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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Subject: Request for Information (RFI) Issued Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021 Responses Due Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 12:00 PM EST Title: USAID Water and Development... REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Subject: Request for Information (RFI) Issued Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021 Responses Due Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 12:00 PM EST Title: USAID Water and Development II Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (WADI II IDIQ) The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) for interested prime and sub contractors to provide comments, input and recommendations on the WADI II IDIQ planned requirement. The goals of this RFI are two fold: (i) to receive input from the industry on the draft technical scope of work (SOW); and (ii) to receive insights from industry on barriers and opportunities to diversifying partnerships for this IDIQ at both the IDIQ and subsequent Task Order competition levels. Through this RFI, USAID aims to: broaden and diversify its partner base at the prime and subcontractor levels; increase competition as a result of greater understanding of the technical scope; generate new partners and new ideas for USAID; and drive better technical solutions and innovative approaches. 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. RFI Responses USAID invites interested parties to respond to the below questions and comment on the draft SOW. Please provide a maximum of four (4) pages, size 12 font, standard one inch margins. Responses should be structured in the following way: Section 1: Responses to the RFI Questions Section 2: Comments on the Draft SOW Section 3: Questions to the Draft SOW / Process Please provide one (1) electronic copy of your response in Microsoft Word format as a single email attachment to Ms. Rachel Baltes (rbaltes@usaid.gov) and Ms. Leah Leach (lleach@usaid.gov). Please identify “WADI II RFI Response” in the subject line. Responses must be received via email by Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 12:00PM EST. Pre-Bidders Conference USAID is pleased to announce that it expects to organize a pre-bidders conference around the week of February 22, 2021. USAID will provide more information in a subsequent communication. Part of the conference will be to respond to any questions posed in Section 3 to the RFI responses from industry. Background Water supply is stressed, undervalued, and not always prioritized. From floods to droughts to overuse to pollution, billions of people struggle on a daily basis because of challenges related to water access and competing demands. Further, over 890 million people globally do not use basic sanitation and practice open defecation—often in gutters, open water bodies, or fields. Open defecation and poor sanitation generally, pose enormous threats to a community’s health and cost the global economy at least $260 billion annually. Climate change will also affect access, quantity and quality of water, and will make sanitation systems vulnerable to shocks, such as increased frequency and severity of floods, compounding potential environmental health risks. Billions of people lack reliable access to safe water and sanitation, particularly in poor countries where needs are often the greatest. Without access to sustainable services, nations will continue to experience increasingly stalled economic growth, food insecurity, disease, and poverty. Addressing both the persistent and emerging challenges to sustainable access to water, sanitation, hygiene and strengthened water resources management helps nations improve the health of people, along with their prosperity, and security. The World Bank estimates that many countries could see their economic growth decline by as much as 6 percent of GDP by 2050 as a result of water stress, a vicious circle that can increase state fragility and conflict. While progress on improved drinking water has been pronounced in recent years, especially compared to gains in sanitation, critical gaps remain including having consistently available drinking water of appropriate quality with reliable service delivery. As noted, one of the most persistent challenges in the sector is the slow progress in increasing access to and use of basic and safely managed sanitation. Political prioritization; expense; cultural norms; and a lack of desirable, available, affordable sanitation products must all be addressed to catalyze more significant progress on sanitation and to realize associated health and environmental benefits. To achieve universal access to safely managed water and sanitation services by 2030, capital expenditures of $114 billion per year will be required, which amounts to three times current global investment levels. However, investments in water and sanitation services have the potential to be highly cost effective, with expected returns of between $2 and $5.50 for every U.S. dollar invested due to reduced health care costs and increased economic productivity for communities and individuals around the world. The Water and Development II IDIQ (WADI II) is the Center for Water Security, Sanitation and Hygiene’s central field support acquisition mechanism for missions and other operating units to access critical technical services in support of the U.S. Global Water Strategy (GWS) and the appended USAID Water and Development Plan. The purpose of this IDIQ is to carry out Task Orders that reflect USAID’s strategic direction and focus on water security, sanitation, hygiene and water resources management (WRM) programming. This IDIQ Contract is meant to be a successor (and not a direct follow-on) to the previous Water and Development IDIQ (WADI) and builds on lessons learned over the past years. RFI Questions USAID is interested in hearing from potential bidders (potential prime or sub-contractors) on a number of questions regarding the draft SOW (Annex 1) as well as a set of questions: General Questions Is your organization / company interested in priming or being a sub-contractor for WADI II? If so, which role? Was your organization / company in a WADI consortium? If so, what role? Did your organization receive any work or assist in the implementation of a WADI Task Order? Any feedback on the breakdown of technical services? Are these adequate categories? Are there any missing elements? Questions for Interested Prime Bidders What are the challenges to priming an IDIQ? How can USAID lessen the challenges or reduce barriers? Do you have any takeaways / lessons from WADI or other IDIQ that you could share? Questions for Interested Sub-Contractors What barriers are there for being included into consortia? Do they differ if you are selected as a major sub-contractor or just a member of the consortia team? What barriers are there to receiving funds via a Task Order implementation and business agreement with the prime? How can USAID lower the barriers? Comments on the Draft SOW USAID is interested in receiving any comments regarding the draft SOW, particularly related to the division of services, the performance technical areas, or recommendations of areas/services that should be included. Questions on the Draft SOW/Process USAID will collect any questions regarding the draft SOW (Annex 1) and the procurement process of WADI II. These questions will be sorted and answered through the pre-bidders conference and/or through an amendment to the RFI.