RFI number 72018223RFI00002.pdf

Subject: Supporting Albania's EU Accession through Market Competitiveness Reference Number: Request for Information No.72018223RFI00002 Issuance Date: Friday, September 29, 2023 Closing Date: Friday, October 20, 2023 Closing Time: 16:00 Central European Time Responses to: Tea Kaceli at tkaceli@usaid.gov and Urime Abdyli at uabdyli@usaid.gov

Dear Interested Parties:

The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is seeking input from interested organizations and individuals who may provide comments, opinions and recommendations in response to the questions outlined in this Request for Information (RFI) announcement.

This is a RFI issued solely for information and planning purposes. This is not a Request for Proposals (RFP) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government (USG) to issue a Solicitation, or ultimately award a contract, or to pay for any information voluntarily submitted as a result of this RFI.

Responses to this RFI shall not be portrayed as proposals, and will not be accepted by the USG to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. It should be noted that responding to or providing comment on this RFI will not give any advantage to any organization in any subsequent procurement or funding.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is strongly encouraging US and Albanian organizations to respond to this Request for Information.

Submission is strictly voluntary. USAID will not provide feedback or responses to questions submitted in response to this RFI and no proposals or resumes will be accepted or considered.

Respondents are not required to respond to all questions but may choose to do so.

Thank you for your feedback.

Annexes:

Annex A - Section I - Request for Information Section II - Response Submission Instructions

Annex B - Draft of the Statement of Objectives (SOO) mailto:uabdyli@usaid.gov

Annex A:

Section I - Request for Information

Request for feedback

USAID/Albania is interested in responses to the following questions:

1. Do you have any general feedback or recommendations on the Annex B - Draft of the Statement of Objectives (SOO) as a whole?

2. Are the results as described in the theory of change clear and appropriate for the objective as articulated? Is anything missing or not essential?

3. Do these illustrative results seem reasonable, ambitious yet achievable? What changes or additional illustrative results would you propose?

4. What changes would you propose to Annex B to encourage participation of Albanian partners in this proposed activity?

Section II - Response Submission Instructions

All comments must be submitted electronically in English to Tea Kaceli via email at tkaceli@usaid.gov and Urime Abdyli via email uabdyli@usaid.gov with the subject line: RFI No.

No.72018223RFI00002 - Supporting Albania's EU Accession through Market Competitiveness by the date listed on the cover letter.

All documents submitted must be .pdf or .doc format. The submitted information must not exceed 15 pages, including annexes/attachments. Do not send zip files.

Respondents are not required to answer any/all questions but are encouraged to respond to any and all question(s) for which they have knowledge, experience, or ideas. Please number your responses to correspond with the questions in this RFI.

The submitted response must include the following information:

Reference: RFI # 72018223RFI00002

Date:

Affiliation/ Organization (if any):

Entity’s Address:

Representative Name / Email Address / Telephone Number:

Size and type of organization, including U.S. small businesses or other status if applicable (optional, when applicable)

Legal registration status in Albania (optional, when applicable) mailto:tkaceli@usaid.gov

Respondents may submit:

● responses to some or all of the questions in the RFI; and

● documents, if any, that support the answers to the RFI Questions as attachments.

The collected information will be used to determine the level of interest and will not be released publicly. By responding to this notice, there will be no advantage to any entity or organization.

The submitted documentation and content thereof becomes the property of USAID and will not be returned.

This announcement is not to be construed as a Request for Proposals. It does not commit USAID to reply to information received, or to later publish a request for applications, or to award an agreement based on this information. Furthermore, it does not commit USAID to pay for any costs incurred in response to this RFI. Only the information requested above will be considered.

[End of Annex A]

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the United States Government (USG). All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary, and the USG will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the USG.

ANNEX B

Draft Statement of Objectives (SOO)

TITLE

Supporting Albania’s EU Accession through Improved Competitiveness

PURPOSE

The purpose of this Activity is to help accelerate Albania’s accession to the European Union (EU) through improved competitiveness and EU market integration. This Activity will help Albania meet the Copenhagen economic criteria for EU accession, which states that countries must have a functioning market economy and the capability to cope with the competitive pressures within the

EU. Through leveraging USAID’s brand and expertise, while co-creating with the EU, host government counterparts and the private sector, the Activity will help Albania meet the criteria for accession and ensure that the approximation legislation needed to align with the EU Acquis are impactfully modeled through support to agri-food value chain(s). The Activity’s interventions will leverage and complement USAID’s Europe and Eurasia (E&E) Bureau’s regional economic growth initiatives and other donors’ EU accession support to Albania.

BACKGROUND

General context and development challenge

Albania has continued to maintain overall focus on EU accession, even though a series of economic and social challenges, including two earthquakes, the Covid-19 pandemic and more recently the war in Ukraine, have considerably impacted its macroeconomic stability. USAID’s E&E Bureau’s 2021

Monitoring Country Progress analysis underscores that Albania is still a relatively poor country with low per capita income, high poverty, and a small, uncompetitive export sector.

The country has nevertheless continued to work toward the country's declared objective of EU accession, a milestone supported by an overwhelming majority of its citizens. After meeting the necessary conditions set out by the Council, the first intergovernmental Conference on accession negotiations took place on July 19, 2022. Immediately after, the Commission officially launched the negotiation process.

Based on an agreed framework, the EU commission has now completed a first screening phase of relevant chapters, assessing progress achieved in areas related to functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform, judiciary and fundamental rights, freedom and security, economic criteria, public procurement, statistics, and financial control.

The annual EU Commission 2021 and 2022 progress reports to date, including the screening summary prepared in 2023, acknowledge that Albania’s competitiveness continues to be hindered by: 1) lack of standardization and certification specifically for trade with the EU; 2) lack of support for broadening diversification of production and exports; 3) lack of entrepreneurial and technological know-how; 4) unmet investment needs in human development, and; 5) persistent low spending on

R&D.

On agriculture and rural development, in 2022 the Commission identified the need for Albania to complete the farm register which would provide validated data for policy-making, and most importantly, ensure that authorities responsible for managing EU funds available have the required capacities to do so adequately.

A 2022 USAID/Albania focused assessment pointed to the agri-food sector as being one of the potential drivers of the country’s economic development and therefore provides a fertile ground for impactful increased competitiveness of Albanian products in the region and beyond. The importance of the sector was also highlighted by the Government of Albania (GoA) which underscored strengthening a sustainable and competitive agri-food sector within rural development priorities under its new National Strategy for Development and European Integration. There are growing domestic and regional markets and demand for such products, in the Balkans as well as in international markets in proximity and beyond.

The assessment report findings showed that the Albanian food sector has not yet realized its potential and embraced the opportunity to position Albania in the global market as a producer of high-value, branded food products. As compared to its European Mediterranean country neighbors, Albania does not enjoy the broader visibility of its food products, especially within the EU market.

Thus, export to high-consuming markets such as the EU and others is very low. While this is due to a variety of factors, data show that there are not enough processors and producers of food products that meet the required standards to access the common market.

The report states that if Albania were to improve its food processing industry and enhance its value chain, the country would significantly increase competitiveness in the EU common market, as

Albania possesses fertile land, good climate, and growing domestic market, as well as proximity to other important markets. Albanian fresh fruits and vegetables are of high quality and represent important input when seen in the context of producing high-value, processed food products.

Relationship to USG Strategies

Integrated Country Strategy (ICS) for Albania: The proposed Activity aims to create the conditions for a competitive market aligned with EU requirements and therefore aligns with Mission Goal 4:

Albania deepens economic reforms and trade, investment and energy cooperation, and more specifically Mission Objective 3.1 Create conditions for broad based, sustainable and inclusive economic growth of the Integrated Country Strategy (ICS) for Albania.

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ICS_EUR_Albania_Public.pdf

EUR-E&E Joint Regional Strategy (November 2022): Objectives outlined in this Activity are also aligned with JRS Bureau Objective 3.1:Enhance economic cooperation with Europe and Eurasia to promote trade and investment in pre-accession countries with both the EU and the United States; to develop stronger, more resilient supply chains; and to build back better from the global pandemic and the damage caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ICS_EUR_Albania_Public.pdf https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/JRS_EUR-EE_18NOV2022_PUBLIC.pdf

USAID Anti Corruption Policy (December 2022): The Activity objectives are aligned with USAID Anti

Corruption Policy. While creating conditions for a competitive market in alignment with EU demands, the activity will address rapidly and decisively – using a variety of tools and approaches –any windows of corrupt practices or corruption opportunities within the legal or regulatory frameworks, to deliver on the promise of change and sustaining reforms for EU accession.

https://www.usaid.gov/anti-corruption/policy

THEORY OF CHANGE

Theory of Change:

If legislation in pertinent chapters are approximated to EU standards in compliance with the requirements of the EU acquis to foster transformative economic reform;

And if economic and trade policies strengthen Albania's ability to face competitive pressure and market forces within the EU;

And if those policies and legislative reforms lead to concrete improvements in Albania’s market competitiveness and ability of agri-food product(s) to meet EU standards;

Then this activity will assist in reforms of Albania's economic and trade policies and legislation that clearly meet the EU acquis requirements in practice, as well as principle, through lucrative, Albanian-branded, food product(s) with the ability to access international markets.

DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTIVES

USAID/Albania rapid strategic assessment validated several key sectors of focus and windows of opportunity for future USAID/Albania programming. It reviewed multiple criteria, with the following being the highest priority: Advances or accelerates EU Accession; Addresses issues contributing to outmigration; Utilizes USAID's Competitive Advantage; Avoids Overlap or Duplication with EU/donor

Activities; Leverages Digitalization; and Combats Corruption.

The strategic assessment team recommended private sector competitiveness with a focus on high-value, processed food product(s) as the most relevant area for USAID intervention.

Although Albania’s food industry is very important for the country's competitiveness in the region, food processing represents an underutilized part of the value chain with potential for growth. There are very few successful processors while there are many Albanian food products in the domestic market. Albanian food products are almost entirely distributed through informal distribution channels (small shops, farms, green markets, etc.) without any significant presence in the existing retail distribution network. Exports of processed food products, especially to the EU, from Albania https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/JRS_EUR-EE_18NOV2022_PUBLIC.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/anti-corruption/policy are significantly below their potential. Research also shows that Albania has not yet sufficiently leveraged its proximity to EU markets and membership in the Central European Free Trade

Agreement (CEFTA). For example, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia export to CEFTA at least twice as many goods as Albania.

The World Bank also reports that agriculture, forestry, and fishing added 17% to Albania’s GDP in

2021 and was 36% of total employment in 2019. Albania has significant agricultural and food production potential due to its agricultural traditions and related talents, its long growing season, and its fertile land and plentiful water. Albanian fresh fruits and vegetables, for example, are of high quality and can be produced in large quantities, thus generating important inputs for producing high-value, processed food products.

This programmatic area has the potential to accelerate compliance by directly and effectively contributing to the EU negotiation process advancement through identifying and removing policy and regulatory barriers to the establishment of business models that enhance production value and increase Albania’s competitiveness regionally and within the EU. The recommended sector addresses acute development needs in Albania that would benefit from USAID’s expertise, comparative advantage and effective approach on the ground, and would be complementary to EU and other donors' engagement.

This Activity focuses on USAID/Albania aim to support approximation of policy and regulatory frameworks needed to align with the EU acquis that will be impactfully modeled at the implementation level to advance the EU accession process. USAID/Albania expects that the Activity achieves the below stated objectives and results. The offeror must include illustrative results and indicators linked to their proposed approach that demonstrate ways to measure impact.

Objective 1

Policy and legislative reforms drafted and instituted that advance Albania’s compliance with EU acquis and address relevant supply and demand factors of corruption to support Albanian food value chains’ market competitiveness.

USAID/Albania seeks to initiate, promote, and advocate for GoA institutions to adopt necessary regulatory changes needed to enhance transparency, reduce corruption and increase competitiveness of the high-value processed food industry in Albania and ultimately meet EU acquis requirements for full membership.

The Offeror will need to analyze the existing policies and regulations on relevant chapters and propose/enact necessary changes needed to accelerate approximation with EU acquis to help the selected high-value processed food industry become competitive in the common market.

USAID/Albania expects the Offeror to work hand in hand with the GoA and the EU to initiate and track policy and legislative reforms, by co-creating sustainable, highly efficient, transparent and inclusive consultation mechanisms that involve all interested stakeholders, including private sector, other donors, civil society, etc.

USAID/Albania expects the Offeror to thoroughly review the EU findings and recommendations of the pre-accession phase, closely track the reports and the ongoing screening phase to inform and course-correct Activity interventions.

Illustrative expected results

● Policy and regulatory reforms that create an enabling environment for enhanced competitiveness of the food industry in alignment with EU acquis are adopted and enacted

● Legislative approximation meets and/or exceeds EU acquis requirements and is acknowledged by the EU Commission through their tracking mechanisms and reports

● Established model of policy and legislative reforms demonstrate success and develop in consultation with the GoA a plan for replicating this model in at least one other value chain and/or sector to demonstrate compatibility with EU

Objective 2

Selected value chain actors within the food industry apply compliant EU policies, operations, and business practices to produce high quality products, and demonstrate increased competitiveness and ability to face the EU market pressures.

In addition to advancing policy and legislative reforms, USAID/Albania expects to set up a successful value chain(s) model which will demonstrate progressive impact on the country’s ability to meet the economic criteria for EU accession. The Offeror is expected to support a successful model for producing food product value chain(s) in accordance with the quality and safety standards of the common EU market as part of the integration path. The established model must encompass the full range of activities and services required to strengthen the value chain(s) to enter and compete in the

EU common market. Value chains include input suppliers, producers, processors, traders and buyers, as well as the support services, workforce, and enabling environments that form a dynamic market system.

The value chain(s) enterprise model should: improve transparency, equity and accountability standards and principles to minimize gaps for any potential corruptive practices and expand marketing and sales of selected food product(s) in the common EU market. Finally, the selected value chain(s) will serve as a model for other sectors and/or value chains in its ability to generate improved business acumen across the value chain actors in order to competitively face EU market pressures.

Illustrative expected results:

● At least one high-value, branded, processed Albanian food product in targeted value chain(s) is successfully exported to the EU market

● At least one twinning partnership/exchange program with equivalent EU business association(s), and/or organization(s) is established to strengthen targeted industry skill sets as part of alignment with EU business requirements.

ACTIVITY PARAMETERS

Geographical scope.

Nationwide

Total Estimated Cost

$12 million

Timeframe

5 years

Coordination with USAID, the EU, and other donors/players

USAID/Albania has a long history of support to Albania’s economic development efforts. The offeror must build upon previous programming, including activities already completed, materials already produced, GoA plans and strategies already developed, persons already trained and the ongoing economic reforms.

In addition, the Activity must coordinate with the E&E Bureau’s Flagship Regional Economic Growth

Activity, currently under development, the purpose of which is to advance EU market integration and accession for countries in the E&E region. The offeror must complement, synergize and maximize the impact of the regional Activity in the context of Albania.

EU & GoA Coordination

The offeror must closely coordinate, consult, share and synergize with the EU, principally through its in-country Delegation, which is responsible for leading and monitoring the accession process with

Albania. This coordination must be done in close collaboration with GoA leading authorities of the negotiation process, and with participation and guidance from USAID/Albania.

The offeror must also closely track support from other donors involved in furthering Albania’s EU integration process in order to avoid duplication and to promote complementarity by consulting and collaborating with them throughout the lifespan of this Activity.

Relevance to Chapters of the EU Acquis

Throughout both the design, and implementation phase of the activity, the offeror should prioritize the impact that proposed interventions are expected to have in advancing compliance with specific chapters of the EU acquis related to agriculture and food processing industry. Specifically, in their proposal, the offeror must point to how activities advance compliance in, but not limited to, Chapters 1, 20, 11, 12 of the EU acquis.

Localization & Sustainability

Localization and sustainability are fundamental to the success of the Activity. To increase their likelihood, the offeror must support and rely on the local system in the context in which it works.

Although the negotiation process requires alignment and compliance with EU policies and regulations, economic value chain models function within the development context of the country.

That context includes interconnected sets of actors, government, civil society, private sector, universities, communities and others that jointly contribute to development.

In addition to direct implementation, the Activity must contribute to advancing the Progress

Beyond Programs framework by establishing partnerships and linkages that exist beyond the lifetime of the Activity and are not resource dependent. The offeror must also introduce a capacity building dimension to the proposed interventions focused on local actors and partners and aimed at increasing the ability of the local food market industry to compete in the EU market in the long run. This will maximize the Activity impact towards the overall objective of Albania’s full membership into the EU family.

Private Sector Engagement

As the Activity aims to establish food production value chains, private sector engagement should be a key implementation principle. The offeror must therefore apply a multi-dimensional approach to involve the private sector in addressing enabling environment constraints and leverage resources from important and relevant stakeholders, financial institutions, innovation ecosystem players and academia.

Implementation should also include assistance to elevate the ability of value chain participants to leverage private sector financial resources and get external financing tailored for their needs and capacity. USAID/Albania understands that catalyzing adequate access to finance for viable value chain participants is an important element to the overall objective of the Activity, thus the offeror must identify adequate approaches to include private sector support to increasing financing opportunities, including exploring leveraging other USAID or other donor activities.

Innovation

The economic and agricultural sector in Albania would highly benefit from innovative technologies and digitization. Innovation refers to new technologies, new ways of delivering or financing goods and services, more cost-effective adaptations to existing solutions, new ways of increasing implementation of existing proven solutions or policy changes.The Offeror must address innovation in its approach with the above understanding in mind, leading to demonstrable impact.

Integrating Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) professionals into the design and implementation of new technologies and digital tools will advance innovation in the economy.

Gender Integration

The Activity must seek to improve gender equality within the sector in which it operates, focusing on women-owned businesses and encouraging women entrepreneurs. In 2020, women made up 41.4% of those employed in the agriculture sector compared to 31.8% of men, presenting an opportunity for their economic progress, especially in underdeveloped areas.. The offeror must therefore ensure that voices of women led businesses are integrated into the design and implementation of activities early on. Moreover, the offeror must ensure that these groups are equal activity stakeholders and beneficiaries, and play a leading role conducting research on issues that might impact them the most.

Youth and Diaspora Engagement

Likewise the activity must make a special effort to help youth see opportunities to prosper in

Albania, thus addressing out-migration drivers as well. The food and hospitality industries in Albania are proving to be engines of economic development, and have the potential to attract skilled young professionals/investors from diaspora, among others, to help make the country more competitive in the region and beyond. The Offeror must adopt a brain-gain approach throughout the whole design and implementation process.

Environmental Considerations

Climate risk management (CRM) is required for all USAID-supported activities, with limited exceptions. Climate risk is the potential for negative consequences on activity objectives and/or outcomes due to changing climatic conditions. The CRM process may also identify potential development opportunities associated with current and expected climatic and meteorological changes, including chances to achieve additional development objectives as well as increasing climate resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To address climate change, this Activity will prioritize support to value chains and organizations that support Climate Smart Agriculture practices, and/or those that clearly support climate change mitigation or adaptation strategies.

Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA)

Development work presents many opportunities to collaborate and engage with a broad set of stakeholders, to learn from both evidence and experience and to adapt iteratively to unexpected results or changes in context. This is why USAID places “Collaborating, Learning and Adapting” at the center of its Program Cycle, both as a connector between, and an integrated part of the components.

Collaborating:

Collaboration enables cross-sector integration, convergence, and effective interventions to maximize development resources and enhance development results. The Contractor will collaborate with

USAID-supported and other development partners (e.g., EU, multilateral, other donors, GoA) activities in common areas of operation and engage with stakeholders (defined with USAID COR) to deliver integrated services to target populations. The Contractor will coordinate with any other

USAID or other donor initiatives that are targeting assistance towards EU accession for Albania or neighboring countries.

Learning:

Learning should be intentional, systematic and resourced. Sources for learning include data from monitoring, portfolio reviews, findings of research, evaluations, analyses conducted by USAID or third parties, knowledge gained from experience, stocktaking exercises, and other sources. Those documents produced by USAID will be shared with the Contractor by the COR for consideration in the learning phase of CLA.

These sources will be used to develop and implement plans, manage adaptively, and contribute to the USAID/Albania knowledge base in order to improve development outcomes. A collaborating, learning, and adapting focus helps to ensure that programming is coordinated, grounded in evidence, and adjusted as necessary to remain relevant and effective throughout Implementation.

Knowledge generated by learning will be applied throughout programming to implementation approaches, processes, and stakeholder engagement. Knowledge generated by learning should also be disseminated to activity stakeholders, partners, and collaborators in an appropriate forum and format so that it may be translated into decisions and actions that enhance the success of approaches and interventions designed to achieve common intermediate results.

The Contractor will share information and knowledge generated by monitoring data, portfolio review results, research findings, evaluations, analyses, and experiences with other USAID implementing partners. The Contractor will apply actionable information and knowledge gained from collaborating partners to activity implementation in order to improve results. USAID implementing partners and other development partners’ activity staff, as relevant, will convene on a periodic basis to reflect on actions taken, exchange analysis, and propose decisions that affect implementation. A major focus of this activity will be to broadly advance learning around the activity’s technical approach to supporting an applicant country to EU accession.

Adapting:

The Contractor will demonstrate adaptability that is informed by knowledge gained through learning, and will recognize behaviors and incentives necessary to create change. Knowledge gained through learning shall influence decision making, resource allocation, and adaptation to contextual shifts. Application of new knowledge to implementation decisions will be reflected in the Annual

Work Plan and Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP). Decisions to adapt may be based on, but not limited to the following:

● Extraneous changes in the operating environment (i.e. emergency or natural disaster;

● national policy changes)

● Financial and human resource constraints

● Evidence that signals targets are unmet

● Emerging evidence that interventions are not working or could work be if adapted

Any changes to the scope of the contract must be approved by the Cognizant Contracting Officer in a modification to the contract. Changes in technical approach may be approved by the COR by way of the COR’s authority to provide technical direction and approve Annual Work Plans.

Evaluation

Consistent with the USAID Evaluation Policy, USAID/Albania may conduct an independent impact and/or performance evaluation of this Activity for evidence to inform future interventions. Any evaluation to be completed requires full participation of the Offeror to ensure alignment with the

Activity work plan and geographical scope.

In the case of an impact evaluation, the Offeror must coordinate with the evaluation team to facilitate the process.

[End of Annex B]

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the United States Government (USG). All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary, and the USG will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the USG.