Q A_SOL-182-16-000003.pdf

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS: SOL-182-16-000003

Q1. Our company is an international advertising and communications agency operating in Albania. The ownership and top management is international, but the complete rest of our staff is local Albanian, our office is registered and operating locally for the last two decades, and is currently serving and has been always serving some of the biggest advertisers in the Albanian market. Are we eligible according to the solicitation criteria?

A1. Please see the definition and criteria on page 1 of the solicitation. Based on the description in the question, the company would not be eligible.

Q2. How can we apply for this requirement?

A2. Please see section L of the solicitation.

Q3. Since the contract representative office is from Kosovo, should the Offeror have a representative office in Kosovo as well, or the Offeror can be Albania based only?

A3. This procurement is intended for local Albanian entities only.

Q4. In the section L.2 (e) – (3) you refer to L.2 “Eligible Offerors Section” (page 44) where should be listed the requested documents. However there is no section with such a title.

A4. This is a mistake. The correct reference is Section L.5(e).

Q5. Could you please state which are the documents to be submitted in the first stage?

A5. Please see Section L for all documents to be submitted.

Q6. 10 pages for the technical proposal should include campaign strategy, creative concept, work plan and time line for all 4 campaigns or is it: 10 pages per 1 campaign?

A6. It is 10 pages total.

Q7. How many creative proposals per campaign are requested to be delivered?

A7. One per campaign, but if the offeror has spare room in the technical proposal, they can submit additional ideas so long as they are within the page limitation.

Q8. The financial quotation that will be submitted should be detailed and split per each campaign's deliverables/tasks? Should the offerer include media buying costs in the proposal or is this the responsibility of USAID?

A8. Please submit a price proposal for each campaign, which identifies the total price to put on the campaign.

Q9. L.5 (b) – “Offerors must provide a total price for each of the four initial task orders.” What should be included in the costs? Only campaign design and production, or also media, and in case yes, what should be the campaign duration?

A9. The proposed price must include all costs associated with implementing the campaign as proposed by the offeror in the technical proposal.

Q10. Is it requested from us to provide a breakdown cost per campaign or only total cost?

A10. Please provide a breakdown of the proposed price.

Q11. Is there any budget indication per campaign (at least for the media spent per campaign)?

A11. There is no budget indication per campaign, however please see F.3.2 and I.4 for more information.

Q12. L.5 (c) – what are the documents (evidence of responsibility) which need to be submitted in the first stage?

A12. Documents which address the items in Section L.5(c) 1-7.

Q13. In case of consortium, and the leading partner is Albanian entity, can an international entity be part of the consortium?

A13. Yes, so long as no more than 50 plus 1 percent of the total dollars go to all international partners, meaning the local organization has to perform more than 50% of the work and utilize more than 50% of the money.

Q14. - Should our consortium come with a proposal on the four task orders, does the limit change to 40 pages i.e. 10 pages per each task order? Or the limit of 10 pages applies the same despite the number of task orders we chose to apply for?

A14. The total page limit is 10 pages, meaning four proposals for the four campaigns have to fit within those 10 pages.

Q15. In the RFP Document, under Section “L.4 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE TECHNICAL PROPOSAL page 45”, it says “The technical proposal must be organized according to the evaluation factors in Section M (i.e. the proposal shall have five main sections) and must address all evaluation factors in Section M”. Could you please clarify on the five compounding sections the Technical Approach Document will be organized into?

A15. This was a mistake. The language has been corrected to just state that the technical proposal must have five sections.

Q16. By requirements of Point (b) “Proposed Prices for Each Task Order”, page 45, “….the Offerors must provide a total price for each of the four initial task orders”. Would simply the price per task order be sufficient or you need an accompanying budget for each task order?

A16. Please see A10.

Q17. Part 3 of Cost Proposal, “Evidence of Responsibility”, is limited to 3 pages. In case of a consortium of two partners, does the page limit change to 6 (i.e. 3 pages per each partner)? Let’s say, proof of financial resources, the Organizational CV demonstrating performance record etc. of both organizations would need to fit into the 3 page limit?

A17. The page limit remains the same.

Q18. Will you invite everyone submitting a written document for an oral presentation or only the companies selected after the written proposal will be invited?

A18. Firms that are deemed eligible offerors will be invited to present in person to USAID how they would implement the four campaigns.

Q19. Do we need to create a different oral presentation than the documents (technical proposal) that will be submitted?

A19. Your oral presentation must be on the technical proposal submitted.

Q20. What is the panel expecting to see in the creative / different concepts with the limitation of 10 pages / (do they expect only text, concept explanations, strategy, message, moodboards etc.) and not visuals?

A20. This is completely up to the offerors.

Q21. Is there any specific format template document that is mandatory for the offerer to use for completing the respective quotations?

A21. There is no mandatory template.

Q22. Section L of the dossier says that: “The offeror must submit the below listed documents as part of the cost proposal: (1) Valid organizational registration (for all consortium partners), as a legal entity in Albania”. Does it mean that also the local Kosovo’s organizations/agencies can apply?

A22. This solicitation is limited to local Albanian firms.

Q23. If Kosovo companies are not eligible to apply, can we apply in consortium with a partner from Albania? If yes, can we be the lead of the consortium or the junior partner only?

A23. A Kosovo entity can be a subcontractor under an Albanian prime contractor provided that the limitations identified in A13 are followed.

Q24. We are already registered in SAM and obtained a DUNS number last year, due to an ongoing campaign with USAID elsewhere. Do we have to reregister or not?

A24. As long as the registration is current, it is valid for all US Government awards.

Q25. At this stage of application, do the companies who apply need to submit a creative approach for USAID Albania for this project or only a technical approach (together with cost proposals) for the four

(4) campaigns indicated as requirements for submission?

A25. The technical approach can, and should, be creative. It is up to the offeror to identify how it will implement the campaigns in a creative manner that is effective.

Q26. Can an Albanian resident legal entity wishing to act as offeror, which is legally represented in Albania by an Albanian citizen who is also resident in Albania (the Director/Administrator), and owned by quota holder being a legal entity of Serbian residence be eligible as offeror under your RFP?

A26. If the Albanian entity is majority owned or controlled by an international entity (Serbian in this case), then they are ineligible to apply.

Q27. Are there any outlined requirements concerning the staffing plan (should the offeror declare specific team of people dedicated to this project and are there any additional requirements/documents that need to be submitted (e.g number of years of experience, personal references, bio data, etc)?

A27. It is not required at this time. Offerors can include this as part of the “Technical Approach”, but it is not required and would count towards the page limit.

28. Is there any additional information, beside the backgrounds given in the RFP and the suggested web links, that could be useful and you could share with the offerer to take in consideration in this stage (e.g research results on the TG the campaigns will be directed to)?

A28. There is no additional information to be provided to the offerors.

Q29. To what extent are the offerors expected to elaborate each of the foreseen campaigns (i.e.

communication strategy proposal, visual identity, key messages, media tools implementations, etc) A29. This is completely up to the offerors.