Expression_of_Interest_-_East_and_Southern_Africa_Trade_and_Energy.pdf

Expression of Interest USAID East and Southern Africa Region Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster

A. Background

USAID East Africa’s (USAID/EA) experience indicates that many local and regional partners and potential partners are often technically sound in their areas of expertise. In addition, USAID missions and offices in East and Southern Africa often require trade and energy technical services and consulting to fulfill our development mandate in the region. USAID’s missions and offices in East and Southern Africa would like to utilize qualified local and regional consultants, firms and organizations where feasible.

B. Purpose

The purpose of this Expression of Interest (EOI) is to solicit information and qualifications from local and regional consultants, firms and organizations. Qualified respondents will then be placed on the East and Southern Africa Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster. The Roster will be utilized by USAID/East and Southern Africa and other USAID missions and offices in the region for short and longer-term technical services and capacity building assistance on an as-needed basis. (Please see Appendix A for the definition of a local and regional organization.)

Below are the identified priority areas:

1) Technical Consulting Services will include, but not limited to, technical and sector assessments, project monitoring, project design, project performance and outcome evaluations, organizational capacity assessments, pre-award surveys, training and workshop coordination, and other services.

2) Capacity Building Assistance will include, but not limited to, training and mentoring of local and regional USAID partners in the areas of governance, financial management and accounting, internal controls, procurement systems, human resources management, information technology systems, project management, project monitoring and evaluation, sustainable funding and other capacity building assistance.

USAID East Africa will screen respondents to this EOI to ensure they have the qualifications and experience to successfully provide the proposed services and assistance. Only those consultants, firms and organizations that successfully pass this qualification screening will be placed on the EA Roster. USAID defines the region to include Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Tanzania, and South Africa.

USAID technical teams and missions will tap into the Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster providers on an as-needed basis for both internal USAID technical services as well as the capacity building needs of local and regional partners funded by USAID. In addition, it is envisioned that local and regional partners may solicit and directly contract with technical service and capacity building providers on the EA Roster. The Trade and Energy Technical

USAID East Africa Region Technical Services and Capacity Building Roster

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Services Roster providers will be called to submit bids or applications for specific tasks or scopes of work on an as-needed basis. Please note that being placed on the Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster does not imply a guarantee of contracts or a minimum. The Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster would be utilized to alert potential local partners of any request for proposal or application for technical services in the trade and energy sectors.

Respondents are encouraged to apply for only those services and assistance for which they have the required experienced. In addition, respondents will be required to show proof of eligibility as a local and regional consultant, organization or firm as defined below in this EOI.

Those who are unable to show adequate proof of local or regional status or lack the minimum experience will not be added to the resulting Roster.

Respondents to this EOI must submit their information and required attachments on-line at awalsh@usaid.gov by June 20, 2013 at 4:00 pm local time.

USAID/East Africa reserves the right to reissue this EOI at any time at its own discretion to recruit additional consultants, firms or organizations or to change or expand the technical consulting services and capacity building areas.

Responses to this EOI will not be made public rather the submitted information including attachments will be reviewed by a limited number of USAID staff. Once the Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster is finalized, USAID East Africa will share contact information and areas of expertise with USAID missions in the region. In addition, USAID may share the Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster contact information with our local and regional partners to facilitate direct contracting between our partners and Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster firms and organizations.

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C. Technical Consulting Services

Outlined below are the anticipated technical consulting services. It is anticipated that the majority of these services will be provided to USAID missions and technical team on an as-needed basis. However, USAID partners may also directly solicit and contract with technical service and capacity builders on the Roster.

1) Technical Analysis and Assessments, Project Design, Performance and Outcome Evaluations at the regional, country and local level including, but not limited to, the following areas:

a) Trade and Value Chains:

b) Energy

c) Other technical areas as requested by USAID.

2) Project Monitoring and Reporting with a focus on projects implemented by regional and local partners in the technical areas in Section D1.

3) Organizational Capacity Assessments (OCA) and other organization assessments to assess strengths and capacity issues of USAID-funded local and regional organizations resulting in an action plan to address capacity issues.

4) Local Organization Pre-Award Surveys (LOPAS) and Other Pre-Award Surveys for local and regional organizations under consideration for USAID funding. This includes a detailed review and systems testing as per USAID guidelines of the potential risks, mitigation strategies and recommended capacity building.

5) Training and Workshop Coordination for USAID staff and our partner agencies in the areas of, but not limited to, the technical areas in Section D1.

6) Other Studies and Technical Services including but not limited to the technical areas in Section D1.

D. Capacity Building Assistance

As indicated, many of USAID’s local and regional partners or potential partners are technically very strong in their areas of expertise but are challenged with organizational capacity issues especially when poised to enhance or expand services and/or geographic coverage. These capacity challenges vary greatly based on the size, age, and stage of development.

Outlined below are the capacity building areas USAID anticipates contracting on an as-needed basis with firms and organization on the Roster. USAID’s local and regional partners may also directly solicit and contract with Roster consultants and providers. Capacity areas include:

1) Strategic and Operational Planning including the development of strategic and project work plans.

2) Governance including training and mentoring on board roles and responsibilities, development/updating of a constitution/bi-laws, developing written roles and responsibilities, ethic training, strategic plan, and other areas.

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3) Financial Management including training and mentoring on appropriate financial software, financial procedures, systems and internal control system, segregation of duties and other areas.

4) Procurement including training and mentoring on the establishment, documentation or upgrading of the organization’s procurement system and other areas.

5) Human Resources including training and mentoring on the establishment/upgrading of job descriptions, organizational chart, hiring and promotion system, human resource policies, travel policies, and other areas.

6) Information Technology (IT) Management including IT assessment and planning, installation and training on computer systems, project management databases, communication systems and other areas.

7) Project Management and Reporting including training and mentoring to establish or upgrade project management and reporting systems.

8) Monitoring and Evaluation including training and mentoring to establish or upgrade an M&E system.

9) Sustainable Funding planning, training and mentoring.

10) Other Capacity Building Areas as needed.

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E. Screening Criteria and Weight

In order to be considered for inclusion on the Trade and Energy Technical Services Roster, respondents must meet the definition of a local or regional organization included in Appendix A.

Below are the qualifications and scoring criteria for respondents.

Technical Services Minimum Qualifications

1) Demonstrated success in completing technical service consulting for a major local or regional NGO, international organization or donor. (40%)

2) Qualifications and experience of management team and proposed key staff. (25%)

3) Quality of past performance information and reference checks. (25%)

4) Demonstrated understanding of the political, economic, social and cultural context in East

Africa. (10%)

Capacity Building Organizations Minimum Qualifications

1) Demonstrated success in having provided the specific capacity building assistance with local and/or regional organizations in the East and Southern Africa region on behalf of a donor, major local or regional NGO, international NGO or international organization.

(40%)

2) Demonstrated understanding of the technical, financial and management strengths and challenges of local and regional organization in East and Southern Africa. (25%)

3) Quality of past performance information and reference checks. (25%)

4) Demonstrated understanding of the political, economic, social and cultural context in

East and Southern Africa. (10%)

F. Required Information for Submission

1) Two-page Qualifications and Experience Summary that includes the following:

Firm or organization’s qualifications in the proposed technical services or capacity building assistance;

List of past or present projects and scope of work undertaken related to the proposed technical services or capacity building.

Experience and qualifications of firm or organization’s management team;

Experience and qualifications of key staff who will undertake the proposed technical services and capacity assistance; and Brief summary of the political, economic, social and cultural context in the proposed technical areas

2) Reference List and Information Sheet Three references with contact information from previous clients or donors who can provide feedback on previous performance in the same or related technical service or capacity building areas.

3) CVs or Resumes of Firm Principals or Key Members of Management Team

(Maximum of three CVs or resumes. Each CV or resume may not exceed two pages.)

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4) CVs or Resumes of Key Staff to be Responsible for the Proposed Technical Services or Capacity Building

(Maximum of three CVs or resumes. Each CV or resume may not exceed two pages.)

5) Proof of Eligibility including:

Completed Eligibility Checklist (Appendix B) A copy of NGO registration certificate or firm’s certificate of registration/incorporation in an East African country.

Note that only the documents requested above will be reviewed. Any additional documents or additional pages beyond the page limit listed above will not be reviewed by USAID/EA.

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Appendix A

A "local organization" must:

1. Be organized under the laws of the recipient country;

2. Have its principal place of business in the recipient country;

3. Be majority owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of the recipient country or be managed by a governing body, the majority of whom are citizens or lawful permanent residents of a recipient country;

4. Not be controlled by a foreign entity or by an individual or individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of the recipient country.

A “regional organization” must:

1. Be organized or recognized in accordance with the laws of the country or countries within which it operates;

2. Have its principal place of business within a country or countries in the East/Southern Africa region;

3. Be majority owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of a country or countries in the East Africa region or be managed by a governing body, the majority of whom are citizens or lawful permanent residents of a country or countries in the East/Southern Africa region;

4. Not be controlled by a foreign entity or by an individual or individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of a country or countries in the East Africa region.

For the purposes of this EOI the East Africa region includes: Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, and South Africa.

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Appendix B Eligibility Criteria Checklist

Instructions:

This eligibility information must be provided by all respondents. Please answer each question by marking an X in the yes or no column. Please provide explanations for each question on the following page. Your explanations may not exceed one page in total.

If the answer to any of the below questions is “NO”, your organization is NOT eligible to be placed on the Roster and should not respond to the Expression of Interest. If a response is submitted with a NO answer to one of the questions, then it will not be reviewed.

YES NO Yes- No Eligibility Questions

Does your organization meet the definition of a local or regional organization as outlined in the solicitation, including:

Be organized in accordance with the laws of the country or countries within which it operates.

Have its principal place of business within a country or countries in the East Africa region.

Be majority owned (more than 50%) by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of a country or countries in the Africa region or be managed by a governing body, the majority (more than 50%) of whom are citizens or lawful permanent residents of a country or countries in the Africa region.

Not be controlled by a foreign entity or by an individual or individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of a country or countries in the Africa region.

Does your firm or organization conduct activities in at least one of the following countries?

Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, South Africa and/or Uganda.

Please attach a copy of NGO registration certificate or firm’s certificate of registration/ incorporation in one of the East and Southern African countries included above.

If needed, you may provide an explanation regarding any of the above questions. Your explanations should not exceed one page.