c._CORemarksatpre-proposalconferenceMay23.pdf

Contracting Officer’s Opening Remarks at STESSA Pre-Proposal Conference.

Hi and thank you all for coming and participating in this pre-proposal conference for this exciting new activity. I know many of you have traveled some distance to be here and I’d like to especially thank those organizations as well as any US Small Businesses that are in attendance or calling in.

First off to make sure we are all here for the same thing, this is the pre-proposal conference for USAID/Egypt Solicitation # SOL-263-17-000003 for the activity entitled “STEM Teacher Education and School Strengthening Activity” or “STEM-TESSA” or “S-TESSA” for short. Please note that due to an FBO system conflict, this opportunity has the 000003 solicitation number which is different than what was posted on the synopsis. We apologize for the inconvenience and any confusion this may have caused.

I would like to take a second now and say that this opportunity is especially significant and important to USAID/Egypt. We have invested considerable time and funding to help establish the STEM model in Egypt and it has succeeded in ways beyond our expectation. If you follow us on social media or even take a look at some of the photos in the entryway, you can see that this model is making a significant impact on students, teachers, the Ministry of Education and beyond. The STESSA activity is a critical piece to further solidify the work that has been done and help to ensure its sustainability.

Now, let me introduce the USAID team supporting this opportunity. I’m Robert Claussen, one of the Contracting Officers here at USAID/Egypt.

Nevine Hindy and Sherine Gerguis are the Procurement Specialist. Sarah Banashek and Hala ElSerafy are from the Basic Education Team within the Office of Education and Health. Serge Troie is our Resident Legal Officer.

As a reminder, please be sure to sign in on the form that is near the entrance to this room. Your name and organization, as well as the information shared in this conference will be made available to the public through an amendment to the RFP posted on FBO.gov. Our plan is to post the amendment, which will include responses to the written questions previously submitted, as soon as possible - by the end of this week.

At this point, I would ask that we pass around the microphone and that you say your name, the name of the organization you are representing and where you are coming from.

The objectives of this conference are the following:

1. Provide a forum where interested organizations can meet each other to consider possible teaming;

2. Provide background information on the current STEM support activity and to help elaborate on distinctions between that and the current opportunity; and

3. Respond to a sample of general questions already posed and record any last minute questions that may arise from this conference. We will try to answer as many as we can today, but some questions may need discussion and will be addressed in the written amendment to the RFP.

Since we are all together, I would like to share with you some notes from my perspective as a Contracting Officer:

● Please follow the instructions in responding to the RFP. This includes everything from font sizes, page limitations, required signed certifications, a small business subcontracting plan and many others.

Please also note that your acknowledgement of amendments to the RFP needs to be recorded on the solicitation cover sheet when you submit the proposal. When you submit your proposal, complete the offer section section (boxes 12 through 18) on the SF 33.

● One of the biggest issues we see when it comes to evaluating offerors is lack of detail or understanding of how the budget was developed.

Please be sure that when developing your budget, you include sufficient budget notes so we can understand how you are building your budget and what your assumptions are.

● While we may establish a competitive range, our intention is to award without discussion if possible. Therefore, please submit your best, complete and final proposal at the onset.

With that said, let’s go over the agenda - next slide

At this point, I will pass the microphone over to Hala who will go over a chart that will explain some of the major differences between the current Egypt STEM School Project (ESSP) that is scheduled to end in August 2017 and the current STESSA activity.

Note on the photos: The photos in the presentation are of STEM students in their schools. Also, the second photo is from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) where students from one of the STEM schools performed exceptionally well.

CO general response to themes raised: In reviewing the questions previously submitted, there are four areas that I would highlight. Note that responses to all questions received will be part of the forthcoming amendment, but I wanted to take some time now to address these in particular:

● Salaries and the Local Compensation Plan - There are restrictions and guidelines in the RFP on salaries, especially for Egyptian staff. Please note that the general rule is that staff salaries need to be in line with your organization’s policies and procedures and they must be reasonable to the local market. While the Local Compensation Plan (or LCP) is important, there is other relevant data that will help determine what is reasonable to the local market. In the amendment, we will provide our local salary information to help, but for what you propose to pay your staff, please provide enough justification in budget notes to allow us to determine that what you are proposing is reasonable.

● Past performance matrix and information - We understand that there is some confusion about how to report past performance information. We will be clarifying this in the forthcoming amendment.

● Fee calculation and the weighted guidelines - If you are proposing recovering a fee on this contract, it is important for us to understand the rationale you are using to arrive at your fee calculation. As the weighted guidelines are what USAID uses to determine a reasonable fee, we ask that you provide your calculation of the fee using the weighted guidelines approach.

● Statement of Qualifications versus CVs - The Statement of

Qualifications (SOQ) is a narrative that explains why the proposed candidate meets or exceeds the qualifications for the position. While it may includes elements that you would see in a CV, it is not a CV. This is an important distinction and one I ask you keep in mind when responding.

Hala now has some comments on the questions she is reviewing.