USAID Response to RFI Questions.pdf

RFI 72061723RFI00001: QUESTIONS AND USAID RESPONSES

August 16, 2023

Note:

● Changes resulting from the questions are included in the RFI Amendment 1 in yellow highlight.

● The struck-out texts in the Amended RFI means the second round of questions are no longer required.

Question 1: The RFI has two dates of submission as captured below; Are these dates for submitting our responses to the RFI, what is the actual deadline for responding to the RFI?

Attachment 1.1: First round of questions due: August 9, 2023, 4:45PM, Kampala Time

First round of responses due: August 18, 2023, at 4:45PM, Kampala Time

Attachment 1.2 to 1.5: Second round of questions due: August 23, 2023, 4:45PM, Kampala Time Second round of responses due: September 13, 2023, 4:45PM, Kampala Time

USAID Response: If you would like to respond to the organizational profile and optional technical summary under the technical areas captured in Attachment 1.1 (e.g., Health care financing; Human resources for health; Health information systems; or Community health systems), please do so before

4:45pm on August 18th. If you would like to respond to the organizational profile and optional technical summary under the technical areas captured in Attachment 1.2-1.5 (e.g., social behavior change communication; Family planning; Maternal and child health and nutrition; HIV/TB prevention and health service delivery; Malaria prevention and service delivery; or Organizational development), please do so before 4:45pm on September 13th.

The submission deadline for Attachment 1.1 is August 18, 2023

Questions deadline for Attachments 1.2-1.5 /second round of questions has been removed. Refer to the

Amended RFI.

Eligibility and Qualifications:

Question 2: What are the specific eligibility criteria for local organizations to directly provide services to

USAID Uganda in the mentioned technical areas?

USAID Response: This RFI is not a call for proposal, Request for Applications (RFA), or solicitation for an award. Organizations are eligible to respond to this RFI if they are locally registered in Uganda, operate in one or more of the listed technical areas, and are not direct government entities.

Eligibility criteria to apply to a future USAID/Uganda solicitation for services will be clearly outlined in the solicitation. Information on organizational readiness and how to partner with USAID can be found on

WorkWithUSAID.org.

Question 3: Are there any minimum qualifications or certifications required for organizations to be considered?

USAID Response: Organizations are eligible to respond to this RFI if they are locally registered in

Uganda, operate in one or more of the listed technical areas, and are not direct government entities.

Generally, the minimum requirements for local organizations to receive funding directly from USAID include:

● Active DUNS number, status on System for Award Management (i.e., SAM.gov), no exclusions on the OFAC website or UN Sanctions List.

● Technical and management experience in the fields relevant to the Activity objectives.

● Consistent access to and capacity to use minimum necessary infrastructure (office, internet access, electricity, etc.), and hardware and software (computer equipment and professional/statistics/visualization, etc. software packages) to perform tasks related to objectives of the direct award.

● Working relations and active engagements with host country governments, multilateral and USG agencies to build collaborative working relationships.

● Well-defined indicators of success and description of how it intends to monitor its own program performance in a cost-effective and efficient manner, including the sources of data used for this performance monitoring.

● Staffing capacity with an appropriate balance of skills and a staffing management plan which optimizes efficiency and demonstrates how the proposed staffing configuration will enable the local subrecipient to accomplish desired results; and the extent to which the overall staffing plan fosters local ownership and utilizes local capacity.

● Proficient financial management and internal control systems (e.g. banking accounts, bookkeeping system, financial statements, accounting cycle, sources of funding, financial reporting, audit and review of financial statements).

● Ability to manage funding responsibly and efficiently.

● Capacity to meet USG program and financial reporting requirements.

● Ability to meet other pre-award requirements, including the risk assessment, and other required certifications and representations for the Activity.

A readiness checklist and self-directed organizational capacity assessment is available at

WorkWithUSAID.org.

Technical Expertise and Capacity:

Question 4: How will USAID Uganda assess the technical expertise and capacity of local organizations in delivering the required services?

USAID Response: Please see response to Question 2.

Question 5: Are there any specific benchmarks or standards that organizations need to meet?

USAID Response: Please see response to Question 2.

Financial Considerations:

Question 6: What is the budget range allocated for the services in each of the technical areas?

USAID Response: This is an open Request for Information and is not associated with a specific solicitation, contract, or award.

Question 7: Will the contracts include provisions for a transition period after the project's closure?

USAID Response: Please see response to Question 6.

Application and Selection Process:

Question 8: Could you outline the steps involved in the application and selection process for local organizations to become direct service providers to USAID Uganda?

USAID Response: Please see response to Question 6.

Question 9: What documents or information will be required during the application process?

USAID Response: Please see response to Question 6

Timeline and Implementation:

Question 10: What is the anticipated timeline for the selection of service providers and the commencement of service delivery?

USAID Response: Please see response to Question 6

Question 11: Are there any time-sensitive aspects that potential service providers should be aware of?

USAID Response: No

Capacity Building and Training

Question 12: Is there a plan to provide capacity building, training, or technical assistance to local organizations to ensure successful service delivery?

USAID Response: Please note that this is an open Request for Information and is not associated with a specific solicitation, contract, or award. As mentioned in the RFI, the intent of this request is to seek feedback from local private for profit, private not-for-profit (PNFP), non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations in Uganda that could potentially provide services in the technical areas mentioned in the RFI.

Question 13: How will knowledge transfer and skill development be facilitated?

USAID Response: Please see response to question #12

Question 14: Does USAID help local organizations to get NICRA?

USAID Response: Please see response to question #12

Engagement with Local Communities

Question 15: How does USAID Uganda envision local organizations engaging with the communities they will be serving in each technical area?

USAID Response: USAID/Uganda is committed to recognizing, empowering, and partnering with local communities, systems, and leadership. We recognize that programs are most successful when they meaningfully engage local stakeholders. Please review the USAID/Uganda Country Development

Cooperation Strategy for more information on USAID/Uganda’s commitments to local engagement.

https://www.usaid.gov/uganda/country-development-cooperation-strategy.

Question 16: Are there any specific community engagement or participatory approaches?

USAID Response: USAID/Uganda utilizes an array of approaches to engage local communities and encourage participation. Community engagement and participatory approaches are not required to respond to this Request for Information. Generally, you can find more information on USAID’s local engagement approaches by reading the USAID pages on Localization, Locally Led Development, Inclusive Development, Local Capacity Strengthening, Collaboration, Learning, and Adapting (CLA), Community Led Monitoring (CLM), and others.

Question 17: Would USAID encourage collaboration between international organizations, national and community-based organizations where necessary for some or any of the topics?

USAID Response: Please note that this is an open Request for Information and no collaboration between organizations is expected. Organizations should complete the organizational profile and optional technical summary with information reflecting the activities and structure of that organization. Generally, USAID/Uganda encourages collaboration between organizations as applicable to the specific solicitation or activity. International implementing partners are encouraged to engage local organizations.

Question 18: If yes to 2 above, would there be guideline on how to present the profile of the partnering organizations?

USAID Response: We strongly encourage each individual organization to respond separately. Please forward the Request for Information to the partner organization(s) and encourage them to fill out the information as it applies to them. After a partner organization answers the questions independently, you may submit the RFI on their behalf if assisting in a technical capacity.

Question 19: Please confirm that we are expected to create a template for responding to the RFI.

Guideline mentions ‘’Allowable attachment types include: DOCX, DOC, XLS, XLSX, and PDF.’’

USAID Response: Please submit the answers to the organizational profile questions and (optionally) the technical summary as an email attachment in one of the specified file types. If you have a PDF reader/editor, you can type your answers into the PDF. If you have Microsoft Office, you can copy and paste the table(s) into a Word Document or Excel Spreadsheet and save as DOC, DOCX, XLS, or XLSX.

If you do not have access to Microsoft Office or a PDF reader, you can copy and paste the table(s) into a

Google Document (or another free software) and export as a PDF.

Question 20: We are performing independent research on the Presolicitation (72061723RFI00001). We would like to know if this is a brand-new contract OR if there is (was) an incumbent performing these services. If not brand new, could you please provide the current / previous contract number? Appreciate any insight you can provide.

USAID Response: This is an open Request for Information and is not associated with a specific solicitation, contract, or award. It is not associated with any specific services or request for future services.

https://www.usaid.gov/uganda/country-development-cooperation-strategy

Question 21: Does the character count limit include spaces or without spaces?

USAID Response: The limit does not include spaces. However, we encourage you to be as brief as possible.

Question 22: Section #1 under 12, when listing the awards over the last 10 years, should we submit the project name and or the name of the funder bearing in the mind the character limit.

USAID Response: Please focus on the most recent awards, listing the name of the funder(s). Include the name of the project if the character count allows.

END OF RFI QUESTIONS