SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Agro-Industries - Regional Investment Advisor
- Notice Date
- 1/5/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- African Development Foundation, African Development Foundation, African Development Foundation, Washington, DC, 1400 Eye Street, N.W. Suite 1000, 10th Floor, Washington, DC, 20005
- ZIP Code
- 20005
- Solicitation Number
- ADF-06-C-003
- Response Due
- 1/20/2006
- Archive Date
- 1/25/2006
- Description
- Agro-industries ? Regional Investment Advisor This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Solicitation number ADF-06-CI-003 is issued as a request for proposal (RFP). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 01-18. The African Development Foundation (ADF), a U.S. Government Corporation fostering grassroots participatory development in Africa, is recruiting one or two individuals on a personal service contract basis for the position of Regional Investment Advisor(s). The period of service consists of one year base period with 3 one year option periods. The contractor will be based in one of the following countries in which ADF is currently operates (Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe).The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541611, Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services, and the small business size standard is $6.0 million. Background: The process of globalization - involving global and regional economic integration driven by technological advances and trade liberalization and harmonization of policies - presents both threats and opportunities for existing agro-based industries in African countries. The penetration of the market economy into Africa?s formerly isolated and remote areas opens up opportunities for raising agricultural and agro-industrial productivity, but it also poses acute challenges, particularly for African countries, where the agro-industrial sector faces increased regional and global competition and market volatility as a result. The same challenges are also faced by the African Development Foundation (ADF). ADF and its local partners are required to make fundamental changes in policies, programming strategies, utilization of best practices and lessons learned, organizational linkages and the provision of skills and support services to better enable the enterprises they support to compete in regional and global markets. It is in this connection that the services required from the Agro-Industries ? Regional Investment Advisor will make a vital contribution to the development of profitable, efficient and sustainable agricultural and agro- enterprises enterprises supported by ADF. Item 1. Job Summary: To support and catalyze ADF?s efforts to achieve its strategic objectives and specified performance targets, under the direction of ADF?s Vice President and as a member of Regional Program Advisory Team, the Agro-industrial Advisor advises, guides and supports ADF?s field program operations on the effective implementation of integrated agro-industrial program initiatives. These services are directed at ADF and may benefit other principal strategic partners involved in the development and support of ADF financed agricultural and agro-industrial projects, including private sector companies, government technical ministries and agro-related support institutions. These services are usually provided in close conjunction with related program and project support services offered by ADF country partners and regional program advisors. The services to be provided are at the center of ADF?s agro-industrial value chain programming strategy. Thus, the services will serve to strengthen forward and backward agro-enterprise linkages within countries and within ADF?s portfolio in order to raise productivity and increase the potential for promoting growth in agricultural production, value added processing, export and employment generation. The work plan and service module associated with ADF?s agro-industrial programming will include the development and dissemination of sector and product analyzes, best practices, lessons learned, templates, tools and guidelines to assist ADF?s targeted beneficiary enterprises with their development and implementation of effective business strategies, operations and production management, financial management, resource mobilization, market access, and knowledge management. Item 2. Scope of Work (SOW) -- Specific Duties The services offered by the Agro-Industries Investment Advisor comprise a range of sector and product analyses, program design, business strategy development, financial and investment analyses, business process analyses, technical assistance interventions, knowledge generation and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned. Specifically, the services provided will include the following key areas: Project and Business Plan Development-- Advice related to improving the design of agricultural and agro-processing programs and projects in various sub-sectors (horticulture, grain, livestock, meat processing, fish, spices, essential oils, cocoa, sugar, salt, cotton, etc.) Strategy Design and Development -- Program analyses related to sub-sector strategy development, product design and development, technology transfer and adaptation, enterprise level business strategies, and supply chain strategies for fostering the equitable integration of small and medium-scale agro-based enterprises into market-oriented agro-produce systems. Organizational and Enterprise Development -- Analyses and training related to improving sub-sector agric-business performance, value chain and supply chain analysis, enhancing productivity and enterprise performance. Particular attention will be given to assessing the capacity of ADF partner institutions and/or host country producer and processing associations to assure they are able to keep their clients and members abreast of new programming strategies and methodologies, technical analyses and documentation required by ADF. Resource Mobilization and Public ?Private Partnerships ? Developing and implementing strategies for: o Conducting effective outreach to current and potential ADF strategic partners, particularly multinational corporations and major donors; o Identifying where financial and technical resources might be sourced from private corporations and/or major donors and under what circumstances they can be best accessed; o Developing and presenting compelling business cases and value propositions demonstrating how private corporations can benefit from engaging in strategic partnerships and program alliances, providing funds and other resources to ADF to carry out cutting edge agricultural and agri-processing programs; o Increasing the capacity of ADF?s local implementing partners to build and promote strategic partnerships and program alliances; o Developing and applying appropriate risk assessment instruments to assure that risks are shared appropriately, and to minimize the risk of ADF?s target beneficiaries not receiving sufficient benefits from strategic partnerships; and o Coordinating with ADF?s country representatives, regional program coordinators and portfolio managers to prepare timely reports and analyses on progress and impacts from activities funded under respective strategic partnership agreements. Best practices and Lessons Learned -- Developing and implementing strategies for ADF?s knowledge management and information dissemination, including: Facilitating network discussions, generating and disseminating best practices and lessons learned to ADF local implementation partners, strategic partners and existing ADF agricultural and agri?processing grantees; Assisting the above to utilize best practices and lessons learned to :improve their productivity and efficiency, increase their integration into global value chains, and support rural livelihood diversity; achieve upgrading of technical skills, process optimization, diffusion of appropriate agro-engineering systems, and product innovation/diversification; and Providing market specific information and helping to facilitate market access, such as participation in trade fairs and missions, as a means of exposing the target beneficiaries to market requirements. Item 3. Working Conditions and Reporting Requirements: Extensive travel to remote and/or primitive field sites in Africa is required. As necessary, the contractor will be required to work under extreme environmental conditions and travel within Africa by car, boat, plane for extended periods of time. Field site conditions may be arduous because amenities are few, there may be exposure to communicable diseases, and health care services are poor. Site visits may require some physical exertion such as walking over rough surfaces and using uncomfortable modes of transportation. Travel associated with the contract performance will be funded separately. The contractor will be provided a vehicle to use for official business. The contractor will report to the Vice President. Required reports and due dates are as stipulated in policies in the policies and procedures outline in the ADF manual or as otherwise required to implement the SOW. The Government will provide copies of the policies and procedures to the RIA. Item 4. Relocation Expenses, Health Insurance, Tax and Legal Obligations: A moving and transportation allowance may be provided based on a review of the estimated moving costs breakdown presented and shown as a separate line item presented with your price proposal. A maximum relocation cost of $25,000 will be reimbursed based on actual expenses incurred supported by receipts submitted with a relocation invoice. The contractor shall provide his/her own health insurance during the performance period of the contract. Thirty days in advance of option renewal, the contractor shall provide proof of health insurance coverage and premium costs for the following option period. The Government will pay 50% of the health insurance premium, up to $2,500 annually The contractor shall ensure that all his/her taxes and other legal obligations associated with performance under this contract are satisfied. The contract price is stated in U.S. dollars and will not be adjusted for exchanged rate fluctuation. Required Qualifications: Item 5. MINIMUM SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED The offer shall address the following minimum requirements the contractor is required to have: 1. Education: The Offeror shall identify educational institution, address of institution, degree earned, and year degree received. A minimum of a Bachelor?s degree in Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration International Development, International Relations, Agriculture, Finance or related degree is preferred; however, other Bachelor?s degrees will also be considered. . . 2. Private Sector Work Experience: At least five years of experience in a management position with a private business that includes overseas assignments. Experience should describe the management and leadership responsibilities within major agri-business corporation, or within a small to medium-sized enterprise. Prior experience in Africa or other developing country environment is preferred. Offeror shall cite the entity(ies, and locations), period of service, and description of the position held and management and leadership responsibilities. 3. Agri-business Industry - Specific Technical Training: Have received formal technical training and/or continuing education outside of the formal master?s or bachelor?s degree program which focused on various operational and analytical skills such as operations and production management conducting financial an and investment analysis, establishing cutting edge pricing and marketing strategies, and commodity forecasting and trading related to the growth and expansion of agri-business enterprises. The Offeror shall cite the technical training received, the entity (ies) that provided the training, the dates of training, and description of the technical training. 4. Fluency in English is required: The ability to conduct written and verbal business in English is required. The minimum requirement is met if English is your 1st language, or completed your university degree in English or successfully completed an alternative program in English and have a TOEFL score to support level of competency. The incumbent must also be able to demonstrate and document their experience and abilities to prepare and deliver strategy presentations, analytical reports, correspondence, and documents in a highly professional and competent manner requiring little or no editorial changes (in English). Fluency in French is a plus. The Offeror shall state how they have met the English language skill requirement: English is their 1st language or completed a degree in English or completed an alternative program in English and have a TOEFL score to support level of competency. These skills will be further evaluated in the interview process Item 6 TECHNICAL EVALUATION FACTORS: The offeror shall address the following technical evaluation factors: 1. Demonstrated understanding of corporate and private sector operations, program opportunities and initiatives, issues and constraints relative to their potential for establishing and/or expanding meaningful strategic program partnerships partnership and corporate social responsibility programs that could benefit African enterprises and ADF type programs. The Offeror shall describe his/her understanding of the issues identified in this factor. 2. Demonstrate the ability to develop and present technical information to include quarterly performance reports, best practice and lessons learned reports and ADF?s annual assessment of program impact in a clear and concise manner as well as coordinate program and training activities with minimal management oversight under severe time constraints. Experience should reflect strong analytical and organizational skills as well as excellent oral and written communication skills which include inter-personal relations skills that facilitate strong working relationships and timely deliverables with a wide range of entrepreneurs, enterprises, government and non-governmental counterparts. Offeror shall cite the entity(ies, and locations), period of service, and description of the presentations that demonstrate the ability to provide the services identified in this factor. 3. Educational Level - A minimum of a Bachelor?s degree in Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration, International Development, International Relations, Agriculture, Finance or related degree is preferred, however, other Bachelor?s degrees will also be considered. A Master?s degree in Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration, International Development, International Relations, Agriculture, or Finance is preferred. The Offeror shall identify educational institution, address of institution, degree earned, and year degree received. 4. At least five years of experience in a management position with a private business that includes overseas assignments. Experience should describe the management and leadership responsibilities within major agri-business corporation or within a small to medium-sized enterprise. Prior experience in Africa or other developing country environment is preferred. Offeror shall cite the entity(ies, and locations), period of service, and description of the position held and management and leadership responsibilities. 5. Agri-business Industry - Specific Technical Training: Formal technical training and/or continuing education received outside of the formal master?s or bachelor?s degree program which focused on various operational and analytical skills such as operations and production management conducting financial an and investment analysis, establishing cutting edge pricing and marketing strategies, and commodity forecasting and trading related to the growth and expansion of agri-business enterprises. Offeror shall cite the entity(ies, and locations) training/continuing educations was received, period of training, and description of the training/continuing education. The Offeror assumes the full responsibility for ensuring that offers are received. Electronic proposals shall be submitted to eteel@adf.gov. The offeror is responsible for confirming receipt of the proposal by calling Ellen Teel at 202-673-3916. When the proposals are hand-carried, or sent via U.S. Mail, FedEx, courier service or similar methods the address for offers is the African Development Foundation, 1400 Eye Street, N.W., Suite 1000, 10th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005. All offers shall be closed and sealed and shall be fully identified on the sealed envelope if delivered via third party carrier or hand delivered. ADF shall accept questions on the solicitation through January 10, 2006. ADF intends to provide a quick response which will be posted as an amendment on the FedBizopps. The due date for proposals is 12pm EST on Janaury 20, 2006 and will not be extended. Please email your questions to Ellen Teel at eteel@adf.gov . In cases where the solicitations electronic materials, the offeror assumes full responsibility for ensuring such materials and attachments are formatted in accordance with ADF Security Requirements. The following file extensions are not allowable and application materials/data submitted with these extensions cannot be considered: .bat, .cmd, .com, .exe, .pif, .rar., .scr, .vbs, .hta, .cpl, and .zip files. Microsoft Office compatible documents are acceptable. If the Offeror determines that other formats are necessary, it is the Offeror?s responsibility to verify with ADF that those formats are acceptable. Proposal materials with unacceptable or unreadable formats may be found non-responsive. The offeror shall provide the following information in their offer. Items 1 ? 4 shall be separated from the information requested in Items 5 - 7. 1. The Offeror shall submit a firm-fixed cost price proposal. The price shall be in U.S. dollars. The offeror shall provide a fixed monthly price including salary, any benefits, and housing and living expenses you would otherwise received. The offer shall include a price for the base period and all 3 option years. The contractor will earn 4 hours of sick leave and 4 hours of vacation leave every 2 weeks. The contractor is entitled to the annual maximum amount of 12 paid local and/or U.S. holidays. No additional funding is provided for vacation or sick leave or paid holidays. Therefore, vacation time and holidays shall be taken during the period under the contract based upon approval of the Vice President. The Government will provide the contractor with office space at his/her duty station. The local office will have the supplies and personnel necessary for performance of the contract. The Government will provide a vehicle to use for official U.S. government business only. Travel required for this contract is provided for separately, and costs for official business travel should not be included in the price proposal. Salary payments will be made twice a month upon presentation of an activity report, timesheet and timely submission of all deliverables and reports as required in by the reporting requirements identified in Item 3 above. The Offeror shall also submit a relocation price, if applicable. 2. The Offeror shall identify solicitation number and position title on their proposal. The Offeror shall submit his/her SSN or TIN. 3. Upon request, the successful Offeror shall submit proof of heath insurance prior to the award of the contract. 4. Provide three business reference(s) including current e-mail address and telephone number. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: Evaluation Process- 2 Separate Phases: Phase 1) Offerors will be evaluated to determine that the Offeror meets the minimum requirements outlined in Item 5 above. If the Offeror meets all the minimum requirements, the qualitative technical factors shown in Item 6 above will be evaluated as shown in Item 6. Phase 2) Interview of top Offerors: Based on Initial Screening and Phase 1 evaluation scoring, the top Offerors will be contacted for interviews. The Offerors will be evaluated based on written and verbal communication skills in English, their working experience as it relates to the SOW, ability to relate well to ADF constituency groups, ability to work with ADF Senior Staff and African Development Officials and experience in providing top quality professional and timely delivery of business development products. Award shall be made based on the best overall value to the Government. Technical experience is more important than price. The Contracting Officer (CO) will use the technical merits of each proposal and the price to determine the successful offeror(s). The provision at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items, with their offers. The following clauses apply to this acquisition: 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items; 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items; 52.219 6, Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside; 52-222-3,Convict Labor; 52.222-19, Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52.222 21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222 26, Equal Opportunity; 52.222 35, Affirmative Action for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.222 36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities; 52.222 37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.225-13, Restriction on Certain Foreign Purchases; and 52-232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration. To download 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications, Commercial Items, go to http://www.arnet.gov/far. Interested Offerors may register at http://www.fedbizopps.gov to receive notification when any amendments are issued and available for downloading. Please note that the General Services Administration provides the notification service as a convenience and does not guarantee that notifications will be received by all persons on the mailing list. Therefore, we recommend that you monitor the FedBizopps site for all information relevant to desired acquisitions.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Africa
- Record
- SN00961416-W 20060107/060105211540 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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