SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Request for Information - WASH-FIN 2
- Notice Date
- 3/15/2022 11:41:07 AM
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- USAID M/OAA WASHINGTON DC 20523 USA
- ZIP Code
- 20523
- Solicitation Number
- 7200AA22RFI00TBD
- Response Due
- 3/30/2022 9:00:00 AM
- Point of Contact
- Kyle Davis, Phone: 2029162699
- E-Mail Address
-
kydavis@usaid.gov
(kydavis@usaid.gov)
- Description
- U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, Center for Water Security, Sanitation and Hygiene, Request for Information � WASH-FIN 2 Issuance Date: March 15, 2022 Response Date: March 30, 2022 at 12:00 PM EST To All Interested Parties, The United States Government, represented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS), is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to all interested parties. The RFI is intended to: Solicit information from industry and determine what type of firms/organizations are capable of doing the work described herein. Specifically, USAID seeks to provide stakeholders an opportunity to review the attached documents, and offer information and suggestions related to an anticipated activity, WASH-FIN 2. In the new activity, USAID seeks to strengthen governance, improve performance and mobilize financing for sustainable and climate-resilient water and sanitation services. USAID is conducting market research to determine the most suitable acquisition strategy for an anticipated award for WASH-FIN 2. USAID requests that any interested organizations review the draft summary in Attachment One and provide responses to the questions contained in Attachment Two. � This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Respondents will not be notified of the result of the review. All information provided will become the property of USAID, will not be returned, and will not be released publicly. USAID reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for USAID�s own purposes. Proprietary information must not be sent. USAID reserves the right to, or not to, incorporate any, some, or none of the comments received from this RFI into any subsequent solicitations or design documents. Submission Instructions and Response Format: Please provide one (1) electronic copy of your response in Microsoft Word format as a single email attachment to Mr. Kyle Davis at kydavis@usaid.gov. Please submit responses via email only by Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 12:00PM EST. The total length of the RFI submission cannot exceed three (3) pages and must be submitted using 12-point Arial font, 8.5 x 11-inch paper (letter-sized), single line spacing, one-inch margins, no graphics, and pages numbered consecutively. * An Additional �Capability Statements� (applicable to U.S. Small Businesses only) is requested from small businesses only with a maximum page limit of two (2) pages. Please note the two page capability statement does not count towards the three page RFI submission. Interested Small Businesses having the skills and capabilities necessary to perform this work should submit a supplemental response of no more than two (2) pages in length. This page limitation includes any attachments. USAID will not review any information, including attachments, in excess of the two (2) pages. Small Businesses should provide clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate their capability to fulfill any or all of the areas of work sought. Please describe the firm�s in-house experience addressing the objectives described in this RFI. Please describe to whom, for what length of time and the tangible outcomes/results as a result of your experience. If interested firms are only able to perform some or one of the posted activities, they should indicate that in their response to this RFI and describe the areas of expertise for which they are capable of performing. If the submitter has produced relevant reports and/or other written materials or would like to cite other reference materials, then those reports may be included only as embedded links within the page limit. The respondent should include the following information on the first page: Name Title Organization Email DUNS number Business size Responses to this notice are NOT considered offers and CANNOT be accepted by the U.S. Government to form a binding contract. Therefore, USAID is not seeking technical or cost proposals at this time. Please do not submit a full proposal as these will not be reviewed and will be discarded. Thank you for your interest in USAID�s WASH-FIN 2. We look forward to receiving your responses. Sincerely, Rachel Baltes Contracting Officer, M/OAA/RFS Attachments: #1 � WASH-FIN 2 Background and Objectives #2 - RFI Questions and Submission Instructions Attachment #1: WASH-FIN 2 Background and Draft Objectives BACKGROUND Globally, 771 million people do not have access to basic drinking water and 1.7 billion people lack access to basic sanitation (JMP 2021). While the United Nations� Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water sets ambitious universal access targets for the year 2030, their achievement will require unprecedented mobilization of funding for WASH. A 2020 analysis by World Resources Institute estimates that $263 billion per year is required to meet universal access to safely managed water and sanitation by 2030 (WRI 2020). Despite these high costs, investment in WASH is central to ending extreme poverty and achieving broader development outcomes in health, education, gender equality and the environment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), on average, every $1 invested in water and sanitation provides a $4 economic return (Hutton 2013). With access to WASH, people are both healthier and wealthier: people get sick less and are more productive, and girls and boys become better educated. In order to close these financing and service gaps, there will need to be a coordinated effort from the public sector, water service providers (WSPs), and development and commercial finance institutions. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES In support of the U.S. Government Global Water Strategy, USAID�s Agency Plan, and USAID�s Draft Climate Strategy, WASH-FIN 2.0 will increase sustainable management and financing of climate-resilient water and sanitation services. This will be accomplished through four distinct but interrelated objectives as follows. Objective 1: Strengthen governance of and increase public funding for water and sanitation services This objective focuses on strengthening the governance of and increasing public funding for water and sanitation services. Lessons from WASH-FIN and other programs[1] point to the need to address poor sector governance, which result in unclear roles and weak accountability of public sector actors, combined with a lack of public capacity to effectively plan, budget, design and procure the development of a stable pipeline of capital projects in order to better utilize current public funding and justify the required increases. The policy, legal, and regulatory environments in many of USAID�s WftW High Priority and Strategy Aligned Countries are not currently conducive to mobilizing private finance or expanding services. Despite having policies in place to address water and sanitation challenges, many countries do not have the tools and capacity to effectively improve the sector. Increased capacity of sector institutions, combined with a strengthened policy and regulatory environment should contribute to maximizing value from existing public resources, therefore justifying further public investment. Public funding allocations have fallen short of the needs and are poorly targeted to those that need them the most. Understanding what are the challenges and potential solutions to unlocking public investments, including public climate finance, and maximizing the value of existing investments is key to mobilizing finance in the water and sanitation sector.� Illustrative tasks include: Working with line ministries, regulators, policymakers, and civil society to improve the environment for effective service delivery. Conducting assessments such as political economy analysis (PEAs), climate risk assessments, or other related analyses to participate in and inform sector reform processes, new funding opportunities, or address service delivery issues. Supporting the development or revision of a regulatory framework and other related activities that would help provide incentives for better performance of service providers. Supporting the development and/or implementation of sector financial strategies or plans, establishing or improving sector budget and expenditure tracking, promoting equity, improving transparency and accountability, or combating corruption in the sector. Carrying out institutional strengthening activities for improved WASH services and/or water resource management Promoting transparent and accountable targeting of public funding to poor and marginalized groups, and for public climate finance to support water and sanitation projects in select countries. Objective 2: Improve performance of water and sanitation service providers by enhancing climate resilience and financial and operational efficiency While the financing challenge remains and more funding needs to be mobilized to help water and sanitation providers improve and expand their services, experience by USAID and many other development partners show that improving the financial, technical and management performance of these providers is critical to maximizing the value of existing funding and unlocking more public and private investments. Better business models, improved corporate governance, and improved business and investment planning that take into account the impacts of future shocks and stressors are also crucial to strengthening provider performance and increasing creditworthiness.� Illustrative tasks include: Improving the financial management, technical, and operational efficiency of water and sanitation service providers (i.e. improving billing and collection efficiency, improving customer management, reducing non-revenue water, reducing other significant cost categories, etc.). Supporting business and investment planning, taking into account long-term resilience of water and sanitation services and creating guidance to help utilities identify weaknesses and cost-effective investments to better adapt to shocks and stressors, particularly climate change. Developing case studies of service provider improvements, building on existing frameworks used by USAID and other development partners. Objective 3: Mobilize finance by providing project preparation, transaction advisory and facilitation services for public and private finance Mobilizing finance requires a strong understanding of relevant actors and their needs as well as the different opportunities. Financial institutions, both public and private, private investors, and other suppliers of finance are not necessarily familiar with the water and sanitation sector and the potential opportunities for investments. Even when they are more familiar with the sector, transaction facilitation services and other technical assistance are needed to unlock additional public and private funding.� Water and sanitation providers, even well-performing ones, do not always know all of their different financing options and/or how to select the best one(s) and access them.� Even when the financial institutions and investors have a better understanding of each other, it is sometimes necessary to design and structure new financial products and/or services as well as funds and other financial instruments.� Given the expected outcome of climate resilient water and sanitation services, it is also important to explore ways to mobilize public and private climate funding.� The role of government and having the necessary business enabling environment are critical to mobilizing finance, particularly in the water and sanitation sector. Illustrative tasks include: Carrying out financial landscape assessments, where appropriate, and facilitating dialogue between suppliers of finance and water and sanitation service providers. Assessing the feasibility of funds and/or financing options and supporting the design and implementation of such financing mechanisms. Improving communication and relationship with the investor community by helping develop or improve teasers and pitch decks and refine business and financial models. Providing viability gap funding or grants to help facilitate blended financing transactions. Objective 4: Advance global learning and partnerships through improved coordination and knowledge sharing Under this Objective, this Activity aims to strengthen the capacity and influence of USAID and broader development partners actors in mobilizing finance to increase sustainable management and financing of climate-resilient water and sanitation services.� Systematic and rigorous data collection and knowledge management will be key in helping advance the work in the governance and finance space.� In addition, USAID will select global, regional, and national/local partners and, where appropriate and necessary, provide technical assistance and/or small grants or in-kind support to help achieve the goals set forth in this activity.� Illustrative tasks include: Developing knowledge products for different audiences, as agreed upon with USAID. Collecting and managing data on water and sanitation service providers and transactions, in close partnership with other sector actors. Organizing and/or contributing to knowledge and learning events at the global, regional, and national levels on key topics to help advance USAID�s governance and finance agenda, in line with achieving the SDGs by 2030. Partnering with key organizations such as the World Bank, OECD, regional development banks, industry associations, private companies, NGOs, etc. to achieve the overall purpose of the award and the aforementioned objectives (Objectives 1-3). Attachment #2 RFI Questions and Submission Instructions Please include the title �RFI � WASH-FIN 2� in the subject line of your email. In response to the following questions, please provide information (in no more than 3 pages) on how USAID can best improve governance and financing available for sustainable water and sanitation services. Respondents are free to answer any or all of the questions below. In your responses, please provide any sources for the information, including peer-reviewed or gray literature, expert opinion, project evaluation reports and other documents relevant to this concept note. What opportunities should USAID prioritize to mobilize climate finance for water and sanitation services?� What partnerships are possible between climate mitigation/adaptation project sponsors or accredited entities and water and sanitation service providers? The concept note illustrates a number of barriers to mobilizing finance. What recommendations can you provide to overcome these barriers while meeting inclusion, equity and diversity objectives and promoting locally-led development? The concept note illustrates the need to improve governance and performance in addition to activities directly related to mobilizing finance. How should USAID go about determining what to focus on in a given country? What kinds of tools or analyses should USAID carry out? What aspects of the WASH-FIN 2 concept require clarification? [1] These programs include Sustainable Water and Sanitation for Africa (SUWASA) program; USAID/India FIRE-D Program; and the Philippine Water Revolving Fund, among others.
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://sam.gov/opp/7f35f00aba7041b1bf755fd7a4db9783/view)
- Record
- SN06267885-F 20220317/220315230106 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's SAM Daily Index Page |