RFI 72052723RFI00004 Institutional Strengthening of DEVIDA AGsigned.pdf

RFI 72052723RFI00004

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

ISSUANCE DATE: January 30, 2023

CLOSING DATE: March 6, 2023, 4:00 pm (Lima Local Time)

SUBJECT: Request for Information (RFI) - New activity: "Institutional Strengthening of DEVIDA"

The United States Government, represented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Republic of Peru requests information about technical approaches to strengthen the capacity of the Peruvian Counternarcotics agency, the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo y la Vida Sin Drogas (DEVIDA)—to implement the 2020-2030 National Counternarcotics Policy, reduce poverty, and improve livelihoods in Alternative Development areas.

This Request for Information (RFI) is not restricted to any category of organization. A pre-solicitation conference will follow the review of all information received and will be announced in due time.

The purpose of this RFI is threefold:

1. Elicit feedback and critique of the Draft Activity Description presented in Section II.

2. Gather ideas, strategies and/or approaches on how to procure and implement market-oriented intervention(s) aimed at supporting the Peruvian Counternarcotics agency, the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo y la Vida Sin Drogas (DEVIDA)—to implement the 2020-2030 National Counternarcotics Policy, reduce poverty, and improve livelihoods.

3. Solicit Capability Statements from local and non-local entities.

Sincerely, Andre-Guy Soh Contracting/Agreement Officer USAID/Peru

SECTION I. INSTRUCTIONS

Responses (comments, questions, suggestions, enhancements, and Capability Statements) to this RFI are due to limasolicitations@usaid.gov by March 6, 2023, 4:00 pm (Lima Local Time).

Also, interested organizations should state their interest in attending a “Question and Answers” virtual orientation conference to be held ten business days after the publication of this RFI.

Electronic submissions must have the subject: "Response to RFI No. 72052723RFI00004 - Institutional Strengthening of DEVIDA".

All submissions must be in Microsoft Word, using Calibri font, size 12, Responses may be submitted in Spanish or English.

General contributions in response to purposes 1 and 2 of this RFI (see cover sheet) must not exceed 4 pages. Feedback and comments may include:

• Additional innovative ideas and/or programs you may have to address the best approach(es) to strengthen the institutional capacity of DEVIDA to implement Peru’s National counternarcotics Policy deliver post eradication assistance and to strengthen capacity of civil society organizations to advocate;

• Constructive criticism to the overall approach described in section II;

• Additional sectors that should be included or eliminated as partnering actors for this activity;

• Recommendation for a mechanism type under Assistance or Acquisition and the rationale underpinning the recommendation.

• Additional actions or focus areas that should be considered to maximize the potential of the activity described above to address institutional strengthening of DEVIDA and of civil society organizations. The approach must include gender-sensitive, inclusive, and youth considerations.

Capability Statements must be succinct, not exceed 2 pages (included in the four-page limit) and must address the following:

1. Contact Name, Title and email address

2. Description of the organization's capacity to receive and manage bilateral/multilateral or other donor funding and the amounts (if any);

3. Presentation of past, present and future activities/projects managed in the sector of institutional strengthening and support to the implementation of the National Counternarcotics Policy.

4. Brief financial presentation of your organization. This section should cover the last 5 years and include overall budget, independently conducted financial audits, and any other information mailto:limasolicitations@usaid.gov

5. Describe your overall management capability and leadership i.e., operations, procurement, personnel, certifications etc.

6. Describe your organization's overall implementation capacity i.e., technical know-how, relationships, certifications, presence, or capacity to deploy or establish operations in targeted geographies.

7. Confirmation of your organization’s registration in the System for Awards Management (SAM) and registration in the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation (APCI) system is desirable, but not required to respond to this RFI. Nonetheless, SAM registration is mandatory before award.

8. Identify areas for further capability (management and implementation) strengthening

9. References

SECTION II. NEW ACTIVITY INFORMATION

The U.S Agency for International Development (USAID)/Peru may use feedback and comments from this RFI to refine a future solicitation. If a solicitation/funding opportunity is issued, USAID/Peru intends to make one award with an estimated duration of five years in length, and a Total Estimated Amount not to exceed $10 million. The type of award (Acquisition or Assistance) has not been determined yet.

Mechanism Number To be Determined Activity Name: "Institutional Strengthening of DEVIDA"

Prime Partner: Local (Peru) or non-local Organization Award Number: To be Determined Implementing Mechanism Type: To be Determined Source Agency: U.S. Agency for International Development Implementing Agency: U.S. Agency for International Development Planned Funding: Up to $10,000,000 Period of Performance: 5 years from award date

I. DRAFT ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

Abstract. The Institutional Strengthening for DEVIDA project (hereafter referred to as the “Project”) will be an important USAID mechanism for supporting the Peruvian Counternarcotics agency, the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo y la Vida Sin Drogas (DEVIDA), in implementing the 2020-2030 National Counternarcotics Policy, reducing poverty, and improving livelihoods in all of coca growing regions in Peru. The Project will strengthen DEVIDA so that hundreds of communities receive timely and effective support needed to permanently give up coca farming. These communities will get the support needed to ensure that alternative livelihoods are sufficiently profitable so that they will not return to coca cultivation at some point in the future after eradication. Also, the Project will directly support DEVIDA to achieve its institutional development goals and deliver more effective post- eradication assistance.

https://sam.gov/content/home https://sam.gov/content/home

Context. Peru may be experiencing a unique window of opportunity to effectively address its narco trafficking problem for several reasons. First, DEVIDA published its 2020-2030 Counternarcotics Policy in 2020. Second, during a recent interview, political and socioeconomic analyst Pedro Yaranga stated that the price of an arroba of illegal coca has dropped consistently since 2020 to an all-time low in 2022. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced eradication and other counternarcotics efforts, which resulted in a surge in coca production and a much larger supply vis-a-vis demand, which also reduced the price of coca. Lower prices may be related to the surge of synthetic drugs in the US (once a major importer of Peruvian cocaine). Respondents to this RFI shall address the impact of the price of coca on the counternarcotics efforts by the Government of Peru. Third, the Shining Path remnants in the VRAEM have received a major blow after a recent Peruvian army incursion that resulted in the capture of several criminals (although the main leader remains at large) and the seizure of valuable intelligence information. Fourth, in Peru, coca cultivation exacerbates the poverty trap. Compounded by the mandatory isolation elicited by the COVID-19 pandemic, the significantly lower prices left thousands of families that dedicated exclusively to the cultivation of illegal coca destitute, forcing some families to migrate out of the VRAEM.

That being said, according to the latest Coca Cultivation Report published by DEVIDA, coca cultivation in 2021 (approximately 80,000 hectares) increased by about 20 thousand hectares compared to 2020 (approximately 61,000 hectares). The VRAEM continues to be home to the country’s highest concentrations of high-yielding illegal coca, whereas areas with a long history of implementation of DEVIDA’s and USAID’s alternative development model have seen minor increases, a maintenance of already low amounts, or a consistent reduction.

In Monzon (Huanuco region), in 2018, 39 percent of people lived in poverty. There, one in ten adults has no education at all. Only about half of all households have access to public water and appropriate sanitation systems. The situation is more critical in the VRAEM, where many districts show 40 percent poverty rates, and at least ten districts show poverty rates above 81 percent, including Uchuraccay, which is the poorest of all 1,874 districts in Peru. Furthermore, approximately 45 percent of children under the age of five are chronically malnourished.

Despite coca’s “high value,” poverty reduction has taken place in areas that experienced some of the most dramatic declines in coca cultivation, suggesting that coca-derived profits inhibit human development.

USAID’s “San Martin model,” which included 15 years of direct Alternative Development (AD) assistance, led to greater security and prosperity in hundreds of communities where narco-trafficking once flourished. However, given Peru’s economic trajectory and improving capacity, sustaining AD assistance through traditional donor-driven means is not appropriate. Peru’s growth—driven largely by revenues from extractive industries and favorable commodity prices—has filled the Government of Peru’s (GOP) treasury. Yet, resources are not reaching rural, isolated communities. Here, poverty—underpinned by insecurity, isolation, and inadequate public services—provides fertile ground for coca cultivation. Over the next five years, USAID seeks to strengthen key institutions and rural markets so that public and private resources are used more strategically and efficiently and give Peru’s rural poor a sustainable “alternative.”

The GOP has taken increasingly greater responsibility for AD efforts over the past five years.

Together with USAID, DEVIDA has assisted over 34,000 families to increase their incomes through support to over 56,000 hectares of cacao and coffee. Progress is clearest with cacao.

Winner of countless awards, Peru has positioned itself among the world’s highest quality cacao producers. Still, private investment is nascent and anticipated profit margins for “fine and aromatic” cacao have not been fully realized. Furthermore, farmer incomes are overexposed to volatility in cacao commodity prices. USAID and DEVIDA have worked to improve productivity and quality to counteract the effects of commodity prices. Investments in coffee have been more marginal, and Peru remains far behind its competitors in recovering from the 2012 epidemic of leaf rust.

Institutionally, over the recent years, DEVIDA has had a fairly robust and stable budget, and its capacity to spend that budget has improved. DEVIDA faces challenges, however, in the areas of information management, planning, procurement, and coordination among GOP agencies.

Addressing these challenges is key to enhancing the quality and effectiveness of DEVIDA’s expenditures.

Technical approach. Absent a compelling reason, USAID discourages direct financial assistance to farmers or procurement of agricultural inputs without prior USAID consent. Instead, DEVIDA’s capacity to provide services, as described in this RFI, shall be strengthened.

Respondents shall address the following items:

1. Strengthen DEVIDA’s capacity to more effectively deliver post-eradication assistance (without continued USAID support) by assessing the validity of the following institutional goals:

o DEVIDA’s institutional progress, as well as its post-eradication progress, is effectively monitored and informs budgetary and programmatic decisions.

o DEVIDA procures goods and services efficiently, particularly for planting alternative crops and related inputs.

o DEVIDA’s strategic planning and budgeting are aligned with the National Strategy for the Fight Against Drugs.

o DEVIDA employees are skilled and equipped to deliver timely post-eradication technical assistance and services.

o DEVIDA formulates and improves public policies associated with alternative development.

o Ensuring full implementation of DEVIDA’s Centralized Information Management

System (Sistema Integrado de Gestión, in Spanish) leveraging GOP funds for this purpose.

o Improving DEVIDA’s capacity to monitor implementation of the Counternarcotics Policy o Ensuring DEVIDA’s information management systems are interoperable with other GOP systems (e.g., RENIEC, MEF, etc) o Strengthen DEVIDA’s capacity to coordinate with other sectors to implement Peru’s Counternarcotics Policy at all government levels (multisectoral approach) o Strengthen DEVIDA’s capacity to monitor implementation of municipal transfers and improve the efficiency and timing of such transfers. An incentives approach may be useful for this purpose.

o Identify critical points to streamline distribution channels from developing approval documents (e.g., fichas técnicas) to ensuring timely delivery of goods and services (e.g., fertilizers, pruning shears, technical assistance, etc) to end users (i.e., assisted families) o Improvement of technical capacity of DEVIDA’s field personnel (extensionists) o Strengthen DEVIDA’s capacity to monitor both operational and administrative impact of key actions (e.g., new metrics to assess crop productivity, living income, and others to measure livelihood improvement, using a results-based approach).

o Identify actions to improve DEVIDA’s procurement processes (goods and services) in order to reduce or eliminate bottlenecks and delays. Responses should build upon progress made to date on this matter.

o Propose a sustainability approach with specific metrics that reflects a strategy and logic model to address DEVIDA’s technical assistance needs after the period of performance of a potential USAID project ends

2. Improve DEVIDA’s capacity to organize and empower communities where coca has recently been eradicated to define, advocate for, and implement social and economic development priorities. Because areas affected by narcotrafficking are isolated, poor, disempowered, and have minimal State presence, DEVIDA must be able to help civil society organizations promote licit community development. The following are illustrative community institutional goals:

o Focus interventions to generate sustainable AD value chains with gender and social inclusion (GESI) focus to benefit women, youth, indigenous people, etc.

o Efficiency in budget spending by DEVIDA and accountability to PIRDAIS beneficiaries are a must.

o Technical assistance to strengthen the coordination role of DEVIDA with other sectors to advocate for additional public funding (PRODUCE, AGRICULTURE, MINCETUR, etc.) for DEVIDA communities.

o DEVIDA identifies (or develops) and implements tools to support communities that pledge to leave coca to get organized, identify their priorities, and help them realize those priorities. Furthermore, DEVIDA will provide help to communities at the caserío, or village level, to organize themselves into existing (e.g., Juntas Vecinales Comunales in Spanish) or new community organization models. More than just bringing basic services, these committees must form the basis through which other groups, including producer groups, water boards, and savings groups, come together to drive and sustain progress. Perhaps most fundamental, members of a community begin to trust one another, and cooperate to achieve common goals. This “social capital” is important to not only put communities on a licit path, but to generate the peer pressure and empowerment necessary to sustain their licit trajectory.

o DEVIDA empowers and incentivizes communities, including women and youth, to meaningfully engage in and benefit from the alternative development process.

Examples include:

1. Strengthening leadership of community organizations to increase negotiation skills to demand better services from government entities

2. Community relations building

3. Connecting community governance structures to local governments

4. Improving asociatividad

5. Promoting off-farm employment opportunities through vocational training or other means

6. Promoting Social Inclusion o Propose improvements to DEVIDA’s current community development strategy, looking to the expected outcomes, based on demand/supply and cost benefit analyses and social and economic sustainability. Responses should build upon progress made to date on this matter.

o Identify a methodology to monitor the development impact of the funds leveraged by local organizations and also local governments. Identify a sustainability approach of DEVIDA’s Virtual Training Platform, including ways to update and manage its contents.

Suggested approaches and principles. Respondents to this RFI will assess the applicability of the following approaches and principles or propose new ones to guide the technical approach:

• Ensuring political will. Because of the highly political nature of this activity, political will to implement the 2020-2030 PNCD must be secured. Despite high staff turnover and political instability, enough political will must be garnered to ensure PNCD is fully implemented. For example, the implementation vehicle of the Counternarcotics Policy, the Multisectorial Strategic Plan, or PEM in Spanish, has been waiting for PCM approval for more than a year as of November 2022. Furthermore, the PNCD is insufficiently funded. These two situations must be addressed by respondents to this RFI. Moreover, technical assistance may need to be provided to other relevant GOP agencies including the MEF, Foreign Affairs, PCM, etc. to ensure political and financial support to implement the PNCD.

• Build upon past successes. RFI responses shall build upon the progress made by various past and current USAID projects (e.g., NAV, FID), as well as any other public and private initiatives aimed at improving the GOP’s capacity to implement the counternarcotics policy (previously known as the Strategy). Because of wavering political will, respondents must address quick wins to ensure success of the proposed intervention. Areas that have been assisted so far include, but are not restricted to, streamlining of procurement and information management systems, rollout of the National Civil Service Authority (SERVIR) law, gender integration policies, institutional capacity strengthening for civil society organizations, budget programs, etc.

• Reducing DEVIDA’s reliance on direct non-GOP financial assistance. An efficient public agency may access sufficient public funding under a pay-for-results approach currently advanced by the GOP, thus reducing its dependence on direct transfers from international cooperation. A complete revamping of the budget programs (programas presupuestales) may be needed to this effect. For example, revised PIRDAIS may be more efficiently linked to other sectors like agriculture, transportation, etc. and may need to be conditioned to coca reductions or behavior change. Respondents shall discuss instruments to ensure DEVIDA’s financial sustainability and the efficiency of DEVIDA financial transfers to municipalities.

• More capacity or more money? Improving DEVIDA’s administrative, budgeting, logistical, procurement, and other capacities may prove more efficient to improve DEVIDA’s capacity to implement Peru’s Counternarcotics Policy.

• Work yourself out of a job. As the Counternarcotics Policy is more efficiently implemented through 2030, DEVIDA improves its coordination role with other GOP ministries, and licit livelihoods are consolidated in Alternative Development areas, narcotrafficking should progressively diminish and DEVIDA’s role be limited to ensuring GOP ministries fulfill their roles.

• Strengthening DEVIDA’s internal management capacity. Technical assistance must focus not only on the central office in Lima, but also on streamlining internal communication and information management aiming to improve management capacity to implement PNCD at all levels. Technical assistance must be provided at two levels: to improve the capacity of DEVIDA to implement the GOP Counternarcotics policy and to improve its capacity to provide relevant technical assistance.

• Strengthening DEVIDA’s external management capacity. Respondents to this RFI shall include approaches to improve DEVIDA’s capacity to coordinate with, and advocate to, GOP ministries so that State presence is improved and expanded in AD areas. Ensuring DEVIDA’s municipal transfers consolidate economies of scale by strengthening value chains that produce what the market demands through conditional municipal transfers is key to ensuring licit rural development linked to counternarcotics goals. Illustrative approaches include, but are not limited to, devising a binding mechanism to engage key GOP actors like MEF, RREE, PCM, DEVIDA to advance counternarcotics policy

• Support for USAID’s Localization Policy. Transition from current support model provided by an international organization to a local entity. In support of USAID's Peru localization efforts, USAID contemplates a gradual transfer of services and support currently provided by an international entity to a local capable organization.

Problem Statement (Illustrative)

Respondents to this RFI should validate the following statement and propose relevant changes, as applicable. Interested parties are also welcome to propose a completely new statement:

Limited administrative, financial, logistical, and budgeting capacity impedes DEVIDA’s ability to implement the Counternarcotics Policy and risks missing the window of opportunity of diminishing returns to illegal coca cultivation

Theory of Change statement (Illustrative):

Respondents to this RFI should validate the following theory of change and propose relevant changes, as applicable. Interested parties are also welcome to propose a completely new theory:

IF

DEVIDA strengthens its operational capacity

THEN

It will improve the efficiency and efficacy of its implementation of the Counternarcotics Policy, thereby reducing illegal cocaine trade

Magnitude of Change

With the proposed US government funding, USAID intends to obtain the following illustrative outcomes within five years:

1. TBD% of illegal coca cultivation and associated cocaine potential production:

o At national level o In areas with USAID presence for the past 10 years

2. Increase in GOP budget allocation to DEVIDA

3. Approval and full implementation of the PEM

4. Full implementation of SERVIR law within all DEVIDA offices

5. Implementation of DEVIDA’s centralized Information Management System (SIG in

Spanish) for more efficient and timely decision-making

6. Number of families assisted by DEVIDA that improve their quality of life

7. Participation of DEVIDA assisted families in licit economies (exclusively)

Cross-cutting themes include behavior change (to avoid reversion to coca), capacity building of farmer groups, support to small- and medium-sized enterprises, partnership with critical levels of government, women’s economic and leadership empowerment, and youth engagement.

More specifically, partnership with women-led, youth-led, and indigenous-led organizations should be prioritized.

Top Indicators (illustrative)

Respondents are asked to propose alternative outcome indicators, as applicable. High-level illustrative indicators include:

1. Change in area of coca cultivation and associated metric tons of potential cocaine

2. Change in GOP budget allocation to DEVIDA

3. % of DEVIDA offices under SERVIR law

4. Proportion of political appointees and CAS positions versus full time/permanent positions

5. Number of decisions made as a result of SIG implementation

6. Change in procurement time (labor & non-labor)

7. Number of rejected procurement actions

Interested parties are welcome to comment on the feasibility of these indicators and targets, as well as to include output indicators in their responses.

DISCLAIMER:

This RFI is issued solely for gathering information and market research for design planning purposes and does not constitute a Notice Of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) or a Request for Proposals. Responses to this RFI are not applications or proposals.

This RFI must not be construed as the U.S. Government commitment to issue a solicitation.

Respondents are directly and fully responsible for bearing all incurred expenses associated with preparation and submission of their RFI responses.

USAID reserves the right to use any, all, or none of the information submitted in response to this RFI in a future solicitation/funding opportunity. Thus, respondents must clearly mark or label all proprietary information contained in their submission. USAID will not disclose proprietary information unless required by law. Failure to properly mark or label proprietary information may result in an inappropriate use of such information.

If a solicitation/funding opportunity is issued, it will be announced on www.sam.gov and/or www.grants.gov at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that Solicitation/funding opportunity announcement separately from any response to this announcement.

[END OF RFI No. 72052723RFI00004] http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/