Approved JnA GFRA.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION (J&A)

TO: Deborah Broderick, Agency Competition Advocate

FROM: Kristopher Rowell, Contracting Officer’s Representative

SUBJECT: Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition (J&A) for USAID’s Ghana Fisheries Recovery Activity

1. This document sets forth the facts and rationale justifying the use of other than full and open competition, in accordance with AIDAR 706.302-70(b)(5):

“(5) An award for the continued provision of highly specialized services when awarded to another resource would result in substantial additional costs to the Government or would result in unacceptable delays”.

This document was prepared by the Economic Growth Office at USAID/Ghana for the Feed the Future Ghana Fisheries Recovery Activity (GFRA) – 72064121C00001 – implemented by Tetra Tech ARD.

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This is a request to approve use of AIDAR 706.302-70(b)(5) and not obtain full and open competition to increase the total estimated costs (TEC) of contract no. 72064121C00001, in order to mitigate negative effects resulting from the current macroeconomic crisis in Ghana, as elaborated in Section 5 below. Specifically, the proposed contract modification will do the following:

1. Increase the total estimated cost of the award by 33 percent; from $17.8 million to $23.8 million.

2. Intensify the scope of activities for 1) livelihood support, 2) industrial trawler vessels monitoring, and 3) creation of marine protected areas (MPA).

GFRA’s objective of decreasing unsustainable fishing is predicated on moving some people to alternative livelihoods and enforcing stricter regulations. The activity has been very successful, however, Ghana’s current economic crisis significantly increases the pressure for individuals and businesses to over-fish an already decimated coastal fishery in search of economic gains. The modifications proposed are designed to ramp up fishing alternatives and accelerate proposed regulations to address over-fishing.

3. Description of the supplies or services required, including an estimated value:

GFRA is a five-year (2021-2026), $17.8 million activity funded by USAID that aims to mitigate the near-collapse of Ghana’s small pelagic fisheries—sardines, mackerel, and anchovies—and establish a foundation for their ecological recovery. Ghana’s fisheries are at a critical point, with fishing effort increasing while stocks are declining. Ensuring the health of Ghana’s fisheries is critical to maintain economic opportunity and food security for Ghanaian fishers and coastal communities, as well as conserving coastal and marine biological diversity.

Under the proposed contract modification, Tetra Tech ARD will intensify and expand key interventions which will allow USAID to continue strengthening the marine fisheries sector and improving food security as contemplated under the activity, including the following:

A. Livelihood Support. Additional funding would more than double GFRA’s reach to approximately 8,000 youth.

USAID recognizes that diversifying livelihoods for coastal communities is essential because fishers need to reduce their economic dependence on fishing, given the decline in fish stocks and the resulting economic distresses. GFRA’s strategy is to pilot new livelihood opportunities with a cohort of 1,150 youth in FY 2023, partnering with local institutions to provide skills training for a set of pre-identified trades such as construction, hairdressing, trading, and food service. Financial literacy training will also be provided. During and after the training, Tetra Tech ARD, through GFRA, will connect participants to appropriate financing mechanisms to invest in their livelihoods and mentor them as they start to engage in their new businesses or trades. Tetra Tech ARD will train an additional 2,300 youth over the life of the project, reaching a total of 3,450 youth. However, the current economic crisis and resulting high cost of fuel and food prices has created a surge of demand in GFRA’s livelihood training across the coast. Tetra Tech ARD has had to turn down 50 percent of livelihood applicants.

B. Monitoring Industrial Trawl Vessels. With additional budget, Tetra Tech ARD will scale up installation of the electronic monitoring system on all 75 industrial trawl vessels currently licensed to fish in Ghana. Tetra Tech ARD will also build the capacity of the national Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) center to process, analyze and report on the electronic monitoring data.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the main causes of overfishing and among the greatest threats to ocean health contributing to the decline of both industrial and artisanal fisheries. When coupled with inadequate fisheries management controls and enforcement, fishing communities are fighting a losing battle to establish meaningful livelihoods due to a diminishing supply of fish. In 2022, President Biden signed a National Security Memorandum to address IUU fishing and related harmful fishing practices that seeks to consolidate joint efforts with all stakeholders to promote labor and human rights through worker-centered trade policies, combat abuses and strengthen incentives for ethical behavior in the seafood industry, and increase collaboration to increase global attention on IUU fishing. Tetra Tech ARDis partnering with the Government of Ghana (GoG) to pilot electronic monitoring, an innovative technology that provides real time monitoring of vessel activities while at sea, on two industrial trawl vessels.

C. Creation of Marine Protected Areas. With an expanded focus on Marine Protected Areas (MPA), Tetra Tech ARD, through GFRA, will encourage UCC faculty and students to conduct complementary research in the two designated MPA areas to support decision making and build a local community of practice around Ghana’s MPA establishment and implementation. Also, Tetra Tech ARD will expand the establishment of MPAs two sites – one in Western Ghana and the other in Eastern Ghana – to ensure that the small pelagic stocks have maximum spatial protection along the coastline. This additional funding would expand GFRA’s partnership with the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and support an experienced pool of faculty and students to conduct this research.

Tetra Tech ARD is working with the GoG to advance the establishment of one MPA, a designated area of coastal waters that restricts fishing and other activities in order to protect the ecosystems and species that are found in that area. Ghana currently does not have any MPAs in place, despite the President’s recent commitment at the United Nations Ocean Conference to put in place Ghana’s first marine protected area to safeguard coastal and marine biodiversity by 2025.

The estimated $6 million increase to GFRA will increase the number of youth beneficiaries that can participate in livelihood training, improve the electronic monitoring of industrial trawl vessels by including the entire registered fleet, and double the size of the marine area to be protected. USAID is not seeking a time extension because the three interventions described above are included under the contract and are currently being implemented. Given the current macroeconomic crisis in Ghana and the foundation of interventions being implemented, USAID wants to reach more beneficiaries and improve fisheries management by intensifying current interventions with increased funding.

4. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

AIDAR 706.302-70(b)(5) permits other than full and open competition when the authority is for “an award for the continued provision of highly specialized services when award to another resource would result in substantial additional costs to the government or would result in unacceptable delays.”

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition that requires use of the authority cited:

Ghana is in the midst of its worst macroeconomic crisis in 20 years: the World Bank projects debt to GDP to increase to more than 100 percent in 2023. The country’s credit rating has plummeted and is no longer investment grade. As a result, the Ghanaian cedi has depreciated 40 percent against the dollar during the 2022 calendar year, making it the second worst performing currency in the world.

As a result, the pressure to overfish is much greater than forecasted, and USAID’s response needs to be scaled up and accelerated. Households and industrial operations backed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are pushing to fish more intensively. USAID needs to quickly respond with livelihood support, monitoring industrial trawl vessels, and establishing MPAs.

These interventions are designed to ramp up fishing alternatives and accelerate regulation of the current actors. Only Tetra Tech ARD is able to provide the required services in an acceptable period of time.

Livelihood support, monitoring industrial trawl vessels, and establishing MPAs are highly specialized work that require trust and buy-in from multiple stakeholders. Tetra Tech ARD has the foundation by already working in each of these specialized sectors and has the relationships with the requisite stakeholders–government officials and fishing communities–to expand their work. It took Tetra Tech ARD over a year to get to this position, and it is not reasonable to expect another firm to reach this point fast enough to be relevant in the rapidly deteriorating economic conditions.

Through GFRA, Tetra Tech ARD is working with the private sector, youth focused NGOs, and leaders of fishery associations to identify and implement viable supplemental livelihood options for communities.. Additionally, Tetra Tech ARDis addressing illegal fishing problems by partnering with the GoG to pilot electronic monitoring of industrial trawlers and working with the GoG to advance the establishment of one MPA to restrict fishing in order to protect the ecosystems and species that are found in that area.

Based on factors discussed above, and taking into account the trust and valuable relationships that Tetra Tech ARD staff have established with stakeholders, an exception to full and open competition under AIDAR 706.302-70(b)(5) is in the best interest of the Government.

6. Description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was publicized as required by

FAR 5.2 [AIDAR 705.2].

A notice of intent for other than full and open competition of award no. 72064121C00001 was posted on sam.gov on December 22, 2022, in accordance with AIDAR 706.302-70(c) seeking any expressions of interest from potential offerors. No offerors came forward nor were any comments received as a result of this notice by January 7, 2023 deadline.

The CO will make the J&A document available publicly 14 days after award on the sam.gov website.

7. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The estimated $6 million for the TEC increase is fair and reasonable and is based on the expected level of effort for technical assistance and expected staffing patterns and associated costs with ramping up interventions. USAID/Ghana has historical costs from prior invoices under this contract during implementation of livelihood support and electronic monitoring.

USAID/Ghana will conduct a detailed cost analysis of Tetra Tech ARD’s offer during negotiations of this extension modification to award at a fair and reasonable price.

8. Description of the market research conducted, and the results or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted:

The original award to Tetra Tech ARD was made in 2021 using full and open competition. This J&A seeks a non-competitive award based on impairment of foreign assistance objectives. The size/volume of the proposed modification will not change the scope; it intends to intensify or scale-up what is already being implemented. Market research indicates that other sources neither have the capability and knowledge to carry out these specialized services nor capacity to mobilize rapidly ensuring no break in assistance or delay in producing deliverables under the contract given the current economic crisis in Ghana.

A category management search on gsaadvantage.gov did not reveal any products or services that could be used to eliminate redundancies, increase efficiency, and deliver more value and savings from the Government's acquisition programs. Additionally, USAID does not have a buy-in to an established award or a Task Order under an established IDIQ that can carry out these specialized services.

9. Other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

Through GFRA, Tech Tech ARD completed a Livelihood Assessment and has begun livelihood support to youth and women. Tetra Tech ARD currently has a budget of $1.8 million for life of activity interventions focused on livelihood support. Based on current expenditures, an additional $2.4 million would be needed to increase the number of beneficiaries by 4,500. Additionally, Tetra Tech ARD has begun piloting the electronic monitoring system with two industrial trawl vessels. This technology cost approximately $30,000 per vessel. To include coverage for the remaining 73 vessels, this would sum to approximately $2.2 million. Lastly, Tetra Tech ARD has also begun working with the GoG to establish one MPA; Tetra Tech ARD currently has budgeted $1.4 million for the life of the activity to support MPA establishment. To add another MPA would require an additional $1.4 million; this would cover the additional community consultations needed to expand the proposed MPA. In summary, the estimated costs for the intensified scope is $6 million.

For a new contractor to perform these highly specialized services would require establishing new relationships in the sector with various stakeholders and would sacrifice the economies of scale and efficiencies of implementation developed by Tetra Tech ARD. A change in contractor would stall momentum already established under the activity, as well as result in substantial additional costs and inevitable delays in program implementation as the new contractor mobilizes in country and becomes up to speed with the program, duplicating costs that Tetra Tech ARD have already invested.

10. Sources, if any, that expressed an interest, in writing, in the acquisition:

USAID/Ghana posted a notice of intent for other than full and open competition of award no.

72064121C0000 on beta.sam.gov on December 22, 2022. There were no offers received nor any comments by the deadline on January 7, 2023.

11. The actions the Agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

USAID/Ghana intends to compete future procurements through full and open competition and potentially set aside for small businesses.

12. Technical or Requirements Personnel Certification:

In accordance with FAR 6.303, I hereby certify that the technical statements included above and which form a basis for the justification are complete and accurate.

Kristopher Rowell, Contracting Officer’s Representative Date

13. Contracting Officer Certification:

In accordance with FAR 6.303, I hereby certify that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Amy Larsen, Regional Agreement and Date Contracting Officer

14. Approved:

Deborah Broderick, Agency Competition Advocate Date

Kristopher Rowell Digitally signed by Kristopher Rowell Date: 2023.01.19 15:14:27 Z

Amy H Larsen Digitally signed by Amy H Larsen Date: 2023.01.19 15:40:22 Z

DEBORAH RYAN

BRODERICK (affiliate)

Digitally signed by DEBORAH RYAN BRODERICK (affiliate) Date: 2023.02.01 08:11:14 -05'00'

Internal Agency Clearances:

As required, see ADS 302.3.4.5 and Exceptions to Competition Guide (https://pages.usaid.gov/M/OAA/exceptions-competition] and Mission Delegation of Authority

Name USAID/Ghana Role Signature Date

Paul Pleva Director, EGO PMP 8-Dec-22

Amy Larsen RAAO

Greg Butler RLO JGB 1/19/2023