Answers to Queries received in response to this RFQ Bidder 1 1. If the team included as trainers has significant experience in sensitization and also relevant qualifications, but the organization itself has limited experience as it is a young organization, is the proposal eligible / valid? ANS: As per the RFP evaluation criteria, the company profile and background has been allocated 20 technical points against which your organization will be assessed. Key personnel (20 points) will be assessed separately. The proposal will be taken into consideration in light of this criteria. 2. Can the proposal be hand delivered or does it have to be couriered? ANS: Hand delivery is acceptable, please deliver to our reception desk. Bidder 2 My organization is interested to submit a proposal for "Workforce Skills Development for Women in Citrus". My organization has been working on value chain processing from field to fork since 1989. We have the strongest team of male and female experts having more than ten year experience in the subject. Moreover, we work on cold store & CA store of fresh fruits and vegetables. We belong to provincial government of the Punjab, can we offer a bid for said programme. ANS: Government entities not formed primarily for commercial purposes are eligible, so you are encouraged to apply and we will make a determination on your status based on the profile submitted during evaluation. Bidder 3 Would you please confirm your preference whether you require International Trainers for the aforementioned training assignments or require only local training partners? ANS: Local training partners Also, kindly confirm the venue(s) to deliver the subject trainings/workshops? ANS: Venues have been stated in both RFPs. For Gender Sensitization Training we require training venues in Lahore and Karachi in the form of hotels or any alternative suitable training venue. In the case of the RFP on Workforce Skills Development, the training venues are already specified in the SoW: "Mateela Kinnow Factory- Training Venue No. 1 2. Zahid Kinnow Grading and Waxing plant and Page 1 of 12
National Food Products Ltd. - Training Venue No. 2 for Zahid Kinnow and National Fruit Products 3. Noon Orchards- Training Venue No. 3" Bidder 4 We are interested in "Workforce Skills Development for Women in the Citrus Sector" RFP and have a question. Who will manage to collect the women for training? is it service provider or AMD or the kinow factory owners? ANS: The selected service provider is required to collect the women for training. Bidder 5 Please elaborate the column in budget section Cost/day of training (PKR). We are facing difficulty in calculating this cost in the budget for heads mentioned. Looking forward for your detailed answer ANS: Any experienced training service provider should have a clear idea of how much it costs to deliver training. You are requested to calculate the total cost and divide it into a per day cost rate. Therefore if it s a two day training event, the total cost would be quoted as cost per day x number of training days. Page 2 of 12
Request for Proposals (RFP) RFP Number: AMD-015 Issuance Date: February 4, 2017 Deadline for Offers: February 20, 2017 Description: For: Funded By: Implemented By: Point of Contact: Gender Sensitization Training for AMD Project Grantees U.S. Pakistan Partnership for Agricultural Market Development (AMD) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) CNFA AMD Procurement Department / Technical Team Section 1: Instructions to Offerors 1.1 Introduction The U.S.-Pakistan Partnership for Agricultural Market Development (AMD) is a USAID funded project which aims to improve the ability of Pakistan s commercial agriculture and livestock sectors to compete in international and national markets in the four target product lines; meat, high value and off season vegetables, mangoes and citrus. AMD will act as a catalyst for development and investment in target product lines by actively promoting cooperation and coordination amongst the value chain actors and ancillary service providers. AMD s implementation strategy is underpinned by a strictly commercial and market driven approach with a clear focus on strengthening market access for its partner organizations, and support international marketing and sales efforts. The objective of the AMD project is to encourage investments in the four target product lines through matching grants and technical assistance and empower stakeholders by developing synergies among them to accomplish together what they cannot do alone. AMD will support upgrading, streamline supply chains, technical assistance to optimize profit margins, increase participation of women entrepreneurs, and ultimately help make Pakistani meat, high value and off season vegetables, mangoes and citrus more profitable and more competitive. In support of AMD Project s wider objectives and to align all proposed interventions with gender integration requirements, our gender integration strategy seeks to achieve two primary gender specific project objectives: Objective 1: Objective 2: Equip Women Entrepreneurs and Laborers with the resources they need to increase agricultural productivity Work towards an environment that encourages, supports, and respects women s inclusion and entrepreneurship In order to achieve these objectives AMD requires the assistance of a gender training service provider who can collaborate with the Project s technical specialists to deliver gender sensitization trainings to AMD project grantees and conduct follow up workshops. The detailed scope of work (SOW) and deliverables for the assignment can be found in Section 3 of this RFP document. Page 3 of 12
1.2 Offer Deadline and Protocol Sealed proposals in hard copies should be submitted no later than February 20, 2017 by 4 PM with RFP Number on the envelope RFP-AMD-015 to AMD: Procurement Department Agricultural Market Development Office No. 15, 1 st Floor Park Lane Plaza, Mall of Lahore. Please reference the RFP number in any response to this RFP. Offers received after the specified time and date will be considered late and will be considered only at the discretion of CNFA. Questions: Questions regarding the technical or administrative requirements of this RFP may be submitted no later than 16:00 local Lahore time on February 10, 2017 by email to Procurement@pakistan-amd.org ; Questions and requests for clarification and the responses thereto that CNFA believes may be of interest to other offerors will be circulated to all RFP recipients who have indicated an interest in bidding. Only the written answers issued by CNFA will be considered official and carry weight in the RFP process and subsequent evaluation. Any verbal information received from employees of CNFA or any other entity should not be considered as an official response to any questions regarding this RFP. 1.3 Technical Proposal The Technical Proposal must be specific, complete, and concise, describing the offeror s proposed plan to complete the scope of work (SOW) and deliverables found in Section 3. It should demonstrate a clear understanding of the work to be undertaken and the responsibilities of all parties involved. The Technical Proposal must include the following information: 1. Company profile and background 2. Technical approach and methodology Provide a complete profile of company including: Years of experience in gender sensitization trainings of organizations Years of verifiable past performance in gender related capacity building Copy of business registrations (NTN certificate, Certificate of Incorporation, business license etc.) Proposed approach, methodology and work plan to undertake the scope of work in Section 3 Content should focus on describing Details, Actions and Results Ability (methodology) to evaluate the results 3. Key personnel Provide complete CVs for trainers including: Relevant qualifications Relevant work experience in gender sensitization 4. Past performance Prior experience of working with donor funded projects Provide examples and references of gender sensitization trainings 1.4 Financial Proposal The Financial Proposal is used to establish the best value among proposals, and serves as a basis of negotiation for the signing of the subcontract. The Financial Proposal must include a detailed budget, as well as a budget narrative which explains the basis for the estimate of each budget element (where required). Supporting information should be provided in sufficient detail to allow a complete analysis of each cost element. Cost must be expressed in Pakistani Rupees. The proposed budget should utilize the template given below. Page 4 of 12
The anticipated contract type for this procurement will be a firm fixed price subcontract. The draft fixed price subcontract is part of this RFP. The successful offeror will be required to adhere to the terms of the fixed price subcontract with AMD. Financial proposal Description Training material (printed material, handouts, certificates etc) Training certificates Video recordings and cost of any audio/visual aids Photography Venue rental and arrangements Cost per training event (PKR) Total Cost for 12 events (6 trainings and 6 workshops) Cost for Trainer including meals, travel and accommodation Other/Miscellaneous Total Price Offers must remain valid for not less than ninety (90) calendar days after the offer deadline. Offerors are requested to provide quotations on official letterhead or format. 1.5 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. CNFA will not award a contract to any firm that is debarred, suspended, or considered to be ineligible by the U.S. Government. Only firms that are locally registered or Pakistani nationals will be considered eligible offerors to respond to this RFP. Offerors must submit a copy of their business registration or license. 1.6 Evaluation and Award The award will be made to a responsible offeror whose offer follows the RFP instructions, meets the eligibility requirements, and is determined via a trade-off analysis to be the best value based on application of the following evaluation criteria. The relative importance of each individual criterion is indicated by the number of points below: Company profile and background 20 Technical approach and methodology 20 Key personnel 20 Past performance 20 Financial proposal 20 Total 100 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. CNFA reserves the right to waive immaterial deficiencies at its discretion. Page 5 of 12
Best-offer quotations are requested. It is anticipated that award will be made solely on the basis of these original quotations. However, CNFA reserves the right to conduct any of the following: CNFA may conduct negotiations with and/or request clarifications from any offeror prior to award. While preference will be given to offerors who can address the full technical requirements of this RFP, CNFA may issue a partial award or split the award among various offerors, if in the best interest of the AMD Project. CNFA may cancel this RFP at any time. Please note that in submitting a response to this RFP, the offeror understands that USAID is not a party to this solicitation and the offeror agrees that any protest hereunder must be presented in writing with full explanations to the AMD Project for consideration, as USAID will not consider protests regarding procurements carried out by implementing partners. CNFA, at its sole discretion, will make a final decision on the protest for this procurement. 1.7 Terms and Conditions This is a Request for Proposal only. Issuance of this RFP does not in any way obligate CNFA, the AMD Project, or USAID to make an award or pay for costs incurred by potential offerors in the preparation and submission of an offer. This solicitation is subject to CNFA s standard terms and conditions. Any resultant award will be governed by these terms and conditions. Please note that payment will only be issued to the entity submitting the offer in response to this RFP and identified in the resulting award; payment will not be issued to a third party. 1.8 Language Offerors shall provide all responses in English. Additionally, a basic requirement for all offerors to be considered responsive is the ability to communicate proficiently in English while providing said services to the AMD project. Page 6 of 12
Section 2: Offer Checklist To assist offerors in preparation of proposals, the following checklist summarizes the documentation to include an offer in response to this RFP: Cover letter, signed by an authorized representative of the offeror (see Section 4 for template) Technical Proposal, including responses to evaluation criteria (Section 3) Financial Proposal, in a separately sealed envelope Copy of offeror s registration or business license (Certificate of Incorporation and NTN certificate) ***** ETHICAL AND BUSINESS CONDUCT REQUIREMENTS ***** CNFA does not tolerate fraud, collusion among offerors, falsified proposals/bids, bribery, or kickbacks. Any firm or individual violating these standards will be disqualified from this procurement, barred from future procurement opportunities, and may be reported to both USAID and the Office of the Inspector General. Employees and agents of CNFA are strictly prohibited from asking for or accepting any money, fee, commission, credit, gift, gratuity, object of value or compensation from current or potential vendors or suppliers in exchange for or as a reward for business. Employees and agents engaging in this conduct are subject to termination and will be reported to USAID and the Office of the Inspector General. In addition, CNFA will inform USAID and the Office of the Inspector General of any supplier offers of money, fee, commission, credit, gift, gratuity, object of value or compensation to obtain business. Offerors responding to this RFP must include the following as part of the proposal submission: Disclose any close, familial, or financial relationships with CNFA or project staff. For example, if an offeror s cousin is employed by the project, the offeror must state this. Disclose any family or financial relationship with other offerors submitting proposals. For example, if the offeror s father owns a company that is submitting another proposal, the offeror must state this. Certify that the prices in the offer have been arrived at independently, without any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other offeror or competitor for the purpose of restricting competition. Certify that all information in the proposal and all supporting documentation are authentic and accurate. Certify understanding and agreement to CNFA prohibitions against fraud, bribery and kickbacks. Please contact Alan Pieper, Executive Vice President for Operations and Compliance at apieper@cnfa.org with any questions or concerns regarding the above information or to report any potential violations. Page 7 of 12
Section 3: Scope of Work 3.1 Background The U.S.-Pakistan Partnership for Agricultural Market Development (AMD) is a USAID funded project which aims to improve the ability of Pakistan s commercial agriculture and livestock sectors to compete in international and national markets in the four target product lines; meat, high value and off season vegetables, mangoes and citrus. AMD will act as a catalyst for development and investment in target product lines by actively promoting cooperation and coordination amongst the value chain actors and ancillary service providers. AMD s implementation strategy is underpinned by a strictly commercial and market driven approach with a clear focus on strengthening market access for its partner organizations, and support international marketing and sales efforts. The objective of the AMD project is to encourage investments in the four target product lines through matching grants and technical assistance and empower stakeholders by developing synergies among them to accomplish together what they cannot do alone. AMD will support upgrading, streamline supply chains, technical assistance to optimize profit margins, increase participation of women entrepreneurs, and ultimately help make Pakistani meat, high value and off season vegetables, mangoes and citrus more profitable and more competitive. In support of AMD Project s wider objectives and to align all proposed interventions with gender integration requirements, our gender integration strategy seeks to achieve two primary gender specific project objectives: Objective 1: Objective 2: Equip Women Entrepreneurs and Laborers with the resources they need to increase agricultural productivity Work towards an environment that encourages, supports, and respects women s inclusion and entrepreneurship Our effort to achieve these gender specific objectives will translate into the following gender Inclusion goals : Assist in linking or organizing women into clusters so that women can collectively access resources such as extension and inputs, markets, information and peer support Establish more formal agreements between buyers and women farmers Engage successful women entrepreneurs and women s associations to act as role models and mentors to women clients and fledgling women s groups/associations. Ensure that all grants administered integrate gender and prevent incidence of child labor into grant design, evaluation, and implementation. Promote contract farming that effectively reaches women. Ensure that women receive appropriate and women friendly technologies, e.g. that reduce burden of land preparation and cultivation, water collection, irrigation, harvesting, and processing and enable women to save valuable time and increase productivity Continuously engage male community leaders and family members through a culturally sensitive process that garners their support for women s new or different roles. Provide trainings to private sector commercial agriculture partners and all grantees on appropriate codes of conduct and gender-sensitive workplace standards. An important pre requisite to achieve the goals outlined above is gender sensitization of AMD Project grantees and their existing staff through gender sensitization training and code of conduct training sessions. These trainings will be followed by workshops that provide a platform for grantees to share experiences about their respective gender integration practices, challenges and learn how to effectively mainstream gender into their organizations. Page 8 of 12
3.2 Objective The objective of this Scope of Work is to recruit a gender training service provider who can collaborate with AMD Project s Gender Advisor and technical specialists to deliver gender sensitization trainings to AMD Project Grantees and conduct follow up training workshops. These follow up training workshops will be conducted approximately 2-3 months after gender sensitization training sessions have been conducted for relevant grantees from each sector. 3.3 Requirements A business service provider with at least 10 years of experience in delivering gender sensitization training to men and women, experience in the agricultural sector will be an added advantage. Experience in delivering training on code of conduct and harassment free workplace training. Specific details on AMD Project policies will be provided to the selected service provider for inclusion in final training material. Ability to moderate workshop discussions and share relevant best practices for effective gender mainstreaming in fruit and vegetable processing factories and the meat supply chain. 3 workshops are planned for three sectors citrus, high value/off season vegetables and an integrated meat supply chain including organizations involved in breed improvement, feedlots and value addition. Relevant experience in the livestock sector will be an added advantage including gender mainstreaming expertise in abattoirs, feedlots and meat processing factories. Proposal should demonstrate relevant examples of training sessions conducted for male and female participants with the intention of inducing behavioral change and encouraging adoption of gender integration best practices in the sectors of fruit and vegetable processing and relevant areas of meat supply chain. 3.4 Timeline 6 Gender Sensitization training sessions for 3 groups of grantees will be conducted from February December 2017. 3 sessions will be conducted in Karachi and 3 in Lahore for grantees in the following groups - Citrus, High Value/Off Season Vegetables and Integrated Meat Supply Chain grantees. In cases where are there less than 5 participants in any sector, we may combine gender sensitization for 2 sectors into one session. For example, High Value/Off Season Vegetables and Citrus on the same day. After gender sensitization training has been conducted for each group, a total of 6 follow up workshops (3 in Karachi and 3 in Lahore), for each group of grantees, will be conducted. These workshops will be held approximately 2-3 months after gender sensitization training is complete to assess grantee organizations progress on gender mainstreaming, address challenges, share lessons learned and identify solutions that can help grantees achieve their respective gender integration targets specified in grant agreements. Duration of each gender sensitization training session and follow up workshop should span 8 hours each. 1-2 representatives from each grantee organization shall participate in the gender sensitization training and follow up workshop sessions which will mean a total of up to 30 participants per training session or workshop. 3.5 Training Topics The submitted proposal should include a detailed agenda and proposal training material for initial Gender Sensitization Training that addresses the following topics: The purpose of gender sensitization, key terms associated with gender integration and best practices for gender mainstreaming in their respective sectors. Gender Sensitization Training will be divided among 3 groups of grantees Citrus, High Value/Off Season Vegetables and Integrated Meat Supply Chain. Laws and policies that protect the rights of male and female employees in Pakistan as well as AMD Project and USAID policies that will be implemented according to grant agreements with project beneficiaries. Code of Conduct and Harassment Free workplace environments. Page 9 of 12
Incentives that grantees can offer to encourage increased employment of women at their respective organizations and encourage greater participation of women in their respective supply chains. Explanation of how AMD Project will monitor and track the achievement of gender integration requirements that have been specified in each individual grant agreement for approved grantees. Agenda and content for follow up workshops will be constructed after evaluation of preliminary gender sensitization sessions and requirements of AMD Project targets. 3.6 Deliverables Successful completion of each training and workshop and its associated deliverables will be considered as a final deliverable. Payment for each training/workshop or its final deliverable shall be made independently. All training material required for each training session and/or workshop in English and Urdu, which will be subject to final approval by AMD Project Team and USAID DOCS office. The service provider will be required to provide the following as part of the deliverables: Training material should be finalized, printed and ready for AMD Project review within a month of contract signing date to ensure timely approval by USAID DOCS Office. The training proposal submitted should include specific details for: o Printed training material that includes handouts that participants can take away as reference guides for the training and certificates of completion for each participant. o Attendance sheets for each training session which specify participants names, contact information, CNIC numbers wherever available. o Lunch and refreshments on each day of training for all participants o High resolution photographs for each training session with written consent of all participants for use of pictures and publication in project funded printed material. o Video recordings of each training session that should be used to create transcripts for question and answer sessions and any discussions held during trainings. o Pre and Post training evaluation forms for all participants which should be designed keeping in view the contents and objectives of the training. These pre and post evaluation forms should help AMD Project assess any change in knowledge and skill levels of participants by indicating: Whether a participant understood the training objective Relevance and value of training for each participant Lessons learned and any recommendations for improvement or additional topics for training. o Submit a final deliverable after completion of each training, consisting of a detailed report, no later than 3 calendar days after each training has been completed. These reports should include: Copies of all training material used Transcripts of question and answer sessions Attendance sheets, photographs and video recordings for each training session. Original pre and post evaluation forms and compilation and summary of evaluation forms completed by participants that should include all recommendations and feedback proposed by participants and indicate in percentage terms: Percentage of participants who understood or did not understand training objectives Percentage of participants who felt that they benefited or did not benefit from the training Percentage of participants who would be interested in attending further training and any specific areas mentioned Percentage of participants who are not interested attending additional trainings for any reasons mentioned. Page 10 of 12
Pre and post training analysis should be presented through graphs with back up data in an excel sheet format along with workshop evaluation analysis. The financial proposal should be submitted in a separate, sealed envelope and should include the budget for 6 training sessions and 6 follow up workshops. 3.7 Period and Place of Performance The timeline to conduct these trainings and follow up workshops will span from February 2017 to December 2017. The delivery of these trainings will be in Karachi and Lahore. Page 11 of 12
Section 4: Offer Cover Letter The following cover letter must be placed on letterhead and completed/signed/stamped by a representative authorized to sign on behalf of the offeror: To: Reference: AMD Project RFP-AMD-015 Gender Sensitization Training for AMD Project Grantees To Whom It May Concern: We, the undersigned, hereby provide the attached offer to perform all work required to complete the activities and requirements as described in the above-referenced RFP. Please find our offer attached. We hereby acknowledge and agree to all terms, conditions, special provisions, and instructions included in the above-referenced RFP. We further certify that the below-named firm as well as the firm s principal officers and all services offered in response to this RFP are eligible to participate in this procurement under the terms of this solicitation and under USAID regulations. Furthermore, we hereby certify that, to the best of our knowledge and belief: We have no close, familial, or financial relationships with any CNFA or AMD project staff members; We have no close, familial, or financial relationships with any other offerors submitting proposals in response to the above-referenced RFP; and The prices in our offer have been arrived at independently, without any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other offeror or competitor for the purpose of restricting competition. All information in our proposal and all supporting documentation is authentic and accurate. We understand and agree to CNFA prohibitions against fraud, bribery, and kickbacks. We hereby certify that the enclosed representations, certifications, and other statements are accurate, current, and complete. Authorized Signature: Name and Title of Signatory: Date: Company Name: Company Address: Company Telephone, Website: Company Email address: Company Registration or Taxpayer ID Number: Does the company have an active bank account (Yes/No)? Official name associated with bank account (for payment): Page 12 of 12