RFI-668-22-ACHIEVE signed.pdf

Subject: Request for Information RFI-668-22-ACHIEVE

Project Name : USAID/South Sudan’s HIV/AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children and Adolescent Girls and Young Women Follow On Activity

Date of Issuance: July 14, 2022

Response due: August 01, 2022

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in South Sudan is in the process of gathering information to support the design of an anticipated HIV/AIDS integrated activity, with the broad development objective of increasing household resilience, by improving the health of families, improving food security and nutrition and expanding livelihoods.

Please note: This is NOT a solicitation. This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP)/Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) or a promise to issue an RFP/NOFO in the future. USAID may release a full solicitation at a later date through the U.S. Government portal at www.fbo.gov or www.grants.gov. Responses to this RFI are not official proposals and in no way will be deemed to form any binding agreement with the U.S. Government and will not be construed as a commitment by the U.S.

Government to issue any solicitation or pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. Organizations responding to this request are solely responsible for bearing all expenses associated with the preparation and submission of the responses to this RFI. It is the respondent’s responsibility to monitor www.fbo.gov or www.grants.gov for the release of any further information. Note that responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any organization in any subsequent procurement. No telephone calls will be accepted and neither will responses to questions be provided with regards to this Notice.

Sincerely, Joseph Terrazas

Contracting Officer

USAID/South Sudan http://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/

I. Purpose

USAID/South Sudan is planning an Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) Activity that is designed to prevent new HIV infections and optimize outcomes for those living with HIV by fostering resilience among high-risk children, youth, and their caregivers in high-burden counties in South Sudan.

Interventions will be delivered at three levels to achieve all outcomes: (i) strengthened capacity of most vulnerable households to provide basic needs for their children and other family members; (ii) improved retention in care, treatment adherence, and viral load suppression for children and adolescents living with HIV; (iii) reduced incidence of new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women; (iv) decreased experiences of sexual, physical, and emotional violence among children, adolescent girls, and young women.

● Illustrative Interventions and Anticipated Outcomes

Illustrative Interventions:

● Comprehensive family-centered, case management for high-risk children, youth, and their caregivers

● Support CLHIV to be maintained on treatment, access viral load testing, participate in multi-month dispensing of HIV medication, complete enhanced adherence counseling, etc.

● Economic strengthening: vocational training, savings groups, start-up support, financial literacy training, etc.

● Support school attendance and progression: school stipends, school kits/supplies, attendance monitoring, etc.

● Support referrals to post-GBV services and build capacity of post-GBV service providers to improve service quality

● Train children and caregivers in HIV and violence prevention curricula (e.g.

Sinovuyo Teen)

● Provide social asset building training for AGYW (e.g. ELA)

● Psycho-social counseling (thought would be great it as a cross-cutting aspect across the activities and not limit this only to post-GBV referrals)

Anticipated outcomes:

● Strengthened capacity of most vulnerable households to provide basic needs for their children and other family members.

● Improved retention, adherence to treatment and viral load suppression for children and adolescents living with HIV.

● Reduced incidence of new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women.

● Decreased experiences of sexual, physical, and emotional violence among children, adolescent girls, and young women.

II. Program Duration

The anticipated program duration will be 5 years from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2028, depending on availability of funds. USAID/South Sudan expects to make one award.

III. Eligibility Requirements

The winning organization must have the capacity and systems to manage and administer a large-scale activity that may implement actions through sub-contracts/grants with other organizations and/or with foreign-based entities or individuals, including their ability to engage with various levels of Government of South Sudan institutions, comply with USAID and PEPFAR regulations, and hire and manage appropriate staff. USAID/South Sudan strongly encourages partnerships with local partners if the prime is an international organization. A local organization that has the operational, financial, administrative, and programmatic management structure and systems to recruit and sustain necessary personnel; and has resources and systems in place for risk management activities, is strongly encouraged to submit a proposal when the request for proposals is sent out.

To be considered a local entity under PEPFAR, the organization/firm must meet all three areas of eligibility:

(1) eith er must be incorporated or legally organized under the laws of, and have its principal place of business in South Sudan or must exist in the East Africa region1 where the entity’s funded PEPFAR programs are implemented

(2) eith er must be at least 75% beneficially owned at the time of application by individuals who are citizens or lawfully admitted permanent residents of that same country or at least 75% of the entity’s staff (senior, mid-level, support) at the time of application must be citizens or lawfully admitted permanent residents of that same country.

(3) where an entity has a Board of Directors, at least 51% of the members of the Board must also be citizens or lawfully admitted permanent residents of such country

1 Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

IV. Submission Instructions

All submissions shall be submitted by August 01, 2022, 1700 hours, local Juba time - CAT. No hard copies will be accepted. All submissions must include Section I “Cover Page” and Section II “Capability Statement”. Submissions shall use Arial 11 size font, single-spaced pages for all documents, and each page must be numbered consecutively. The Government is not responsible for and will not accept any responses submitted after the specified date and time.

The following information should be provided in a summary not to exceed five pages.

(a) Cover page (one page)

● Organization name and address

● Organization point of contact, title/position, telephone number(s), email address

(b) Capability Statement (maximum of four pages, using the template provided on the last page)

● Organization’s incorporation/registration details with information on ownership/governing body/management structure;

● Organization’s experience implementing activities funded by the United States Government or other donors (DFID, EU etc.), as a prime awardee, partner or sub-awardee; provide the following details for no more than five awards or sub-awards in the last five years:

○ Organization’s status as a prime or sub-award recipient or contractor;

○ Start and end dates of the award/contract;

○ Value of the award/contract, or sub-award;

○ Scope of work of the award/contract or sub-award, including any linkages to the three programmatic focus areas described in section II. Purpose; and,

○ Description of the effort, interventions, and outcomes.

● Summary of total annual budget managed, including funding from all sources;

● Description of technical expertise for assistance to orphans and vulnerable children, programming for adolescent girls and young women, and/or youth programs (including case management, direct service delivery, and experience reporting into the OVC MIS);

● An example that demonstrates your organization’s capacity and ability to form partnerships and/or build a consortium in order to implement the range of activities described under II. Purpose.

V. Summary

THE SUBMISSION OF THIS INFORMATION IS FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. IT

IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO

PROCURE ANY SERVICES, NOR DOES USAID INTEND TO AWARD A CONTRACT

OR GRANT ON THE BASIS OF THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION OR OTHERWISE

PAY FOR THE INFORMATION SOLICITED. ALL SUBMISSIONS BECOME

GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AND WILL NOT BE RETURNED. NO TELEPHONE CALLS

WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Capability Statement Template

1 Organization’s incorporation/registration details with information on ownership/governing body/management structure

2 Organization’s experience implementing activities funded by the United States Government or other donors (DFID, EU etc.), as a prime awardee, partner or sub-awardee; provide the following details for no more than five awards or sub-awards in the last five years:

○ Organization’s status as a prime or sub-award recipient or contractor

○ Start and end date of the award/contract

○ The value of the award/contract, or sub-award;

○ Scope of work of the award/contract or sub-award, including any linkages to the three programmatic focus areas described in section II. Purpose

○ Description of the effort, interventions, and outcomes.

3 Summary of total annual budget managed, including funding from all sources

4 Description of technical expertise for assistance to orphans and vulnerable children, programming for adolescent girls and young women, and/or youth programs (including case management, and direct service delivery)

5 An example that demonstrates your organization’s capacity and ability to form partnerships and/or build a consortium in order to implement the range of activities described under II. Purpose.