RFP Amendment No. 1.pdf

I. COVER LETTER

Update the proposal submission dure date from “December 29, 2021, 1500 Mali time” to “January 5, 2022, 1500 Mali time”.

II. SECTION B

B.4: Update the contract CLINS as follows:

“Contract Period (Years 1 – 5)

CLIN 0001 Improved governance (objective 1) $ TBD

CLIN 0002 Construction services (objective 2) $ 11,500,000

CLIN 0003 Fixed Fee $ TBD

CLIN 0004 Indirect costs $ TBD

Cost Plus Fixed Fee Ceiling Price $ TBD”

III. SECTION C

Delete section C.9.2, Design Services and replace it with the following:

“C.9.2 Design Services

The contractor must, when directed by USAID, provide technical services related to facilities and infrastructure planning, design, and project supervision from activity conception through close-out; working closely with the local government counterparts and local technical services providers to build their capacity to execute their role in this process. The infrastructure interventions must take a design-bid-build approach where planning, feasibility studies and final engineering designs will be completed by a competent, licensed engineering (A&E) firm; and then, construction subcontractor(s) will be procured through separate competitive process(es) to bid and build based on the final engineering designs prepared by the A&E subcontractor. As noted above, additional Construction Oversight and Quality Assurance will be provided by a separate QA contract managed by the USAID/Mali mission.

Therefore, as a part of the Anka Jiko Activity, the contractor will be required, as directed by USAID, to prepare construction document packages that may incorporate:

• Construction drawings,

• Bill of quantities and Cost estimates,

• Operations and maintenance plans,

• Health and safety plans,

• Quality management plans, and

• Construction specifications

• Environmental mitigation and monitoring plans; etc.

Also, as part of pre-design feasibility studies, and among other items, the contractor may be required to perform:

• Topographic surveys,

• Climate risk assessments

• Geotechnical investigations;

• Local construction market analyses,

• Water quality and quantity assessments and tests; etc.

The infrastructure interventions may be mostly related to drinking water/irrigation and wastewater systems, including electrical and mechanical components to support those systems, for each identified village. The contractor is expected to have the necessary experience and expertise in all of the disciplines involved in the infrastructure interventions (i.e., geotechnical, hydraulic, mechanical, electrical, structural, etc.); and also have adequate quality control measures to ensure all construction packages meet the quality and objectives of the Anka Jiko program.

During the conceptual and final design phases, the contractor must submit the construction documents and all procurement documents to the COR for approval, before proceeding with the actual solicitation for construction services.”

IV. SECTION F

1. F.5: Add the following two lines at the end of first paragraph under the title of “Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and learning (MEL) Plan” and replace the reference of “offeror” with “contractor”.

“The contractor shall conduct a baseline survey primarily for the activity management considering appropriate indicators in consultation with the COR within 180 calendar days of the effective date of the contract. The MEL Plan can be amended based on the baseline survey findings.”

2. F.6: Update item no. 9, Annual report deliverable from “30 calendar days after the fourth quarter of each implementation year” to “30 calendar days after the fourth quarter of each fiscal year”

3. F.7.c: Delete the reference of “USAID/Benin” and replace it with “USAID/Mali”.

V. SECTION I

1. I.1: Add FAR 52.237-9 in section I.1.

2. Add section I.12 as follows:

“I.12 52.223-99 ENSURING ADEQUATE COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR FEDERAL

CONTRACTORS (OCT 2021) (DEVIATION #M/OAA-DEV-FAR-22-01C).

(a) Definition. As used in this clause -

United States or its outlying areas means—

(1) The fifty States;

(2) The District of Columbia;

(3) The commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands;

(4) The territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands; and

(5) The minor outlying islands of Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Atoll.

(b) Authority. This clause implements Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, dated September 9, 2021 (published in the Federal Register on September 14, 2021, 86 FR 50985).

(c) Compliance. The Contractor shall comply with all guidance, including guidance conveyed through Frequently Asked Questions, as amended during the performance of this contract, for contractor or subcontractor workplaces published by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (Task Force Guidance) at https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/contractors/. While at a USAID workplace, covered contractor employees must also comply with any additional agency workplace safety requirements for that workplace that are applicable to federal employees, as amended (see USAID’s COVID-19 Safety Plan and Workplace Guidelines (Safety Plan).

(d) Subcontracts. The Contractor shall include the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (d), in subcontracts at any tier that exceed the simplified acquisition threshold, as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation 2.101 on the date of subcontract award, and are for services, including construction, performed in whole or in part in the United States or its outlying areas.

(End of clause)”

VI. SECTION J

J.5: An updated budget template is being shared with this amendment to correspond the additional CLIN added in section B.4.

VII. SECTION K

Delete the reference of FAR 52.237-8 from Section K.1.

VIII. SECTION L

1. L.7.(b): Update the term “past performance report forms” to “Past Performance Information”.

2. L.7.(d), 1. Cover Page: Update the reference of “cover letter” from the description and replace it with “Cover letter”.

3. L.7.(d), 4 Annexes: Update the list of annexes and the page limits as follows:

“Annex 1: Organizational Chart and Staffing Plan Matrix (not to exceed 5 pages)

Annex 2: Resumes of Proposed Key Personnel (not to exceed 9 pages)

Annex 3: Key Personnel Letters of Commitment (not to exceed 3 pages)

Annex 4: Past Performance Information

Annex 5: ESRS and Small Business Utilization”

4. L.7.(d), Section 2: Page limits for Annex 2 and Annex 3 are updated as follows:

“Annex 2: Resumes of Proposed Key Personnel (not to exceed 9 pages) Annex 3: Key Personnel Letters of Commitment (not to exceed 3 pages)”

5. L.7.(d). Section 3: Delete the entire Section 3 in its entirety and replace it with the following:

“Section 3: Past Performance (M.2.(c))

(a) The offeror (including all partners of a joint venture) must provide performance information for itself, the contractor teaming arrangements, if any, and each major subcontractor (one whose proposed cost exceeds 20% of the offeror’s total proposed cost) in accordance with the following:

1. List in an annex to the technical proposal up to five (5) of the most recent and relevant contracts for efforts similar to the work in the subject proposal. The most relevant indicators of performance are contracts of similar size, scope, complexity, and how recently they were performed.

2. For all contracts listed above that are not in CPARS, provide a list of contact names, job titles, mailing addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, explanation of relevance to the proposed acquisition and a description of the performance to include:

• Scope of work or complexity/diversity of tasks,

• Primary location(s) of work,

• Term of performance,

• Dollar value, and

• Contract type, i.e., fixed-price, cost reimbursement, etc.

(USAID recommends that you alert the contacts that their names have been submitted and that they are authorized to provide performance information concerning the listed contracts if and when USAID requests it.)

(b) If extraordinary problems impacted any of the referenced contracts, provide a short explanation and the corrective action taken (FAR 15.305(a)(2)).

(c) Describe any quality awards or certifications that indicate exceptional capacity to provide the service or product described in the statement of work. This information is not included in the page limitation.

(d) Performance in Using Small Business (SB) Concerns (as defined in FAR 19.001)*.

(1) This section (d) is not applicable to offers from small business concerns.

(2) As part of the evaluation of past performance in Section M.2 of this solicitation, USAID will evaluate the extent you used and promoted the use of small business concerns under current and prior contracts. The evaluation will assess the extent small business concerns participated in these contracts relative to the size/value of the contracts, the complexity and variety of the work small business concerns performed, and compliance with your SB subcontracting plan or other similar small business incentive programs set out in your contract(s).

(3) In order for USAID to fully and fairly evaluate performance in this area, all offerors who are not small business concerns must do the following:

(A) Provide a narrative summary of your organization's use of small business concerns over the past three years. Describe how you actually use small businesses--as subcontractors, as joint venture partners, through other teaming arrangements, etc. Explain the nature of the work small businesses performed--substantive technical professional services, administrative support, logistics support, etc. Describe the extent of your compliance with your SB subcontracting plan(s) or other similar SB incentive programs set out in your contract(s) and explain any mitigating circumstances if goals were not achieved.

(B) To supplement the narrative summary in (A), provide a list of the five recent contracts for which you submitted subcontract reports to eSRS (FAR 52.219- 9(d)(10) and a copy of any similarly recent subcontracting reports if they were not submitted to eSRS.

(C) Provide the names and addresses of three SB concerns for us to contact for their assessment of your performance in using SB concerns. Provide a brief summary of the type of work each SB concern provided to your organization, and the name of a contact person, his/her title, phone number, and e-mail address for each.

The offeror must submit the following Annexes to the technical proposal:

ANNEX 4: Past Performance Information. This annex must include up to five (5) of the most recent and relevant contracts and/or assistance awards of five (5) years for the prime inclusive of major subcontractors for efforts similar to the work in the subject proposal. Past Performance from Assistance programs will be utilized in the evaluation.

ANNEX 5: ESRS and Small Business Utilization. This Annex is required for Large Business prime contractors. This Annex is not required for small businesses. To supplement the narrative summary, provide a list of five recent contracts for which you submitted subcontract reports to eSRS (FAR 52.219-9(d)(10) and a copy of any similarly recent subcontracting reports if they were not submitted to eSRS. Provide the names and addresses of three SB concerns for us to contact for their assessment of your performance in using SB concerns. Provide a brief summary of the type of work each SB concern provides to your organization, and the name of a contact person, his/her title, phone number, and email address for each.”

6. L.8 Part 3: Delete the Part 3 in its entirety and replace it with the following:

“Part 3 - Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors

The offeror and each proposed major subcontractor must complete all "Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offeror" as required in Section K, and sign and date on the last page in the space provided and submit as an Annex to the cost proposal.”

7. L.8 Part 8: Delete the Part 8 in its entirety and replace it with the following:

“Part 8 - Information to Support Consent to Subcontractors

The offeror must address each of the elements in FAR 44.202-2 and FAR 52.244-2(e) in order for proposed subcontractors to be considered by the CO for consent of subcontractors to be granted with the initial award.”

8. L.9: Delete the first line of this section and replace it with the following:

“In accordance with Section D of this solicitation, the apparently successful offeror must submit and negotiate a Branding Implementation Plan (BIP) and a Marking Plan (MP).”

IX. SECTION M

1. M.2: Delete the following line from the first paragraph:

“Each past performance factor will be equally important among the other past performance factors.”

2. M.2.(c): Delete the entire section C, Past Performance in its entirety and replace it with the following:

“(c) Past Performance

(i) Performance information will be used for both the responsibility determination and best value decision. USAID may use performance information obtained from other than the sources identified by the offeror/subcontractor. USAID will utilize existing databases of contractor performance information and may solicit additional information from the references provided by offerors in Section L.7 of this RFP and from other sources if and when the Contracting Officer finds the existing databases to be insufficient for evaluating an offeror’s performance.

(ii) Adverse past performance information to which the offeror has not previously had an opportunity to respond will be addressed in accordance with the policies and procedures set forth in the FAR 15.3.

(iii) As an element of the overall review, USAID will view relevancy of similar performance information as a predictor of probable performance under the subject requirement.

USAID may give more weight to performance information that is considered more relevant and/or more current.

(iv) The contractor performance information will be reviewed and given an overall adjectival score based on all information collected and the relevancy of that information.

(v) An offeror’s performance will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably when:

(1) The offeror lacks relevant performance history,

(2) Information on performance is not available, or

(3) The offeror is a member of a class of offerors where there is provision not to rate the class against a sub factor.

When this occurs, an offeror lacking relevant performance history is assigned a "neutral" rating. Prior to assigning a "neutral" past performance rating, the contracting officer may take into account a broad range of information related to an offeror's performance.”

[End of Amendment No. 1]