06 - 95332421Q00300002__RFQ Amendment.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. CONTRACT ID CODE

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6) CODE

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

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9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a)By completing items 8 and 15, and returning copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE

DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

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IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

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Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

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14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

PAGE OF PAGES

6. ISSUED BY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code) (X)

CODE

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

Regina Maxwell Contracting Officer maxwellre Typewritten Text 04/22/2021

95332421Q00300002

Summary of Changes

95332421Q0030

Côte d'Ivoire Sector Studies TVET Project

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Numb er

Reference Question Answer

Is there an incumbent contractor currently providing these services?

If yes, please provide us with the contract details.

No. This is a new requirement.

2 L.7.1, Page Limits Would MCC please confirm that an acronym list is also excluded from the page count?

MCC confirms that acronym lists are excluded from the page count.

Would MCC please confirm that participating in this project does not preclude potential bidders on any resultant evaluations of the MCC TVET Activity?

MCC needs to protect the independence of evaluators, and ensure that there is no legal conflict of interest. The scope of the work outlined in the RFQ does not ask the Consultant to be involved in either the design or selection of eventual TVET centers, so there is no reason to believe that a Consultant who completes this work would be precluded as a potential bidder for any resultant evaluation of the MCC TVET Activity. If warranted by the specific facts of a tasking to the contractor under contract, MCC may request a mitigation (e.g., shift in staffing) so as to ensure independence in the provision of services.

C.1 Background, Page

MCC explains that to become eligible for grant funding, a PDC "must meet all of MCC's investment criteria". Would MCC provide their investment criteria for PDCs?

All MCC's investments are reviewed through the lens of MCC's investment criteria, which is based on several characteristics that the agency believes are important for ensuring the agency is working towards its mission (e.g., cost-effectiveness, environmental, social and performance standards, gender and social inclusion). MCC's investment criteria are detailed in an internal MCC document and not critical to respond to the RFQ, and it will not influence the level of effort. MCC will determine whether this information will be provided to the successful offeror after a contract is signed.

5 C.3 Scope

Could MCC share the current data collection instrument at this time?

The previously used data collection instrument may be shared with the successful offeror at the discretion of MCC.

Section C.3 Scope provides a rough outline of the questions in the survey modules. The survey was expected to take around 60 – 75 minutes, and could involve more than one person in the firm to answer the questions.

Additionally, please refer to responses provided below to questions 6, 9, and 19..

6 C.3 Scope

Would MCC provide further detail around the balance of quantitative and qualitative (open-ended, KIIs/FGDs) questions in the data collection instrument?

The previously used survey is a quantitative data collection instrument. Some questions offer the response of 'other' and an explanation of that response, and there are a couple of questions with a one- or two-word response that most did not need to answer. A more extensive qualitative effort will not be accomplished under this effort by the Contractor.

7 C.5 Tasks, Page 10

States that the sample should be drawn from an "updated census of business." Does this refer to the 2016-2017 national enterprise database? If not, is there another dataset that this refers to? If this does refer to the 2016-2017 national enterprise database, would MCC prefer that the contractor employ methods to update this list prior to

We will work to obtain the latest census of businesses available, and these can be complimented with other related databases, as available or needed. MCC encourages offerors to put forward their strongest sampling strategy proposal.

sampling?

Since the sectors are not identified yet, does MCC have a target or estimated sample size in mind to be used for budgeting purpose?

The offeror may consider a sample of around 100 firms for each sector, but this will clearly depend on the size and composition of the sector. See Question 18 below regarding the

13 eligible sectors – the latest information publicly available at this time.

C.4 Roles and Responsibility, Section (C.4.1, #3 Contractor)

"Develop high-quality and feasible survey design, protocols, and instruments." Based on instructions provided in Section C3: Scope, our understanding is that the Contractor is to provide professional services to update an existing data collection instrument. Can MCC please clarify this?

Yes, that is correct. We believe that the bulk of the work has been done to design the survey instrument, but adjustments will be required for each sector due to different job categories and subsectors. The Contractor will review the survey instrument as an early step in the process to suggest any improvements, particularly with the ability to obtain a sense for firms' willingness to pay for quality workers. See responses to questions 5, 6, and 19 within this document.

C.4 Roles and

Responsibility, Section (C.4.1, #3 Contractor)

"Ensure appropriate review of evaluation materials and research protocols by an institutional review board (IRB) and local research institutions." Our understanding is that this study will be an analytical study. Can you please clarify what 'evaluation materials' refer to?

Evaluation materials is meant to suggest survey instruments – the data collection instruments to collect data on the firms within the sectors. A better term may be "data collection related materials."

C.4 Roles and

Responsibility, Section (C.4.1, #3 Contractor)

"Manage all phases of data collection." Our understanding is that there will be one phase of data collection. Can you please clarify what 'phases' refers to?

This is intended to mean the various steps involved with data collection, or rather "Manage all phases of the data collection process." Additionally, given that there will be more than one economic sector, the data collection efforts may not align perfectly.

Thoughts and considerations around coordination here may be helpful to note.

12 H.15.6, Page 28

Mentions that the contractor "shall provide the Key Personnel names and resumes/CVs for the Team Leader, Data Collection Coordinator, and field experiment expert positions."

Can you please confirm that the "field experiment expert positions" mentioned is the Key Personnel Economist/Social Scientist position?

Yes, these are intended to be the same person.

Please refer to the description of Economist/Social Scientist when putting forward a candidate and their materials to demonstrate the related experience.

H.16. Key Personnel Qualifications

Both the Team Leader and Data Collection Coordinator requirements include 5 years and 3 years respectively of experience in in-person surveys of businesses. Since in-person surveys are less commonly done, might MCC accept candidates who have 5 years and 3 years respectively of remote and/or in-person surveys?

Given the current pandemic, MCC will accept a combination of remote and in-person survey experience to meet the requirement. Preferably offerors should include key personnel with in-person survey experience. Collecting data in developing countries will be important to understand the challenges that can arise and how to find solutions to collect the data needed for analysis.

14 C.3 Scope, The RFQ mentions that contractors are expected to collect information and conduct analysis for "two to three economic sectors, which have yet to be determined". Given the potential differences in cost and timelines in assessing 2 and 3 sectors and their representativeness, would MCC please provide clarification on whether 2 or 3 is more likely? Or would MCC provide guidance on appropriate budget development for inclusion in the proposal response?

There are clear economies of scale in collecting data for more than one economic sector at the same time. The data collection instruments should be mostly the same and the basis for that has already been created. Additionally, the same dataset(s) will likely inform sampling strategies for each of the sectors. The aim is 3 sectors and should be the basis of the proposal.

15 On page 9 of the RfQ

It is specified under COVID section, the possibility of conducting a phone survey. Does the contractor have the choice of data collection method (by phone or face-to-face) or should we present both options with their respective financial cost?

The data collection method should match what the Contractor believes is best and/or most feasible to collect the necessary data, given the country context and the current implications of

COVID-19.

Does the analytical report involve estimating the cost effectiveness of the TVET centers?

Does it also include estimation of the demand for skills in some economic sectors of Cote d'Ivoire?

No. The data and analysis completed under the requirements of this effort will provide inputs to the cost-benefit analysis (CBA), but the CBA will be completed by the MCC and MCA economists.

The questions of the survey aim to understand the economic sector's demand for skills by various levels, positions, fields, expertise, etc.

and as related to the quality of that work.

However, a specific demand curve is not requested as an output from this data collection effort.

Our experience having conducted recently a similar research in Côte d'Ivoire makes us recommend the formulation of a methodology that includes informal enterprises in the sample, would MCC be open to such an approach?

Yes. We encourage offerors to submit quotes based on the Statement of Work to include a true picture of the economic sectors in terms of size, subsectors, informal/formal, etc., to the extent possible.

Can MCC share some indication regarding the sectors the study will focus on? Or is it too early stage?

It is still too early to know the 2-3 economic sectors for this study, but the decision will be informed by the recent call for partnership proposals. See the link below which includes a public document (in French) that mentions 13 eligible professional branches (page 10), which are similar to an economic sector. Analysis has already been done for #3 listed here, so it would not be included within the study.

https://www.mcacotedivoire.ci/uploads/MCACI DTEVTDossierAppelFinal.pdf

1. Agriculture, Forestry, Animal and Fishery Resources;

2. Banking, Microfinance and Insurance;

3. Building and Public Works;

4. Automobile Trade and Repair;

5. Hotel industry, Tourism, Catering;

6. Agri-food industries;

7. Mechanical and Electrical Industries;

8. Process industries;

9. Mines and Extraction;

10. Health and Social;

11. Textiles, Clothing, Leather and Skin;

12. ICT, Media and Telecommunications;

13. Transport and Logistics.

https://www.mcacotedivoire.ci/uploads/MCACIDTEVTDossierAppelFinal.pdf https://www.mcacotedivoire.ci/uploads/MCACIDTEVTDossierAppelFinal.pdf

The RFP mentions the need to "update a data collection instrument", does MCC consider sharing this instrument to the bidders during the preparation of their proposals or will the instrument be shared only with the selected vendor after project award?

See Questions 5, 6, and 9 above.

Can the bidders propose their own approach to ensure "appropriate review of evaluation materials and research protocols by an institutional review board (IRB) and local research institutions"?

Or does MCC expect bidders to meet some specific requirements?

Or liaise with pre-identified institutions in Côte d'Ivoire?

Offerors may propose their own approach, based on their experience and knowledge of obtaining IRB approvals.

Given the dynamic situation COVID-19 presents, and the associated planning required for multiple scenarios, would MCC please clarify whether there is a preference for in-person or remote data collection for this project?

The data collection method should match what the Contractor believes is best and/or most feasible method to collect the necessary data, given the country context and the current implications of COVID-19. See Questions 13 and 15 above.

L.6 Quotation Format, Page 43:

MCC specifies that any font size can be used for graphics as long as they are legible. Does the use of any font size also apply to tables, charts, and text boxes?

Yes, per Section L.6 - Times New Roman font, 10-point for spreadsheets and any font size for graphics as long as they are legible.

As a result of Amendment 0002 which answers submitted questions the following changes are made to the solicitation.

• MCC needs to protect the independence of evaluators, and ensure that there is no legal conflict of interest. The scope of the work outlined in the RFQ does not ask the Consultant to be involved in either the design or selection of eventual TVET centers, so there is no reason to believe that a Consultant who completes this work would be precluded as a potential bidder for any resultant evaluation of the MCC TVET Activity. If warranted by the specific facts of a tasking to the contractor under contract, MCC may request a mitigation (e.g., shift in staffing) so as to ensure independence in the provision of services. (Question #3)

• H.16. Key Personnel Qualifications - Given the current pandemic, MCC will accept a combination of remote and in-person survey experience to meet the requirement. Preferably offerors should include key personnel with in-person survey experience. Collecting data in developing countries will be important to understand the challenges that can arise and how to find solutions to collect the data needed for analysis. (Question #13)

END OF AMENDMENT 0002

ALL OTHER TERMS AND CONDITONS REMAIN UNCHANGED

All other terms and conditions remain unchanged.

Millennium Challenge Corporation, Contracts and Grants Management Division, 1099 Fourteenth St NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC, 20005-3550, US