RFP-442-16-000001_Amendment_01__12-29-15.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

1. CONTRACT ID CODE PAGE OF PAGES

1 11

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO.

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

See block 16C

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO

5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

6. ISSUED BY CODE 7. ADMINISTERED BY (IF OTHER THAN ITEM 6) CODE

Office of Acquisition and Assistance (OAA) USAID/Cambodia #1, Street 96, Sangkat Wat Phnom, Khan Daun Penh Phnom Penh, Cambodia

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., Street, County, State, and Zip Code)

To All Potential Offerors

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

SOL-442-16-000001

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11) 12/04/2015

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

CODE:

FACILITY CODE:

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered, solicitation is amended as set forth in item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning 1 copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers, FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If Required) N/A

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO., AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14

A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify Authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is NOT is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.

The purpose of this amendement is to 1) extend the deadline for proposal submission from January 19, 2016 to January 22, 2016, 2) provide responses to the potential offerors’ questions, 3) revise instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria, and 4) make various other changes in the solicitation.

(continued on p.2)

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER

Bruce Gelband, Regional Contracting Officer

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 15C. DATE

SIGNED

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

/s/

16C. DATE

SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer) 12/28/2015

NSN 7540-01-152-8070 STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Previous Edition Unusable Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

RFP No. SOL-442-16-000001, Amendment 01 Cambodia Malaria Elimination Project

Specifically, this solicitation is amended as follows:

COVER PAGE

1) On pages 1 and 2, DELETE “January 19, 2016, 1400 Cambodia Time” and INSERT “January 22, 2016, 1400 Cambodia Time” as the revised proposal submission deadline.

2) On page 1, paragraph 3, DELETE “The total estimated cost of the activity is in the range of $10 - $25 million, subject to the availability of funds over the period of performance, of which $1.5 million must be set aside for grants to various non-governmental organizations. The offeror must propose costs that it believes are realistic and reasonable for the work.” and INSERT “Offerors must propose costs that they believe to be realistic and reasonable for the work; Offerors must use plug figures of $1.5 million for grants to various non-governmental organizations and $1 million ($200,000 per year) for operational research.”

SECTION B- SUPPLIESOR SERVICES AND PRICE/COSTS

3) On page 7, B.4 Price/Cost Schedule, DELETE the entire section and INSERT the following:

Contract Period (Years 1 – 5)

For Workdays (LOE) Ordered $ ____________ For Other Direct Costs $ ____________ Grants Under Contract $ 1,500,000 Operational Research $ 1,000,000 ($200,000 per year) Indirect Costs (includes Overhead, G&A and MHO) $ ____________ Fixed Fee $ ____________ Cost Plus Fixed Fee Ceiling Price $ ____________

Note: The contractor cannot use funds associated with grants and operational research for any other cost without the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

The contractor will not be paid any sum in excess of the ceiling price.

4) On page 9, B.8 Fee Payment, paragraph 1, DELETE the third sentence “The contractor may bill fee monthly as a percentage of incurred costs, not to exceed ___%.”

5) On page 9, B.8 Fee Payment, paragraph 2, first sentence, DELETE the blank and INSERT “$100,000”.

SECTION C- STATEMENT OF WORK

6) On page 14, C.3.1 National Malaria Control Program Strategy, DELETE the last sentence “The latest draft of the MEAF is attached in Annex A” and INSERT “The latest draft of the MEAF is attached as Attachment J.5”.

SECTION F - DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

7) On page 31, F.5.4 Level of Effort/Workdays Ordered, (a), DELETE the LOE table and INSERT the following:

Position Workdays Key Personnel Chief of Party (COP) 1,300 Senior Technical Advisor Malaria Programs 1,300 Monitoring and Evaluation/SI Technical Advisor 1,300 Deputy Chief of Party 1,300 HQ Back Stopping Technical Director 45 Finance Manager 45 M&E Officer 45 Gender Specialist 45 Cooperating Country Personnel Financial Manager/Accountant 1,300 M&E Local Specialist 1,300 Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant 1,300 Grants Assistant 1,300 IT Manager 1,300 Provincial Staff Phase 1 20,800 Provincial Staff Phase 2 4,686 Total Professional Workdays (LOE) 37,366

8) On page 38, F.5.4 Deliverables Schedule, REVISE the due dates for deliverables No.1 and No.9 as follows:

No Deliverables Delivery Period 1 Year 1 work plan with detailed budget, staffing and mobilization plan, and operations research plan.

Within 60 calendar days of the award

9 Sustainability plan and exit strategy By the end of Year 1

9) On page 40, F.8 Key Personnel, DELETE the fourth sentence “No more than three of the key personnel positions may be filled by international candidates.”

SECTION J - LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS AND OTHER ATTACHMENTS

10) ADD “J.5 DAILY SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCE (DSA) POLICY”

11) ADD “J.6 DRAFT MALARIA ELIMINATION ACTION FRAMEWORK (MEAF) FOR 2016-2020”

SECTION L - INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS, AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

12) On page 84, L.5 Acquisition Schedule, DELETE “January 19, 2016, 1400 Cambodia Time” and INSERT

“January 22, 2016, 1400 Cambodia Time” as the revised proposal submission deadline.

13) On page 85, L.7 Proposal Instruction, (b) Submission of Proposals by E-mail, (i), ADD “Offerors must submit the Cover Page, Executive Summary and Program Narrative of technical proposal in Word; Annexes may be submitted in a separate PDF volume. For the Cost Proposals, the budget tables must be in Excel, and other information may be submitted in a separate PDF volume.”

14) On page 86, L.8 Instructions for the Preparation of the Technical Proposal, DELETE in its entirety and INSERT the following:

“L.8 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

Technical Proposal Format

Technical Proposals shall demonstrate how the Offeror intends to carry out the Statement of Work. Technical Proposals shall be specific, complete, and concise and demonstrate and understanding of the work to be completed and the responsibilities of all parties involved. The Proposal shall demonstrate the Offeror’s capabilities and expertise with respect to achieving the goals of this program and shall take into account the technical evaluation criteria.

The length of the Cambodia Malaria Elimination Project Technical Proposal shall not exceed 20 pages for the Proposal Executive Summary and Program Narrative. Individual page limitations for the Annexes are identified below. All documents shall be single-spaced text, minimum 11-point font, minimum one (1) inch margins, on

8.5 inch by 11 inch (letter size) paper, double-sided, with each page numbered consecutively. Tables, charts, graphs, etc. are subject to the page limitation of the section in which it appears. Cover Page, Table of Contents, Acronyms and tab dividers are excluded from the page limitation. Information submitted as part of the Technical Proposal beyond the page limitations listed below for each section will not be evaluated.

Required Order:

• Cover Page (Does not count against page limitations)

• Proposal Executive Summary (not to exceed 1 page)

• Program Narrative (not to exceed 19 pages) o Technical Approach o Key Personnel o Management Approach and Staffing Plan o Institutional Capacity o Past Performance

• Annexes (Page limitations for each Annex is stated below) o Annex A – Draft Implementation Plan (8 pages) o Annex B – Draft Performance Monitoring & Evaluation Plan (6 pages) o Annex C – Organizational Chart (1 page) o Annex D – Staffing Plan (6 pages) o Annex E – CVs, Letters of Commitment for Key Personnel (3 pages per position) o Annex F – Past Performance Information (5 pages per organization – prime and major subs as defined in )

1. Cover Page

A single page with the names of the organizations/institutions involved in the proposal. The cover page shall clearly indicate the name of the Prime Offeror, followed by any proposed sub awardees (herein after referred to as “subs”). In addition, the Cover Page shall include contact information for the prime Offeror, including this individual’s name (both typed and his/her signature), title or position with the organization/institution, address, e-mail address and telephone numbers. It shall also state whether the contact person is the person with authority to contract for the Offeror. If not, this person’s contact information should also be listed.

2. Proposal Executive Summary

Offerors will provide a brief description of proposed activities and how project goals, objectives and anticipated results (both quantitative and qualitative) will be achieved. Offerors will also briefly describe the institutional capacity, including technical and managerial resources of its organization and proposed partner organizations, and describe how the overall program will be managed.

3. Program Narrative

The Offeror shall describe its proposed technical approach and its experience and personnel capabilities in the following sections and annexes.

3.1 Technical Approach

The Offeror shall demonstrate its understanding of the key issues and challenges in controlling and eliminating malaria in Cambodia and how its technical approach and methodology will overcome these issues and challenges. The Offeror shall explain how the proposed approach uses an evidence-based, clear and feasible strategy to achieve the project objectives. The Offeror shall also demonstrate a systematic, multi-pronged approach to build capacity at provincial, OD, and community levels to promote sustainability of project activities. The Offeror shall describe how the proposed activities will ensure gender equity and minimize potential negative effects on the environment. The technical approach should also maximize local capacity building and efforts to promote sustainability of the interventions, as appropriate. As part of the Program Narrative, the Offeror shall provide a narrative overview of the Annex A Draft Implementation Plan.

Draft Implementation Plan (Annex A) –The Offeror shall submit a proposed implementation plan, in Gantt form or similar format, which demonstrates how proposed activities and sub-activities are timed and sequenced. Additionally, the implementation plan shall demonstrate how activities and sub-activities are linked with the project approaches described in the Offeror’s technical approach.

The Offeror shall establish a clear plan and criteria for assessing progress, evaluating and monitoring the impact of program activities toward achieving component objectives and five-year targets during the performance period and indicate a plan for collecting baseline data prior to the beginning of program activities. The plan shall include required indicators listed in Section F. The Offeror shall have a performance monitoring and evaluation system that will track and document implementation progress against jointly agreed-upon annual and end-of-program performance. The M&E system shall be responsive to any additions and/or adjustments to the targets/indicators as agreed to by USAID. As part of the Program Narrative, the Offeror shall provide a brief narrative overview of the Annex B Draft Performance Monitoring & Evaluation Plan.

Draft Performance Monitoring & Evaluation Plan (Annex B). The Offeror shall present a draft Performance Monitoring & Evaluation Plan clearly describing all performance management tasks by component to be accomplished on a task schedule. After award of the project, the Offeror shall submit Performance Indicator Reference Sheets (PIRS) corresponding to indicators with targets for each fiscal year. The plan shall identify the type and method of data collection, information source, and frequency of collection.

3.2 Key Personnel

The Offeror shall discuss proposed Key Personnel. The four candidates for the key personnel positions must have the minimum qualifications relevant to their position descriptions as described in Section F.8.

Engagement of qualified Cambodian staff for key personnel positions is highly encouraged whenever practicable.

CVs, Letters of Commitment for Key Personnel (Annex E). In Annex E, Offerors will provide a Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a SIGNED letter of commitment for each key personnel position.

o The CVs shall demonstrate how each proposed candidate is the best suited individual for the position and possesses the skills and knowledge to effectively achieve the project objectives. The CVs will consist of brief descriptions of key personnel illustrating their relevant experience and other qualifications for holding the position. Key personnel will be assessed on the appropriateness of their academic background, expertise, experience in conflict areas similar to Cambodia, and years of experience working on project activities similar to their designated duties and responsibilities for this project.

o The letter of commitment from each candidate indicating his/her: (a) number of days after the start of the award when the candidate will be available to serve in the stated position; (b) intention to serve for a stated term of the service; and (c) agreement to the compensation levels which correspond to the levels set forth in the cost Proposal. References may be checked for all proposed key personnel, and Offerors must provide current phone and email address for each reference contact.

Three references are required for each key personnel candidate.

3.3 Management Approach and Staffing Plan

The Offeror shall describe how it will manage the project and support project activities. At the project level, the Offeror shall describe its approach to roles and responsibilities, oversight, quality control and communication channels within and between all proposed institutions. The Offeror shall provide an overview of the Organizational Chart (Annex C) and Staffing Plan (Annex D), as well as discuss planned communication and coordination structure to ensure project transparency and coordination with communication with USAID, MoH partners, local organizations, other donors and stakeholders. The Offeror shall also explain how it will integrate gender and diversity considerations into its staffing plan and recruitment. The Offeror shall also show how it will build capacity among their local staff and partners. To the extent possible, the Offeror shall also demonstrate how positions filled by expatriate candidates can be transitioned to local staff during the course of the project. The Offeror shall provide a narrative overview of the Annex C Organizational Chart.

Organizational Chart (Annex C). The Offeror shall submit a graphic organizational chart demonstrating program lines of authority and reporting arrangements, including the proposed central office, field coordination reporting and project relationship.

Staffing Plan (Annex D). The Offeror shall present a comprehensive staffing plan in Annex D with a level of effort chart that includes key personnel, other long-term staff, short-term staff, professional staff, and administrative staff. In keeping with Mission goals for in-country-owned processes, Offerors shall show how in-country expertise, limiting the use of home office support and external consultants, will be utilized to manage the project.

3.4 Institutional Capacity

The Offeror shall describe how the organizational and technical capability and experience of the organization and major proposed subcontractors will ensure achievement of project goals, objectives and expected results.

3.5 Past Performance

As part of the Program Narrative, the Offeror shall provide an overview of past performances provided in Annex F.

The offerors (including all partners of a consortium, if applicable) must provide past performance information for itself and each sub-contractor (one whose total estimated cost exceeds 25% of the offeror’s total proposed cost) in accordance with the following (Offerors should use the template in Annex 1.

Contractor/Subcontractor Past Performance Information):

1. Include in Annex F to the technical proposal five of the most recent and relevant contracts for efforts similar to the work in the subject proposal. The most relevant indicators of performance are contracts of similar size, type of work, scope of work, and complexity/ diversity of tasks and how recently they were performed.

2. Provide for each of these contracts, a list of contact names, job titles, mailing address, phone numbers, e-mail address, and a description of performance to include

- Scope of Work or complexity/diversity of tasks,

- Primary location(s) of work,

- Term of performance,

- Skills/expertise required,

- Dollar value,

- Resources leveraged, if any; and

- Contract type, i.e. fixed price, cost reimbursement, etc.

(USAID recommends that offerors alert the contacts that their names have been submitted and that they are authorized to provide performance information concerning the listed contracts if and when USAID requests it.)

3. If extraordinary problems impacted any of the referenced contracts, provide a short explanation and the corrective action taken (FAR 15.305(a)(2)).

4. Describe any quality awards or certifications that indicate exceptional capacity to provide the service or product described in the statement of work. This information is not included in the page limitation.

5. Performance in Using Small Business (SB) Concerns (as defined in FAR 19.001).

(i) This section (5) is not applicable to offers from small business concerns.

(ii) As part of the evaluation of performance in Section M.3.4 of this solicitation, USAID will evaluate the extent you used and promoted the use of small business concerns under current and prior contracts.

The evaluation will assess the extent small business concerns participated in these contracts relative to the size/value of the contracts, the complexity and variety of the work small business concerns performed, and compliance with your SB subcontracting plan or other similar small business incentive programs set out in your contract(s).

(iii) In order for USAID to fully and fairly evaluate performance in this area, all offerors who are not small business concerns must do the following:

(a) Provide a narrative summary of your organization's use of small business concerns over the past three years. Describe how you actually use small businesses--as subcontractors, as joint venture partners, through other teaming arrangements, etc. Explain the nature of the work small businesses performed--substantive technical professional services, administrative support, logistics support, etc. Describe the extent of your compliance with your SB subcontracting plan(s) or other similar SB incentive programs set out in your contract(s) and explain any mitigating circumstances if goals were not achieved.

(b) To supplement the narrative summary in (a), provide a list of the recent (two years) contracts for which you submitted subcontract reports to eSRS (FAR52.219-9(d)(10) and a copy of any similar recent subcontracting reports if they were not submitted to eSRS.

(c) Provide the names and addresses of three SB concerns for us to contact for their assessment of your performance in using SB concerns. Provide a brief summary of the type of work each SB concern provided to your organization, and the name of a contact person, his/her title, phone number, and e-mail address for each.”

15) On page 91, L.9 Instructions for the Preparation of the Cost Proposal, (a) Submission Instructions, 7, DELETE the last sentence “The description will specifically reference the page and paragraph of the technical proposal that these costs are associated with.”

16) On page 91, L.9 Instructions for the Preparation of the Cost Proposal, (a) Submission Instructions, 8, ADD “For activity cost line item, the budget narrative will specifically reference the page and paragraph of the technical proposal that these costs are associated with.”

17) On page 91, L.9 Instructions for the Preparation of the Cost Proposal, (a) Submission Instructions, 10, DELETE “A copy of the offeror's personnel policies in effect at the time the offer is submitted, especially regarding salary and wage scales, merit increases, promotions, leave, differentials, travel and per diem regulations, fringe benefit, etc.” and INSERT “If the Offeror does not have prior Federal contracting experience, the Offeror should submit a copy of its personnel policies, especially regarding salary and wage scales, fringe benefits, merit increases, promotions, leave, differentials, travel and per diem regulations, etc.”

18) On page 92, L.9 Instructions for the Preparation of the Cost Proposal, (a) Submission Instructions, 12, DELETE, “Completed and signed Contractor Employee Biographical Sheet for each personnel proposed.”, ADD, “Completed and signed Contractor Employee Biographical Sheet for Key Personnel only.”

19) On page 93, L.9 Instructions for the Preparation of the Cost Proposal, (a) Submission Instructions, 14.d), DELETE the reference to Attachment J-5.

20) On page 94, L.9 Instructions for the Preparation of the Cost Proposal, (b) General Assumptions and Other Instructions, ADD number 6 as following: "Offerors must use plug figures of $1.5 million for grants to various non-governmental organizations and $1 million ($200,000 per year) for operational research.”

21) On page 95, L.10 Budget, DELETE the table and INSERT the new table as below:

1. Salary and Wages $___________

2. Fringe Benefits $___________

3. Consultants $___________

4. Grants Under Contract $ 1,500,000

5. Operational Research $ 1,000,000

6. Travel, Transportation, and Per Diem $___________

7. Equipment and Supplies $___________

8. Program Activity Cost $___________

9. Allowances $___________

10. Training and Capacity Building $___________

11. Other Direct Cost $___________

12. NICRA (Overhead, G&A, Material Handling, etc.) $___________

13. Total Estimated Cost $___________

14. Proposed Fixed Fee $___________

15. Total Estimated Cost including Fixed Fee $___________

22) The answers to the potential offerors’ questions are provided as Annex 5 (attached).

SECTION M - EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

23) On page 106, M.1 General Information, (a), DELETE “The Government may award a contract without discussions with offerors in accordance with FAR 52.215-1”, and INSERT “The Government intends to award a contract without discussions with offerors in accordance with FAR 52.215-1”.

24) On page 107, M.3 Evaluation System, throughout the text of the section DELETE “RFP requirements” and

INSERT “evaluation criteria” in lieu thereof.

25) On page 107, M.4 Evaluation Criteria, DELETE in its entirety and INSERT the following:

“M.4 EVALUATION CRITERIA

(a) The technical proposal will be rated by a technical evaluation committee using the criteria shown in this Section.

(b) The criteria below reflect the requirements of this particular solicitation. Offerors must note that these criteria (1) serve as the standard against which all proposals will be evaluated, and (2) serve to identify the significant matters which offerors must address in their proposals. Technical Approach is approximately equal to the other four criteria combined; Key Personnel factor is approximately equal to Management Approach and Staffing Plan, Institutional Capacity, and Past Performance combined; Management Approach and Staffing Plan, Institutional Capacity and Past Performance are of approximately equal weight.

1. Technical Approach: See Section L.8, 3.1

Extent to which the Offeror’s technical approach demonstrates responsiveness, technical knowledge, program relevance and feasibility in achieving the objectives and expected results in the Cambodian health system.

This also includes, but is not limited to, the following aspects:

• use of a systematic, multi-pronged approach to build local capacity at provincial, OD, and community levels to promote sustainability of project activities;

• the technical approach is gender-appropriate and minimizes potential negative impact on the environment;

• the Draft Implementation Plan (Annex A) presents a feasible, logical plan of activities and sub-activities that are directly linked to achieving the project objectives and expected results;

• the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Approach presents a clear, feasible plan and comprehensive system to collect, analyze, use and report on required indicators listed in Section F and other performance data suggested by the Offeror to monitor project progress, to ensure activities will achieve the project purpose and four objectives and be used to quickly evolve and adapt to changes.

This includes the extent to which the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (MEP) reflects and includes specific, appropriate, comprehensive, meaningful, and realistic milestones and targets (including gender and age disaggregated targets), assessment data integration efforts, and monitoring outputs, outcomes, and results. (Annex B)

2. Key Personnel: See Section L.8, 3.2 and F.8

Extent to which the proposed key personnel meet qualifications requirements in section F.8 and indicate the qualifications to successfully implement the Statement of Work and proposed technical approach.

3. Management Approach and Staffing Plan: See Section L.8, 3.3 and F.8

Effectiveness and efficiency of the overall staffing and management structures proposed for this project, including utilizations of local partner organizations and managing sub-contractors, as well as the extent to which the overall mix of proposed positions for long-term personnel, short term consultants and local staff (including skillsets, experience, qualifications, etc.) is relevant and sufficient for the successful implementation of the program.

4. Institutional Capacity: See Section L.8, 3.4

Offerors’ proposals will be evaluated based on the demonstrated breadth and depth of capability and experience in leading and managing similar scope and scale for each prime and major subcontractor including:

a) Administering grants under contract in politically sensitive environments; and

b) Enhancing the technical and organizational capacity of civil society organizations and non-formal groups;

c) Providing relevant support and technical services to donor funded projects as mentioned in Task 3 of

Section C.3;

d) Using effective financial controls, communications, and contract management.

5. Past Performance: See Section L.8, 3.5

a. Performance information will be used for both the responsibility determination and best value decision.

USAID may use performance information obtained from other than the sources identified by the offeror/subcontractor. USAID will utilize existing databases of contractor performance information and solicit additional information from the references provided in Section L.8.(d) of this RFP and from other sources if and when the Contracting Officer finds the existing databases to be insufficient for evaluating an offeror’s performance.

b. Adverse past performance information to which the offeror previously has not had an opportunity to respond, will be addressed in accordance with the policies and procedures set forth in FAR 15.3.

c. USAID will initially determine the relevance of similar performance information as a predictor of probable performance under the subject requirement. USAID may give more weight to performance information that is considered more relevant and/or more current.

d. The contractor performance information determined to be relevant will be evaluated in accordance with the elements below:

Quality of product or service, including consistency in meeting goals and targets Cost control, including forecasting costs as well as accuracy in financial reporting Schedule, including the timeliness against the completion of the contract, task orders, milestones, delivery schedules, and administrative requirements (e.g., efforts that contribute to or affect the schedule variance)

Business relations, addressing the history of professional behavior and overall business-like concern for the interests of the customer, including the contractor’s history of reasonable and cooperative behavior (to include timely identification of issues in controversy), customer satisfaction, timely award and management of subcontracts, cooperative attitude in remedying problems, and timely completion of all administrative requirements

Management of key personnel, including appropriateness of personnel for the job and prompt and satisfactory changes in personnel when problems with clients where identified

e. Demonstrated utilization for the services of small businesses concerns (in the past). For prime offerors who are not small business concerns, their utilization of Small Business concerns as subcontractors, including efforts in achieving small business participation goals.

f. An offeror’s performance will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably when:

• The offeror lacks relevant performance history,

• Information on performance is not available, or

• The offeror is a member of a class of offerors where there is provision not to rate the class against a sub factor.

When this occurs, an offeror lacking relevant performance history is assigned a "neutral" rating.

An exception to this “neutral” rating provision is when a non-small business prime has no history of subcontracting with small business concerns.

Prior to assigning a "neutral" past performance rating, the contracting officer may take into account a broad range of information related to an offeror's performance.”

26) On page 110, M.5 Cost Evaluation, DELETE the following sentences and the bullet points, “Cost proposals providing more direct funding towards the program instead of administrative costs will be considered positively while conducting cost realism analysis assuming the technical proposal provides for a feasible program implementation and achievement of development impact objectives. Evaluation of cost proposals will consider but not be limited to the following:

Cost realism and completeness of cost proposal and supporting documentation.

Overall cost control evidenced by proposal (such as avoidance of excessive salaries, excessive home office staff visits, and other costs in excess of reasonable requirements).

Total resource allocation for programmatic interventions.

Amount of proposed fee, if any.

Cost efficiency of proposed Other Direct Costs (ODCs).

Subcontracting plan, if any.

Ceiling on indirect cost rates.”

[END OF AMENDMENT 01]