SPECIAL NOTICE
R -- Industry Led Skills Development Program
- Notice Date
- 3/13/2020 9:52:26 AM
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 5419
—
- Contracting Office
- USAID/CAUCASUS/GEORGIA TBILISI GEO
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- 720-114-20-RFI-00002
- Response Due
- 4/6/2020 11:00:00 PM
- Archive Date
- 12/31/2020
- Point of Contact
- Maya (G) Chelidze, Phone: 995322544203, Robert Claussen, Phone: 995322544185
- E-Mail Address
-
mchelidze@usaid.gov, rclaussen@usaid.gov
(mchelidze@usaid.gov, rclaussen@usaid.gov)
- Description
- The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to (a) provide a basic overview of the intended USAID/Georgia Industry-led Skills Development Program and (b) request comments and recommendations from stakeholders to identify ways we can work together to address Georgia�s competitiveness challenges related to the significant mismatch between the skills of the current workforce and the actual needs of the economy. The purpose of the anticipated program is to provide support to Georgia to develop industry-relevant human capacity that will contribute to high-value employment opportunities and increased economic competitiveness in Georgia.� Research finds that the lack of appropriately skilled individuals is a major constraint to growth and competitiveness in Georgia.� The mismatch between the skills of Georgia�s current workforce and the actual needs of the economy -- the skills mismatch --� is a significant driver of unemployment, underemployment, and disengagement of young adults from economic activity in Georgia and is symptomatic of limited private sector engagement in skills development.� As such, it is important that Georgia�s employers meaningfully participate in skills development in Georgia to advance skills development that will contribute to high-value employment opportunities in a sustainable manner. Possible approaches that could be taken include (but are not limited to): (a) piloting and expanding activities that incentivize private sector engagement in skills development and the transition from education to employment; (b) co-designing and co-financing training opportunities demanded by the employers with the private sector and/or Government of Georgia; and (c) increasing access to training opportunities to priority populations by expanding existing, high-quality programs to Georgians outside of Tbilisi with co-financing from the private sector and/or Government of Georgia.� These approaches will contribute to high-value employment opportunities with an emphasis on high-value jobs that show strong potential to significantly increase incomes and advance economic competitiveness. The anticipated program will likely use a combination of programmatic tools including (but not limited to): technical assistance, grants, and monitoring/evaluation.� The anticipated program will support USAID/Georgia�s Strategic Development Objective 2- Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth (found at https://www.usaid.gov/georgia/cdcs).� The project will build upon the previous U.S. Government, Government of Georgia, and other donor-supported achievements in private sector development and economic growth in Georgia.� The intended project will support activities nationwide in Georgia, and the budget is anticipated to be up to $24 million over five years. USAID anticipates three major components for the Industry Led Skills Develoment Program: Component 1: Strengthen private sector engagement in skills development Through this component, the program will provide technical assistance and cost-share�grants to increase the level of employers� engagement in skills development, support piloting and publicity of innovative ways of employers� engagement in skills development, and build communication between public sector, industry and education service providers to support workforce development. Component 2: Establish long and short-term high-quality training programs Through this component, the program will co-finance the development of long-term internationally certified training programs that create skills that are currently highly demanded by the private sector and are anticipated to be in the near future.� The short-term training programs should immediately address skills mismatches that pose current constraints to the growth of high potential sectors.� Component 3: Replicate proven training programs in areas outside of Tbilisi/rural areas In recent years, GOG and donors have made significant investments in training programs in�and around Tbilisi that have strong potential to (a) meet the private sector demand for highly skilled individuals outside of Tbilisi and (b) result in high-value employment opportunities for rural populations.� This component will leverage initial investments in these programs to replicate them in areas outside of Tbilisi. USAID seeks your input, comments, and recommendations on any or all of the following questions: What are the major challenges to effectively engaging the private sector, including employers and training providers, in skills development in Georgia?� What are some potential interventions that could help overcome these challenges? Please share any specific examples that you have dealt with in Georgia. Can you share successful examples of employer engagement in development contexts similar to Georgia�s and explain why it worked? What could be effective policies to sustain employers� engagement in skills development beyond their immediate, short-term needs? What are the most important areas of skills development for this program to focus on that would directly contribute to high-value employment opportunities, for example, professional skills, technical and vocational skills, or other types of skills, and why? How would you prioritize spending USAID resources in this program (on a scale of 100%) between (a) piloting and expanding activities that incentivize private sector engagement in skills development and the transition from education to employment; (b) co-designing and co-financing high quality training opportunities demanded by the employers with the private sector and/or Government of Georgia; and (c) increasing access to training opportunities to rural and ethnic minority populations by expanding existing, high-quality programs to Georgians outside of Tbilisi? How would you balance the short-term programs that immediately address skill mismatches that pose current constraints to growth of high potential sectors versus longer-term/diploma certified programs that create skills that are highly demanded by the industry currently and are projected to be in the near future?� Why? USAID/Georgia�s economic growth strategy focuses on skills development in the high-value employment sectors that currently include, but are not limited to, tourism, light industry, shared intellectual services, and high-value agriculture. What are additional sectors that you would suggest investing in for skills development? If there are additional sectors, what is your justification for investing in them? Which type of resource and technical partners/capabilities are best suited to ensure the quality of skills development programs? Have you ever worked with fixed-price, deliverable-based contracts? If yes, please describe your experience. What are the potential benefits and risks of utilizing a fixed-price, deliverable-based contracting mechanism to procure technical assistance services to implement this program? How can long-term financial sustainability be built into activities developed by the program? What interventions are needed to maximize the employment of graduates from the skills development programs? From your experience, what is the rate of employment (including self-employment) for both short-term and long-term skills development programs in/or in the context similar to Georgia? What are the key barriers (attitudes, access, other) to engaging rural and ethnic minority youth not in education, employment and training in formal industry-led skills training programs and what interventions are needed to remove these barriers?� What is the highest level outcome related to skills development that is measurable and within the contractor's managable interest to achieve? What objective indicators could be used to measure achievement of that outcome? Any other suggestions you may wish to offer that will improve program design and implementation are welcome.
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://beta.sam.gov/opp/016b0666a7304a89a749a5309cdd05b4/view)
- Place of Performance
- Address: GEO
- Country: GEO
- Country: GEO
- Record
- SN05588224-F 20200315/200313230138 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
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