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Request for Proposal Emerging Markets Program Sri Lanka Evaluation

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RFP
Download the rfp file: Sri Lanka EMP RFP.pdf.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FROM THE
WORLD INITIATIVE FOR SOY IN HUMAN HEALTH (WISHH)

FINAL EVALUATION FOR SRI LANKA EMP
EMP20-RFP-01-2022

The American Soybean Association's (ASA) WISHH program is interested in evaluating the effectiveness of their Emerging Markets Program (EMP) Agreement to provide technical training for food processors, government officials and health care professionals in Sri Lanka.

I. DATE

December 14th, 2022

II. PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to solicit applications from companies and/or individuals to conduct the final evaluation for American Soybean Association/WISHH's Emerging Market's Program (EMP) 2020.

ASA/WISHH has found that (i) the food processing sector lacks the technical knowledge and market expertise to produce soy-enriched foods, (ii) U.S. soy suppliers have limited experience in Sri Lanka, and (iii) Sri Lankan consumers, companies and government officials have incomplete information on biotech. To overcome these challenges, ASA/WISHH will conduct three interventions.

Intervention 1: ASA/WISHH will conduct two technical assistance visits with targeted companies. Prior to receiving a visit from a technologist, targeted companies will compete a questionnaire about their existing product line, equipment, available inputs, and desired products that could include soy. Questionnaire results will help ensure that technical assistance visits are as productive as possible.

This intervention will teach businesses the reasons to consider incorporating soy and for those currently using soy, how to better utilize value-added soy products in the food processing. A technical assistance visit consists of a technical expert working on-site with targeted companies to provide information about the value of soy protein, including product descriptions, nutritional analysis, economic analysis, and product handling. Technologists will work with company personnel to develop formulations that include soy as an ingredient in locally processed foods. Technical assistance visits will target companies in the baked goods, frozen foods, and beverage sectors.

Intervention 2: ASA/WISHH will conduct two conferences for food processors, government officials and health care professionals. These programs will be delivered in association with U.S. experts and technicians. One conference will target health care professionals and government officials, who can disseminate knowledge about biotech, along with the nutritional and health benefits of consuming soy. The second conference will focus on food processing companies, including bakers, meat processors and other food manufacturers. This conference will be more targeted and smaller due to the limited number of food manufacturers that were identified in the market assessment.

Intervention 3: ASA/WISHH will bring a six-member trade team made up of for food processors, government officials and or health care professionals to attend appropriate events in Asia or in the United States, which will help teach them new uses for soy ingredients and improve product quality. These events could include the INTSOY course held at the Northern Crops Institute (NCI) in Fargo, North Dakota, the SNAXPO or Natural Products West Expo trade shows, the Specialty Soya & Grains Alliance (SSGA) Global Trade Exchange or a university short course at NCI, Texas A&M University, or other educational institutions.

ASA/WISHH will use the below performance measures and any other custom performance measures to show the progress of this activity and the effect it had on meeting objectives and addressing the constraints identified in the proposal by the conclusion of the project. ASA/WISHH will report the performance measure results in the final report.

Performance IndicatorGoal
Technical Consultant Visits
Percent of companies receiving a technical consultant visit will understand the economic, functional, and nutritional benefits of using U.S. soy in food products80%
Number of food processors will request indicative pricing from U.S. exporters by the end of the project3
Number of food processors will plan to use U.S. soy for the first time2
Conferences to educate food processors, government officials and health care professionals
Percent of participating government officials and healthcare professionals will understand the nutritional benefits of consuming soy and will reduce dissemination of soy myths80%
Percent of participating food processors will understand the functional, economic, and nutritional benefits of U.S. soy80%
Trade Team
Percent of trade team members will understand the functional, economic, and nutritional benefits of U.S. soy80%
Number of food processors will request indicative pricing from U.S. exporters within the first year of their trade team education3
Educate Government Officials and Food Processors on Biotech Benefits
Percent of government officials and food processors will understand the benefits of biotech products75%

The Period of Performance for this contract will be March - August 2023. The anticipated award date of this contract is February 28th. The final report should be submitted to ASA/WISHH on or before August 31st, 2023.

III. ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND

The American Soybean Association (ASA) was founded in 1920 by soybean farmers and extension workers to promote soy for high protein applications in developmental settings. Overseas activities initiated in the mid-1950s, and to date ASA has worked in over 80 countries. The World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) was founded in 2000 to expand the work of the American Soybean Association (ASA) in developing and emerging markets to improve health, nutrition, and food security, building the groundwork for future markets of soy. WISHH provides services in food technology, business development, nutrition services, and program and proposal development. WISHH expertise extends its network into additional areas, such as aquaculture and animal feed.

ASA/WISHH connects trade and development to strengthen agricultural value chains in emerging markets, creating trade and long-term demand for U.S. soy. Trade can improve lives worldwide for both farmers and consumers. U.S. soy trade in emerging markets is pivotal to improve accessibility, affordability, and acceptability of high-quality plant and animal-sourced proteins in developing economies. Rising incomes in emerging economies generate further opportunity for trade. ASA/WISHH builds opportunity for long-term trade by improving agricultural value chains, human and animal nutrition, and farmer net incomes. ASA/WISHH initiatives broadly fit in two arenas: (1) trade-building long-term, early-stage market development, and (2) trade-building international agriculture and economic development. The St. Louis-based Program operates in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Central America.

ASA/WISHH offers proven feed sector capacity and decades of accumulated knowledge from ASA programs. Principal approaches include market and economic assessments, technical assistance and capacity building, food and feed trials and demonstrations, farmer field days, youth mentorship programs, food and feed value chain development, and market linkages.

ASA/WISHH achieves its mission by working in close partnership with: (1) the public sector (e.g., USDA, USAID, U.S. land grant universities, and host country governments), (2) the private sector (e.g., U.S. exporters and trade associations: Qualified State Soybean Boards and U.S. Soybean Export Council), and (3) private voluntary organizations. The Program draws upon the resources and experience of these partners and the services of a cadre of ASA/WISHH consultants with technical expertise in agricultural, international, and commercial development spheres. ASA/WISHH relies on decades of experience in food commercial development and agricultural development programming. The Program takes pride in its growing portfolio of success with U.S. government-funding, including USDA (Food for Progress, McGovern-Dole, Global Broad-Based Initiative, Foreign Market Development, Market Access Program, Emerging Markets Program, Agricultural Trade Program, Emerging Markets Program, and Quality Samples Program) and USAID funding in both prime and sub-recipient capacities. ASA/WISHH has also attracted both private sector and other complementary funding sources from various donors to build on and leverage core funding from Qualified State Soybean Boards.

WISHH's objective is to increase the international consumption of soy protein in the human, livestock, and aquaculture sectors in new markets and thereby create new opportunities for soybeans and providing higher economic returns to U.S. soybean producers.

IV. SCOPE OF WORK

The USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service, and the American Soybean Association (ASA/WISHH) want an evaluation of an Emerging Markets Program funded technical training project in Sri Lanka. USDA wants to know what happens to training participants 6-months after the training ends. Specifically, USDA and ASA/WISHH want to know,

Do participants still recall key points addressed in the training?
Are there actual increases in purchases in U.S. product since the training took place?
Why did they (or did not) begin/increase purchases?
What interventions were effective and what other activities might help participants' desire to purchase from the U.S. (e.g., additional technical training, travel to the U.S., samples)

The evaluator will use the list of participants, their contact information, along with the assessment and training survey data to help with the evaluation. If needed, the evaluator can attend the training as well. It is anticipated that the evaluator will interview all the participants from the training to ask them the evaluation questions 6-months after the last training. Favor will be given to proposals that conduct in person interviews with all the project participants.

The evaluation results will be used by USDA and ASA/WISHH to improve their grant programming. The product will include a 10-20-page evaluation report and presentation of the findings to USDA and ASPA in Washington, DC, no later than 8-months after the last technical training event.

The evaluator will be an independent third-party who will submit a proposal to ASA/WISHH for review and scoring against competing proposals. The evaluator will explain in the proposal how they propose answering the evaluation questions along with a detailed budget. The evaluator can propose alternative methodologies or approaches for answering the evaluation questions.

In the proposal, the evaluator will describe whether an individual or team is expected to conduct the evaluation, what specific expertise, skills and prior experience they have (evaluation (qualitative and/or quantitative methods) skills, technical competence in the agriculture, language proficiency, and in country or regional experience), how different expertise, skills and experience among team members will be integrated and complement each other, and what the expected distribution of responsibilities is among the team leader and team members.

The Consultant will be expected to provide ASA/WISHH with access to all primary data collected for the MTE. This should include all cleaned data sets and the raw data collected for this exercise.

Please note that the final report will be made publicly available. This document should not include any personally identifiable information (PPI) or propriety information. The final report should be accessible to persons with disabilities. For guidance on creating documents accessible to persons with disabilities, please see the following resources:

https://www.section508.gov/create/documents https://www.section508.gov/create/pdfs

ASA/WISHH staff and implementing partners will be available to answer technical questions about program structure and implementation, and to provide guidance/advice on logistics, meeting arrangements, and other matters.

V. TIMING

The Consultant should complete all activities by August 31st, 2023.

Questions due to ASA/WISHHJanuary 12th, 2023
Questions to be posted to WISHH WebsiteJanuary 19th, 2023
Proposals due to ASA/WISHHFebruary 9th, 2023
Contract awardedFebruary 23rd, 2023
Contract signed February 28th, 2023
Orientation callMarch 2nd, 2023

VI. SELECTION CRITERIA AND CRITERIA WEIGHTS

Proposals submitted will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Strength of the proposal30%
Skills and experience30%
Quality control methods20%
Financial competitiveness10%
Timeliness and organization10%
TOTAL100%

Special consideration will be given to Women or Minority Owned Small Business (WMOSB) entities with SBA certifications (proof of certification must be provided at time of submission).

VII. INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

Proposals must contain at a minimum the specific criteria requested in the Request for Proposal:

1.Curriculum Vitae(s) of the lead consultant and assistants
2.A line-item budget including staff, travel, equipment, supplies, and professional services, if applicable.
a.Daily professional rate in U.S. dollars
3.References of similar work conducted by the applicant and recommendations, if available.
4.A technical proposal not to exceed 10 pages (not including annexes) that includes a clear description of the project's objectives and good understanding of the scope of work, proposed methodology, and plan for data collection and analysis.
5.A detailed work plan showing resources needed, the time anticipated, and the outcomes to be reached that includes a timeline of deliverables.

Proposals and associated materials must be submitted in English.

Proposals should be submitted no later than 5:00 PM CT on February 9th, 2023. To be considered for award, proposals must be submitted by e-mail to James Bernhardt at jbernhardt@soy.org. Mr. Bernhardt will confirm receipt of each proposal; if receipt has not been confirmed, your proposal has not been received.

ASA/WISHH will consider proposals with a maximum consulting budget and materials no greater than $40,371. This is an all-inclusive contract which includes time, materials, and all travel related costs. Travel costs will not be reimbursed separately. No further funds will be allocated for this activity.

If your proposal is not authorized by signature on Attachment A Proposal Authorization Cover Page, it may not be considered and may be rejected.

Submission of Questions: All questions regarding the preparation of proposals must be submitted in writing (by e-mail) to James Bernhardt at jbernhardt@soy.org no later than 5pm CT on January 12th, 2023. All questions and responses will be available on the WISHH website on or shortly after January 19th, 2023. No questions will be answered over the phone or in person; all questions must be in writing and sent via email.

Non-Discrimination Statement: In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident. ASA/WISHH is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

The firm or individual selected will be required to sign the ASA/WISHH code of conduct and conflict of interest statement.

Award: This RFP does not commit ASA/WISHH to award a contract or to pay any costs incurred in the preparations or submission of proposals, or costs incurred in making necessary studies for the preparation thereof or to procure or contract for services or supplies. ASA/WISHH reserves the right to reject any or all proposals received in response to this RFP and to negotiate with any of the vendors or other firms in any manner deemed to be in the best interest of ASA/WISHH. ASA/WISHH reserves the right to negotiate and award only a portion of the requirements; to negotiate and award separate or multiple contracts for the elements covered by this RFP in any combination it may deem appropriate, at its sole discretion to add new considerations, information or requirements at any stage of the procurement process, including during negotiations with vendors; and reject proposal of any vendor that has previously failed to perform properly or in a timely manner contracts of a similar nature, or of a vendor that, in the opinion of ASA/WISHH, is not in a position, or is not sufficiently qualified, to perform the contract.

This RFP contains no contractual proposal of any kind, any proposal submitted will be regarded as a proposal by the vendor and not as an acceptance by the vendor of any proposal by ASA/WISHH. No contractual relationship will exist except pursuant to a written contract document signed by the authorized procurement official of ASA/WISHH and by the successful vendor(s) chosen by ASA/WISHH.

Offerors submitting proposals must (1) be officially licensed to do such business in the country of their business operation, (2) be able to receive USDA funds, and (3) not have been identified as a terrorist prior to being awarded a contract. In addition, Offeror may be required to provide the following information prior to awarding of the contract:

Documentation to verify licensure (i.e., tax id, registration certificate, etc.)
Code of Conduct
Conflict of Interest
Equal Opportunity

X. ATTACHMENTS

Attachment A: Technical Proposal Submission sheet

ATTACHMENT A: Technical Proposal Submission Sheet

(Complete this form with all the requested details and submit it as the first page of your technical proposal, with the documents requested above attached. Ensure that your proposal is authorized in the signature block below. A signature and authorization on this form will confirm that the terms and conditions of this RFP prevail over any attachments. If your proposal is not authorized, it may be rejected.)
Date of Technical Proposal:
RFP Number:
RFP Title:

We offer to provide the goods/services described in the Scope of Work, in accordance with the terms and conditions stated in Request for Proposal referenced above. We confirm that we are eligible to participate in public procurement and meet the eligibility criteria specified.

The validity period of our proposal is days/weeks/months from the time and date of the submission deadline.

Type of Business/Institution (Check all that apply)
Offeror certifies that it is:
[ ] Non U.S. Owned/Operated [ ] Government Owned/Operated
(If Non U.S. Owned/Operated is selected, continue to Anti-Terrorism Certification)
OR FOR US ORGANIZATIONS ONLY:
[] Nonprofit[] For-Profit[ Government Owned/Operated
[] Large Business[] Small Business[ College or University
[ ] Women Owned [ ] Small and Disadvantaged Business

Anti-Terrorism Certification
The Offeror, to the best of its current knowledge, did not provide, within the previous 10 years, and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that it does not and will not knowingly provide, material support or resources to any individual or entity that commits, attempts to commit, advocates, facilitates, or participates in terrorist acts, or has committed, attempted to commit, facilitated, or participated in terrorist acts.

The Offeror also verifies that it does not appear on 1) the website of the Excluded Party List: https://www.sam.gov; or 2) the website of the United Nations Security (UNSC) sanctions committee established under UNSC Resolution 1267 (1999) (the "1267 Committee"): http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/1267/consolist.shtml.

The undersigned declares s/he is authorized to sign on behalf of the company listed below and to bind the company to all conditions and provisions stated in the original RFP document including attachments from ASA/WISHH.

Proposal Authorized By:
Signature: ______________________________Position: _______________________
Name: ______________________________ Date: __________________-___
Authorized for and on behalf of: (DD/MM/YY)

Company:
Address: _\
Business Registration Number______________________

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