FinalPromoting_Rights__BAA_5_27_2016.pdf

Issuance Date: May 27, 2016

Open Period: May 27, 2016, to May 26, 2017

The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for

Promoting Rights and Accountability through Responsible Business Conduct

I. Overview

A. This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeks opportunities to co-create, co-design, co-invest, and collaborate in the development, piloting, testing, and scaling of innovative, practical and cost-effective interventions to address human rights and anti-corruption in business activities globally. Addenda on specific topics may be issued under this BAA. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invites organizations and companies to participate with USAID to create more strategic, focused and results-oriented approaches to generate solutions to rights abuses and corrupt practices in global commerce, and form partnerships to target risks and prevent violations. Successful concepts will also apply scientific and research-motivated approaches to support related development outcomes.

B. Federal Agency Name:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

C. Opportunity Title:

Promoting Responsible Business Conduct/Supply Unchained

D. Opportunity Number: BAA- DCHA-RIGHTS-2016

F. Authority:

This BAA is issued under Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 35.016 (c). This is not a FAR Part 15 Procurement.

G. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number:

98.001 USAID Foreign Assistance for Programs Overseas

II. Collaboration

The intent of the BAA is to allow co-creation and co-design to the maximum extent to create high quality, effective partnerships with great efficiency in time and resources.

The types of collaboration include:

1. Co-creation. Co-creation occurs after an Expression of Interest is approved, but before the concept is developed. The potential partner, together with USAID (represented by an Activity Manager), and potentially others work together to write and/or revise the Concept Paper, and jointly present the Concept Paper to USAID’s Peer and Scientific Review Board.

2. Co-design/development. Co-design/development occurs after the Peer and Scientific Review Board recommends the project for further development, and the Contracting Officer or Agreement Officer has determined the proposer to be an Apparently Successful Partner. At this point, the Contracting Officer or Agreement Officer may determine the general nature of the award type or the specific award type, depending on the nature of the project, to facilitate project design. During co-design, the Apparently Successful Partner and the Activity Manager will design the technical approach, general resource requirements, and management control of the project under the guidance of the Contracting Officer/Agreement Officer.

3. Co-invest. Co-invest refers to the Government’s strategic aim that the partnerships resulting from the individual BAA awards represent opportunities to achieve mutual or complementary development goals of the Partner, USAID, and potentially other resource partners, and therefore embrace shared responsibility, shared risk, and shared resourcing. Shared resourcing may be accomplished through funding by both parties, either through cash resources or the exchange of other resources, both tangible and intangible, such as in-kind contributions, expertise, intellectual property, brand value, high-value coordination, and access to key people, places, and information. Co-investing does not require equally shared resourcing (such as 1:1 leverage), but rather resource contributions that are appropriate to the specific project’s objectives, considering the comparative advantages brought by the participation of each partner and the award type.

III. Specific Rights Reserved for the Government under this BAA

The Government reserves specific rights, in addition to rights described elsewhere in this document or by law or regulation, including:

1. The right to award multiple awards, a single award, or no awards.

2. The right to make award without discussions, or to conduct discussions and/or negotiations, whichever is determined to be in the Government’s interest.

3. The right to accept proposals in their entirety or to select only portions of proposals for award or co-investment.

4. The right to select for award an instrument type that is appropriate to the specific development context, partner relationship, and proposal selected for award. Instruments types include but are not limited to contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, Global Development Alliance agreements, Development Innovation Agreements, Inter-Agency Agreements, Government to Government Agreements, Donor to Donor Agreements, and Memorandums of Understanding. In addition, the Government may craft a new instrument type to meet the needs of a specific relationship.

5. The right to co-create projects with one or more proposers under the

BAA, when it is in the best interest of the Government.

6. The right to request any additional, necessary documentation upon initial review. Such additional information may include, but is not limited to, a further detailed proposal, budget, and representations and certifications.

7. The right to fund or co-invest in proposals in phases, with options for continued work at the end of one or more of the phases.

9. The right to award instruments under this BAA that does not commit or exchange monetary resources.

10. The right to remove proposers from award consideration should the parties fail to reach agreement on award terms, conditions, and cost/price within a reasonable time, the proposer fails to timely provide requested additional information, or the Government believes it is in its best interest.

IV. Problem and Challenge Statements

Addenda may be issued under this BAA that relate to the following problem and/or challenge:

Problem In a world where an ever greater share of goods and services are traded globally, businesses and governments have come under increasing pressure to take steps to end investment practices that result in human rights violations. Examples of how companies can affect human rights, for better or worse, include the manner in which they acquire land and access natural resources, how they interact with surrounding communities, and how they treat workers they employ directly or indirectly. Global governance is also increasingly affected by global trade and investment frameworks, sometimes creating tensions between national and transnational legal and regulatory authorities. Tackling these global governance issues requires broad partnerships between governments, private sector and civil society actors.

Challenge USAID’s work in this field is consistent with the call to all governments to develop National Action Plans (NAPs) to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Endorsed at the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, the Guiding Principles promote a common framework for dialogue among different stakeholders. On September 24, 2014, in his announcement on the Global Anticorruption Agenda, President Obama announced the initiation of a US NAP on Responsible Business Conduct and USAID has contributed to the development of this NAP. For example, USAID supports the work of civil society to promote labor rights in the apparel sector.

Other programs also include supporting civil society efforts to promote the implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI); and new multi-stakeholder work to develop and implement sustainability standards, including social/human rights standards, for fisheries in West Africa and South East Asia.

http://www.humanrights.gov/dyn/2015/usg-national-action-plan-on-responsible-business-conduct/ http://www.humanrights.gov/dyn/2015/usg-national-action-plan-on-responsible-business-conduct/

New and unusual partnerships involving governments, private sector actors and civil society are critical to continued progress to address corruption and rights abuses in global commerce. This call for concepts seeks innovative approaches that strengthen local capacity and build local and global partnerships to address these issues.

V. Criteria for Consideration

A. Expressions of Interest are not evaluated against other submissions, but solely based on whether USAID believes that the submitter will be a valuable contributor to the co-creation process. USAID may need to limit the number of initial submissions selected to move forward based on efficiencies.

B. Concept Papers are not evaluated against other submissions, but solely based on USAID’s determination that the Concept Paper will successfully address the Problem and Challenges set forth herein. USAID may need to limit the number of Concept Papers selected to move forward based on efficiencies.

C. Decisions regarding USAID’s pursuit of a particular project, technology or relationship are based on the available evidence, data, and resulting analysis. USAID seeks solutions that have a significant impact (i.e. breakthroughs, not incremental improvements), and can achieve that impact at scale.

D. The reputation of an organization, its past performance, and the managerial and technical ability of the person or team of people engaged in the endeavor are always significant considerations in assessing the potential and the risks associated with each award.

E. Additional criteria may be considered under this BAA to indicate that the submission successfully addresses the Problem and Challenges, including:

· Theory of change: Based on what drives illicit activity in this sector, describe the general theory of change and area(s) of intervention of your proposed concept.

· Specify target populations: Indicate the geographic scope and economic actors to be addressed by your concept. Please clearly identify target populations, and if cross-border activities, the reasons for a transnational approach (i.e. following financial flows, or working in both origin and destination countries for migrant workers).

· Impact and goals of the program: Indicate broad and discrete goals of the concept and how they relate to USAID’s Democracy, Rights and Governance (DRG) strategy and objectives.

· Private-sector partnerships: Indicate specific relationships with private sector actors, and any pre-existing partnership commitments to identify and address identified issues in the target sector.

· Capacity: A short statement of your organization’s past experience and capacity to conduct activities related to the proposed concept.

VI. Award Stages.

The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the concepts received and the availability of funds. Some award types may not include any funding.

The award process under this BAA has the following steps:

Stage 1 Submission of Expressions of Interest: Please submit an Expression of Interest in accordance with Section IX. More than one expression of interest can be submitted.

Expressions of Interest must indicate the development idea which will work towards discovering potential solutions to the Problem and Challenge Statement(s), by increasing knowledge and understanding of potential solutions, exploiting scientific discoveries or improvements in technology, materials, processes, methods, devices, or techniques, advancing the state of the art, or using scientific and technical knowledge in the design, development, testing, or evaluation of a potential new product or service (or of an improvement in an existing product or service).

Stage 2 Co-Creation and Development of the Concept Paper. For Expressions of Interest which are deemed to have merit by USAID and pass criteria/eligibility stated within the BAA and/or specific addenda, USAID will issue an invitation to a potential partner to participate in a co-creation workshop, conference, meeting, or the method designated by USAID to work together with all invitees to further develop the idea presented in the expression of interest.

Note that due to the anticipated large number of Expressions of Interest, USAID is unable to provide detailed information to those EOIs that are not selected to move forward.

Working together, USAID and the potential partner will collaborate on a Concept Paper.

It is during this phase of co-creation and co-design that the parties will begin to determine additional partners and resources to complement the project. The Concept Paper, generally 5-10 pages, will further detail and explain the project as initially provided in the Expression of Interest.

Co-Investing/Additional Partners and Resources. During the project co-creation and co-design, potential partner(s) and USAID will identify additional partners and resources, and whether additional mechanisms are necessary to implement the project.

All potential partners may not move forward to Stage 3.

Stage 3 Review by the Peer and Scientific Review Board. Concept Papers developed during Stage 2 will be reviewed by the Peer and Scientific Review Board, comprised of experts from USAID, partners, and/or outside parties. The Peer and Scientific Review Board will review Concept Papers and recommend which applicants should be considered Apparently Successful Partners. Using its technical expertise, the Peer and Scientific Review Board will recommend whether to move forward with the project including revisions/additions to the project, and potential partners and resources.

All potential partners may not move forward to Stage 4.

Stage 4 Contracting/Agreement Officer Determination. The Contracting/Agreement officer will review the Peer and Scientific Review Board’s recommendations and consider other information, such as resource availability, preliminary partner responsibility assessment, and Agency priorities, and will make a determination that the respondent is an Apparently Successful Partner. The Contracting/Agreement Officer may also make or narrow down the anticipated instrument type to facilitate project design.

Request for Additional Information. USAID will work with partners identified by the Peer and Scientific Review Board, and co-design the project and assist the partner to provide additional information with respect to the proposer’s technical approach, capacity, management and organization, past performance, and budget, as well as representations and certifications, as needed.

Final Review and Negotiation. The USAID Contract/ Agreement Officer will engage in final review, negotiation, and determinations of instrument type, responsibility cost reasonableness, etc., and will craft an award instrument with the Apparently Successful Partner. If the Apparently Successful Applicant and USAID cannot arrive at a mutually agreeable arrangement, the Contract/ Agreement Officer will cancel the project at no cost to the Government.

Award. Where USAID determines that the award of an instrument is appropriate, the USAID Contract/ Agreement Officer will award the instrument.

VI. Award Information

Number of awards could vary and may not mirror the number of expressions of interests or invitees to co-creation.

A. Awards under this BAA will be made to Apparently Successful Partners on the basis of their ability to further USAID’s goals of promoting rights and accountability in global commercial activity. USAID is seeking new applications of science, innovations, and partnerships that provide the best value to the Government and have the potential to substantially contribute to these goals.

B. Proposals identified for negotiation may result in a contract, grant, cooperative agreement, Global Development Alliance agreement, Development Innovation Agreement, Inter-Agency Agreement, Government to Government Agreement, Donor to Donor Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding or alternative agreement type, depending upon the nature of the work proposed, the required degree of Government involvement, and other factors. The Government Contracting/Agreement Officer will determine award instrument type and negotiate instrument terms and conditions with selectees. USAID may select the award instruments it deems appropriate.

C. Eligibility Information. Public, private, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations, as well as institutions of higher education, public international organizations, non-governmental organizations, U.S. and non-U.S. governmental organizations, multilateral and international donor organizations are eligible under this BAA. All organizations must be determined to be responsive to the BAA and sufficiently responsible to perform or participate in the final award type.

D. Standard Clauses and Provisions of Award. The standard clauses or provisions for awards are generally prescribed by law and regulation and will vary considerably by award type. Information regarding clauses and provisions will be offered to the proposer when the award type is identified.

E. Organizations are encouraged to consider providing reasonable cost sharing, leverage, or other exchange of resource arrangements, and are encouraged to suggest creative approaches to resourcing projects.

VIII. Information Protection

USAID’s goal is to facilitate research and development that will lead to innovative, and potentially commercially viable, solutions. Understanding the sensitive nature of submitters’ information, USAID will work with organizations to protect intellectual property.

Expressions of interest should be free of any intellectual property that submitter wishes to protect, as the Expressions of Interest may be shared with potential USAID partners involved in this process. However, once submitters have been invited to engage in further discussions, submitters will work with USAID to identify proprietary information that requires protection.

Therefore, organizations making submissions under this BAA grant to USAID a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to use, disclose, reproduce, and prepare derivative works, and to have or permit others to do so to any information contained in the expressions of interest submitted under the BAA. If USAID engages with the organization regarding its submission, the parties can negotiate further intellectual property protection for the organization’s intellectual property.

Organizations must ensure that any submissions under this BAA are free of any third party proprietary data rights that would impact the license granted to USAID herein.

IX. Obtaining the BAA and Addenda

The BAA and any future Addenda can be downloaded from http://www.grants.gov and http://www.fbo.gov. Issuance of this BAA does not constitute an award commitment on the part of USAID, nor does it commit USAID or any of its funding Partners to pay for costs incurred during this process.

http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.fbo.gov/