HFECA_RFI-675-21-HFECA-01.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Request For Information (RFI) No. RFI-675-21-HFECA-01 Release Date May 05, 2021 RFI Closing Date & Time June 28, 2021 at 8:00 am Guinea Time Activity Title Guinea Health Facility Electrification and Connectivity

Activity (HFECA) Eligibility Local and International Organizations Submission must be emailed to conakryoaa@usaid.gov Posting Websites https://www.grants.gov https://beta.sam.gov https://www.usaid.gov/guinea

Dear Interested Party:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Guinea Health Office is seeking information, opinions, and recommendations on approaches for the possible implementation of an activity that leverages USAID and private sector resources to promote and test sustainable public-private investments for healthcare electrification, water provision and telecommunication (data and internet connectivity) services to support its health and development investments in Guinea. The RFI intends to:

● Allow stakeholders and interested organizations to provide information and suggestions on an upcoming activity

● Assess interest and capacity of potential local and locally registered organization to improving health services delivery in Guinea

● Explore innovative approaches to better partner with actors to meet the Mission needs.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) and is issued solely for information, research, and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a Request for Application (RFA). This RFI does not commit the U.S. Government to issue a solicitation.

Furthermore, USAID/Guinea is not at this time seeking proposals or applications and will not accept unsolicited proposals. If a solicitation is issued, it will be announced on https://www.grants.gov or https://beta.sam.gov in the coming weeks. It should be noted that responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any organizations in any subsequent procurement. Propriety information should not be sent.

You will receive an electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of your response. Hard copy responses are not required and are discouraged. Consider the following when preparing your response to the listed questions:

● Please ensure that your organization is aware of the Health Center Electrification and Connectivity Activity (Attachment A).

● Comments should be concise and specific to the question. Responding to each question is not required. For market research purposes, all organizations are invited to respond to this RFI, whether or not they currently work with USAID as a prime or subawardee engagement. Please consider and respond to the following questions (Attachment B).

Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI by email attachment on the closing date and time shown at the tip of this cover letter to conakryaa@usaid.gov. The subject line of the email must read, HFECA. Please ensure your comments are concise and specific. Responses must at a minimum contain the following:

1) Primary point of contact (name, title, phone number, and email address)

2) Contact information (telephone, website, and address) of your organization

USAID is in no way obligated to utilize submitted information or issue a solicitation as a result of this RFI. USAID is not obligated to procure any of the services described herein, nor should the release of this request be construed as such a commitment on the part of USAID.

Thank you for your interest in USAID/Guinea projects.

Sincerely, Albert P. Asante Regional Agreement Officer

ALBERT PHILLIP

ASANTE (affiliate)

Digitally signed by ALBERT PHILLIP ASANTE (affiliate) Date: 2021.05.05 11:01:00 Z

ATTACHMENT A

SUMMARY OF GUINEA HEALTH CENTER ELECTRIFICATION

AND CONNECTIVITY ACTIVITY

Background

USAID/Guinea is requesting information that will support further analytical work to determine and support decisions on the best approaches for the provision of electricity and connectivity services for health centers in rural communities in Guinea. This will enhance the capacity of Guinea’s public health system to serve rural Guineans by providing off-grid health centers with equipment for the electricity generation and storage and provide connectivity (internet, water etc.)

services.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that reliable infrastructure, particularly electricity significantly improves health delivery systems and consequently achieving the health Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With reliable electricity, women can more safely give birth at night and during emergencies such as COVID- 19, medical equipment can be powered and better sterilized and clinics can preserve life-saving vaccines for new-born, etc. Rural health center electrification, particularly, is critical during the COVID-19 pandemic given the need to power diagnostic equipment, and cold chain demands among others, in Guinea.

Notwithstanding the relevance of electrifying health centers, most health centers in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. Where they have access to electricity, they suffer from frequent blackouts. It is estimated that in Sub-Saharan Africa, only 28 percent of health centers have access to reliable electricity. In Guinea, it becomes much more glaring where less than 29 percent of the total population have access to electricity and even more so less when health centers are analyzed.

Lack of reliable electricity and purified water services puts lives at risk especially in emergencies like COVID-19 when reliable electricity is the need of the hour to save lives.

Public-Private Partnerships Information

USAID/Guinea is exploring opportunities to invest and attract private capital investment in health facility electrification to support sustainable response efforts in collaboration with private sector partners. This partnership can include companies, non-governmental organizations, foundations, governments, and other relevant parties committed to promoting health facility modernization (electricity, internet connectivity, water, etc.) in Guinea.

The partnership would build on existing USAID health programming efforts to enhance private sector participation in health facility electrification in Guinea through sustainable and reliable options. Our goal is to help improve health service delivery, COVID-19 and Ebola vaccine distribution through providing reliable, sustainable and affordable electricity and connectivity services. USAID seeks sustainable ways to finance and electrify health facilities throughout programs implementation and beyond project implementation. Innovative solutions to governance, financing, and delivery challenges are welcome to solve this development challenge.

ATTACHMENT B

QUESTIONS

1) Briefly describe your organization and experiences enhancing the capacity of Guinea’s public health system to serve rural Guineans.

2) Based on your understanding of the health systems context in Guinea, what are the key barriers (in improving health service delivery, COVID19, and Ebola vaccine distribution necessary for providing reliable, sustainable, and affordable electricity or connectivity services).

3) What obstacles does your organization see in working with local organizations?

4) What models of activity implementation would you propose to consider that could result in an increased county led, managed, and country owned, more resilient health?

5) Is your organization interested in partnering with USAID? Are there other organizations that are active and/or would be interested in this partnership (and if so, who are they)?

What could USAID’s partnership engagement provide to organizations already active in this space?

6) Does a partnership that seeks to electrify health clinics, and provide connectivity (purified water, internet, etc.) currently exist? If so, what are their salient features and identified gaps?

7) How do you suggest USAID leverage partners to improve health services delivery?

8) How might this partnership attract Corporate Social Responsibility or business investment into health facility electrification with viable, profitable business models?

9) How does your organization leverage existing resources/funding allocation to improve health services delivery?

10) What innovative and sustainable solutions exist to help address the challenges to implementing health facility electrification in Guinea such as financing, governance, and delivery of services?

11) What results should USAID target with Health Facility Electrification (HFE) projects and how would we measure them?

12) If you are a private sector actor, what would be your primary goals in partnering with USAID on health facility electrification? What are current barriers to private sector investment in HFE?

13) How do we ensure the security of the high value electricity, communications, and storage equipment installed at a health facility?

14) How can USAID and/or partners monitor supply chain, construction, implementation and performance of the installed systems, so real-time information can be provided on the power generation, consumption, battery performance, etc.?

15) What are potential benefits to/from the clinic aside from the health services improved and or expanded that USAID should be aware of?

16) Is there anything else you would like to add related to HFE that will ensure success of the partnership?