Request for Information (RFI) #MCC-17-RFI-0081 and Expressions of Interest (EOI) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT BEHAVIOR CHANGE RELATED TO ENERGY CONSUMPTION PRACTICES, ENVIRONMENTAL DATA AND OPEN DATA AS PART OF THE KOSOVO THRESHOLD PROGRAM

MCC is no longer accpeting EOIs for this RFI Request for Information (RFI) #MCC-17-RFI-0081 and Expressions of Interest (EOI) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT BEHAVIOR CHANGE RELATED TO ENERGY CONSUMPTION PRACTICES, ENVIRONMENTAL DATA AND OPEN DATA AS PART OF THE KOSOVO THRESHOLD PROGRAM INTRODUCTION The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is working with the Government of Kosovo (GOK) on the development of a Threshold Program. MCC requires consultancy services to support the due diligence of projects and activities that will effectively address behavior change components of the reliable energy and transparent and accountable governance constraints to economic growth in Kosovo. Technical advisory support to MCC will be required for a period of 5 years. Once the threshold program enters into force - expected during 2017 - the GOK entity accountable for Threshold implementation will use MCC Threshold funds to select implementing partners. Implementing partners can be government ministries, individual consultants and consulting firms. Note: Offerors on this present MCC procurement, when issued, are advised that the firm awarded a contract by MCC for these due diligence services will not be eligible to bid for services for the same or related activities on subsequent procurements by the eventual GOK entity responsible for actual implementation of Threshold program using MCC funds. DESCRIPTION and PURPOSE The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) and Requesting Information (RFI), comments, questions and suggestions on a Draft Statement of Work for technical services for the behavior change related to energy consumption practices, environmental data and open data as part of the Kosovo Threshold Program. The purpose of this RFI is to: 1) offer the opportunity for interested organizations to provide information, opinions, recommendations on innovative approaches for implementation, and ask questions for the draft Statement of Work before it is finalized; 2) conduct market research, to determine interest in the services as currently envisioned or as may be modified given the responses to this RFI; 3) to receive responses to the specific questions set out below; 4) provide an anticipated time table for the solicitation; and 5) provide the industry a platform to collaborate and participate in the upcoming solicitation. After incorporation of the industry's comments and suggestions, the MCC anticipates releasing a Request for Quotation (RFQ). Note that this is a Request for Information (RFI) and not a Request for Quotation (RFQ). This RFI asks only for comments and questions related to the attached draft SOW, which is planned for subsequent release of a Request for Quotations (RFQ) anticipated to be issued in July of 2017. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. This RFI does not commit MCC to issue a solicitation, contract for any supply or service. Responders are advised that MCC will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFQ. It is the potential offerors' responsibility to monitor www.fbo.gov for the release of the solicitation. GENERAL PROJECT OBJECTIVE The objective of this requirement is to provide expert skills to MCC for the due diligence technical services for the Kosovo Threshold Program. The Contractor shall serve as a technical advisor to MCC providing due diligence and design improvement recommendations on the GOK's environmental data, open data challenge and behavior change related to reliable energy proposals; the Contractor is not a technical advisor to the GOK. SPECIFIC PROJECT OBJECTIVES The specific objective of this requirement is to provide support to MCC for due diligence activity design and implementation of: (1) Behavior Change related to Reliable Supply of Electricity - this activity will pilot various types of economic incentives and modalities for households to invest in cost-effective, energy saving measures, including subsidizing investment in energy efficiency products (e.g. insulation, windows, sealing building envelope), as well as testing consumption-based metering of district heating systems. The behavior change component of this activity will include an assessment of barriers to change habits, willingness to pay for household investments, effective methods of behavior change communication in Kosovo, and the design and implementation of a behavior change strategy, including what types of data or information may be most motivating. (2) The Environmental Data Activity - this activity will provide support to GoK institutions involved in environmental protection and health promotion to effectively monitor and report on select environmental indicators to a variety of stakeholders, including the public. The activity would also strengthen the ability of civil society to interpret the data in order to engage more productively with the GoK on environmental and health issues. (3) The Open Data Challenge Activity - this activity will foster productive partnerships between government and civil society (including private sector), and support innovation in data use and analysis, and a culture of information sharing and evidence-based decision-making by awarding grants through a competitive process to individuals or organizations who have creative ideas about how to use, analyze, and present data to support government's analytical and public communication needs. The Draft Statement of Work is attached below. All comments, suggestions and questions from the industry are welcome. Expression of Interest to bid are requested (see the info below). QUESTIONS In addition, MCC is seeking industry responses on the following questions: 1. What advantages, if any, would there be to procuring the services required for the Open Data Challenge Activity separately from services required for the Environmental Data Activity? 2. What skills should be required for the Environmental Data Team as a whole? 3. What skills should be required for the Open Data Challenge Team as a whole? 4. What skills should be required for the Reliable Supply of Energy Behavior Change activity? 5. What methodology(ies) should be required or tested for the Behavior Change activity (e.g. approaches to assess barriers to change related to promoting and realizing cost-effective, energy saving measures, including metering of district heating systems, or types of information presented)? 6. Please review the titles/roles and qualification requirements for the illustrative list of base period personnel for each of the three activities and suggest any changes or additions that would produce a stronger team. 7. What is a reasonable amount of man-hours for each key personnel associated with each of the three activities, considering the deliverables listed? 8. How would you envision integrating the Behavior Change activity with the more technical (engineering, environmental, and financial) analyses of options to be offered to consumers for energy efficiency and metering for district heating? RESPONSES Responses to the RFI, comments, questions and suggestions on the Draft SOW and MCC's questions listed below should be forwarded to Nataliya Holl, Senior Contract Specialist, at contact@example.gov and Andrew Lee, Contract Specialist, at contact@example.gov by June 27, 2017 at 2:00 pm EST with "RFI MCC-17-RFI-0081 RFI for Kosovo" as the email subject line. Expressions of Interest from the companies are welcome until MCC provides a specific deadline later in the RFQ. All proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. Please clearly identify proprietary information as "proprietary," if any, in your responses. The Proprietary Information obtained through this RFI will be held in confidence and will not be disclosed to the public, unless specifically requested by responding sources. All other responses will be used to inform MCC's SOW design and may be incorporated into any future solicitation. Please note that responders will not receive individualized feedback. RESPONSES TO THE RFI Responses to the RFI are limited to 12 (twelve) pages and shall include, at a minimum, the following: 1) The name and address of the company; 2) Primary point of contact, phone number, and e-mail address of the company; and 3) Size and type of ownership of the organization. Please attach any documents that support your comments to the questions above. Attachments should not exceed 10 pages in total. EXPRESSION OF INTERESTS MCC is seeking to open this RFI and the future solicitation, in a manner consistent, where feasible, with Open Contracting Principles (http://www.open-contracting.org). More information will be provided at the RFQ, when it will be published at www.FBO@gov . By using the Open Contracting Principles, MCC would like to create an open forum for exchanges of ideas and forming a partnership (prime contractor and with the subcontractors) for this future solicitation. All prime and subcontractors are encouraged to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to MCC, which will be published on FBO for the companies to form partnerships and submit a better informed proposal. The window for submitting EOIs will be open until the future solicitation will be closed, sometime in July-August 2017; MCC will provide a specific deadline later. In addition, MCC will make publically available a list of all organizations, contact names and information that submitted an EOI to enable collaboration and provide information for prime applicants seeking to partner with sub-partners. Please note that it is NOT mandatory for respondents to this RFI to submit an EOI. EOI INFORMATION CONTENT 1. Organization name 2. Contact person name and title 3. Contact phone and e-mail address 4. Short (max 2 pages) description of particular area of expertise and potential value added to the services or in partnership with others to deliver the services.