72060520R00001 - Amendment No. 2 -CEERC.pdf

Amendment No. Two (2)

RFP 72060520R00001, ‘USAID Conservation through Economic Empowerment in the Republic of the Congo (CEERC).

The purpose of this amendment No. 2 to RFP No. 72060520R00001 is to do the following:

1. Make the fee schedule a requirement of the solicitation under Section B.3. USAID is not mandating a structure or a template to the fee schedule.

Responses to Questions:

2. The cover page (item b) and item #1 of Amendment No. 1 state that the revised closing date is March 11, 2020; however, the second to last sentence of item #2 references a date of March 4, 2020, for receipt of proposals by USAID. Could USAID please confirm that the revised closing date is March 11, 2020?

USAID RESPONSE: The closing date is March 11, 2020, 5 PM Kinshasa time.

3. In response to Question 52, USAID states, “All proposed rates must be burdened.” Within the RFP, USAID has not made changes to the requirements for CLIN 0002, which includes unburdened Ceiling Daily Rates (CDRs) for four labor categories. Further, USAID states in its response to Question 55 that Offerors may propose annual rate escalation. Could USAID please confirm that Offerors should propose unburdened CDRs for the four labor categories under CLIN 0002, and they also may apply an annual escalation rate to these unburdened CDRs?

USAID RESPONSE: All rates must be burdened, and the offeror may also apply an annual escalation rate.

4. In response to Question 57, USAID describes the payment of fee linked to deliverables and references the fee schedule tab. In response to Question 58g, USAID states that only the first three tabs of the budget template must be kept—Summary Budget, Detailed Budget, and Budget Narrative. This excludes the fee schedule tab. Further, USAID has not modified Section B.3(c) of the RFP, which states that the payment of fixed fee will “directly correspond to the percentage of allowable costs being paid” (CLIN 0001) or “…the LOE furnished” (CLIN 0002). Could USAID please confirm that a fee schedule is not required for this proposal, as fee will be paid per Section B.3(c) of the RFP?

USAID RESPONSE: The response to question No. 57 states that the fee schedule tab “MUST include a list a of the deliverables…”. This means a fee schedule is required. The fixed fee for CLIN One (1) will be prorated for each deliverable based on its ratio to the total estimated cost. The partner can include other tabs as needed to comply with the requirement of this RFP.

5. We had a question that was not answered in the Q&A: May offerors include tables with 10-point font within the Technical Proposal?

USAID RESPONSE: Yes. See answer No. 34 to Amendment No. 1.

6. Amendment 1 revises the budget chart in Section B.4. Would USAID please clarify if a new line item can be added to the Summary Budget for consultants, or if consultant labor costs should fall under "Salaries and Wages"?

USAID RESPONSE: Consultants’ labor cost may fall under “salaries and wages”.

7. Item # 9 (on Page 3 of Amendment 1) states that the Contractor must submit a Pay Scale for consultants. Next, item # 10 (Page 3) also mentions an "approved salary scale" and then item Question # 19 (Pages 10-11) says that Offerors may set their own minimum qualifications for each category of consultant. However, the answer to Question 49b (Page 16) states that there is no requirement for the submission of pay scales or ranges as part of the cost proposal.

Would USAID please confirm that Offerors do not need to submit a salary scale for staff and Offerors do not need to set pay scales and minimum qualifications for consultants?

USAID RESPONSE: Offerors must submit a pay scale for consultants as explained in our answer to Question number Nine (9) of Amendment 1. However, Answer to Question Number Ten (10) addresses the Contractor personnel, not consultants, and requires that the organization has an approved salary scale per their personnel policies. The answer to question 49.b is meant to address Contractor’s personnel compensation not the consultants.

8. The note at the bottom of Page 4 of the amendment, and the answers to Questions 42, 43, 58a, 58d, 58g, 58h, 58i, state that the first three tabs of the budget template (including the Budget Narrative tab) must be kept and used as is. Meanwhile, Answer 58e (Pages 19-20) states that a separate MS Word budget narrative must be provided. Would USAID please allow Offerors to submit a separate MS Word budget narrative in lieu of completing the “Budget Narrative” tab in the budget template? Alternatively, if USAID would like to see both a budget narrative in Excel and a separate budget narrative in Word, would USAID please allow Offerors to combine the “Detail Budget” and “Budget Narrative” tabs to avoid having to submit two tabs with the same detailed budget?

USAID RESPONSE: Offerors must provide one budget narrative in the form that suits them. Both the excel and word formats are acceptable.

9. In Answer 49 (Page 16), USAID confirms that CLIN 001 and CLIN 002 cost information should be included under Part 2 of the cost proposal. Would USAID please confirm that Offerors no longer need to include a Part 12 for CLIN 002 Proposed Costs and Prices/Detailed Budget Narrative in their cost proposal?

USAID RESPONSE: Yes, Offerors no longer need to include a Part 12 for CLIN 002 Proposed Costs and Prices/Detailed Budget Narrative in their cost proposal.

10. In Answer 63 (Page 22), USAID confirms that Attachment 14 must be submitted with the proposal. However, this attachment is still not accessible from beta.sam.gov, giving an error on download. Would USAID please re-upload this attachment?

USAID RESPONSE: Attachment No. 14 is the Standard Form SF LLL that can easily be found online. The form can also be found here https://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/sflll.pdf or at this link https://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/sflll.pdf https://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/sflll.pdf