FEWS NET RFP Final.pdf

Date Issued: December 3, 2010 Closing Date: January 26, 2011 Closing Time: 11:00 A.M. EDT

Subject: Request for Proposals Number SOL-OAA-10-0000039 Famine Early Warning Network Management and Technical Services

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking proposals to provide Famine Early Warning Network services for USAID’s Office of Food for Peace in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) as described in the attached Request for Proposals (RFP). USAID anticipates the award of one Single Award five (5) five-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract (IDIQ) as a result of this RFP.

USAID anticipates that the maximum ordering limitation of the contract resulting from this RFP will be $200,000,000 over the 5-year ordering period. The maximum aggregate dollar value of task orders awarded to the contractor cannot exceed this contract ceiling. There is no guarantee on the number of task orders that the successful contractor will receive or the amount of money beyond the minimum order guarantee set forth in the RFP.

Offerors (large and small businesses) are encouraged to participate in the USAID Mentor-Protégé Program. Please see Provisions I.6 and I.7 of this solicitation for information on the program.

Pursuant to Block 12 of Standard Form 33 of this RFP, USAID requires that offers remain valid for acceptance through June 30, 2011.

This RFP in no way obligates USAID to award a contract nor does it commit USAID to pay any cost incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal.

This RFP can be viewed and downloaded from the Internet at Worldwide Web address www.fedbizopps.gov. USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. Further, be aware that amendments to solicitations are occasionally issued and will be posted on the same Internet site from which you downloaded the solicitation. You are therefore advised to regularly check the above internet site for amendments.

Sincerely, Sallie H. McElrath Contracting Officer

1. THIS CONTRACT IS A RATED ORDER RATING PAGE OF PAGES

UNDER DPAS (15 CFR 700)

2. CONTRACT NUMBER 3. SOLICITATION NUMBER 4. TYPE OF SOLICITATION 5. DATE ISSUED 6. REQUISITION/PURCHASE NUMBER

SEALED BID (IFB)

NEGOTIATED (RFP)

7. ISSUED BY CODE 8. ADDRESS OFFER TO (If other than Item 7)

NOTE: In sealed bid solicitations "offer" and "offeror" mean "bid" and "bidder".

9. Sealed offers in original and _____________________________ copies for furnishing the supplies or services in the Schedule will be received at the place specified in Item 8, or if handcarried, in the depository located in until local time _______________________ (Hour) (Date)

CAUTION - LATE Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals: See Section L, Provision No. 52.214-7 or 52.215-1. All Offers are subject to all terms and conditions contained in this solicitation.

A. NAME B. TELEPHONE (NO COLLECT CALLS) C. E-MAIL ADDRESS

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

(X) SEC. DESCRIPTION PAGE(S) (X) SEC. DESCRIPTION PAGE(S)

PART I - THE SCHEDULE PART II - CONTRACT CLAUSES

A SOLICITATION/CONTRACT FORM I CONTRACT CLAUSES

B SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS PART III - LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS AND OTHER ATTACH.

C DESCRIPTION/SPECS./WORK STATEMENT J LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

D PACKAGING AND MARKING PART IV - REPRESENTATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS

E INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

F DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

G CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA L INSTR., CONDS., AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

H SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS M EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

K

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER

STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS

NOTE: Item 12 does not apply if the solicitation includes the provisions at 52.214-16, Minimum Bid Acceptance Period.

12. In compliance with the above, the undersigned agrees, if this offer is accepted by June 30, 2011 the offeror will furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the price , set opposite each item, delivered at the designated point(s), within the time specified in the schedule.

13. DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT 10 CALENDAR DAYS (%) 20 CALENDAR DAYS (%) 30 CALENDAR DAYS (%) CALENDAR DAYS (%)

(See Section I, Clause No. 52-232-8)

14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF AMENDMENTS AMENDMENT NO. DATE AMENDMENT NO. DATE

(The offeror acknowledges receipt of amendments to the SOLICITATION for offerors and related documents numbered and dated:

CODE FACILITY

16. NAME AND TITLE OF PERSON AUTHORIZED TO SIGN OFFER15A. NAME AND

ADDRESS

OF OFFEROR

(Type or print)

15B. TELEPHONE NUMBER 17. SIGNATURE 18. OFFER DATE

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

15C. CHECK IF REMITTANCE ADDRESS IS DIFFERENT FROM

ABOVE - ENTER SUCH ADDRESS IN SCHEDULE

19. ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS NUMBERED 20. AMOUNT 21. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION

22. AUTHORITY FOR USING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION: 23. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN ITEM (4 copies unless otherwise specified)

10 U.S.C. 2304(a) ( ) 41 U.S.C. 253(c) ( )

24. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 7) 25. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE BYCODE CODE

26. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print) 27. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 28. AWARD DATE

IMPORTANT - Award will be made on this Form, or on Standard Form 26, or by other authorized official written notice.

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

(REV. 9-97)

10. FOR INFORMATION CALL:

11. TABLE OF CONTENTS

STANDARD FORM 33

SOLICITATION, OFFER AND AWARD

SOLICITATION

OFFER (Must be fully completed by offeror)

AWARD (To be completed by Government)

1 N/A 109

SOL-OAA-10-0000039

X

U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

OFFICE OF ACQUISITION AND ASSISTANCE

M/OAA/DCHA/AFP RRB 7.10-001

1300 PENNSYLVANIA, NW.

WASHINGTON, DC 20523

See Section L.7

See Section L.7 11:00 EDT January 26, 2010

Michele Sharpe 202-712-0342 msharpe@usaid.gov

X 1

X 2-6

X 7-19

X 20

X 21

X 22-28

X 29-31

X 32-39

X 40-54

X 55

X 56-69

X 70-85

X 86-90

$.00

Sallie McElrath

Contracting Officer

PART I - THE SCHEDULE

SECTION B - SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICE/COSTS

B.1 PURPOSE

The purpose of this contract is to provide services that fall within the scope of the work specified in Section C to support the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) administered by the Office of Food For Peace (FFP) in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA/FFP). See www.fews.net to view information on the FEWS NET program, current field and office presence locations, data monitoring activities, products and other FEWS NET related information.

USAID Task Order Contracting Officers (TOCOs) will request the work through the issuance of task orders during the ordering period as specified in Section F of the contract.

B.2 CONTRACT TYPE AND SERVICES

This is an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract (IDIQ) utilizing individual task orders to provide technical services. The Government will issue task orders that are either Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) or Firm-Fixed- Price (FFP).

USAID intends to issue Task Order 0001 (see Attachment J-8, and Section L to this IDIQ) upon award of this IDIQ. This task order will provide services under all tasks of the SOW except for Section C.2.2(e) “Implement Surge Activities”, and Section C.2.2(f) “Bureau or USAID Mission funded Task Orders”.

B.3 MINIMUM OBLIGATED AMOUNT

The basic contract includes an initial obligation of funds in the amount of $25,000 to cover the minimum order guarantee. USAID is required to order and the Contractor is required to furnish the minimum order amount of services.

Following this initial obligation, individual task orders will obligate funds to cover the work required under each task order.

[Note: The initial obligation is expected to be applied towards the first task order issued by DCHA/FFP.]

B.4 MAXIMUM CONTRACT CEILING

This is a single award IDIQ with an overall ceiling price of $200,000,000.

The maximum aggregate dollar value of the task orders awarded cannot exceed this contract ceiling.

B.5 ESTIMATED COST, FIXED PRICE AND FIXED FEE

(a) The Total Estimated Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee for each task order must be negotiated in accordance with the terms of the IDIQ contract. In no event may the indirect rates or fixed fee for a task order exceed the ceilings set forth in Section B.7 and B.8 of the IDIQ contract. The U.S. dollar costs must be limited to reasonable, allocable, and allowable costs determined in accordance with FAR 52.216-7, Allowable Cost and Payment, and FAR 52.216-8, Fixed Fee, 2 CFR Part 220 (for universities), and 2 CFR Part 230 (non-profits).

(b) The Firm-Fixed Price for each task order will be negotiated based on the price to complete the work. After acceptance of a fixed price task order by the Contractor, the task order price will only be adjusted to reflect changes in scope or conditions.

(c) Fixed Fee Payment. For any task order issued under this contract, at the time of each payment of allowable costs to the Contractor, the USAID paying office ordinarily pays the Contractor a percentage of fixed fee that directly corresponds to the percentage of allowable costs being paid. Two exceptions to paying fixed fee in this manner apply:

If the TOCO determines that this method results in paying a disproportionately higher ratio of fixed fee than the percentage of work that the Contractor has completed, then the TOCO may suspend further payment of any fixed fee until the Contractor has made sufficient progress to justify further payment, up to the agreed percentage.

The clauses entitled "Allowable Cost and Payment" (FAR 52.216-7) and "Fixed Fee" (FAR 52.216-8) are incorporated into this contract. The terms and conditions of these clauses apply after total payments of fixed fee reach eighty-five percent (85%) of the total fixed fee.

B.6 INDIRECT COSTS

Pending establishment of revised provisional or final indirect cost rates, allowable indirect costs shall be reimbursed on the basis of the following negotiated provisional or predetermined rates and the appropriate bases:

For Prime Contractor:

Description Rate Base Type Period

1/ 1/ 1/ 2/ 2/ 2/ 3/ 3/ 3/

1/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Period:

2/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Period:

3/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Period:

Source:

For Major Subcontractors (“major subcontractors” are those subcontractors whose proposed costs exceed $1,000,000):

Description Rate Base Type Period

1/ 1/ 1/

Period:

2/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Period:

3/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Source:

B.7 ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING ON CEILING ON INDIRECT COST RATES (To be filled in at award)

(a) Reimbursement for indirect costs shall be at the lower of the negotiated final or predetermined rates, or the following ceiling rates:

For Prime Contractor:

Description Rate Base Type Period

1/ 1/ 1/

Period:

2/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Period:

3/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Period:

For Major Subcontractors:

Description Rate Base Type Period

1/ 1/ 1/

Period:

2/Base of Application:

Type of Rate:

Period:

3/Base of Application:

(b) The Government will not be obligated to pay any additional amount should the final indirect cost rates exceed the negotiated ceiling rates. If the final indirect cost rates are less than the negotiated ceiling rates, the negotiated rates will be reduced to conform to the lower rates.

(c) This understanding shall not change any monetary ceiling, obligation, or specific cost allowance or disallowance. Any changes in classifying or allocating indirect costs require the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

B.8 CEILING ON FIXED FEE (To be filled in at award)

For each CPFF task order issued under this IDIQ, the TOCO and Contractor agree to negotiate a set dollar amount for fixed fee. In negotiating the fixed dollar amount for fee, the TOCO must consider the policies and factors for establishing fee in FAR 15.404-4 as well as any applicable USAID policy on establishing a fixed fee amount.

In no event, however, may the amount of fixed fee in any individual task order exceed _____ percent (offeror proposes ceiling percentage) of the task order’s estimated cost, excluding fee.

B.9 LABOR

(a) Compensation of personnel under this contract or any resulting subcontract must be in accordance with AIDAR 752.7007 Personnel Compensation

(JUL 2007).

(b) Central management costs will be handled through the following method:

The contractor shall designate an IDIQ Contract Manager to provide overall substantive, administrative and logistical management (see Provision F.1).

These management responsibilities will include as appropriate, coordinating task orders with other USAID-supported programs and partners. The IDIQ Contract Manager shall be solely responsible for the management of all task orders awarded under this IDIQ contract.

(c) The work day and work week policies and method of accounting for paid absences including holidays for the contractor and major subcontractors is set forth in Attachment J___. (The Contracting Officer will fill in the Attachment number at the time of award and incorporate the information from the contractor’s proposal into Section J of the contract).

B.10 OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Other direct costs anticipated to be necessary for the performance of this IDIQ include such costs as DBA, medical evaluation insurance, travel and transportation, lodging and subsistence expenses. These costs shall be proposed and authorized in individual task orders. Any cost elements included in the Contractor's indirect cost rate pools shall not be charged as an “Other Direct Cost”. Lodging and subsistence costs may be authorized for locally-hired national personnel, if the terms of the task order require travel, in accordance with the clause of this Contract entitled "Travel and Transportation (JAN 1990)", AIDAR 752.7002. Costs for U.S. expatriate travel/transportation to perform services overseas may be authorized by the TOCO or designee in accordance with the same "Travel and Transportation" clause.

The TOCO shall determine whether or not incurred other direct costs are allowable, allocable and reasonable in accordance with the applicable federal cost principles (i.e., FAR 31.2 and AIDAR 731.2 for commercial (for profit) organizations, FAR 31.3 and AIDAR 731.3 for educational institutions, or FAR

31.7 and AIDAR 731.7 for other not-for-profit organizations.

B.11 TASK ORDER LIMITATIONS

(a) Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) Task Orders. When issuing CPFF task orders, the TOCO must state in the task order the total estimated cost plus fixed fee, which is the total amount of the task order and the maximum amount the Contractor may be paid without the advance written approval of the cognizant Contracting Officer. This maximum amount represents the negotiated mix of the prime contractor's and subcontractors' professional labor categories and salaries, an estimated number of workdays, other direct costs, and fixed fee.

(b) Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) Task Orders. When issuing FFP task orders, TOCOs must state in the task order the firm-fixed-price, which represents the total amount of the task order and the maximum price the contractor may be paid to perform the services, reports, or other deliverables in the task order.

(c) Minimum Order. Reference is made to Section I.2.

(d) Maximum Order. Reference is made to Section I.2.

(e) Notwithstanding the above, if issuance of a task order to, and acceptance of a task order by, the Contractor would: (1) result in the Contractor (or its personnel or its subcontractors or their personnel) having an organizational conflict of interest for which restrictions would be placed on the Contractor's (or its personnel’s or its subcontractors’ or their personnel’s) future activities; or (2) violate the provisions of the Procurement Integrity legislation, i.e., Section 27 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423), as amended by Section 814 of Pub. L.

101-189 the Contractor, after written notification to the cognizant Contracting Officer, is not obligated to furnish those services or reports and other deliverables under this contract, and USAID may acquire the supplies or services from another source.

-END OF SECTION B-

SECTION C - DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1.1 Background:

The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) comprises a 25-year old set of integrated activities that monitors, assesses, predicts, and informs about environmental (e.g. drought, climate change) and socio-economic and humanitarian (e.g.

rising prices, malnutrition) hazards and conditions, and their present or future impacts on food security and vulnerability across the globe. All of these activities as a whole will be hereinafter called “FEWS” or “FEWS NET” or “FEWS Net”. In FEWS NET, and in this document, “early warning”, and “early warnings” are considered broad concepts, including prediction of hazards that may affect food security, food security and vulnerability monitoring and assessment, and other information-gathering, analysis, and dissemination activities related to each of these.

The goal of the FEWS NET activity is to help sustainably prevent food insecurity and famine. FEWS NET is an integrated set of activities intended to accomplish regular monitoring and assessment of environmental (e.g.

drought) and socio-economic hazards (e.g. rising prices), current food security conditions, and a population’s current or future vulnerability to food insecurity.

The FEWS system was created by USAID in 1985, in response to a need for better food security and response information for emergencies in Africa. The activity was managed from the USAID Africa Bureau, and covered five countries of the Sahel, and Sudan. Since that beginning, and under five different five-year “phases” of activity, FEWS has provided early warnings, implemented, learned from, and further refined its approaches and methods for early warning and food security and vulnerability monitoring and assessment. Many of these have become standard in this field, and both FEWS and FEWS NET have provided skills training for many partner-agency personnel.

In 2000, FEWS became FEWS NET, formally recognizing FEWS’ continuing emphasis on working in partnership and with networks of partners. In 2003, responsibility for implementing the entire suite of FEWS NET activity contracts and agreements was transferred from USAID’s Office of Sustainable Development in the Africa Bureau, to the Policy and Technical Division of the Office of Food for Peace (FFP), in the Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) Bureau of USAID. The intent of the movement of FEWS NET into DCHA/FFP was to allow it to play a more global role in meeting USAID information and decision-making needs in early warning and food security and vulnerability assessment, and in improved humanitarian response. Since that time, FEWS NET has extended its presence by providing coverage of food insecure and vulnerable countries in Central America, the Caribbean and Central Asia.

Every phase of FEWS/FEWS NET has seen substantial evolution in its methods, in response to experience, new technologies, a better understanding of hazards, food security, and vulnerability. Some things, however, have remained relatively constant. From its first days, FEWS and FEWS NET adopted a general orientation of working through national partnerships (or groups of partners – networks) out of technical necessity, as each FEWS office was only staffed by, at most, two professionals. Experience over time has shown that working with partners produces more insightful, information than working alone and this remains a key part of the FEWS NET approach – an approach that has also assumed central importance in the USG strategy.

C.1.2 FEWS NET OBJECTIVES:

FEWS NET goals and objectives support a broader framework of USG food security strategy goals to sustainably reduce chronic hunger, raise the incomes of the rural poor, and reduce the number of children suffering from under-nutrition. To achieve these goals, the USG will work to: 1) support country-led processes; 2) ensure a comprehensive approach to food security;

3) strategically coordinate assistance; 4) support a strong role for multilateral institutions; and 5) sustain a robust commitment of financial resources to these ends. Within this broader national food security strategy goal, the specific goal of the FEWS NET activity is to sustainably prevent food insecurity and famine and achieve the following objectives:

provide support to USAID to deliver early warnings of actual and potential hazards, food insecurity, vulnerability to food insecurity, and famine,;

improve the quantity, quality, and timeliness of early warning information and predictions, and help build, and/or improve sustainable local, national, regional, and international capabilities to warn early of, and respond appropriately to, new and continuing threats of food security and vulnerability (to food insecurity/famine).

C.1.3 FEWS NET’s Implementing Team Structure:

FEWS NET is an activity coordinated by USAID's Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, Office of Food for Peace, Policy and Technical Division (DCHA/FFP/PTD). The FEWS NET Implementing Team is comprised of the following:

USAID: The FEWS NET Management Unit in USAID’s Office of Food for Peace, Policy and Technical Division, provides overall management and technical guidance of all FEWS NET activities. It is supported by an IDIQ Contractor (support provided under this Contract) that manages FEWS NET Field Representatives working in FEWS NET field offices and Remote Monitoring activities. The Contractor’s Washington-based headquarters office manages the production of most FEWS NET products and services, and their dissemination into decision-making processes.

The following FEWS NET Implementing Team activities are not managed under this IDIQ:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Goddard Space Flight Center: Under a Participating Agency Service Agreement (PASA), the NASA/FEWS NET team provides a variety of satellite data products for early warning activities, and technical assistance in applying them to a number of early warning uses.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Under a PASA, the NOAA/FEWS NET team provides a number weather and climate-related products for Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, and Central Asia, and provides technical support in applying them to early warning uses.

United States Geological Survey (USGS): Under a PASA, the International Programs office at the USGS/EROS Data Center (EDC)/FEWS NET Team provides a broad range of technical assistance in developing operational early warning applications and products using a variety of satellite and remote sensing data. USGS also maintains the FEWS NET archive of tabular, vector, and raster datasets. Several USGS/FEWS NET Regional Scientists work inside of, or closely with, national and regional institutions in the Sahel, Greater Horn of Africa, Southern Africa, and Central America, providing technical assistance in the use of operational remote sensing products for food security analysis.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Foreign Agricultural Service: Under a PASA, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) provides the USAID FEWS NET management unit with technically-qualified management personnel, as well as access to USDA expertise, data, and information on agriculture, markets, early warning, and crop estimation.

Small Business Technology Support Contract Advisor: A third-party, small business (SB) Contractor will work with all Implementing Team members to develop test, and pilot new intra-team collaboration tools and methods, and new ways to collect, share, and disseminate FEWS NET information and products.

Other: Periodically, as special needs arise, USAID may add other Implementing Team members to fill specific technical requirements.

C.2 STATEMENT OF WORK

C.2.1 Core Monitoring and Assessment Activities:

Core activities principally include the early warning, monitoring, assessment, and decision-support tasks that form the basis for FEWS NET’s information and decision-support products. They are generally carried out in all countries and regions that FEWS NET covers with either an office-based capability, or through remote monitoring (see C.2.1.(i) below). There may be substantial differences in the way such activities are carried out between office-based and remote forms of coverage, and in the types of products and deliverables that are expected in either case. A key task for the contractor will be to define an efficient plan for, and then effectively coordinate the use of resources to accomplish core activities in all office-based and remotely-covered countries and regions.

(a) Maintain and provide enhancements to country-specific analytic frameworks and baseline databases.

The Contractor shall regularly update, improve, and archive FEWS NET’s country and region-specific analytical framework and databases by undertaking key tasks as specified below:

Maintain and manage FEWS NET country-specific data and information baselines.

Centrally-compile, quality-check, and ensure efficient access to the entire body of baseline information and datasets to make them available for thematic mapping and overlay within geographic information systems

(GIS).

Annually assess country-specific household livelihood frameworks for food security analysis in each country, and identify needs for updating.

(b) Monitor and assess hazards, food security, and vulnerability.

The Contractor shall monitor and regularly identify the food security impacts of natural hazards1 and socio-economic factors and conditions2 on food security conditions in all coverage countries/regions, and deliver early warnings of the timing, type, and potential dimension of imminent or emerging

1 e.g., extreme weather events such as drought, floods, heat, cold.

2 Socio-economic factors include, but are not limited to, food price increases, proposed changes in food-related policies, conflict, malnutrition, and health infra-structure failures, etc.)

threats to food security. In this work, the Contractor shall maintain a geographic orientation to FEWS NET food security data and information that facilitates systematic data archiving, overlay analyses, data sharing, and presentation to decision-makers. Once a hazard actually occurs, the contractor shall regularly assess and predict the impact such events are likely to have on household food-related livelihood conditions, coping strategies, nutritional conditions, and on the performance of food market and trade systems.

(c) Monthly assessments:

In all FEWS NET-monitored countries, the Contractor shall manage a regular collection of key data required to regularly monitor food security conditions. Successful completion of this activity shall be indicated by an expanding baseline of data relative to each livelihood group’s food security processes of concern.

Note that FEWS NET Implementing Team members NOAA, NASA, USDA and USGS will be collaborating with the Contractor in this task by regularly providing information on the weather and crop condition and production information, which will comprise important inputs for identifying potential anomalies.

It is expected that the Contractor will not always be able to collect all the data, alone, for successful remote monitoring in any country, much less across all remotely-monitored countries. The Contractor shall have to be inventive, innovative, and skillful in developing, and maintaining, in-country partnerships that will assist in gathering and delivering the required monitoring data on a regular basis, and to sustain it over time.

The Contractor may sometimes need to set-up other arrangements for data delivery that go beyond partnership (e.g. remunerated part-time work). In these cases, prior dialogue with USAID is required in order to define an acceptable precedent and assure funding sufficient to accomplish that delivery.

(d) Monthly early warning reporting:

As requested in task orders, a monthly report3 that is based upon the tasks described above, is required for each and all FEWS office-covered and remotely-monitored countries. It should succinctly identify the existence and type of threats to food availability, access and utilization conditions (anomaly or no anomaly, causality, implications for response), in specific livelihood zones of each country covered. Where approved by USAID, this function shall be undertaken in conjunction with selected partners.

For office-based coverage, these reports will be of generally the same length and format found currently on www.fews.net, for each country. For remotely-monitored countries, the name, format and exact content of such monthly early warning reports will be formalized in the first 3 months of operation of the Contract. Successful delivery of this element shall be indicated by the regular production of monthly early warning reports.

The level-of-detail, content, and format of these reports will sometimes vary, according to:

conditions of food security and/or hazards that prevail, and additional information needs that may be communicated by USAID.

3 Generally taken to mean 11 out of 12 months per year.

Additional information or products that might be required include, but are not limited to, special alerts, briefings, or reports on specific food security conditions in FEWS NET-covered countries. The Contractor shall also, when required by USAID, participate in national, regional, and international food aid and food security needs assessment processes.

In all of the above cases, the Contractor shall complete related specialized tasks and provide unique products (e.g. graphs, maps, short analyses of the situation), as identified by USAID.

(e) Anomaly Follow-Up Strategy and Capability:

In any country of FEWS NET coverage, in cases where a significant complex of identified anomalies may indicate an incipient food crisis is emerging, the Contractor shall be expected to consider constituting and sending a “quick-strike” analytic team to the country of concern. The object of the team’s effort shall be to undertake further assessments that will permit a confirmation or denial of the likely significance of the identified anomaly(ies). The team shall collect and analyze this information and data under relatively severe time constraints, and shall be expected to quickly (to be specified by USAID on a case-by-case basis) provide a report with its conclusions. Such teams shall be sent upon the agreement and request of USAID and may occur in both FEWS NET office-presence and remotely-covered countries.

(f) Decision support, linking assessments with response:

The Contractor’s Washington-based office shall publish and disseminate all FEWS NET information products, and insert them into appropriate decision-making processes. This requires a report production process that supports, sustains, and quality-controls field office and remote monitoring report generation. It also needs to integrate informational inputs from FEWS NET Implementing Team partners, and reflexively inform field office, remote, and Washington analysts of key FFP and USAID information needs. The contractor shall be capable of providing a number of publishing avenues (e.g. web-sites, hand-outs, targeted deliveries), and shall maintain a tangible record of people and organizations served by FEWS NET information products.

As requested in task orders, the Contractor shall provide written reports and conduct briefings on current and predicted food security conditions, when requested by USAID.

(g) Website:

All FEWS NET products that are not specifically designated for “limited distribution” shall be published on the FEWS NET web-site. The Contractor shall operate, maintain, regularly update, and periodically revise the structure and functionality of the FEWS NET web-site (www.fews.net). The large volume of existing reporting and archived products of FEWS NET that is delivered through this site, in addition to a regular monthly flow of new products, requires a broad and expert set of web-site management capabilities. Upon commencement of IDIQ and Task Order activities described here, the Contractor shall be prepared to take-over and fully operate the website, with less than 10% downtime in the first month of activity.

(h) Fundamental requirements for all FEWS NET activities:

Scale of severity of food security outcomes

The Contractor shall ensure that all FEWS NET assessments of food security and/or vulnerability use the same scale of severity, in order to maintain an inter-country and inter-continental comparability of results. Until decided otherwise by USAID, the Contractor shall promote and use the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) (see www.ipcinfo.org, and www.fews.net for FEWS NET variations on the IPC) scale of severity in all of its assessments, regardless of location. Contractor shall be responsible for working with various IPC working groups and partners to help others to understand the value of a shared language food insecurity severity, and how it may be used in food security decision-making processes.

Household livelihoods analytic framework for food security analysis:

In each country or region of FEWS NET coverage, the Contractor shall create (if there is no existing), consolidate, refine, document and extend the use of a household livelihoods analytic framework for food security analysis (see www.fews.net for a description). The FEWS NET household livelihoods analytic framework sub-divides a country into areas of general homogeneity where food and income production, expenditure and consumption, hazard exposure and coping patterns are relatively the same.

The Contractor shall utilize the existing FEWS NET analytic framework and its phased approach to building, improving, and expanding the key analytical structures of this framework for analysis, until an alternate framework is authorized by USAID. Currently, three different levels of functionality have been identified in the FEWS NET framework. They include:

Zoning: In this initial stage, the country is sub-divided into generally homogenous zones of similar food security livelihood strategies, opportunities, and constraints. A “zoning” is usually accomplished in a few weeks, and is carried out by a FEWS NET livelihoods expert, or experts, using interviews and surveys of key-informants and local populations. Often, staff from partner organizations, who may at the same time be receiving hands-on training from the same FEWS NET expert(s), are used to carry out some interviews and surveys. Livelihood zone maps are produced at the conclusion of this phase.

Profiling: In ”profiling”, a variety of data and information is gathered and used to validate and quantify food security characteristics of the zone that have been identified in the surveys and interviews. This sometimes leads to substantial modifications of initial zoning decisions since it provides a more concrete definition of the characteristics of food-related strategies and behaviors in the zones. The profiling information provides an initial basis for identifying indicators to be used for monitoring and assessing food security and vulnerability conditions in the zones. Livelihood zone profile reports are produced at the end of this phase of work.

Scenario Modeling: This third phase of development of a livelihood framework for food security analysis requires a broad and current quantitative baseline of information on specifically identified indicators of livelihood and food security conditions. Using this information, FEWS NET will develop crisis scenarios (e.g. what if there were a severe drought, steeply rising food prices, or a closure of the border?) in order to model impacts and identify appropriate strategies for humanitarian response. A scenario-modeling stage requires regular updating of the datasets and information that have been gathered in it.

The Contractor shall initiate collaboration with partners to complete zoning and profiling for any FEWS NET-covered countries where such does not exist.

Most FEWS NET field office presence countries are already zoned to a “profiling” level. Malawi, Ethiopia, parts of Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and several other food-insecure countries in Africa have been brought to a “scenario modeling” phase. As requested in task orders, at least annually, the Contractor shall assess the need for updates and enhancements in existing livelihood zones in FEWS NET monitored countries, and submit to USAID a plan and budget for the work involved.

The Contractor shall also conduct zoning and profiling activities in countries where remote monitoring activities are initiated. These should be cost-efficiently implemented, and should effectively integrate the weather and agricultural conditions, market and trade data, and livelihood and nutritional information collected by FEWS NET and partners in a remote monitoring country.

Market and trade information for food security monitoring and assessment

In most FEWS NET work, household-level dynamics are the unit of its normal food security monitoring and assessment. FEWS NET market and trade activities are different, monitoring the performance of key components of food marketing and trade systems, in order to understand the degree to which markets and trade are operating in accordance with expected patterns, and if not, to provide an explanation of the reason(s) why.

To do this, FEWS NET must understand the structure (e.g. who markets or trades food, what are their characteristics, what structures do they operate through) and the conduct (e.g. what are the normal social, commercial, geographic, etc., patterns of their activity) of markets and trade in a specific area or zone. This may require information about retailers, wholesalers, transporters, importers and exporters, the market policy environment, infrastructure, financial markets, and a variety of other market and trade characteristics.

Among other potential uses, this perspective provides a basis upon which decisions can be made about whether external food or non-food interventions are appropriate responses to food insecurity in a specific food crisis. But this information should also identify the underlying roles that markets and trade are playing in a zone’s household food security.

Note that to an increasing degree, many FEWS NET-covered food insecure countries are relying upon markets and food trade in areas of the world that are not covered by FEWS NET office or remote monitoring coverage (e.g.

Europe, China, Australia, Argentina). In addition to other features of a Contractor’s plan for understanding the structure, conduct and performance of a specific livelihood zone’s markets and trade, part of the plan must clarify a vision for how FEWS NET can monitor market and trade information coming from a variety of non-FEWS-monitored markets.

(i) Specific characteristics and requirements of Remote Monitoring-based early warning

Objective of remote monitoring-based early warning:

The purpose of this activity is to be able to identify and predict potentially large and significant changes in key, pre-identified food security conditions in a number of USAID-specified priority countries. This activity differs from FEWS NET’s office presence-based early warning activities, which have more extensive objectives of identifying, understanding the causes of, predicting future outcomes for, and suggesting appropriate responses to, food insecurity in approximately 20 countries.

Nevertheless, remote monitoring-based early warning will be implemented in both remotely monitored countries, and in those countries of existing FEWS NET office presence-based coverage.

The objective of identifying and predicting potentially “large and significant” changes in important food security conditions may be more easily accomplished in countries that currently have a FEWS NET office presence.

Nevertheless, some of the countries with office presence may not currently have available all of the elements that are required to accomplish this remote monitoring early warning task. The Contractor shall build and strengthen those elements in all countries of office-presence coverage.

Anticipated remote monitoring inputs:

The largest inputs to the remote monitoring activity will be comprised of labor and travel costs. Labor may include: staff who initiate and regularly follow-up the remote coverage of any country, other local personnel who may be engaged on some basis to provide remote monitoring coverage services to FEWS NET, “quick strike” teams that may periodically be sent to assess the potential significance of anomalies in a FEWS NET-covered country, and the level-of-effort required to convert remote monitoring information into reports and other information products.

Required remote monitoring outputs:

Remote monitoring activities shall result in the following deliverables for each remotely-monitored country:

o An operational, country-specific early warning analytic framework, comprising baseline datasets, monitoring partnerships, and a sub-national household livelihoods-based understanding of how food security is normally gained, maintained, lost, and re-established, o A plan for monitoring at least the following elements:

1. Household livelihoods information;

2. Weather conditions and crop and pastoral production;

3. Food market and food trade activities, and

4. Health and nutrition conditions.

o Conduct Remote monitoring, and report results ; and o Analyze any significant anomalies to identify if any further analyses or response actions are required.

Refining an analytic framework for remote monitoring:

The Contractor shall be responsible for gathering the data and information necessary in each of these four technical areas (see immediately above in

C.2.1.(i)) to monitor and identify anomalous food availability and food access conditions. Much of the data that are required to do this are already available in countries of existing FEWS NET coverage. In other countries, a large amount of data and information may already be available in the hands of (potential) FEWS NET partners. For many of these new countries, an acceptable initial analytic framework might be developed using only a desktop study and other resources that are already available to members of the FEWS NET Implementing Team. Elsewhere, data and information available from all sources may be insufficient, and multiple FEWS NET efforts in the country may be required to gather the minimum understanding necessary.

Managing established remote monitoring:

FEWS NET analytic frameworks and monthly remote monitoring activities have already been set up and are functioning in 9 countries at the start of this contract. The Contractor shall continue to implement remote monitoring for these countries:

o Burundi o El Salvador o Honduras o Liberia o Nicaragua o Rwanda (is transitioning to office-based coverage) o Senegal o Tajikistan o Yemen

New Remote Monitoring work:

The Contractor shall build the analytic frameworks for, and perform regular remote monitoring in additional countries, as designated by USAID. USAID estimates that remote monitoring may be required in up to a total of approximately fifty (50) countries during the period of this contract. Nine

(9) of these are already being remotely monitored. Approximately twenty (20) of them already have a FEWS NET field office, but contractor will need to bring them into “compliance” with remote monitoring requirements. Contractor will institute remote coverage of another 10 countries in the first 2 years of this contract, upon specification of the targeted countries, and approval by USAID.

Current country priorities for FEWS NET remote monitoring:

Given the volatile nature of food insecurity in the world, and changing USAID needs for food security information, remote monitoring priorities will evolve during the contract period of performance. The COTR will direct the contractor where to implement remote monitoring. The table below reflects current priorities, which may change. The current highest priorities for remote coverage are found in the left-most columns. Within each column, no country has a higher priority over any others in that column.

Table 1: Remote Monitoring Priority Countries (equal priority within-column, more priority to leftmost columns)

Highest Priority

Pakistan Eritrea Guinea Bangladesh Nepal Cambodia Madagascar Guinea-Bissau Central African Rep.

Lesotho

Second Highest Priority

Korea, DPR Côte d'Ivoire Bolivia Sri Lanka Angola Swaziland Congo (D.R.C.)

Gambia Kyrgyzstan Ghana

Third Highest Priority

Indonesia Benin Laos Myanmar Peru Ecuador Congo, Rep. of Mongolia Timor l’Este Kazakhstan

C.2.2 Other Activities

(a) Collaboration with FEWS NET “Partners”:

The Contractor shall manage three important “partner” relationships that are critical to effectively implementing the SOW: 1) the FEWS NET Implementing Team; 2) FEWS NET’s international food security information system partners (e.g. WFP, FAO); and 3) national and regional food security information system (FSIS) organizations.

FEWS NET Implementing Team:

See Section C.1.3. The Contractor shall collaborate with Implementing Team partners as necessary to produce FEWS NET deliverables.

FEWS NET international operational partners;

A second category of partners includes a large number of “international” organizations (WFP, FAO, Oxfam, IPC, EC, etc.) that the contractor shall engage for the purpose of sharing and optimizing the food security and early warning resources of each, without any intention in either party to build operational or technical capacities.

FEWS NET national and regional food security information system partners:

The third category of partners are national and regional food security information systems. USAID’s objective is to jointly gather and share critical data and information with them, and disseminate it into selected decision-making processes, while at the same time seeking to identify and implement capacity-building initiatives aimed at increasing the partner’s capabilities.

In the past, FEWS NET has had much more success and impact in the training of individual staff members, than in building the capabilities of food security information system institutions to be sustainably capable of efficiently and effectively playing the role they occupy in food security. In part, this lack of success in institution-building may be due to the poor planning and execution of such efforts, and unrealistic expectations about the inherent complexities of building sustainable institutions. But experience also shows that it is very often due to a lack of commitment by the national and regional governments that are supposed to be served by such systems. Both problems must be resolved if such food security information systems are to eventually play their essential roles in helping to attain food security for all.

While the work under this IDIQ is primarily oriented at producing good food security and early warning information, creating and strengthening sustainable and effective national and regional food security information system capabilities and institutions is also a key FEWS NET goal of this activity. Its primary objectives are to:

prioritize the investment of FEWS NET time and resources to build capacities where there is clear evidence of real national or regional engagement of resources for building and sustaining their own food security information systems;

assist in linking FEWS NET’s national and regional institutional partners to additional resources that may be available for national and regional institution-building efforts; and, identify, test, and make available to national and regional institutional partners, already-available and low-cost global data collection and analysis tools and methods, and communication and networking technologies that will diminish the costs, enhance the effectiveness, and increase the potential sustainability of those food security monitoring and assessment systems.

As requested in task orders, and starting no later than the second year of this contract, the Contractor shall annually identify at least two specific national or regional food security information system partner institutions where the Contractor proposes to implement specifically identified institution-building efforts.

For such USAID-agreed targets, Contractor shall then propose to USAID a time-delimited plan for specific FEWS NET support and training activities to be provided to that partner. Such plans may include not only Contractor resources, but may also identify Contractor initiatives that will advocate for the engagement of other partners in such institution-building efforts.

The Contractor shall implement the approved activities and annually evaluate and report on achievements utilizing pre-specified benchmarks for progress.

(b) FEWS NET Nutrition-Related Activities

It has become increasingly apparent to USAID that nutritional information is a part of early warning for food security analytic frameworks that has not been sufficiently developed for operational use in identifying future food security crises. Without its consideration, early warning, and assessments of food security and vulnerability conditions may miss important diagnostic or even predictive features of current or impending “food” or humanitarian crises. This is true even if an absence of food has not been the major direct cause of the emergency; perhaps poor water quality or malaria, for example, is also a key feature of the nutritional side of the crisis. The Contractor shall work with the COTR and other FEWS Net partners to define an approach for FEWS NET’s use of nutritional information and data for early warning uses, and incorporate approved approaches into FEWS Net’s analytic framework and assessments.

(c) Maintain staff skills:

As requested in task orders, the Contractor shall provide at least one staff training and work planning opportunity of at least 5 days duration, each year, for every professional FEWS NET staff member.