SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Donations Information Coordination
- Notice Date
- 5/27/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Minerals Management Service, GovWorks, 381 Elden Street, MS 2500, Herndon, VA 20170-4817
- ZIP Code
- 20170-4817
- Solicitation Number
- 86586
- Response Due
- 6/17/2002
- Archive Date
- 7/17/2002
- Point of Contact
- Wallace O. Adcox, Contracting Officer, (703) 787-1354
- Description
- Gov.Works is issuing this request for proposals on behalf of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project period of performance is a base year and 4 option years. The Government estimates the price of this effort at $750,000 to $1,000,000 PER YEAR for a total effort of between $3,750,000 to $5,000,000. PURPOSE: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID - www.usaid.gov) is seeking a contractor to provide support for the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA/OFDA). Inappropriate commodity collections with little use to disaster victims can clog ports, hampering transport of needed commodity items and distribution of lifesaving relief supplies, and hindering professional relief activities. Therefore, DCHA/OFDA is seeking a contractor to educate the public and targeted groups who may want to offer help for disaster victims overseas, and to provide assistance to the USG with disaster-related donations issues, with the overall goal of reducing the level of inappropriate commodity and service donations. The current USAID grantee for these activities is Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), which has established the Center for International Disaster Information (www.cidi.org) to provide these services. This grant is scheduled to end on December 31, 2002. The contract resulting from this solicitation shall assume this effort January 1, 2003. The contractor shall provide the following services in this contract: 1) Donations Inquiry Response and Guidance: Respond to public, corporate, and governmental (federal, state, and local) inquiries related to unsolicited donations of commodities or volunteer services for international disaster relief efforts. 2) Public Education and Targeted Outreach: Develop and implement public education activities and material and a targeted outreach campaign to guide the public and specific groups on appropriate donations for international disaster victims. 3) Information Management for Appropriate Donations: Develop and maintain a website with appropriate donations guidelines and other information useful in educating the public on this issue. It is expected the contractor would have the capability to work from an office within close proximity (range of metro services) to the Washington, D.C. Ronald Reagan Building. Contractor employees working under this contract requiring access to the Ronald Reagan Building should have the ability to obtain appropriate security clearance (secret). I. DONATIONS INQUIRY RESPONSE AND GUIDANCE. Contractor shall efficiently and knowledgeably respond to inquiries from the public regarding unsolicited donations of commodities and volunteer services for international disaster assistance. Volume of calls may range from an average of 50 per day during "non-disaster" periods to 400 per day during "high visibility international disasters" periods. Referrals to the contractor are from USAID Fact Sheets on the web, InterAction, other NGOs and humanitarian agencies, or the 1-800-USAID-RELIEF staff. 1) Inquiries regarding cash donations: Contractor shall provide names of NGOs who are operational and responding in the county impacted by the disaster. 2) Inquiries regarding donations of inappropriate commodities: Contractor shall explain the reasons why the commodities are inappropriate and shall provide guidance on alternative means to dispose of these collections, as directed by OFDA. 3) Inquiries regarding appropriate commodity donations: Once it is determined that the proffered commodity is appropriate, Contractor shall advise donor that (a) they must have the means to transport commodities to the impacted country, and (b) they must have a credible recipient in-country to receive and distribute the materials. 4) Inquiries regarding individuals wishing to volunteer time and skills: Contractor shall explain the problems associated with volunteering from the perspective of aid agencies. 5) Other related inquiries: During surge periods of ongoing high profile disasters, contractor office hours may be extended. The contractor shall have the capacity to respond to disaster inquires within two hours of the initial contact. Further, the contractor may be required to provide twenty-four (24) hour office coverage. Also during surge periods, the OFDA CTO may require the Contractor to establish and staff a call-center, to which USAID may transfer calls received at its 1-800-USAID-RELIEF number. II. PUBLIC EDUCATION AND TARGETED OUTREACH. The Contractor shall develop educational materials and implement a general and a targeted educational campaign to inform specific groups about appropriate donations for international disaster victims. Targeted groups include foreign embassies and consular offices in the U.S., federal, state, and local government officials, corporations, Chambers of Commerce, church groups, schools, civic associations, and other community leaders. Specific activities include: 1) Identification of specific groups to be targeted based on an analysis of past USG responses and countries frequently impacted by disaster. 2) Development and maintenance of an MS Access database of leader contacts within target groups, types of information being requested, and frequency/amount of calls for disaster prone regions. 3) Development of presentations, information packets, etc. addressing issues around donations and lessons learned about inappropriate donations. 4) Providing at least ten periodic/annual educational presentations regarding appropriate donations to targeted groups. 5) Establishing and maintaining contacts with the US media (including non-English language media) in order to positively affect their coverage of overseas disasters, which can influence the public's donations practices. III. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT FOR APPROPRIATE DONATIONS. The Contractor shall develop and maintain a website with appropriate donations guidelines and other information useful in educating the public on this issue. CIDI's current website is an example of the kind of information and services to be provided -- www.cidi.org. IV. GUIDELINES FOR APPROPRIATE COMMODITY DONATIONS. All activities under this contract shall be guided by the following USAID positions on donations. Gifts-in-Kind (GIK) is defined below as any new or used commodity that is donated to a relief effort by an individual, group, or corporation. "Group" is defined as any formal or informal collection of individuals other than a business, such as schools, churches, civic associations, etc. Cash is Best. It is USAID's position that from an operational, developmental, and public affairs perspective, cash donations are highly preferred to GIK. Commodities that have been purchased with cash donations: 1) are more cost-effective than GIK, because the cost of international shipping alone often exceeds the cost of procuring the commodities locally; 2) can be specifically procured on a priority-needs basis in the exact quantity and quality required; 3) involve transportation and handling logistics that are far less complex than the logistics associated with GIK; 4) can be sorted, labeled (in the appropriate languages), and packaged in exactly the manner required for storage and distribution; 5) reach the intended beneficiaries far quicker than GIK. Commodities that have been purchased locally with cash donations: 1) are more likely to be culturally and environmentally appropriate, and consistent with traditional practices and consumption patterns; 2) support the economy of the affected region by procuring from local vendors. Conditions for Appropriate GIK. There may be rare instances when a GIK offer would add value to aid operations. A GIK offer shall only be considered appropriate if all of the following conditions are met: the GIK was specifically requested from a legitimate, field-based humanitarian organization, the GIK being offered are not available locally, and the GIK are useable and sustainable. A) Originates with a field request: A legitimate, operational humanitarian organization must have requested the specific commodities being offered. 2) The requesting organization should be operational in the affected region - they should have staff on the ground managing humanitarian programs related to the GIK offer. 3) The requesting organization should have the demonstrated capacity to distribute the commodities to the beneficiary population. 4) The GIK request must be specific. The requesting organization must also specifically approve the GIK offer after having reviewed all relevant technical specifications. 5) If the organization that would initially receive the commodities does not itself meet the above criteria, they should have a verifiable partnership with one that does. B) Not available locally: The commodities offered should not be available for purchase in or near the affected region or if available locally, regional purchase should be cost-prohibitive. Based on experiences in the humanitarian community, it is anticipated that only GIK offers that are highly sophisticated in nature would meet this condition (eg: medical technology). In such cases, use and sustainability issues become particularly crucial (see below). C) Useable and sustainable: The commodities being offered must be useable and sustainable. The commodities should be adaptable to local technical and environmental conditions, such as voltage, dust, temperature, humidity, etc. When relevant, local language must be used. Appropriate technical training must be provided when necessary for the use of the GIK. Beneficiaries must be able to obtain supplies and parts (for example, paper and toner cartridges for printers and copiers). Repair services for the commodities must be made available locally. Given that any GIK offer that meets conditions A and B above will likely be relatively sophisticated in nature, condition C is particularly crucial. The following types of commodities are considered by USAID to always be inappropriate as GIK: 1) Food; 2) Bottled water; 3) Used clothing; 4) Used bedding material; 5) Fragile items likely to be damaged in shipment; 6) Medications not consistent with WHO guidelines for medical donations; 7) Used medical supplies and equipment that have not been sterilized; 8) Potentially hazardous, flammable, and toxic materials (including certain cleaning supplies); 9) Agricultural products (such as seeds, plants, and livestock); 10) Commodities meant for mass utilization that are not traditionally used or consumed in the affected region 11) Commodities that are incompatible with local culture and customs. Handling of Appropriate GIK. If all of the above conditions for appropriate GIK are met, it is USAID's position that a GIK Plan and inspection mechanism should be in place before GIK collection begins. GIK Plan: A GIK Plan must be established before any commodities are collected. The GIK Plan must involve the donor, the receiving organization, and the distributing organization (if different) and must address the following issues: 1) The confirmed need of the beneficiaries for the GIK: Specific characteristics, quality, and quantity should be clear and verified. 2) The packaging and labeling requirements: GIK need to be packaged and labeled in specific ways in order for shipping, customs, storage, and distribution to proceed smoothly. 3) The shipping arrangements, including funding: A source of funding for the shipment must be identified before collections begin. A freight forwarder and consignee for the shipment must also be identified in advance. 4) The humanitarian organization's local storage and distribution plan: The organization should have resources at the disaster site ready to receive, offload, store, and eventually distribute the GIK to the beneficiaries. A plan for providing these services must be incorporated into the GIK Plan. In short, the GIK Plan must encompass all logistical and financial aspects of the donation, from point of collection to ultimate distribution to the intended beneficiaries. Inspection Mechanism: All commodities must be inspected prior to shipment in order to ensure that the above conditions have been met. Additional Points on GIK. The following additional points result from the realities and constraints described above: 1) Due to logistical, financial, cultural, and economic constraints, GIK will not usually be requested or accepted by humanitarian organizations for humanitarian operations. This is especially true of GIK offered by individuals and groups, which will rarely, if ever, meet all of the above conditions for appropriate GIK. 2) Difficulties in identifying a recipient humanitarian organization that is operational in the affected region and/or in establishing a GIK Plan are usually a manifestation of the underlying inappropriateness of the GIK being offered. 3) USAID cannot be held responsible for transport, storage, customs clearance, distribution, monitoring, or any other aspect of GIK management. V. PERSONNEL Anticipated key personnel include the following: Donations Coordinator / Project Manager. The lead position for the Contractor shall serve two roles: Donations Coordinator and Project Manager. As Donations Coordinator, this person shall: 1) Track humanitarian activities and provide links between needs in the field, donors, and implementing agencies. 2) Link appropriate non-cash offers with appropriate humanitarian agencies and shipping organizations. 3) Forward to the Donations Caseworker (see below) inappropriate non-cash offers. 4) Manage database of commodity donation offers to assist with linkages. 5) Oversee and participate in public education, targeted outreach, and development of educational materials on appropriate donations. 6) Knowledgeably respond to inquiries from the public regarding donations coordination, and other questions that are out of the scope of knowledge of the Call Response Specialists. 7) Train other staff recruited for service during inquiry surge periods. As Project Manager, this person shall: 1) Be responsible for the oversight, administration, supervision, and management of all aspects of contract performance. 2) Respond to the CTO as needed. 3) Oversee the process of monitoring and evaluating contract implementation. The Donations Coordinator / Project Manager must possess a thorough understanding of the international humanitarian community, including bilateral and multilateral donors, the nonprofit community, and the corporate sector. Call Response Specialist(s). Call Response Specialists shall knowledgeably respond to inquiries from the public regarding donations issues, forward inquiries as appropriate to the Donations Coordinator or Donations Caseworker, and enter caller information into a caller database. One or two call response specialists are anticipated, with an ability to increase during call volume surges. Donations Caseworker. The Donations Caseworker shall attempt to re-channel caller generosity away from commodity donations into more productive activities. This person shall work with private groups (schools, churches, civic associations, etc) that, for one reason or another, shall not feel satisfied by making an unrestricted cash donation to a humanitarian organization. The objective of this person shall be to help such groups identify new or existing activities that will satisfy their desire to help but do not involve commodity donations. In particular, this person shall: 1) Provide guidance on creative yet appropriate ways to support humanitarian organizations, including monetization of previously collected, but inappropriate, commodity donations. 2) Assist callers with development of creative fundraising activities and/or link them with other appropriate activities / organizations. 3) Research and coordinate with existing initiatives, and establish new ones as needed, in order to meet donor interests. The Donations Caseworker must have experience in designing effective and creative fundraising campaigns. Public Relations Specialist. The Public Relations Specialist shall work to educate the general public and specific target groups on appropriate ways to assist those affected by overseas disasters. This person shall: 1) Research the motivation behind non-cash assistance offers and potential alternative means of achieving similar motivation for cash assistance. 2) Design and undertake public education activities selected carefully for this particular issue. 3) Assist with targeted outreach - activities targeted at selected groups of people in the US that a) have ties (national, ethnic, cultural, religious, etc) to countries that typically suffer large disasters or b) are historically known to collect inappropriate commodity donations for overseas disasters. Such targeted outreach should be undertaken both on an ongoing basis and immediately following a disaster. 4) Assist the Donations Coordinator with donations advocacy within the US government (including Congressional staffers). The Public Relations Specialist must have experience with public education, including researching reasons for a particular behavior and developing campaigns to alter such behavior. USAID will consider any proposed arrangement that allows these activities to be accomplished. Information Management Specialist: The Information Management Specialist shall develop and maintain the website, web-based services, linkages, and associated databases. VI. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. (a) Annual Work Plans (b) Semiannual Reports. (c) Special Reports. TO COMPETE FOR THIS CONTRACT, an offeror must demonstrate qualifications to perform the work by providing, no later than 4:00 PM, June 17, 2002, a Capabilities Statement describing in detail: (A) Key technical personnel and their demonstrated ability to perform similar work. Particularly relevant is their expertise in the field of foreign disaster assistance and experience with the disaster assistance community. (B) The offering organization's expertise with this type of work and the disaster response community. (C) Specific references including project identifier and description, period of performance, dollar amount, and client name and phone number for previous work of this nature conducted by the organization and/or organization personnel. REFERENCES WILL BE CHECKED. Offerors must submit a Capabilities Statement in original form and five (5) copies to: Wallace Adcox, Contracting Officer, Minerals Management Service, 381 Elden Street, MS-2500, Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817. Capabilities Statements will be evaluated on the basis of: (A) Experience and expertise of all key technical personnel; (B) Experience and past performance of the offeror's organization; (C) Qualifications, the relevance of their qualifications to their assigned task; (D) The degree of comparability of past projects to the current project, including number, complexity, and size. Subcontracts and partners will be considered; (E) the history of the quality of cooperation between organization, staff, and key personnel and the client. Questions should be E-mailed to the Contracting Officer at Wallace.adcox@mms.gov or faxed to (703) 787-1387. All correspondence should include the RFP number, full name/company name, address, phone, and fax numbers.
- Record
- SN00083766-W 20020529/020527213015 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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