Small Town Sanitation RFI.pdf

SOLICITATION TYPE: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

RFI NUMBER: 72065621-RFI-SMALL TOWN SANITATION

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM TITLE SMALL TOWN SANITATION (STS)

DATE OF ISSUANCE: JANUARY 26, 2021

RESPONSE DUE: FEBRUARY 16, 2021 at 10:00AM (MAPUTO TIME)

TO: ALL INTERESTED PARTIES

This Request for Information (RFI) relates to an activity design with the preliminary title of “Small Town Sanitation”. 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.

Submissions must be via email; no hard copy delivery will be accepted. E-mail submissions shall be sent to Mr. George Boateng, at gboateng@usaid.gov and Ms. Tania Conde at tconde@usaid.gov by the closing date and time set forth on this cover page.

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”. 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 (4 Page Limit) Comments addressing the questions in the attachment to this RFI, not to exceed four (4) 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.

mailto:gboateng@usaid.gov mailto:tconde@usaid.gov

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

SMALL TOWN SANITATION

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, North American Industry Classification System (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. Please ensure that comments are concise and specific to the information within this RFI.

III. Capability Statements (4 Page Limit) Businesses 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. USAID is only looking for Capability Statements from only Small Businesses.

The page limitation includes any attachments. The Government will not review any information, including attachments, more than the four (4) pages.

In the Capability Statements section, USAID seeks information from industry on the following items:

a. 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.

b. 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?

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

Sincerely, George K. Boateng Contracting Officer U.S. Agency for International Development

DRAFT STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

I. Background

The USAID/Mozambique Mission is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to gather information about the Mozambique sanitation and hygiene market, as well as potential sources and suppliers, to inform the design of a new aid activity to support the development of sanitation services in Mozambique. Responses to this RFI will assist the Mission in drawing up the activity project description for a request of proposal (RFP) to be also issued; thus, the response to this RFI will ensure a reliable alignment among the projected activity objectives and the market context and potential partners.

Selected applicants will be requested to provide written information of their proposals and must be prepared to demonstrate and answer questions from the Mission’s project design team.

II. Overview

The Mission intends to design a specific activity that will support the increase of sustainable access to sanitation services in Mozambique, with focus on small towns and peri-urban areas.

This activity will seek to materialize the USAID Mozambique Mission’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (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 sanitation services. The Mission has targeted two of its three intermediate results (IR) toward the Mozambique WASH Project Appraisal Document’s goal:

▪ 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.

III. Input requested

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

1. Increased sanitation infrastructure and improved sanitation service delivery

i. What are the main needs and priorities for addressing sustainable sanitation infrastructure development, maintenance, and service delivery in small towns in Mozambique?

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

iii. How can USAID contribute to improving, or expanding fecal sludge management (FSM) services in small towns and peri-urban areas in Mozambique?

iv. Are there recommendations for innovative and affordable household toilet models?

v. Who are the key players with whom USAID should coordinate with to improve sanitation provision in small towns in Mozambique?

2. Strengthened local market for sanitation products and services

i. Given the ongoing decentralization reforms in the government administration that will also affect the WASH sector, how can USAID support the strengthening of local government to effectively deliver sanitation services (as a public good or through private sector licensing and engagement)?

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

iii. What are the opportunities and barriers for scaling market-based sanitation? How can

USAID support strengthening business and service delivery models that are more effective for local sanitation and hygiene markets and products?

iv. Are there financing mechanisms in Mozambique for both consumers and sanitation businesses? What additional mechanisms can be developed?

v. How can interventions supporting FSM service providers best contribute to their business viability?

vi. Can sanitation services be sustainably delivered in Mozambique’s small towns context without subsidization? If not, what modalities of subsidies would be most sustainable for sanitation in small towns?

3. Increased uptake of key sanitation products and services and improved hygiene behaviors

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 small towns and peri-urban areas in Mozambique?

ii. How can USAID increase household ability and motivation to purchase sanitation products and services?

iii. How USAID can assist in increasing gender equity and inclusion in household sanitation decision making?

iv. What lessons learned, with respect to population values and priorities, should be used to ensure changes in behavior and practices in sanitation and hygiene.

4. Overall

i. In order to achieve the stated IR 1 and 2 above, are there any missing issues to address, or suggestions to improve the indicated main topics?

ii. What are the key structural, market, public service or utility, and enabling environment issues that need to be addressed for systemic long-lasting change to occur?

iii. 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?

iv. Are there any other financing sources and technologies related to sanitation that would you recommend being considered?

v. What key indicators are important to track progress on access to sanitation, or on improvements to service delivery?

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

[END OF DRAFT STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES]

(END OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION)