Sources Sought Notice-USAID Nepal Health Surveys.pdf

SUBJECT: SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

PROGRAM TITLE: USAID Nepal Health Surveys

ISSUANCE DATE July 28, 2023

RESPONSE DUE DATE AND TIME: August 23, 2023, 9AM Nepal Time

SUBMISSION EMAIL: cghimire@usaid.gov mtelevantos@usaid.gov

Request for Information (RFI) No: 72036723RFI00003

NAICS CODE: 541990-All Other Professional, Scientific and Technical

Services

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Nepal is currently planning a new activity, “USAID Nepal Health Surveys,” to assist USAID/Nepal's Health Office to design and implement two large scale nationally representative surveys: the 2025 Nepal Health Facility

Survey (NHFS), and the 2026 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Both of these surveys will be designed and implemented under the leadership of the Government of Nepal’s

(GON) Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) which will support the MOHP to track the progress towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030, and Nepal Health Sector-

Strategic Plan (NHS-SP) 2023-2030. These surveys will also be the key data sources for

USAID/Nepal to track progress of the health component of its Country Development Cooperation

Strategy (CDCS) 2020-20251, Development Object Three, which aims to strengthen inclusive health and education systems. This activity will work with the USAID/Nepal, MOHP, National

Statistics Office, Nepal Health Research Council, other relevant GON entities, and other health sector donors and partners in Nepal to design and implement the surveys; disseminate the results with key stakeholders; and support secondary analysis of the data sets to foster evidence-based planning and management of health programs at national and sub-national levels. This activity will receive Technical Assistance from a USAID/Washington managed new activity to design and implement the surveys in Nepal.

The USAID Nepal Health Surveys activity will be a multiple year effort to implement the following two surveys:

1) Nepal Health Facility Survey (NHFS): The NFHS is designed to assess the overall availability of specific client services in health facilities, both public and private in Nepal;

1 https://www.usaid.gov/nepal/document/country-development-cooperation-strategy-cdcs-nepal-2020-2025 mailto:cghimire@usaid.gov mailto:mtelevantos@usaid.gov

Sources Sought Notification

USAID Nepal Health Surveys general readiness of health facilities to provide client services, including availability of essential drugs; service specific readiness of health facilities; quality of services; client perception, feedback and accountability systems; and financial, inventory and personnel management. Samples are drawn to provide estimates of the key indicators by provinces, health facility types, managing authorities, and ecological zones. The NHFS typically utilize four main questionnaire types: 1) Inventory assessment; 2) Health provider interview; 3) Observation protocols for selected basic health care services; and 4) Exit interview for selected services.

The NHFS is carried out every five years, the first survey was implemented in 2015. The second NHFS was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was therefore implemented in 2021 instead of 2020. The sample size of the 2015 NHFS was 963 health facilities and the 2021 NHFS sample size was 1,576 health facilities2. The 2025 NHFS is expected to pursue a similar objective, sample size, and questionnaires as the 2021 NHFS.

The data collection of the 2025 NHFS will start in January in 2025.

2) Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS): Six rounds of NDHS have been carried out in Nepal every five years since 1996. The sixth NDHS was delayed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was therefore implemented in 2022 instead of 2021. The

NDHS typically provides data for monitoring the population and health situation in Nepal.

Specifically, it provides reliable estimates of fertility, marriage, family planning, breastfeeding practices, nutrition, food insecurity, maternal and child health, childhood mortality, awareness and behavior regarding HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), women’s empowerment, domestic violence, fistula, mental health, accident and injury, disability, and other health-related issues such as smoking, knowledge of tuberculosis, and prevalence of hypertension that can be used by program managers and policymakers to evaluate and improve existing programs.

The 2022 NDHS included a nationally representative sample of 14,845 women 15-49 years in 13,786 households and 4,913 men aged 15-49 years in half of the selected households3. The 2022 NDHS used the following modules for data collection: 1)

Household Questionnaire; 2) Woman’s Questionnaire; 3) Man’s Questionnaire; 4)

Biomarker Questionnaire; and 5) Fieldworker Questionnaire The 2026 NDHS will pursue similar objectives, sample size, and modules as the 2022 NDHS. The data collection of the

2026 NDHS will start in January in 2026.

In addition, the USAID Nepal Health Surveys activity will support secondary analysis of the 2025

NHFS and 2026 NDHS and produce a number of stand-alone reports.

3 https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-fr379-dhs-final-reports.cfm?cssearch=992168_1

2 https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/SPA35/SPA35.pdf https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-fr379-dhs-final-reports.cfm?cssearch=992168_1 https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/SPA35/SPA35.pdf

To to carry out high quality large scale nationally representative health surveys, the activity is expected to work closely with USAID/Nepal, USAID/Nepal’s health implementing partners, other donors, multilateral organizations, academic institutions, think tanks, sub-contractors, GON institutions including the MOHP, National Statistics Office, Nepal Health Research Council at the federal level, and other GON institutions at the sub-national levels, and the USAID Health Learning activity to the extent possible, while maintaining proper management and oversight of its core objectives.

This is a Sources Sought Notice to identify qualified local entities, to include Nepalese for-profit and nonprofit organizations as defined in Attachment B - Eligibility Requirements, that are interested in and capable of performing the work described above. Your responses to the information requested will serve as market research to assist USAID in planning the procurement strategy and will not be released publicly.

Submission instructions for this Sources Sought Notice are provided in Attachment A.

USAID/Nepal is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information, answer questions, or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Please note issuance of this Sources Sought Notice does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the U.S. Government, and in accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Do not submit pricing information in response to this Sources Sought. All costs associated with responding to this

Sources Sought will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this Sources

Sought does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if any are issued.

Organizations are encouraged to review the following website to learn more about working with

USAID: https://www.workwithusaid.org/. Thank you for your assistance and interest in USAID programs.

Sincerely, /s/

Robyn Bertholon

Contracting Officer https://www.workwithusaid.org/

ATTACHMENT A - SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

USAID/Nepal requests the following information only from interested and qualified local organizations (see Attachment B). Please submit responses via email mentioned in the cover page of this notice using the following subject title: “Sources Sought: USAID Nepal Health Surveys”.

1. Organization Name

2. Point of contact name and contact email/phone

3. Unique Entity Identification (UEI) Number

a. While a UEI number is not required to submit a response to this RFI, USAID encourages interested entities to register in the System for Award Management (SAM) and obtain a

UEI number. Active SAM registration is a requirement to submit a proposal. More information can be found here:

https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/get-grant-or-contract/trainings-how-work-usaid/how-w ork-usaid-registering-to-work-usaid

4. Legal registration status in Nepal

5. Statement of capabilities, including technical and staffing resources and an organizational chart, describing your organization’s ability to execute the activities detailed on pages 1 through 3 (2 pages maximum).

6. One-page table that contains a list of up to five past or current survey projects/activities that details your organization’s experience of performing efforts of similar size, scope, and complexity as the requirements detailed above in the notice. Sample format below: (1 page maximum).

Name of Project/Activity

Location Years (From - To) Dollar Value of the activity

Brief Description

7. Confirm whether your organization can meet all the objectives described above. If not, please provide details on how you would identify a consortium of partners or target hiring of specialized staff to meet these objectives (1 page maximum).

All proprietary information should be marked as such. Responses will be reviewed only by USAID personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. No electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of your response nor individualized feedback on any suggestions will be given. No basis for claims against the U.S. Government shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought

Notice or from the Government’s use of such information. Specific questions about this Sources

Sought Notice should be directed only to the email address identified above.

https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/get-grant-or-contract/trainings-how-work-usaid/how-work-usaid-registering-to-work-usaid https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/get-grant-or-contract/trainings-how-work-usaid/how-work-usaid-registering-to-work-usaid

ATTACHMENT B - ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

A. Must be local actors in Nepal. When determining if an entity is a “local actor” for the purposes of this Sources Sought:

1. Entity is legally organized under the laws of Nepal;

2. Entity has its principal place of business or operations in Nepal;

3. Entity is majority owned and controlled by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of Nepal;

4. Entity is managed by a governing body, the majority of whom are citizens or lawful permanent residents of Nepal; and

5. If an entity has projects, offices, and/or registration in other countries, key management decisions are taken by the office located in Nepal.

B. Cannot be a United States-based organization.

[END OF SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE]