Cover Letter and Instructions Colombia English.pdf

SUBJECT: INTER-AMERICAN FOUNDATION (IAF) IN-COUNTRY PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT,

MANAGEMENT, MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING SERVICES FOR COLOMBIA

Dear Potential Applicant, The Bureau of the Fiscal Service, on behalf of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), is seeking applications from qualified citizens living in Colombia to provide in-country program development, management, monitoring, evaluation, and learning services contractor under an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Labor Hour Contract, as described in the following solicitation: “20343124R00008 In-

Country Support Services Colombia.”

This contract will be awarded for one (1) 12-month Base Period and four (4) 12-month Option Periods, which will be exercised at the discretion of the IAF. The Performance Work Statement (PWS) describes the job of the In

Country Support Services Contractor. This document describes how to apply and explains the selection process.

Please pay close attention to Section I Requirements of the PWS for information on labor structure.

INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLICANTS

A complete application package shall include the following items:

1. A Cover Letter that demonstrates the offeror’s qualifications to perform each of the required work responsibilities identified in the PWS tasks. Offerors with multiple individuals should articulate the qualifications of each individual.

2. Curriculum Vitaes (CVs) that demonstrate the offeror has the required qualifications identified in the PWS.

CVs should be submitted for each individual included in the offeror’s proposal.

3. Attachment D – A list of three (3) references, including their title, affiliation, and contact information

(telephone number, and email).

4. A copy of the offeror’s educational diploma(s) in social science, international development, rural development, economics, or a related field, mentioned in the CVs. Diplomas should be provided for each individual included in the offeror’s proposal.

5. A writing sample, in the language of the applicant’s base country, consisting of a response to the following prompt:

IAF grantees are resourceful and creative in their projects to expand economic opportunities and improve governance and peacefulness in their communities. The IAF is committed to helping grantees learn from their experiences so that grantees have greater confidence that their projects deliver their intended results.

Please describe one possible approach that the IAF could use in helping grantees learn from their projects that draws from your experience. Be as specific as possible in your answer, describing the kind of grassroots organization you worked with, the approach you used, and the benefits of this approach for the organization. Limit your answer to one page, single-spaced, using 12 Times New

Roman font and one-inch margins.

6. A pricing proposal using “Attachment A - Pricing Sheet” of the solicitation. The Offeror shall propose a fixed hourly rate (in U.S. dollars) for all services. This proposal should not include reimbursable travel costs, such as meals, lodging, and transportation. IAF, through the Bureau for Fiscal Services, will assess pricing proposals and the offeror’s experience and technical rating. The Pricing Sheet must be submitted in order for the application to be considered complete.

20343124R00008

7. The Offeror has an in-country presence. The Contractor shall be an individual, firm, or non-governmental organization with a full-time physical presence and legal status to operate in the country in which they will be working for the duration of the contract.

8. The Offeror demonstrates native fluency in the language of their assigned country, as reflected in the language used in the application itself and working experience in-country.

9. The Offeror has at minimum a bachelor’s degree in social science, international development, rural development, economics, sociology, or other related fields.

10. SAM REGISTRATION AND ACTIVE UNIQUE ENTITY IDENTIFIER (UEI): An interested offeror is required to be registered in SAM with an active UEI as soon as possible. If registration with an active UEI is not possible when submitting an offer or quotation, the awardee shall be registered in SAM with an active UEI within 30 calendar days following notification of a tentative acceptance of a proposal by the IAF. An inactive SAM registration and UEI following the 30th day after a tentative acceptance of a proposal will allow the Government the unilateral right to tentatively accept another interested offeror’s proposal, in accordance with terms of the solicitation. Any tentative proposal acceptance is contingent upon the interested offeror satisfying the aforementioned SAM registration and UEI requirements.

a. Potential Vendors, the SAM /UEI Process takes a considerable amount of time, it’s important to start this process as soon as possible, or you could be potentially disqualified from further consideration by not meeting the 30 day timeline.

Applications are due by August 23, 2024. They may be submitted in English or Spanish and must follow these instructions:

● Write “20343124R00008 In-Country Support Services Colombia” on the cover letter, CV, and list of references.

● Use Microsoft Office compatible files or Adobe PDF. Other file extensions will not be accepted.

● Email your complete application to purchasing@fiscal.treasury.gov, with the subject line “Application for

20343124R00008 In-Country Support Services Colombia, Attn: MW/BKS.”

Only complete applications, submitted to the e-mail address above, by the established due date, will be considered.

You are strongly encouraged to request a secure email to reply to if any of your documents contain PII and cannot be removed effectively.

Please send an email to purchasing@fiscal.treasury.gov referencing “20343124R00008 In-Country Support Services

Colombia” – Encryption Request Attn: MW/BKS- on or before 72 hours before the request closes to request that an encrypted email message be sent to you from our agency. If you submit a request after that time, there is no guarantee that we will respond or that you will be able to go through the process to submit your response on time for the Government to consider. Once you receive the encrypted email, then you will need to open it by creating an account. Once you create an account, then you can respond to our agency’s encrypted email, which will then automatically encrypt your email response and any attachments to it for only the Government to view.

If you have any questions, please contact purchasing@fiscal.treasury.gov, with the subject line “Question for

20343124R00008 In-Country Support Services Colombia, Attn: MW/BKS.”

mailto:purchasing@fiscal.treasury.gov

FOREIGN PII SPECIAL NOTICE

Please be aware that if you email documents containing personally identifiable information (PII), the information may not be secure, and your email may be intercepted or otherwise viewed against your wishes.

Examples of PII are, but not limited to, education attainment documents that contain the individual’s name and home address, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and information; which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, social security number, national ID number, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, biometric records, photograph, physical home and/or email address, phone number, driver’s license, etc., including any other personal information which is linked or linkable to an individual.

Please:

1. DO NOT send by email a copy of an identification card with a photograph such as a driver’s license, national identification card, or passport, etc. with your response.

2. DO NOT include your physical and mailing address, etc. in your Cover Letter, Curriculum Vitae (CV), Resume, body of the email, and supporting Education Diploma or Training Certificates in your response.

Please mark out with permanent black marker your physical or mailing address only in your

Education Diploma or Training Certificates.

Your name still needs to be on all of the above documents.

The Government may request a hard copy of one (1) or more of the aforementioned items as proof in a later phase of the Evaluation Process and as part of the security background check after award.

Thank you for your interest in IAF. We look forward to reviewing your application.

Contracting Officer

SELECTION PROCESS

The IAF will evaluate applications in the following phases:

PHASE I – Initial Review

The IAF will initially filter applicants to ensure they meet a minimum level of requirements (“go/no go factors”).

Applicants who meet these basic requirements will then be assessed according to the technical factors deemed essential for this contract.

Go/No-Go Factors

Applicants will only be considered for the position if they:

● Submit an application that is complete and on time.

● Reside in Colombia and are able to legally work in Colombia at the time of award.

● Demonstrate native fluency in Spanish.

● Possess at minimum a bachelor’s degree in social science, international development, rural development, community development, economics, sociology, or other related fields.

● Have at least ten (10) years of professional field-based experience monitoring, evaluating, administering, and/or managing international development programs. At least half of this experience must be in-country.

PHASE II - Required Qualifications (As listed in Section F of PWS)

1. At minimum, a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in social science, international development, rural development, community development, economics, sociology or a related field.

2. Minimum of ten years of professional experience working with marginalized groups and grassroots, community-led development. At least half of this experience must be in Colombia.

a. This may be a combination of field-based community-led development (at least 5 years) and business development, economic development, monitoring and evaluation, and/or management of international development programs (additional 5 years).

3. Minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience in field-based monitoring and/or evaluating development projects, particularly demonstrating the use of a variety of tools, such as surveys, interviews, and participative research methods.

4. Experience working with grant management, including the development of new grants, oversight and guidance as well as monitoring. Demonstrated experience working with community level organizations in the full grant cycle.

5. Experience with financial management/accounting and preparation of programmatic and financial reports.

6. Competence with standard Microsoft Office and Google suite of computer programs as well as ability to use grants management system and other database and reporting tools.

7. Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team.

8. Experience in coordinating and facilitating travel logistics and field-based events.

9. High level of motivation, personal commitment, and ethical standards.

10. Demonstrated professional demeanor and verbal communications, as expressed through interview and references.

11. Application is well written, effectively structured, easy to read, consistently formatted, and free of grammatical and typographical errors.

12. Reside in Colombia.

13. Native Spanish speaker.

14. Ability to travel throughout Colombia.

15. Valid driver’s license.

PHASE III - Interview and Reference Check

The Evaluation Panel reserves the right to only interview the most highly qualified candidates from Phase II. The

IAF will interview the remaining offerors through videoconference and a standard set of questions to further assess the candidate’s capabilities to effectively carry out all in-country support services. Questions will assess the candidates’ understanding of grassroots development, how their skills and experience apply to the needs of the IAF, and how effective they communicate orally. The IAF reserves the right to not interview any candidates.

The IAF will then check the references for those applicants who obtain an excellent or acceptable rating during the interview. Reference checks will be done through emails and phone conversations, using the information submitted through the application process. Offerors will be rated Pass or Fail - a Fail Reference Check will result in disqualification from progressing to the next phase. The IAF reserves the right to check contractor performance records listed in CPARS as part of Phase III. Negative CPARS records can be considered as part of Phase III of the

Technical Evaluation.

PHASE IV - Pricing

The IAF will assess the candidates’ pricing proposals.

PHASE V – Offer to Selected Apparent Awardee

An offer for award will be made to the applicant receiving the highest score in accordance with FAR 52.212-2

Evaluation, Technical and Price evaluation factors considered. If the offer is not accepted, the IAF reserves the right to make an offer to the next preferred applicant without further discussion.