RFI.final Revised (1).pdf

SOLICITATION TYPE: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

RFI NUMBER: RFI-72065620-TRANSFORM WASH

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM NAME: TRANSFORM WASH

ISSUANCE DATE: AUGUST 04, 2020

DUE DATE: AUGUST 25, 2020; 10:00AM (MAPUTO TIME)

TO: ALL INTERESTED PARTIES

Dear Potential Offeror, Thank you for your interest in USAID/Mozambique’s Transform WASH activity. The purpose of this communication is to obtain industry comment on the attached DRAFT Statement of

Objective (SOO). To that end, information obtained through this RFI will be held in confidence and will not be disclosed to the public unless specifically requested by responding sources.

This Request for Information (RFI) relates to an activity design with the preliminary title of “Transform WASH”. The purpose of this RFI is to:

1. Obtain details concerning interest in USAID’s anticipated requirements; and

2. Obtain public comments on the Questions to inform the design process.

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for planning and information seeking purposes. This RFI is open for comments from any interested US and Non-US Organizations.

This is not a solicitation/funding opportunity or a call for proposals/applications. Please do not submit proposals, resumes or promotional materials, as they will be discarded.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 15.209(c), the following clause is incorporated into this RFI:

“FAR 52.215-3 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION OR SOLICITATION FOR PLANNING

PURPOSES (OCT 1997)

(a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

(b) Although “proposal” and “offeror” are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal.

(c) This solicitation is issued for the purpose of gathering information and comments to the SOO

Draft attached to this document.

Request for Information

Transform WASH

NOTICE: THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. The RFI is solely issued to gather information for planning purposes as an attempt to identify capabilities of potential contractors and to gain feedback on the draft Statement of Objectives (SOO). Therefore, respondents are advised that any information submitted may be used to inform the development of the anticipated Statement of Objectives (SOO).

All submissions shall be made by the closing date and time noted on page 1 of this notice. Only submission via email is required; no hard copy delivery will be accepted. E-mail submissions shall be sent to Mr. Jean-Jacques Badiane, at jbadiane@usaid.gov and Ms. Tania Conde, at tconde@usaid.gov.

Interested parties shall prepare their submission in English and shall address the information requested below. All submissions must include Section I “Cover Page”, Section II “Comments/Questions” and Section III “Capability Statements” (applicable to U.S. Small

Businesses only). Submissions shall use only 8.5 inch by 11-inch paper, single-spaced pages for all narrative documents and each page numbered consecutively. Interested parties must use Times New Roman font 11 or a similar size typeset and should be provided in MS Word or PDF format.

I. Cover Page with Business Information (1 page)

▪ Organization/firm: name, address, contact information.

▪ Point of Contact(s): name, title, phone number, address, e-mail address.

▪ Statement of self-certification of business size and socio-economic status of the Organization/firm.

▪ Organization/firm’s DUNS number and certification that organization/firm is registered in the System for Award Management (SAM).

II. Comments/Questions (2 Page Limit)

Comments and Questions not to exceed two (2) pages will be accepted from all interested parties regarding the Draft Statement of Objectives and possible forthcoming solicitation. This is not a formal solicitation Q&A period; therefore, the government will not be providing responses. All comments and questions will merely serve to inform the government on current market trends and further refine the Statement of Objectives. Comments may include but are not limited to feedback on the Draft Statement of Objectives requirements, recommendations on contract type, anticipated demand in beneficiary geographic areas, NAICS code designation, other market considerations, etc.

In order to maximize potential, USAID is seeking to receive feedback on the project approach, including opportunities and potential pitfalls, and individual or institutional perspectives on programs, policies, research, data, activities, and/or development approaches that might be useful for the project design, including past successes and failures, opportunities to leverage existing efforts and resources, gaps that need to be addressed, and sectoral and geographic focus.

mailto:jbadiane@usaid.gov mailto:tconde@usaid.gov

Please ensure that comments are concise and specific to the information within this RFI. While we welcome any comments you may have, we ask that if you choose to respond, that you answer the following questions to assist USAID:

a. What is your overall reaction to the RFI?

b. Considering your organization’s experience, what do you think an appropriate organizational structure and management plan would look like? Consider, for example, managing a diverse number of task requests, assembling a consortium, ensuring adequate technical knowledge and expertise is available, knowledge management and learning, etc.

c. If you have experience managing similar contracts, what, if any, would be your concerns about managing a contract of this breadth? What additional lessons learned could you share with USAID that would help inform the design of such awards?

III. Capability Statements (4 Page Limit)

Small Businesses and firms having the skills and capabilities necessary to perform this work should submit a response of no more than four (4) pages in length. This should include possible partnering arrangements and indicate where expertise or experience is attributable to the prime versus a sub/partner. Capabilities/Qualifications must be written to provide clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate the capacity to fulfill this requirement. If interested firms are only able to perform some or one of the posted components, they should indicate that in their response to this notice and describe the areas of expertise for which they can perform.

The page limitation includes any attachments. The Government will not review any information, including attachments, more than the four (4) pages, unless otherwise stated in this section.

We look forward to your responses to this Request for Information.

Sincerely, Jean-Jacques Badiane Contracting Officer

DRAFT STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

I. Overview

The Mission intends to design a specific activity that will support the increase of sustainable access to water and sanitation services in Mozambique, with focus on small towns, rural growth-centers, and peri-urban areas. This activity will seek to materialize the USAID Mozambique Mission’s WASH strategic goal, which aims to support the achievement of Improved well-being of communities, especially women and girls in Mozambique by ensuring increased use and sustainable management of water and sanitation services. In this sense, the Mission has targeted three intermediate results (IR) toward the WASH strategy’s goal:

▪ IR1 - WASH sector governance strengthened

▪ IR2 - Availability of water and sanitation services expanded

▪ IR3 - Adoption of key WASH behaviors accelerated

Through this RFI, the Mission intends to gather information about the potential service providers, both in terms of construction contract services and in terms of capacity building and institutional development, developing innovative WASH financing mechanisms that contribute to a sustainable business environment, and social behavior change to increase demand for WASH services and improve hygiene behaviors.

II. Input requested

To gather information, the Mission is interested in the following topics and specific questions related to the above background:

A. WASH sector governance strengthened

i. Given the ongoing decentralization reforms in the government administration that will also affect the WASH sector, and lessons learned from the sector’s current implementation of reforms, how could USAID support the strengthening of government to effectively deliver

WASH services and achieve the committed Sustainable Development Goals?

ii. What do you think are the government’s main challenges in WASH financing and investment prioritization and tracking? What opportunities exist for capacity and tools development, especially for peri-urban, small towns, and rural water and sanitation?

iii. What do you see as the private sector’s role in promoting WASH service expansion and ensuring sustainable WASH infrastructure? What are the major obstacles, gaps, and opportunities for private sector engagement at the local and central levels?

iv. How do you assess the sector’s WASH reporting systems on the dynamics of the infrastructure services, mapping needs, and performance monitoring concerning the urban, rural, and small towns service delivery? What else could be done to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of these systems, at local and central administration levels? How would this cover the private providers?

v. How do you see the role of the existing WASH coordination platforms in decision-making and implementation, and what could be done to enhance them as the driving force for reforms?

B. Availability of water and sanitation services expanded

i. What are the main needs and capacity building and institutional development priorities for addressing sustainable WASH infrastructure development, maintenance, and service delivery in Mozambique?

ii. What criteria should USAID use in determining future WASH infrastructure investments given past and current initiatives carried out by other development partners in the sector?

iii. What are the estimated costs for water provision networks in small towns, namely, for construction of a new system network, rehabilitation of existing infrastructure, and/or standpipe construction?

iv. What is your opinion on the interaction and coordination among the development partners, and what should be addressed in order to ensure complementary interventions instead of overlapping or conflicting interventions?

C. Adoption of key WASH behaviors accelerated

i. Beyond the current behavior change approaches to end open defecation in Mozambique, what other complementary interventions could be deployed to encourage sustained use of sanitation facilities? Which behavior change approaches have potential for scaleup in the context of low population density and a large geographic area like rural Mozambique?

D. Overall

i. Are there any global trends, innovations, or new thinking that are relevant to WASH reforms aiming at better access, gender equity, fairness, transparency, and quality that we have not yet discussed?

ii. Is there anything we have not already touched on that you would like to add?