OCI Questions and Answers.March 9 2012.pdf

March 9, 2012 USAID Global Health Technical Assistance ‐‐ RFP# SOL‐OAA‐12‐000025 – Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Questions and Answers Page 1

A. Define “health related” & “health field”

1. Can the Government clarify what they mean by the phrases

“health related” and “health field” in C.3.1 Independence and C.6.11 Contractor Limitations respectively? C.3.1 Independence “…for other health-related USAID business opportunities…” and C.6.11 Contractor Limitations “… cooperative agreements in the health field…”

ANSWERS

Under this award, the Contractor will be evaluating and designing health activities in USAID headquarters and all field Missions. For this reason, the contract contains several provisions related to Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI), including: C.3.1; C.6.11; H.11 to H.15. For purposes of this contract, Global Health services/activities shall be defined as those that support the USAID health development program or those funded in full or partially with USAID health development funds. In accordance with the principles of FAR Subpart 9.5 and USAID policy, the Contractor shall be ineligible to furnish, as a prime or subcontractor or otherwise, Global Health implementation services under any contract, task order, cooperative agreement, or grant for the life of this contract. The sole exception will be Ancillary Subcontractors, which for purposes herein shall be defined as those organizations that provide secondary services or products to the prime or subcontractors (such as, for example, janitorial and travel services) but do not provide technical or substantive inputs to the project.

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2. How do you classify an award "in the health field"? Would a

Support Services Contract, such as the existing GH Support Services (staff augmentation) contract qualify as a health award?

3. We interpret this language to mean that if the contractor awarded this contract, will only be excluded from competing for and/or implementing field-based or mission-led work that is directly the result of any GH Tech recommendations or programs we develop under this contract. It will NOT exclude the contractor from other USAID health work that is NOT a result of its GH Tech work. Is this correct?

2. Yes, see Answer 1

3. No, see Answer 1

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4. We note that the previous GH Tech project has evaluated not only health implementation activities funded by USAID, but also health-related support activities, such as contracts in the areas of staffing, evaluation, knowledge management, research, etc. Please provide clarification as to whether the GH Tech exclusion of entities that have contracts, grants or cooperative agreements in health fields applies as well to those which include areas of staffing, evaluation, research, knowledge management, etc. (as opposed to project implementation).

B. If currently a GH contractor/recipient, OR if already part of a proposal/application for another GH mechanism…

5. Would currently implementing the [health-related] contract preclude us from bidding on the upcoming solicitation?

6. We are also part of a Joint Venture. Would it preclude the Joint Venture from bidding?

7. Would being a current GH contractor preclude us from bidding on this solicitation?

8. Can a bid include team members with current USAID work?

9. If no, can the team member with current USAID work be a resource partner on the bid provided they supply support in areas such as: travel agent, employment and logistics support, etc?

4. Yes, the exclusion applies

5. Yes

6. Yes, if the Joint Venture holds a health-related USAID contract, grant, or cooperative agreement

7. Yes

8. No, not if the work is health-related.

9. Our concern is to avoid a conflict of interest. Where the subcontract is for ancillary services, such as travel agents or logistic support where there is no substantive input, there would be no conflict of interest. The only exception is the provision for Ancillary Subcontractors, as defined in Answer 1.

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10. Will proposals that have team members which currently implement USAID health activities will be ineligible for consideration?

11. Can you further clarify the OCI exclusion and provide examples? i.e., would current contractors mentioned in Section

3.2 be excluded?

12. With regard to proposals that have already been submitted to

USAID (but not yet awarded), such as TASC4, will the prime be obligated to drop off those bids if they are awarded GH Tech? If yes, will the same hold true if the prime on GH Tech is a subcontractor on another bid that has already been submitted?

13. The team member [currently implementing other USAID health activities] will have to state that should the team be awarded GH Tech they will cease implementing their health activities under other USAID contracts, grants, etc. – Y/N

14. USAID may direct that the team member [with an OCI] is dropped from the proposed team – Y/N

15. We bid on some Global Health work as a small business prime (TASC 4) in May of last year but are still waiting to hear if we won. Can we join an 8(a) team as a sub for the GH Tech in the interim? If we end up winning the other GH work (TASC 4) but are already on a GH Tech team, what happens? Are we simply conflicted out at that time?

10. Yes

11. See answer to question 1 for clarification.

12. Yes, the prime or sub would be obliged to withdraw their proposal.

13. An organization that has a current health-related contract, grant, or cooperative agreement cannot bid. If an offer contains such a firm as prime or sub, the offer will be considered nonresponsive.

14. No, see answer above.

15. If an organization has an outstanding bid and is waiting to hear whether it received an award, then they can join in an offer on GH Tech. If GH Tech is awarded to that firm, then they must withdraw their other offer(s).

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16. Does this prohibition (GH) include work that has already been bid on but not awarded? Ex. TASC 4?

17. Companies that have already submitted RFPs and have not yet been awarded as of 3/26/12, how will the COI issue be handled?

C. Does this apply to the Prime contractor only, or also to subs?

18. Will subcontractors also be precluded from competing for health-related USAID business opportunities?

19. Is it USAID’s intention that the contractor and subcontractors would be precluded from ALL health-related (not just HIDN) activities with USAID financial support?

20. Will subcontractors also be precluded from competing for health-related USAID business opportunities, or may the prime and the subcontractor submit an OCI mitigation plan?

21. Would it preclude any subcontractors from bidding on other health related awards?

22. Does this clause include only the primary contractor and subcontractors

16. No

17. See Answer 1, above.

18. Yes, all these provisions apply to both primes and subs. The only exception is the provision for Ancillary Subcontracts as defined, above, in Answer 1.

19. Yes, see Answer 1, above.

20. Yes, subcontractors are precluded from competing for health related USAID awards. No, OCI mitigation plans should not be submitted with the proposal.

21. Yes

22. All the OCI clauses apply to the prime and all subs.

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23. Is it correct that, consistent with USAID’s CIB 99-17 on

Organizational Conflict of Interest, if the Subcontractor does not perform any portion of substantive evaluation work, it will not be subject to the same exclusions as the Prime Contractor? Also, please confirm that this issue would be reconfirmed in the award document.

24. Is there any conflict of interest issue with one USAID contractor or subcontractor undertaking an evaluation of a competitor’s project?

25. Is it the Government’s intention that the successful offeror and its subcontractors be precluded from bidding on any and all future US AID contracts, whether or not the services were designed under this contract as stated in RFP section H.13, or does this refer to only the prime and not include the subcontractors?

26. Please explain the rationale… and whether it will flow down to subcontractors

27. Does this clause include only the primary contractor and subcontractors?

28. Would it preclude any subcontractors from bidding on other health related awards?

23. No, that is not correct. Any portion of evaluation work is subject to the same restrictions as the prime.

24. A conflict of interest issue does not rest with the competitive situation between contractors, but the facts of the situation.

25. The OCI clauses apply to both the prime and the subs, but only for the life of the contract. After the contract ends, the implementing organizations are free to compete as usual.

26. See above

27. See above

28. See above

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30. If it also includes subcontractors can a different Business Unit within the same company be allowed to perform services on USAID contracts?

31. It appears that Subcontractors of the Prime Contractor are not bound by the conflict provisions of the Prime Contractor as it appears that CAMRIS International is a subcontractor for both the incumbent contractor for the GH Tech Bridge contract (Contract # AID-OAA-C-12-00004) and also the prior incumbent for the previous GH Tech contract (Contract # AID- GHS-I-00-05-00005), while it also appears that CAMRIS International is performing at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on other health field contracts such as Contract # AID-OAA-C-10-00049 "Global Health Support Initiative II," the latest obligation of which was signed on September 27, 2011. Consequently, can the Government confirm that the provisions of H.11-H.15 apply only to the Prime Contractor for an offer and not to the subcontractors on such an offer? If indeed subcontractors are not bound by the conflict of interest provisions binding the Prime Contractor, then how can the Offeror ensure that personnel from such a subcontractor cannot influence other contracts or task orders which the respective subcontractor may be involved with or are pursuing, either as a Prime or a subcontractor to another Prime?

32. Is it just the prime that is prohibited from bidding on future USAID health contracts or is it the sub as well?

33. Is the 8a subcontractors (teaming partners) subject to the same limitations from bidding on Global Health work during the life of the contract?

30. No.

31. To meet the requirements of the new USAID Evaluation Policy

(see Section C.4.2.1), the OCI clauses are different than those used in previous contracts.

32. See Answer 22, above.

33. Yes, see Answer 22, above.

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USAID vs. CDC implementing partners

34. We note that the previous GH Tech project has conducted evaluations of USG-wide health programs, for example the President’s Malaria Initiative, and we would expect that similar evaluations will be conducted under the new award. Such evaluations would be responsible for evaluating the inputs of not only USAID but other agencies, in particular, CDC which often works closely with USAID overseas. Would companies that have international health-related contracts with the Centers for Disease Control be excluded from participating in the GH Tech follow-on due to conflicts of interest that might arise?

35. International CDC work is sometimes run through or overseen by a USAID Mission health office. Are there cases where the GH Tech contract would be funded to evaluate CDC-funded activities?

36. If yes, are CDC-funded contractors doing international work also excluded from bidding on this?

D. What is the rationale? / Provide clarification…

37. Per the limitations set forth in provisions H.11 through H.15, ‘that the contractor shall be excluded from competing for and/or implementing other USAID contracts, grants or cooperative agreements in the health field’ appears to unduly restrict competition. Please explain the rationale for this restriction; especially given that predecessor GH Tech projects were successfully implemented without this restriction.

34. In general, organizations that currently implement CDC’s contracts are not prohibited from bidding. But, see Answer 1, above, concerning USAID health development funding

35. Yes, in the context of U.S. Government-wide health development initiatives.

36. No.

37. Refer to Answers 1 and 31, above.

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38. Can USAID further clarify the exclusion and provide examples?

39. Can USAID please clarify this in light of the fact that a number of likely offerors or resource partners for this contract are already performing global health implementation work under other USAID contracts? Could that work constitute an organizational conflict of interest, and if so how should vendors mitigate that conflict?

40. If the prime contractor is prohibited on bidding are they allowed to be sub-contractors on other future USAID bids?

41. Why is the OCI/Independence language more stringent than in previous iterations of this contract?

42. Why is a different analysis taken between H.12 (Design) and

H.13 (Evaluation) on what is an OCI and what is not?

E. Are there ways to work around this ?

43. If a GH TECH subcontractor wishes to bid on A) work that is supported by GH TECH, or B) a different Global Health Bureau project (through any mechanism) in a GH TECH country, will USAID allow them to bid if the GH TECH prime creates an adequate firewall? Such a firewall would keep any and all financial and programmatic information related to GH TECH isolated from the subcontractor with a potential conflict of interest.

38. Refer to Answer 1, above.

39. See above

40. As stated above, the current holder of the contract will not be able to bid as a prime or sub on other USAID health-related work for the life of the contract.

41. Refer to Answer 31, above.

42. The analyses in H.12 and H.13 represent current USAID policy on design and evaluation

43. No

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44. We are being told by several of these that there are legal ways to work with OAA to work around the conflict of interest exclusion as has been the case on other contracts whereby exclusion is reviewed and determined on a case-by-case basis when specific work orders or work assignments are received by the Contractor, and as identified in FAR subpart 9.507-2 (a) and (b) and F.A.R. 9.508.

45. Can USAID please clarify the conditions under which waivers will be granted or denied?

46. If we have a sub with excellent quals/past performance but with a conflict, what are some acceptable common ways to mitigate this? We assume the current Bridge contractors are having to mitigate for some of their team members, and so I was hoping you could share some of this art.

47. Is a team member ie subcontractor able to recuse themselves from a specific evaluation if they have been/are or will be involved in any of the implementation process?

F. RFP page limitation

48. Will this OCI mitigation plan count against the page limitation?

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44. No, there is no provision for exclusions to the OCI clauses in this contract.

45. See Clauses H.12 and H.13. The Government’s decision to grant a waiver would be determined by whether it is in the Government’s best interests.

46. See Answer 44, above.

47. No, see answer to Number 20.

48. The guidelines for submission of offers do not include submission of an OCI Mitigation Plan. If such a Mitigation Plan is included in an offer, it would not be evaluated. Any information provided in the body of the technical proposal counts toward the 50 page limit.

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