Good Governance - Amendment 1 10.28.22.pdf

Physical Address:

U.S. Agency for International Development Mobil Building N° 198 Avenue Isiro Gare Centrale / Gombe / Kinshasa Democratic Republic of Congo

Pouch address:

Department of State 2220 Kinshasa Place Washington, DC 20521-2220

Tel: (+243) 81 555 4430 Fax (+243) 81 555 3528 http://www.usaid.gov/cg

Amendment I

Issue Date: October 28, 2022 Solicitation Closing Date: November 18, 2022 Solicitation Closing Time: 9:00 am Kinshasa Time

SUBJECT: Amendment 1 – DRC Good Governance Activity (GGA) Questions & USAID

Responses with Contract Clauses Addendum

REF: Request for Proposal (RFP) Number: 72066022R00008

USAID/DRC Good Governance Activity

Dear Offerors, The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has reviewed the following questions that were submitted under the above referenced RFP. Please see below responses to the questions received.

All other terms and instructions remain the same for this RFP. Issuance of this solicitation does not in any way obligate the U.S. Government to award a contract, nor does it commit the U.S.

Government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal. The Government reserves the right to reject any and all offers, if such action is considered to be in the best interest of the U.S. Government.

Sincerely, Kathlyn Bryant Contracting Officer/Director Office of Acquisition and Assistance USAID/Democratic Republic of Congo

DRC Good Governance Activity RFP Number: 72066022R00008 Questions & USAID Responses

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General Questions

1. Is this considered a new requirement or is there an incumbent? If there is an incumbent, would you be able to share the vendor and contract number so that I can identify it in

FPDS?

USAID Response: DAI – AID-660-C-17-00001

2. Consistent with the guidance in FAR 37.113-1 and considering that the anticipated contract will be performed entirely overseas, we respectfully request that USAID include FAR 52.237-9, Waiver of Limitation on Severance Payments to Foreign Nationals, to prevent conflict with applicable local employment laws.

USAID Response: The related AIDAR clause 722.170 is included in the solicitation.

Therefore, Severance Pay is required.

Cost Questions

3. For the budget purposes, can offerors budget consultant costs as a separate budget line item per FAR 31.205-33 consultant definition and not group them as part of the contractual/subcontract cost pool?

USAID Response: Offerors must propose consultant costs as a sub-line item under the Contracts/Subcontracts line item.

Section B

4. On Page 7, Section B.7 - RFP includes Indirect Cost information for major subcontractors.

This information may later become integral part of the prime contract. Is it possible for a subcontractor to provide NICRA directly to USAID with the intent of not revealing any proprietary information to the prime?

USAID Response: Yes, a subcontractor may provide their NICRA directly to USAID.

Section C

5. Under Section C.4, IR 4 (pgs. 20-21), USAID mentions that the activity includes $804,536 in CCF funds under IR 4.1 and $500,000 in a special response fund under IR 4.2. Can USAID please clarify that a.) these funds are included within the contract ceiling ii) whether these funds are immediately available to the Contractor upon award and b.) if these funds are meant to be reflected as program activity costs, separate CLINs, or as Institutional Support Funds under a separate subcontract mechanism?

USAID Response:

a. The amount is included in the ceiling of the contract.

b. Some of this funding will be directly available upon the award. The specific interventions will be implemented throughout the life of the activity.

c. These specific funds will support activity interventions related to anti-corruption mainly in the mining sector. The Contractor must report on these specific interventions with the indicators.

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6. In section C.4, (pg. 23) of the RFP outlines a paid internship program with a parenthetical statement that interns are not to exceed 200 hours overall. Could USAID confirm if the 200-hour cap is per intern per year or if the entire internship program not exceed 200 hours over the life of project?

USAID Response: The 200-hour cap is for the entire internship program per year.

Section F

7. Section F.4 Key Personnel (pg. 33) and Section H.22 Language Requirements (pg. 65) require French and English professional working level – equivalent to FSI 3/3. This requirement seems to be contrary to USAID’s specific objective of developing local capacity of key personnel. Could USAID revise the English language requirement to FSI 2/2 equivalent.

USAID Response: Language skills are very important for both the DRC and US Government counterpart audiences. It is expected that key personnel have the ability to communicate with both audiences and therefore, we are keeping the language requirement at FSI 3/3 equivalent.

Section H

8. Section H indicates all grants issued under the contract must be to local nongovernmental organizations, however the regulations allow contractors to execute solely in-kind grants to government entities. Would USAID confirm that solely in-kind grants to government entities will be allowed under this contract, pursuant to ADS 302.3.4.13?

USAID Response: No grants will be allowed to government entities under this contract.

9. Can USAID confirm that the following sentence from clause H.20 – “USAID/DRC will not reimburse the contractor for any fees on GUCs” – means grantees are not allowed to charge fee, which is consistent with the assistance regulations, rather than the implementer cannot charge fee on grants?

USAID Response: The sub-recipient (grantee) cannot charge a fee on the grants.

Section I

10. Section I includes representations for FAR 52.204-24 and 52.204-26, usually found within Section K. Can USAID confirm if these clauses should be addressed in our representations and certifications?

USAID Response: Yes.

Section L

11. Section L.6.1(c) states that “all graphs and charts must be included in the annexes” whereas L.6.1(d) states that “a page in the technical proposal that contains a table, chart, graph, etc.

not otherwise excluded below is included within the stated page limitation for the Technical Proposal.” Can USAID confirm whether Offerors should include the organizational chart and the staffing organizational plan referenced within the 10 pages allocated for the Management Structure Plan or in an annex? Can other tables, charts, graphs, etc. be included in the Technical Proposal Body, or should they only appear in annexes?

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USAID Response: Offerors must include the Organization Chart and the Staffing Organizational Plan within the 10 pages limit for the Management Plan.

12. Section L.6.2 (pg. 144): May offerors present the staffing organizational plan as a non-counting annex and not part of the 10-page management section?

USAID Response: See the response to question 11.

13. Section L.6.2: Regarding Performance Using Small Business Concerns (pg. 145), may offerors include the narrative information required on pages 146 and 147, in Annex F preceding the one-page list of recent eSRS reports?

USAID Response: No.

14. Page 145, Section L.6.2 (vii), Annexes, Subsection D. Letters of Commitment/MOUs etc.

states: “Offerors may submit letters of commitment from partners, relevant Memorandum of Understanding or teaming arrangements.” Could USAID please clarify if the Technical Proposal should include letters of commitments from proposed subcontractors? Or should Offerors include them in the Cost proposal?

USAID Response: All Letters of Commitment/MOUs for the Prime and Subcontractors should be provided as an Annex.

15. L.7 states that "the budget narrative must be written in English in Microsoft Word, be readable, and be text accessible," while L.5 states the proposal must be "compatible with Microsoft OFFICE 2010 WORD, PowerPoint, Excel, or Adobe Acrobat portable document format..." Can USAID confirm that a PDF of the cost narrative, included in the cost proposal, is sufficient?

USAID Response: Offerors must submit the budget narrative in Microsoft Word.

Offerors may submit a PDF version in addition to the word version.

16. For L.7.7, under, "Information to Support Consent to Major Subcontractors," the RFP states that "the offeror must address each of the elements in FAR 44.202-2 in order for proposed subcontractors to be considered..." Can USAID please confirm that Information to Support Consent is required for major subcontractors only?

USAID Response: Information to Support Consent is required for major subcontractors only. Major subcontractors are defined as subcontracts that are equal or more than 20% of the project budget.

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SECTION I - CONTRACT CLAUSES Addendum

I.1 APPLICABILITY OF CONTRACT CLAUSES AND PROVISIONS

I.1 FAR 52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

This contract incorporates the following clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Per the Procurement Executive Bulletin No. 2021-01, the following clauses have been added to the RFP:

52.223-17 Affirmative Procurement of EPA-designated Items 52.223-4 Recovered Material Certification 52.223-1 Biobased Product Certification 52.223-2 Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products Under Service and

Construction Contracts

[END OF AMENDMENT 1]