RFI_72061719_Facilitating_Investment_for_Development_Objectives.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

RFI Number: RFI_72061719_Facilitating_Investment_for_Development_Objectives Subject: Facilitating Investment for Development Objectives

Agency Name: USAID/Uganda

Issuance Date: Friday August 02, 2019 Response Due Date: Monday August 19, 2019, 4:00 pm (Washington/EST) Time

Respond to: KampalaUSAIDSolicita@usaid.gov

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation section 15.201 part (c), USAID/Uganda is sharing a draft Concept Note with all interested parties for the purpose of soliciting comments on its clarity and feasibility as part of the process of designing the Facilitating Investment for Development Objectives Activity.

USAID/Uganda is considering designing an activity with a ceiling of up to $15-19 million, up to five years and tentatively titled Facilitating Investment for Development Objectives. This activity will facilitate domestic and international commercial investments that are aligned with USAID’s development priorities across sectors including agriculture and food security, energy, environment and biodiversity, health, education. By unlocking commercially-driven investment capital, Facilitating Investment for Development Objectives aims to contribute to the country’s journey to self-reliance, enhanced economic growth, improved health outcomes, quality employment and livelihoods, and better educational opportunities.

We invite your review, comments, and questions on the skeleton outline for the activity.

This notice is solely intended to solicit comments on this possible activity and is not a Request for Proposals. Ideas contained herein may change significantly during the mission’s ongoing program design, consultation, and approval process.

Interested parties must submit all comments concerning this draft concept note in writing to KampalaUSAIDSolicita@usaid.gov, by the deadline mentioned on the cover page. Comments sent to any other e-mail address will not be considered. The email transmitting the comments must reference the RFI 2061719 Facilitating Investment for Development Objectives.

Please note that responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a legally binding contract.

This Request for Information (RFI) can be downloaded from https://www.fbo.gov/. Interested parties who are not able to retrieve the RFI from the Internet can request a copy by contacting USAID/Uganda’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance via email at KampalaUSAIDSolicita@usaid.gov.

mailto:KampalaUSAIDSolicita@usaid.gov https://www.fbo.gov/

Responses in relation to the RFI questions should be submitted in written English to USAID via email in MS Word format only to KampalaUSAIDSolicita@usaid.gov no later than the date and time shown above with a subject line "Response to RFI72061719 Facilitating Investment for Development Objectives.

Draft Facilitating Investment in Development Objectives Activity Concept Note

USAID/Uganda is considering designing an activity with a ceiling of up to $15-19 million, up to five years and tentatively titled Facilitating Investment in Development Objectives. This activity will facilitate domestic and international commercial investments that are aligned with USAID’s development priorities across sectors including agriculture and food security, energy, environment and biodiversity, health, education, and others. By unlocking commercially-driven investment capital, this Activity aims to contribute to the country’s journey to self-reliance, enhanced economic growth, improved health outcomes, quality employment and livelihoods, and better educational opportunities.

Commercially-driven investment capital is eager to find opportunities in emerging economies, and foreign direct investment to developing countries is increasing and far outweighs donor funding. To capitalize on this development opportunity, Facilitating Investment in Development Objectives will facilitate private, commercial investment into Uganda that advances the development priorities of USAID. At the same time, commercial investment in Uganda is hindered by several factors. For example, investors often lack the awareness or capacity to source and evaluate investment opportunities. Simultaneously, many potential investees lack the sophistication or capacity to be “investment ready” and therefore do not get the capital needed to grow or to improve the quality or quantity of their offerings. This activity will provide a comprehensive range of services to bridge the information and capacity gaps that inhibit private investment in Uganda.

WHAT WE PROPOSE:

The goal of Facilitating Investment in Development Objectives Activity will be to support and facilitate viable commercially-driven investments that align with USAID’s development objectives. This Activity aims to serve as the go-to mechanism to encourage domestic and international investments across sectors to achieve the development priorities of USAID. The Mission is considering the interventions and services below for this Activity:

● Due diligence on investment opportunities

● Case studies related to commercial investments with development outcomes

● Legal analysis

● Growth and investment strategy development

● Business advisory services

● Resource alignment (crowding-in other development partners, government resources, Development Finance Institutions, U.S. Development Finance Corporation (USDFC), credit enhancements, guarantees, etc.)

● Social investment capacity building

● Market research reports

● Value chain analysis

● Investment structuring

● Regulatory navigation and Government intermediation

● Policy reform advocacy

● Investor roadshows and convenings

When the barriers identified by investors require engagement with the investment target (potential investee), the Mission is considering this Activity to provide the services/interventions below, including:

● Financial systems and reporting

● Organizational governance

● Financial modeling

● Proper capital structuring

● Business model development

● Environmental, social, impact assessments support

● Investment memorandum preparation

● Training on managing investment capital and investment partners

● To a minimal extent, grants

● Matchmaking between buyers and suppliers in agriculture and other sectors

● Selected non-facilitation interventions including, but not limited to, commodities/equity exchange engagements, local government and agency credit evaluations, formation of associations for investor groups in Uganda.

Linkage to USAID Objectives and Collaboration:

This Activity will work closely across technical offices in the mission to collaborate where there are private sector finance gaps. While the activities of Facilitating Investment in Development Objectives can engage across different Development Objectives and technical offices the primary Intermediate Results are the following:

● IR3.2 Citizens actively participate in development

● IR3.3 Key elements of the systems strengthened

● IR3.4 The enabling environment that supports functional systems improved

This Activity will also serve as the Uganda Mission’s primary implementer to engage the USDFC and Prosper Africa.

WHO- (Stakeholders and partners):

The key stakeholders and partners of this activity will vary based on the development objective that is being addressed by the intervention. This activity intends to cover a variety and multitude of sectors, investor types, investment targets, and targeted value chains.

QUESTIONS:

Responses to this RFI should include answers to any of the following questions. Respondents are not obligated to answer all of the questions.

1. What is the process by which coordination among other existing and forthcoming mechanisms operate? How can this activity be structured to be complementary and not duplicative of similar GOU, private and donor-funded efforts to incentivize investment?

2. What is the extent of the demand for the services listed above?

https://www.opic.gov/build-act/faqs-build-act-implementation https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/jun-19-2019-mark-green-remarks-prosper-africa-corporate-council

3. In addition to the proposed services listed above, what other services should be made available through this activity? Are there any services that should not be on the proposed list?

4. What are the appropriate minimum and maximum investment “ticket” sizes on which the activity should focus? And why?

5. What metrics should be used to evaluate success?

6. What type of business advisory services could help companies expand and scale operations, open new markets, develop new products, access capital, etc.?

7. Which types of investors (venture capital, pension, equity, debt, etc.) should be engaged to deliver the best development results? Similarly, which types of investees (xsm, small, medium, large, scaled mix)?

8. Which sectors and industries should be prioritized and yield the best development results?

9. Does a performance-based contract skew incentives, forcing the implementer to focus on close-to-close transactions? What is the appropriate remuneration or incentive structure for an implementer?

10. Which government agencies, ministries and regulatory authorities should be engaged and how?

11. Are there benefits/drawbacks to expanding from a Uganda-only scope to a broader Regional East Africa scope? If yes, what are they? Would the focus sectors and industries change if the activity is regional?

12. How could this activity best support the new USDFC and Prosper Africa?

13. How could this activity affect employment, incomes and quality of employment for women and youth?