Namibia Compact Infrastructure Program

BACKGROUND AND PROJECT SPECIFIC INFORMATION: Pursuant to the authority contained in the Millennium Challenge Corporation Act of 2003, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) invites submission from all eligible U.S. Professional and International Architect-Engineer (A&E) firms to provide engineering services to assist in project oversight. The Government of the Repubblic of Namibia has received a grant funding to enable the GRN to implement a development program through the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA-Namibia). The program will be implemented through a five year agreement ("Compact"), whose goal is to reduce poverty through economic growth by increasing the competence of the Namibia workforce (knowledge, skills, and attitude), and increase the productivity of agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises in rural areas. The Compact has the following three (3) Project Objectives: a) Education Project Objective; Improve the quality of the workforce in Namibia by enhancing the equity and effectiveness of basic, vocational, and tertiary eduction and of technical skills. b) Tourism Project Objective; Grow the Namibian tourism industry with explicit targeting of income streams to conservancy households. c) Agriculture Project Objective; Increase the total value added from livestock in the northern communal areas of the Republic of Namibia and to increase income from indigenous natural products accruing to poor nationwide. The attached Statement of Work target all three Objectives. The Compact can be downloaded at: http//www.mcc.gov/countries/namibia/index.php. MCC is seeking egistered professional engineers and/or licensed A&E firms that are either individual firms, partnerships, corporations, associations, or other legal entities permitted by law to practice the professions of architecture or engineering. The selection of the A&E firm will be conducted in accordance with the Brooks Act as implemented by FAR Subpart 36.6. TYPE OF CONTRACT/PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: MCC intends to award a five-year Time & Material Contract. The contract will include one base year and four option years. The Government reserves the right to exercise the option(s). The period of performance for the base year will run from contract award through September 30, 2010. SELECTION CRITERIA: The following specific selection criteria are in descending order of importance and must be adddressed in paragraph H of the SF330, and must be documented with resumes. A contract will be awarded to the Offeror whose offer is the most advantageous to MCC and provides the best value based on trade-off analysis. MCC may consider award to other than the lowest price Offeror or the highest technically rated Offeror if such an award is in the best interest of MCC. The following technical proposal evaluation criteria are listed in descending order of importance: Sub-Factor 1 - Specialized Experience and Technical Competence; Offerors will provide information on firm's competence in the areas suggested by the statement of work and how specialized experience would be obtained, as required. The information will clearly summarize the nature of the services offered and the types of tasks performed. Offerors will outline their current knowledge of the local construction methods and environmental, social, and institutional conditions. Sub-Factor 2 - Key Personnel Credentials and Availability; Offerors will identify personnel who will be responsible for implementing contract activities and provide information on the personnel proposed, including experts with in-depth knowledge of the Namibia context. Offerors will demonstrate their total strength of key disciplines and availability of these staff over the life of the contract. Offerors shall indicate the language skills of each of the key personnel. Sub-Factor 3 - Past Performance; Offerors will provide information on their past performance, during the last five years on contracts similar in nature to the statement of work. The Offeror shall provide the names, telephone numbers, email address for points of contact in these organizations. The information will summarize clearly the nature of the assistance contracted, the types of tasks performed and the results achieved through the contract, including experience of local firms and institutions proposed to be associated. The Offeror shall provide a narrative of its experience in: (1) managing project/activities of a similar nature, especially in developing countries and (2) capacity to start up rapidly. Sub-Factor 4 - Capacity; Offeror shall demonstrate their capacity to accomplish the work in the required time, citing previous contracting experiences, including in developing countries and availability of proposed staff, among other appropriate evidence. Offerors demonstrating the use of personnel and subcontractors with experience in Namibia will be preferred. Sub-Factor 5 - Methodology and Approach; Offerors should demonstrate their understanding of the requirements for an assignment of this type, the issues likely to be of greatest concern to MCC, and Offeror's proposed methodology and approach for handling this assignment. Offerors should describe in detail their methodology and appproach for each task listed. The description should cover Offeror's understanding of the activities and rationale for their selected approach to execute specific tasks, as well as the roles and relationship between proposed personnel, firm and project management, project quality and schedule control, and subcontractors (if any). SELECTION PROCESS: MCC will evaluate all offerors based on the evaluation criteria as described above. Based on the evaluation rankings a list of at leat 3 of the most highly qualified firms per FAR Subpart 36.602-(3)(c) will be established. All required fill-ins must be completed and all information provided in the format and content requested. Non-conformance with the solicitation requirements shall render the offer non-responsive and the offeror may be ineligible for award. An offeror's proposal is presumed to represent his/her best efforts to respond to the solicitation. The Government intends to award one contract without discussions, as permitted by FAR Clause 52.215-1. Offerors are reminded that offers containing exceptions to the solicitation shall not be evaluated shall render the offer non-responsive and the offeror may be ineligible for award. If discussion are required, any information submitted and/or received during the discussion process may be used as justification for the final ranking of the firm's recommended to the Selecting Official to make the final selection, in order of preference, to determine apparent successful offeror(s) prior to cost discussions. Final selection of the most highly qualified firm and negotiation of the A-E contract will be done in accordance with FAR 36.602-4 and 36-606. Pursuant to the negotiation process, MCC will issue cost related instructions pertaining to the cost submission to the selected firm. TECHNICAL INSTRUCTIONS: Professional Qualifications: The offeror must have, either in-house or through consultants the following disciplines that are licensed, registered or certified where applicable. The professional qualification evaluation will consider education, registration, overall and relevant experience in the type work required and longevity with the firm. The offerors must provide resumes (Section E of the SF330) for these disciplines including consultants. For this section, the resumes must be no more than four pages per discipline, for a maximum of 40 pages. Project Manager: The Project Manager will be responsible for field supervision of the project and quality assurance of all design and other deliverables. As such, the Project Manager should be an experienced engineer with at least 15 years of experience at a senior level in the fields of facility and infrastructure planning and design, including project management. The proposed Project Manager should be able to demonstrate a breadth of relevant technical design experience, ability to lead and coordinate the activities of a multi-disciplinary international technical team, pull together and integrate technical inputs from the team into a coherent high-quality product, skills to forge constructive dialogue and relationship with governmental and non-governmental organization, and success in problem solving. The Project Manager should have: an advanced university degree in the relevant field and Professional Registration in engineering/architecture; experience in similar projects in developing countries is essential and experience in southern Africa is highly desirable. Written and spoken fluency in English is essential. Construction Management/Contracts Specialist: This position should be a professionally qualified civil engineer with at least 10 years of post qualification experience in infrastructure contract procurement and management, including some experience in the region. A minimum of a bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline is required and the professional experience should include at least 5 years previous project management. The background should demonstrate successful experience and knowledge of international competitive bidding processes for works, goods and services with World Bank, US Government and/or other donor agencies. Should also have demonstrated experience in addressing such key areas as technical audits, claims management and litigation. Written and spoken fluency in English is essential. Environmental/Social Specialist: The Environmental/ Social Specialist should be an environmental professional, such as environmental engineer or environmental planner, with at least 15 years of professional experience. A minimum of a master's degree in a relevant discipline is required and the professional experience should include significant experience in the formulation, review and implementation of environmental safeguard documentation for infrastructure projects. Previous experience in Africa is essential. Written and spoken fluency in English is essential. Other Specialists: Additional expertise might be required to provide short or longer term specific oversight services (ex., Project Coordinator, Cost estimator, Surveyor, Geotechnical Engineering, Architect, etc., specialists) not currently foreseen over the implementation timeframe of this project. The Consultant should be prepared to provide such services within a reasonable time in response to MCC's written request for such services. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Interested Architect-Engineer firms having the capabilities to perform this work are invited to submit one original and five (5) hardcopies of a completed Standard Form 330 to include your proposed team, including the prime contractor, consultants, subcontractors, and joint ventures to the Attention of Ted Wallace, Sr. Contract Specialist (Contractor Representing MCC) at Millennium Challenge Corporation, 875 Fifteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005. In addition to the hard copies, one (1) electronic version of all data shall be submitted electronically in a single PDF file to contact@example.gov. However, if such PDF file exceeds 10 MB in size it can be separated into no more than two (2) PDF files including: (a) Proposal Body file; and (b) Resumes of Key Personnel file. The SF330 version (6/2004) must be used, and may be obtained from the Government Printing Office or from the following website: http://www.gsa.gov/. The SF330 must be received no later than August 13, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. Daylight Saving Time (DST). Joint Ventures must clearly identify their intention to form a legal joint venture partnership, but are not required to provide documentation of legal agreements until contract award. Offerors shall submit the SF330 written in English using Font: Times New Roman, Font Style: Regular, and Size: 10 to 12 with each page numbered consecutively. SF330 must contain Part I and Part II complete and current. Firms may be rejected f or submitting incomplete SF 330s, or for incorrect or missing elements. Do not include promotional brochures, advertisements, and or other extraneous material in the submission. This is not a Request for Proposal. Include the firm's primary point-of-contact, e-mail address, telephone number and facsimile number in the submittal. The Africa MCA offices are not responsible for any delays that result in late receipt of submittals. Therefore you are advised to provide for early delivery of submittals. Firms are encouraged to personally deliver submittals or use a delivery system that documents the date and time of receipt and recipient. Prospective Offerors may submit questions in response to this Combined Synopsis/Solicitation in writing no later than July 27, 2009 by 2:00 p.m. DST. Questions must be sent to Ted Wallace via e-mail at contact@example.gov. SUBJECT line must read: Questions for Independent Engineering Consultant Services for Namibia. MCC encourages the participation to the maximum extent possible of small business concerns, small disadvantaged business concerns, and women-owned business concerns in this activity as prime contractors or subcontractors in accordance with FAR Part 19. In this respect, it is anticipated that the prime contractor will make every reasonable effort to identify and make maximum practicable use of such concerns. The subcontracting plan is not required with this submittal. SUBCONTRACTING PLAN REQUIREMENTS: Upon receipt of your SF330 for this project, the prime or the joint venture will be reviewed by the Contracting Officer to determine if you have complied on past projects with the subcontracting requirements for that respective contract. If a large business is selected to negotiate a contract, the firm will be required to present an acceptable Small Business and Small Disadvantaged Business Subcontracting Plan in accordance with Public Law 95-507 prior to award of the contract. The current subcontracting goals are 30% to Small Businesses, 5% to Woman Owned Small Business, 5% to Small Disadvantaged Business, 3% to Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, and 3% to HUBZone Small Business. These percentages are applied to the total amount of subcontracted dollars. Estimated start date is September 2009. To be eligible for award, a firm must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database, via the CCR Internet site at http://ccr.gov. Register to provide certifications and representations at http://orca.bpn.gov. In Block B.5 of the SF 330, Part II, provide the DUNS number for the prime firm or Joint Venture. The DUNS number must be for the firm/branch office performing the work. For assignment of DUNS numbers, contact Dun & Bradstreet at +1 (555) 000-0000, or via the internet at http://www.dnb.com. In accordance with FAR 36.209, no contract for any follow-on construction work shall be awarded to the firm that designs the project or its subsidiaries or affiliates. Issuance of this solicitation notice does not constitute an award commitment on behalf of the U.S. Government (USG). The USG reserves the right to reject any and all offers received. Final award of any resultant contract cannot be made until funds have been fully appropriated, allocated, and committed through internal MCC procedures. Any resulting award from combined synopsis/solicitation will be administered in accordance with applicable FAR and MCC's Contracting Operating Manual (COM) clause and provisions.