This is a Request for Information (RFI). This is not a request for proposals, proposal abstracts, applications or concept notes or quotations. It is a survey to inform USAID/Uganda of available potential sources. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is performing this market survey to determine if an adequate number of local Ugandan organizations are interested in and capable of coordinating and implementing regional capacity building activities, to strengthen regional development institutions as part of USAID/Uganda’s Local Works activities, as further described below.
Background
USAID’s Local Works is a unique program designed to advance locally led development and enhance the Agency’s ability to empower local actors to take the lead in addressing their own development challenges. You can learn more by visiting the USAID Local Works page at https://www.usaid.gov/localworks.
USAID/Uganda’s Local Works activities recognize that local leadership and local partnerships make our work sustainable and effective, and that through partnerships with local actors, we become more context aware and can better facilitate the Agency’s ambition of supporting the Journey to Self-Reliance https://www.usaid.gov/selfreliance.
USAID/Uganda Local Works activities support the mission’s Regional Coordination Initiative (RCI). While the mission maintains and continues to invest in valued partnerships at district levels, the mission also believes that it is important for local and regional actors to have the resources and means to evaluate their regional assets, challenges, progress and regional investment options. If local actors build strong, sustainable and inclusive regional platforms, while listening and learning through ongoing consultations with other local stakeholders, they will be more able to leverage their influence so that diverse stakeholders, including USAID, can be more responsive and more accountable to local priorities. In three regions of Uganda (Northern Uganda (West Nile, Acholi, Lango), Southwestern Uganda (Kigezi and Ankole) and Karamoja), the RCI has conducted extensive listening and learning sessions, and brought together civil society organizations, local communities, district governments, academia, private sector partners, cultural and religious institutions and leaders, and other targeted stakeholders. The mission has also partnered in exploratory ways to learn how regional partnerships in Western Uganda (Bunyoro and the Rwenzori regions) may be of value to local partners. These regional partnerships and platforms are in different stages in their development; some have registered as legal entities (i.e. the Northern Uganda Regional Development Forum) with a fully articulated strategy and regional investment plan, while others are inchoate or in the process of describing regional priorities.
The mission intends to work and co-design a solution to build the capacities of regional platforms and partnerships, and to strengthen collaboration and communication processes.
Project Requirements
To successfully accomplish this work, potential local organisations/institutions will need to be able to work across multiple regions of Uganda, at the grassroots and with national and local counterparts, to operate and assist regional partners to form new institutions, and award sub-grants to local counterparts, including providing oversight and systems strengthening to;
- Strengthen the organizational, management capacity and know-how of local organizations and regional institutions;
- Expand tools for broadening citizen and community awareness and skills for influencing change and promoting investment;
- Build local networks with greater depth for achieving fast and widespread results.
RCI partnerships with local actors include partnerships with highly influential government and non-government partners. Civil society and private sector engagement and coordination is critical. Local organizations supporting these processes will further need to be able to liaise to provide capacity building support while also demonstrating political astuteness, and an awareness of how their work relates to regional and national power dynamics.
Other sub-objectives include: 1) Assisting partners to build linkages between research and development, 2) Using and maintaining state-of-the art communications and information sharing techniques, 3) facilitating the drafting of policy briefs and technical evaluations and assessments, and 4) conducting community information and engagement campaigns to promote the participation of local actors in regional fora.
Successful organizations will further need to be able to map regional actors according to social or organizational analyses and recommend capacity building actions to increase the effectiveness of initiatives.
The project will be implemented in Uganda, and USAID/Uganda may determine to focus on areas beyond the regions already described.
Submission Guidelines
Interested Ugandan local organizations should submit a statement addressing the following points:
- Capacity of your organization, or partnership, to perform the work described above, demonstrated by your potential, high level technical approach.
- Description of past expertise with relevant work. Please include information about clients (governmental, non-governmental), including dates of work performed.
- Suggest additional considerations for the development of the regional development objectives described.
- Please include in your submission the names of two technical representatives from your organization who will be able to participate in a co-creation workshop in Kampala, tentatively planned for March 2020. Representatives should be technical advisers and not business managers, for this March event.
- Statements sent in response to this RFI should not exceed three (3) single-sided pages (including attachments and charts) using an 11-point font size minimum.
- Business type – Local/Ugandan businesses/firms
‘Local’ organization/firm is defined as follows:
- Is organized under the laws of Uganda;
- Has its principal place of business in Uganda;
- Is majority-owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of Uganda or is managed by the governing body, the majority of whose members are citizens or lawful permanent residents of Uganda; and is not controlled by a foreign entity or by an individual or individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Uganda.
- The term “control” or “controlled by” in the above definition means having a majority ownership or beneficiary interest, or the power, either directly or indirectly, whether exercised or exercisable, to control the election, appointment, or tenure of the organization’s managers or a majority of the organization’s governing body by any means, e.g., ownership, contract or operation of law.
- The term “Foreign Entity” means an organization that fails to meet any part of the “local organization” definition.
- Send the statements electronically in Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf) by Friday, January 17, 2020, at 17:00 local Ugandan time to kampalausaidsolicita@usaid.gov:
Attention
Mr. Admir Serifovic Mr. Naveen Srivastava
Supervisory Contracting Officer Sr. Acquisition and Assistance Specialist
USAID/Uganda USAID/Uganda
Disclaimer and Important Notes
This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. This is a REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify local organisations for above project requirements. This notice does not obligate USAID to award a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement, or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. USAID reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Respondents are advised that USAID is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a solicitation may be published on the US Embassy website or Grants.gov website www.grants.gov. It is the responsibility of the potential respondents to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement. Organizations that submit a response may be invited to a pre-solicitation event or co-creation workshop with USAID and other interested organizations, not guaranteed though. Responses to this notice will not be considered responses to a solicitation.
Confidentiality
No proprietary, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. USAID reserves the right to use any non-proprietary information in any resulting solicitation(s).
