requirements, all of which will be reviewed jointly with USAID/Timor-Leste throughout the life of the activity. The Contractor must also be committed to actively sharing activity results with the Government of Timor-Leste (GOTL) and other relevant stakeholders as appropriate in close coordination with the COR.

3. Quarterly Performance Reports

The Contractor must prepare and submit to the COR regular quarterly performance reports on the activities, issues, constraints, progress toward goals, and achievements. The format for these reports will be jointly established between the Contractor and the COR. Reports must be provided in English.

The quarterly performance reports format must contain at a minimum the following information:

● Progress (achievements) since the last report

● Performance indicator results against targets (all people-level indicators must be disaggregated by sex)

● Status of resolving problems described in previous report

● New problems encountered since previous report

● Proposed solutions to outstanding and new problems

● Implementation plans for the following quarter

● Success stories

● List of interventions planned for next quarter.

4. Financial Reports

The Contractor must provide quarterly expenditure reports to the COR in a useful format to allow an examination of the cost of carrying out major action plan activities. The Contractor and the COR will agree on a format. The Quarterly Financial Report should include at a minimum:

● Total Funds awarded to date by USAID into the contract;

● Total Funds expended to date by contractor, including a breakdown by main line items;

● Total Funds expended to date by contractor in the current quarter, including a breakdown by main line items;

● Comparisons between previous estimated costs and actual costs;

● Budget estimatesPayment milestones planned for completion forin the next quarter; and

● Budget estimates for the remainder of the activity..

5. Quarterly Accrual Report

Quarterly accrual reports must show cumulative disbursements and estimated (undisbursed) accruals to the COR and must have a minimum the following information:

● Total Estimated Costfunds remaining in the contract;

● Unliquidated balance in the contract;

● Accrual amount;

● Estimated pipeline amount.

The COR will provide a template for the Contractor to follow.

6. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Analysis

The Contractor must work with USAID to produce a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Analysis, using the five domains detailed in ADS 205. The GESI analysis must include prioritized recommendations for action on how to address gender inequalities and social exclusion throughout the activity implementation.

The gender and social inclusion analysis must identify:

1. Relevant gender gaps in the status and anticipated levels of participation of women and men that could hinder the key results to be achieved by the activity, as defined in the SOO.

2. Key gender inequalities or needs for female empowerment that could be addressed through the activity,

3. Any potential differential effects (including unintended or negative consequences) on women and men,

4. Any potential obstacles for participation in planned interventions of members from socially marginalized groups, particularly persons with disabilities, LGBTI-identified, marginal ethnic and religious groups, and youth and elderly.

The GESI must include at least one gender specific indicator to track change in the status of women's empowerment in this Activity beyond number or percent of men/women participating in the Activity.

The findings from the gender analysis and activities taken to address gender gaps or inequalities should be presented either as a narrative or the form of a gender action plan - and then addressed throughout the life of the Activity.

7. Gender and Inclusive Development Action Plan (GIDAP)

Based on the GESI analysis, the Contractor must submit an initial Gender and Inclusive Development Action Plan (GIDAP) ensuring that gender and social inclusion are embedded throughout the activity.

The gender and inclusive development action plan must identify 1) the priority gender issues or gaps identified in the GESI analysis, that will be addressed throughout the implementation of this Activity; 2) the activities that will be implemented to address those gaps; and 3) at least one gender sensitive indicator to demonstrate progress reducing a gender gap. All people level data must be disaggregated by sex and by age to ensure youth engagement.

The Contractor must ensure that any observed unintended gender-related consequences of the activity are being documented, and, if a viable solution exists, addressed. The GIDAP should be updated with submissions of quarterly and annual reports.

8. Annual Reports

The Contractor must prepare and submit to the COR an Annual Report for each year of the activity implementation.