REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)
WEST AFRICA TRADE AND INVESTMENT HUB ACTIVITY
TO: OFFERORS
FROM: CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL, INC.
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) NO. RFP-HQ-0495
SUBPROJECT #: BASELINE SURVEY
PERFORMANCE PERIOD: 11 WEEKS FROM RECEIVING AWARD
RFP ISSUE DATE: 23 DECEMBER 2019
RFP CLOSING DATE: 12 JANUARY 2019
RFP CLOSING TIME: 4:00 PM – LOCAL TIME, WASHINGTON D.C.
REFERENCE: USAID AGREEMENT NO. 72062019C00003
Enclosed is a Request for Proposals (RFP). Creative invites qualified firms and organizations to submit a best-price proposal for West Africa Trade and Investment Hub Activity (WATIH) funded under USAID Agreement No. 72062019C00003. The issuance of a subcontract is subject to availability of funds, successful negotiation of the subcontract budget and terms, and receiving USAID’s Contracting Officer consent, if required. The Contract resulting from this award will be a single firm-fixed price purchase order.
INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS
A. General Instructions
These Instructions to Offerors will not form part of the offer or of the Contract. They are intended solely to aid Offerors in the preparation of their proposals. Read and follow these instructions carefully.
- The proposal and all corresponding documents related to the proposal must be written in the English language, unless otherwise explicitly allowed. Additionally all proposals should be single-spaced with clear section headings, and be presented in the order specified in Attachment III – Evaluation Criteria.
- Proposals must include only the Offeror’s own work. No text should be copied from sources outside of your organization, unless those sources are adequately cited and credited. If Creative determines that any part of the proposal is plagiarized from outside sources, the Offeror will be automatically disqualified.
- Proposals and all cost and price figures must be presented in local currency. All prices should be gross of tax, but net of any customs duties. A firm fixed price purchase order will be issued to the successful offeror in local currency as per requirement of local Law.
- The Offeror must state in their Proposal the validity period of their offer. The minimum offer acceptance period for this RFP is 90 days after closing date of the RFP. If an Offeror has provided a validity period of less than 90 days, they will be asked to revise this. If the Offeror does not extend the validity period, their proposal will be rejected. Creative reserves the right not to make an award.
- The Technical Proposal and Cost/Business Proposal must be kept separate from each other. Technical Proposals must not make reference to cost or pricing information at any point. This will enable in order the technical evaluation to be made strictly on the basis of technical merit.
- Offerors must be licensed and authorized to conduct business in Nigeria, as evidenced by submission of a copy of a valid Business License (if registered as a for-profit company), a valid Host Government license (if registered as a non-profit organization) or a municipal license (if registered as a local vendor of goods or import-export dealer). The copy of the license must clearly show a license number, official government stamp and a date of issue and date of expiry.
- No costs incurred by the Offerors in preparing and submitting the proposal are reimbursable by Creative. All such costs will be at the Offeror’s expense.
- Responsibility Determination: Award shall only be made to “responsive” subcontractors. To enable Creative to make this determination, the Offeror must provide a cover letter, as provided in Attachment IV.
- Late Offers: Offerors are wholly responsible for ensuring that their Offers are received in accordance with the instructions stated herein. A late Offer will be recommended for rejection, even if it was late as a result of circumstances beyond the Offeror’s control. Late offers will only be considered at the procurement department’s discretion.
- Modification/Withdrawal of Offers: Offerors have the right to withdraw, modify or correct their offer after it has been delivered to Creative at the address stated above, and provided that the request is made before the RFP closing date.
- Disposition of Proposals: Proposals submitted in response to this RFP will not be returned. Reasonable effort will be made to ensure confidentiality of proposals received from all Offerors. This RFP does not seek information of a highly proprietary nature, but if such information is included in the Offeror’s proposal, the Offeror must alert Creative and must annotate the material by marking it “Confidential and Proprietary” so that these sections can be treated appropriately.
- Clarifications and Amendments to the RFP: Any questions regarding this solicitation must be emailed to Procurement@westafricatih.com. No questions/clarifications will be entertained if they are received by another means. The solicitation number should be stated in the subject. Responses will be complied and emailed to the requesting potential Offeror, and will be sent to all organizations that requested this RFP,
- or re-posted publicly if offered as a full and open competition. Creative anticipates that discussions with Offerors will be conducted; however, Creative reserves the right to make an award without discussions. It is strongly recommended that Offerors present their best offer.
- Eligibility of Firms – Source/Origin/Nationality: The authorized geographic code for the source and origin of the goods and services and for the nationality of our suppliers under this contract is 937. A full discussion of the source/origin/nationality requirements maybe found at 22 CFR 228 (see http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_02/22cfr228_02.html). Offerors whose proposals fail to meet the nationality requirements will be considered non-responsive.
Failure to agree and comply with any of the above specifications will result in the Offeror being considered unresponsive and the proposal may be rejected.
B. Submission of Proposal:
Proposals must be submitted in two separate e-mails: - E-mail 1 – Technical Proposal
- E-mail 2 – Cost/Business proposal
Each e-mail should be clearly labeled with the RFP number and project title.
Proposals must be delivered no later than the specified date/time to the address below.
Creative Procurement Department
No. 2B Orange Close, Off Volta Street,
Maitama, Abuja.
