Sol_72061222R00007_Text books_Amendment 1.docx

Attachment A

Amendment announcement of the following solicitation for the procurements under the Secondary Education Expansion for Development (SEED) program:

SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT No 72061222R00007 – Amendment 01

SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS TEXTBOOKS

Date Issued: August 8, 2022

The purpose of the amendments is to:

(a) Provide summary of changes to the original solicitations as outlined in Attachment A of each amendment.

(b) Provide responses to Applicant’s questions raised as outlined in Attachment B of each amendment.

(c) Solicitations issued under full and open competition

(c) Clarify the deadline for receiving applications as Monday September 5, 2022, at 16:00 hours Malawi Time.

Issuance of these amendments do not constitute an award commitment on the part of the Government, nor does it commit the Government to pay for any costs incurred in preparation or submission of proposals. Submissions are made at the risk of the Applicant.

It is the Interested Applicant’s responsibility to download the amendment documents and attain thorough understanding of the changes made before engaging in the application development phase of the process.

Attachment B Questions and Answers

(1) Question: Are suppliers restricted to the list provided in the solicitation

Answer: Bids may include any titles that are approved by the Ministry of Education provided they cover the subjects and levels listed in the original solicitation. Please note the attachment is the most recent Ministry of Education copy of approved titles. Additionally, bids should include packaging, delivery, and all other stipulations as indicated in the solicitation."

(2) Question: We further wish to inform you that in the said solicitation document under C.3.1 - Technical Specifications & Quantities- Refer to Page 6 under the subject heading- CHICHEWA. Title names "Excel and Succeed Chichewa Learner's Books and Teacher's Guides for Forms 3 and 4 are wrongly put up in the list of requirements. The said books were never submitted by us for any approval at the Ministry of Education/ Malawi Institute of Education under SSCAR and might have wrongly been listed by your office which may be delisted/ corrected/complied as per your office requirements and

Answer: Bids may include alternative titles that are approved by the Ministry of Education provided they cover the subjects and levels listed in the original solicitation.

(3) Question: On Page 7 under the same C.3.1 we wish to inform you that currently only 3 titles listed below are available with the respective publishers and they are : (a) The Familiar Stranger- Publisher is CLAIM MABUKU (b) Macbeth- Publisher is Maneno- Cambridge and (c) The African Thunderstorm- Publisher is East African Educational & Grey Matter. Other than these 3 all the other listing under "English Literature" is not available locally in Malawi as the publisher based in South Africa ( Publisher Name is - Pearson Africa alias Longman alias Maskew Miller) and since long has been not having any authorised or recognised agent in Malawi. Kindly advise on how to approach this gap too while submitting our quote.

Answer: Bids may include any titles that are approved by the Ministry of Education provided they cover the subjects and levels listed in the original solicitation.

(4) Question: On Page 12 under "D- Packaging and Marking" it has been mentioned that heavy plastic wrapping is required. Kindly advise if the regular manual plastic shrink wrap is OK and also how many maximum books can we pack in each wrap so that damage is avoided looking at the bulk.

Answer: Heavy plastic wrapping is preferred; regular manual plastic wrap can also be used. Fifty (50) textbooks should be wrapped in each package.

(5) Question: Are we supposed to register now with sam.gov of after award.

Response: Vendor registration in SAM.GOV is mandatory requirement to do business with the United States government and should be done before submitting of solicitation.

(6) Question: One Publisher is dominating the list whilst others are not enjoying the same small cake.

Response: Restriction has been removed; every bidder is free to choose from the attached approved list from the ministry of education in accordance with the solicitation requirements.

(7) Question: The book Excell Chichewa Bk 3 and 4) that is not on the CORE and SUPPLEMENTARY TRF list is appearing on this tender whilst Publisher like us who have several books on the Supplementary r not enjoying the same.

Response: Restriction has been removed; every bidder is free to choose from the attached approved list from the ministry of education in accordance with the solicitation requirements

(8) Question: Other Publishers u have bought them Core Books and Supplementary books. Why not distribute it evenly as we would also want to grow. I have in mind that u have bought Supplementary Books on Mathematics and yet we have also our Giant in Mathematics BK3 ISBN 978 99960 96280 and Giant in Mathematics bk4 ISBN 978 99960 962 73.

Response: Restriction has been removed; every bidder is free to choose from the attached approved list from the ministry of education in accordance with the solicitation requirements

(9) Question: Some of the books do not exist and publishers have ceased operations Can you explain how the following core approved textbooks from Bookmate are not appearing on the list.

I. JCE Life skills by Aubrey Chirwa II. MSCE Life skills by Aubrey Chirwa III. Business studies form 1 by Samudl Kalea IV. Business studies form 2 by Samuel Kalea

Response: Restriction has been removed; bidders are free to include these books if there are appearing on the approved list by Ministry of Education.

(10) Question: would like to seek clarification on how the selection process of the books made the list.

I. Is it based on the approved list of books by the Ministry?

II. Were supplementary and core textbooks under consideration?

Response: Restriction has been removed; every bidder is free to choose from the attached approved list from the ministry of education in accordance with the solicitation requirements