Letter_-_Sources_Sought_0209-16.pdf

U.S. Agency for International Development Urbanización y Bulevar Santa Elena Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad El Salvador, C.A.

U.S. Agency for International Development 3450 San Salvador Place Washington D.C. 20521-3450

Tel: (503) 2501-2999 http://www.usaid.gov/el-salvador

February 9, 2016

The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to determine the availability of potential small business concerns (e.g., 8(a) Program, veteran owned, service-disabled veteran owned, Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone), small disadvantaged business, women-owned small business and economically disadvantaged woman owned) that can provide professional, scientific, and technical services performance in El Salvador as delineated herein.

Solicitation Number: 519-16-000004

US Agency for International Development

Office: USAID/El Salvador

Location: San Salvador

Notice Type: Sources Sought

Posted Date: February 9, 2016

Response Due Date: February 16, 2016

NAICS Code: 541990

Note: This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation, request for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. It is a survey to identify potential sources; and in no way obligates the

US Agency for International Development (USAID) to award a contract. The sole intent is to conduct market research to determine the agency’s acquisition strategy; and to determine the capability of small businesses in regards to delivery of a better business environment and to increase the productivity and competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of El

Salvador in export markets.

A. Introduction and Background

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission to El Salvador based in San Salvador, is performing this market survey to determine if there are qualified concerns (15

U.S.C. § 632) interested in, and capable of implementing and managing a multi-faceted activity aimed at increasing the capacity of local development entities in the country of El Salvador through USAID’s Increasing Business Productivity Activity.

USAID’s Increasing Business Productivity Activity is a five-year program with the Goal of increasing El Salvador’s competitiveness by strengthening the capacity of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to compete in domestic and export markets, and improving the national and subnational business environment to encourage private sector investment, innovation, and business expansion to foster economic growth and job creation.

http://www.usaid.gov/el-salvador https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/USCODE-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap14A-sec632

The development hypothesis is that if firms improve their business management skills through innovation and implementation of new technologies, and the government improves the regulatory framework and streamlines doing business procedures, and the public and private sectors work together to achieve mutual economic growth objectives, El Salvador will be more competitive.

This Activity builds upon lessons learned from prior development investments and complements current USAID/El Salvador activities to enable Salvadoran businesses to become more competitive in global markets while ensuring participation of men and women, including those with disabilities and those from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community. The Activity will partner with national and subnational governments, the private sector, civil society organizations, universities, and technical/vocational institutions.

B. Purpose/Objective(s)

1) Equipping for Growth, will increase the capacity of the private sector to compete in the export value- and supply-chains. Equipping for Growth will improve business development service providers to support MSMEs increase through innovation and implementation of new technologies, their value added in export-oriented value- and supply-chains. The impact of this objective will be measured by the annual change in El Salvador’s non-traditional products exports.

2) Governing for Growth, will strengthen the national and subnational business enabling environment to make El Salvador more competitive. Governing for Growth, will improve capacity of financial institutions to serve efficiently the large market segment of MSMEs, and improve the business enabling environments at the national and subnational levels. The impact of this objective will be measured by the country’s improvements in the World Economic Forum

Global Competitiveness Report.

The Activity’s beneficiaries will be selected MSMEs and municipal governments. MSMEs will have to be operating in any of the 16 industrial and service sectors that have the greatest potential for economic growth, as determined by the Government of El Salvador (GOES) National Policy of Development, Diversification and Productive Transformation of El Salvador. At least 35 percent of MSMEs must be owned or managed by women. The targeted sectors may be adjusted during the course of implementation as new information becomes available. This Activity will focus on the creation of partnerships with the GOES and private sector and will not provide support to sectors which create a high risk of being directly linked to a potential relocation of

U.S. jobs.

Selected MSMEs will be located in any of the 50 municipalities as prioritized in the El Salvador

Seguro Plan. For cogent reasons of importance due to a municipality’s importance, contribution to the economy, etc., the implementing partner may recommend municipalities outside of the

Seguro Plan.

The GOES National Commission for Micro and Small Enterprise (CONAMYPE) classifies micro enterprises as those with up to 10 employees and up to $70,000 in annual gross sales.

Small enterprises have up to 50 employees and up to $800,000 in annual gross sales. Medium enterprises have up to 100 employees and up to $7 million in annual gross sales. Large enterprises have over 100 employees and over $7 million in annual gross sales. Economic activity is concentrated in MSMEs, which account for 47 percent of total Gross Sales, and provide approximately 65.5 percent of total employment in the private sector.

Selected municipal governments will also be municipalities prioritized in the El Salvador Seguro

Plan. These municipalities may include some municipalities that were assisted under the MCP activity, and could continue being assisted to strengthen the initiatives previously implemented.

As a results of this Activity, MSMEs will have increased their management and business capacity and become more productive and competitive; have increased sales in domestic and international markets; and the national and subnational governments will provide a more pro-business enabling environment.

C. Expected Results

1) Increase Business Development Services to MSMEs

At least 25 partnerships established with GOES and private sector organizations across a minimum of 10 key industry and services sectors developed to provide more effective business development services to MSMEs.

A total of 9,000 MSMEs assisted by the CDMYPE network.

At least $150 million new sales (export and domestic) generated by the MSMEs assisted by the CDMYPE network and other government and private sector organizations.

At least 20,000 new jobs created by MSMEs assisted

At least two additional CDMYPES incorporated to the CDMYPE network for a total of

16 CDMYPEs across the country. Staff and other operating expenses will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Economy.

At least 10 SME business development service providers trained once a year to incorporate environmental directions and climate change to improve business production and efficiencies.

2) Improved MSMEs Use of Innovation and Technology

At least 100 MSMEs implement innovation strategies leading to the development of new products, improvement of existing products, or improvement of business processes.

In collaboration with public and private organizations, at least 100 early-stage entrepreneurs and start-ups will be selected from competition events and assisted to implement business initiatives.

3) Expanded Market Access for MSMEs

At least 1,000 MSMEs received trade capacity building assistance to export

At least 10,000 entrepreneurs (disaggregated by sex) trained in export development areas

No less than 100 consultants from government and private sector business development service providers (disaggregated by sex) trained in export development areas.

4) Expanded Access to Finance for MSMEs

At least four financial institutions selected and receiving technical assistance to improve and expand their MSMEs loan portfolios.

Increased along the life of the activity, the number of active MSMEs borrowers in participating financial institutions.

An effective and streamlined approval process for MSMEs to obtain co-financing from

FONDEPRO.

At least one private equity fund linked to potential MSMEs interested in receiving equity investment.

5) Improved Municipal Services to Firms

At least 10 municipalities have strengthened existing or created new one-stop-windows and simplified business procedures.

At least 10 municipalities have strengthened existing or created new EMPRE units to link

6) MSMEs with business development service providers.

At least 40 public-private initiatives developed and implemented in selected municipalities.

Two, Municipal Competitiveness Index implemented in at least 100 municipalities.

At least, ten business improvement districts (BIDs) established in selected municipalities.

7) Streamlined Policy, Regulatory and Procedural Processes

Proposals (drafts) for enacting new or amending existing laws, norms and regulations to streamline administrative procedures and facilitate business activities, and/or for improvements of implementation of existing laws and regulations.

A technical unit established and operating at the Ministry of Economy responsible for regulating the Electronic Firm’s processes.

A virtual one-stop-window for investors operating at the Ministry of Economy’s

Investment Directorate.

An assessment and recommended actionable reforms to promote business formalization

Formalization campaign launched by CONAMYPE with The Contractor support

D. Implementing Partner Qualifications

USAID is seeking information and expressions of interest from Small Business concerns (as defined at 15 U.S.C. § 632) interested in applying to become USAID’s Implementing Partner

(IP) for this Activity to be conducted in a Spanish (Latin American) centric development delivery environment. The concern must be able to demonstrate a recent record of success in delivery of foreign business development, trade and investment, and business enabling environment interventions activities of this size and scope.

1) Minimum Key Personnel Qualifications:

a. Chief of Party – Master’s Degree from an accredited college or university in International

Trade, Economics, Business Administration or Trade and Investment related areas; ACTFL scale test result of Advanced (High) for reading, writing, and speaking Spanish, or FSI scale of 4/4 or;

ILR scale test result of 4+ for reading, writing, and speaking Spanish as an English native speaker. Non-native English speakers must have the same tested proficiency for English as in

Spanish.

b. Deputy Chief of Party - Master’s Degree from an accredited college or university in business administration, marketing, finance, international trade or economics; ACTFL scale test result of

Advanced (High) for reading, writing, and speaking Spanish, or FSI scale of 4/4 or; ILR scale test result of 4+ for reading, writing, and speaking Spanish as an English native speaker. Non-native English speakers must have the same tested proficiency for English as in Spanish.

c. Business Development Specialist - An undergraduate degree from an accredited university in business administration, marketing, finance or economics is required. ACTFL scale test result of

Advanced (High) for reading, writing, and speaking Spanish, or FSI scale test of 4/4 or; ILR scale test result of 4+ for reading, writing, and speaking Spanish as an English native speaker.

Non-native English speakers must have the same tested proficiency for English as in Spanish.

d. Business Enabling Environment Specialist - ACTFL scale test result of Advanced (High) for reading, writing, and speaking Spanish, or FSI scale of 4/4 or; ILR scale test result of 4+ for reading, writing, and speaking Spanish as an English native speaker. Non-native English speakers must have the same tested proficiency for English as is required for proficiency in

Spanish.

2) Other Minimum Qualifications

a. Implementing Partner – Small Business concern as defined at 15 U.S.C. § 632.

b. Recent (within last five years) experience in managing greater than $10,000,000 dollar Grants under Contract portfolios.

c. Recent (within last five years) experience as the IP for a development delivery activity with budget of greater than $50,000,000

E. Submission Guidelines

1) Interested organizations should submit a statement describing the capabilities of the organization as they relate to the purpose and requirements outlined above.

2) Capability statements sent in response to this notice should not exceed six (6) pages

(including attachments and charts) using an 11-point font size minimum. The statement must include the following information:

• Company name and address;

• DUNS Number;

• Tax Identification Number;

• Point of contact and title;

• Phone/fax/email;

• Business size and status (8(a), veteran owned, service-disabled veteran owned, Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone), small disadvantaged business, women-owned small business and economically disadvantaged woman owned);

• Including any letters, certificates, or similar documentation which indicates such status;

corporate structure (corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, professional corporation, etc.); and

• Teaming arrangements are encouraged. All teaming arrangements shall also include the above-cited information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team.

3) The statements may be sent electronically in Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document

Format (pdf) NLT February 16, 2016, at 5:00 p.m. to Ileana Parraga, Acquisition and Assistance

Specialist, at iparraga@usaid.gov.

All responses must be received by the specified due date and time.

Disclaimer and Important Notices

This notice does not obligate USAID to make an award or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. USAID reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Respondents are advised that USAID is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published on the Federal Business

Opportunities website, www.fedbizopps.gov or Federal Grants Opportunities, www.grants.gov.

Responses to this notice will not be considered responses to a solicitation.

Confidentiality

No proprietary, confidential or sensitive information should be included in your response.

USAID reserves the right to use any non-proprietary information in any resulting solicitation(s).

mailto:iparraga@usaid.gov