RFP Sector Snapshots: Biodiversity Conservation and Countering Wildlife Trafficking

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

I. Project Background

About Social Impact and Learns

Social Impact is a global development management consulting firm. We provide monitoring, evaluation, strategic planning, and capacity building services to advance development effectiveness. We work across all development sectors including democracy and governance, health and education, the environment, and economic growth. Since 1997 we have worked in over 100 countries for clients such as US government agencies, bilateral donors, multilateral development banks, foundations, and nonprofits.

SI is implementing the USAID/Vietnam Learns contract. The scope of the five-year project is to support USAID/Vietnam staff and its implementing partners to implement more efficient, effective, and sustainable programs by (1) improving staff’s knowledge and skills in Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) and Collaborating, Learning & Adapting (CLA); (2) advancing evidence-informed decision-making; (3) strengthening strategic collaboration between staff and local stakeholders.

II. Scope of Work

There is a growing recognition in the development community that context significantly shapes the outcomes of aid initiatives. Programming can often succeed or fail on the basis of contextual dynamics, as forces outside of a program’s control enable or hinder its progress. Having a more intentional and systematic approach to context monitoring enables USAID to be proactive, rather than reactive, when there are context shifts.

To help USAID/Vietnam navigate the local context, Learns seeks local organizations, research institutes, and consultancies able to produce routine, high-level analyses (called Sector Snapshots) of key shifts and trends in the context for technical sectors and geographic areas of interest. Selected organizations will be expected to produce quarterly 3–5-page snapshots on key updates in their sector and engage with USAID/Vietnam, Learns, and other partners on their findings and implications. Learns may also request additional ad hoc analytical snapshots from selected organizations when necessary, such as following an important contextual development.

Vietnamese organizations with expertise in the following sectors are encouraged to respond to this RFP:

• Biodiversity conservation
• Countering wildlife trafficking

The specific content of these snapshots is flexible and will be determined by USAID/Vietnam based on their needs. Content will likely include:

• Summaries of key news items from a variety of local and international sources
• Updates on policy/legal/regulatory developments in the given sector 
• Discussion of relevant historical context and international or cross-border dynamics
• Emerging trends or threats to USAID’s work in the technical area
• Analysis of key stakeholders concerned with given issues, including their perspectives on key issues, and other institutional dynamics
• Reflections on the implications of certain developments, for USAID/Vietnam and implementing partners

Importantly, these snapshots are intended to be informal, engaging, and easy to quickly review for key information, with links to further reading; these are not intended to be formal research outputs. The snapshots should also be responsive to USAID programming, including focusing on target geographies relevant to USAID’s portfolio. Selected organizations will likely rely upon desk reviews and informal engagements with stakeholders to produce the snapshots. Learns will arrange initial meetings with USAID to identify specific priorities and briefing formats at the start of the assignment.

Selected organizations producing the snapshots will take part in discussions with USAID colleagues or implementing partner staff to review the findings, their implications for USAID programming, and any necessary next steps.

Quality Assurance

The firm/team will be required to respond in a timely manner to SI reviews, comments, and requests. All above-mentioned deliverables will be reviewed by USAID Learns and are required to meet SI’s quality standards. The firm/team will have regular check-ins with USAID Learns to update on progress. USAID Learns will be responsible for coordinating and facilitating meetings with USAID, sharing SI’s expectations, quality standards, and templates. USAID Learns will provide timely feedback and submit final deliverables to USAID.

III. Timeline

The assignment is to commence in October 2023 and be implemented quarterly until June 24, 2024. The timeline below illustrates this quarterly process, to be repeated until the end of the assignment.  

In week 1 (approximately in the third month of each quarter), USAID Learns and the firm/team will hold a discussion to review the monitoring priorities for the upcoming snapshot to determine whether any amendments are needed or review the scope if this snapshot is an ad hoc assignment. Routine snapshots are not expected to vary greatly from quarter to quarter. Over the following two weeks, the firm/team will conduct necessary data collection and analysis activities and produce a draft snapshot for review in week 3. Learns will quality assure and submit the snapshot to USAID/Vietnam in week 4. Learns will then facilitate a discussion between the firm/team, USAID/Vietnam, and any other stakeholders to review the snapshot findings and discuss any potential implications. Following completion of these activities, the firm/team and USAID Learns will hold an after action review to discuss the work performed during the quarter and identify any necessary adjustments to work.

IV. Deliverables & Payment Schedule

With support from USAID Learns, the selected organizations are expected to:

• Produce engaging, concise quarterly snapshots that provide insight and understanding about the context of Vietnam in one of the identified sectors.
• Produce ad hoc snapshots on specific issues in the relevant sector on request from Learns.
• Review the contents of these snapshots with USAID/Vietnam and Learns within one week of submission.

Routine snapshots are expected to be delivered on approximately November 30, 2023, February 29, 2024, and May 31, 2024. Ad hoc snapshots will be produced separate to this schedule and within one month of notification from USAID Learns.

PAYMENT

We anticipate each snapshot to require about 10 days of effort per quarter to produce. Learns will enter into fixed price agreements with selected organizations to produce each snapshot (routine or ad hoc) and will work closely with each organization to support and quality assure delivery. The firm/team is expected to submit invoices following submission of each snapshot deliverable. On each invoice, firm/team should specify 1) date the deliverables packages were submitted, and 2) date the deliverables were approved by SI.  Invoices cannot be submitted prior to SI accepting deliverables/milestones in writing.

V. Other Requirements for Bidders

1.    Personnel and Staffing Plan

Organizations interested in responding to this request should provide 1-3 personnel CVs and a summary of key qualifications of the individuals anticipated to draft the snapshots. Learns recommends that the proposal reflects the quality and presentation of the quarterly snapshots that the offerors will produce if selected. Personnel must demonstrate the following technical skills and experience (either individually or as a group):

• Deep technical and policy-oriented expertise in the relevant technical sector.
• Strong experience working with Government and other local stakeholders in the relevant technical sector.
• Experience advising donor organizations such as USAID is preferred.
• Fluent in Vietnamese language and professional proficiency (writing, speaking, and reading) in English.
• Experience with journalistic/informational writing styles is preferred.

Bidders should ensure that they can aptly form a team with all necessary skills and expertise as mentioned above, able to work immediately on the first deliverable.

2.    Past Performance

Bidders should submit a summary of three relevant past performance reports, including contact information for references. SI reserves the right to contact references provided in these past performance reports. Examples include demonstrated experience conducting context monitoring or similar analysis that require a comprehensive skill set and timely and quality deliverables. This experience should reflect institutional capacity, not just that of individual team members. The examples or reports should be the products of the team members that will directly conduct this assignment.

VI. Submission Instructions

Bidders should follow the instructions below for submission of questions and proposals:

Questions

Please use the subject line “Sector Snapshots” along with the subject area of interest (i.e., biodiversity conservation or countering wildlife trafficking). Please submit two proposals if interested in both subject areas.

Please send to all email addresses in the “Contact” field on page 1 by the deadline for questions. Late submission of questions will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the SI project team.

Proposals

Technical Proposal: Bidders will submit technical proposals, using the page limitations described below. Material that exceeds the page limitations will not be reviewed or scored by SI. Technical proposals will not include any financial information; SI may disqualify bids that include financial information in the technical proposal. Technical proposals must be a maximum of 10 pages outlining the approach to delivering the snapshots.

• Technical Approach: no longer than two (3) pages. This should briefly describe your understanding of the tasks and elaborate on how you would approach each of the components of the assignment: collecting data, analyzing information, and producing the briefs. Bidders should address how they will make the snapshots engaging and comprehensible. Bidders should also address anticipated risks affecting the quality and timely delivery and mitigation strategies for how you will attempt to monitor and control them. The technical proposal needs to include a PowerPoint presentation that summarizes key points of the technical proposal.
• Personnel: no longer than three (3) pages including a) summary of key personnel qualifications and experience, b) description of additional personnel and roles (at least one individual and up to three), c) a description of how you will successfully manage different experts with different skills sets and experience to collaborate and contribute to the report under a short timeframe, along with examples of how you have managed such efforts in the past, if applicable d) CVs for key personnel (CVs do not count toward page limits)
• Past Performance: Three (3) past performance reports that use the template below, not exceeding four (4) pages.

Past Performance Template

Financial Proposals: The bidder should prepare a financial proposal for the fixed price they seek for each snapshot, with justification. The financial proposal shall consist of a budget in Excel with traceable formulas and a clear explanation of any assumptions made. Bidders are strongly encouraged (though not required) to use the budget template provided in Annex A to this RFP. Costs should be presented in both USD and VND and have clear individual rate and unit costs

Bidders are also required to submit a budget narrative (Word or PDF) summarizing key assumptions in the budget.  Budget narratives should not exceed a total of three (3) pages.

Scoring Criteria

Social Impact will weigh the following factors to score proposals:

• Technical Proposal (25%): Compliance with requirements of scope of work; understanding of requirements. Sound, experienced approach. Appropriately visualized PowerPoint presentation.
• Personnel (40%): Compliance with required qualifications and overall demonstrated experience of the personnel presented.
• Past Performance (15%): Demonstrated, successful experience conducting similar activities in comparable settings, as specified in the Scope of Work. This experience should reflect institutional capacity, not just that of individual team members.
• Cost (20%): Compliance and alignment with technical scope of work; competitiveness; reasonableness.

Please note that if there are significant deficiencies regarding responsiveness to the requirements of this RFP, an offer may be deemed “non-responsive” and thereby disqualified from consideration.  SI reserves the right to waive immaterial deficiencies at its discretion.

Confidentiality

All Supplier staff with access to or involved in the event organizing services under this PO will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (to be provided upon award) signifying their understanding of ethical behavior in the field and proper handling of confidential and private information, including personally identifiable information (PII). Similarly, the selected Supplier will be required to read and acknowledge SI’s Standards for Business & Ethical Conduct.

Eligibility

By submitting an offer in response to this RFP, the offeror certifies that it and its principal officers are not debarred, suspended, or otherwise considered ineligible for an award by the U.S. Government. SI will not award a contract to any firm that is debarred, suspended, or considered to be ineligible by the U.S. Government.

Additional Terms and Conditions

This is an RFP only. Issuance of this RFP does not in any way obligate SI or the US Government to make an award, nor does it commit SI or the US Government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal.

This solicitation is subject to SI’s standard terms and conditions.  Any resultant award will be governed by these terms and conditions; a copy of the full terms and conditions is available upon request.  Please note the following terms and conditions will apply:

• United States law prohibits transactions with, and the provision of resources and support to, individuals and organizations associated with terrorism. The supplier under any award resulting from this RFP must ensure compliance with these laws.
• The title to any goods supplied under any award resulting from this RFP shall pass to SI following delivery and acceptance of the goods by SI.  Risk of loss, injury, or destruction of the goods shall be borne by the offeror until title passes to SI.
• All goods and services offered in response to this RFP or supplied under any resulting award must meet USAID Geographic Code 937.