USAID South Sudan Safer Schools Support (5S) Project Dear Prospective Applicants: Pursuant to the authority of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, the United States Government, represented by the Agency for International Development (USAID), Mission to South Sudan is seeking applications from qualified U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Non- U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations (Non U.S. NGOs), and U.S. for profit firms (provided they forgo profit) to implement a program entitled USAID South Sudan Safer Schools Support (5S) Project, as fully described in this funding opportunity. Applicants are encouraged to utilize local expertise and local institutions whenever possible in implementing the program. The 5S Project looks to: 1) Improve and expand safer education services for children and youth ; 2) Enhance relevance and promote learner well-being; 3) Strengthen quality and management at the payam level to support basic education; and 4) Respond to crisis affecting the primary education sector (Program Modifier/Rapid Response Mechanism). The USAID South Sudan Safer Schools Support Project is also referred to as the 5S project. Subject to the availability of funds, USAID/South Sudan intends to provide approximately $105 Million in total USAID funding for this activity to be allocated over a five-year period. Pursuant to 22 CFR 226.81, it is USAID policy not to award profit under assistance instruments. However, all reasonable, allocable and allowable expenses, both direct and indirect, which are related to the agreement program and are in accordance with applicable cost standards (22 CFR 226, OMB Circular A-122 for non-profit organization, OMB Circular A-21 for universities, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 31 for profit organizations), may be paid under the anticipated award. In accordance with ADS 304.3.1 (b), the principal purpose of the relationship with the Applicant under the subject program is to transfer funds to accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation, which is authorized by Federal statute. Substantial involvement is anticipated between USAID and the Applicant during the performance of the 5S Project. The successful Applicant will be responsible for ensuring the achievement of the program objectives. Please refer to the Program Description in Section I of this RFA for a complete statement of goals and expected results. For the purposes of this RFA, the term "Grant" is synonymous with "Cooperative Agreement"; "Grantee" is synonymous with "Recipient"; "Grant Officer" is synonymous with "Agreement Officer"; and Funding Opportunity is synonymous with Request For Applications or RFA. This funding opportunity is posted in Grants.gov, the U.S. Government‐wide portal for grant and cooperative agreement opportunities. This RFA, complete with the application package, can be downloaded by interested applicants from www.grants.gov . The RFA package consists of this cover letter and the following: Section I Funding Opportunity Description; Section II Award Information; Section III Eligibility Information; Section IV Application and Submission Information; Section V Application Review Information; Section VI Award and Administration Information; Section VII Agency Contacts; and Section VIII Other information Annexes. To be eligible for award, Applicants must provide all required information in their application, including the requirements found in any attachments to this RFA on www.grants.gov. Applications that are submitted late, incomplete or are non-responsive will not be considered. Award will be made to the responsible Applicant whose application best meets the requirements of this RFA. The preferred method of distribution of USAID Requests for Application (RFA) is electronically via Grants.gov. This RFA and any future amendments can be downloaded from http://www.grants.gov. Select Find Grant Opportunities, then click on Browse by Agency, and select the U.S. Agency for International Development and search for the RFA. It is the responsibility of the recipient of the application document to ensure that it has been received from the internet in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion process. All interested parties are encouraged to register on http://www.grants.gov to receive automatic notification of amendments to this RFA. In the event of an inconsistency between the documents comprising this RFA, it shall be resolved at the discretion of the Agreement Officer. In addition, award of the agreement contemplated by this RFA cannot be made until funds have been appropriated, allocated and committed through internal USAID procedures. While USAID anticipates that these procedures will be successfully completed, potential applicants are hereby notified of these requirements and conditions for the award. The Agreement Officer is the only individual who may legally commit the Government to the expenditure of public funds. No costs chargeable to the proposed Agreement may be incurred before receipt of either a fully executed Agreement or a specific, written authorization from the Agreement Officer. Thus, Applications are submitted at the risk of the Applicant, should circumstances prevent award of a cooperative agreement, and all preparation and submission costs are at the Applicant's own expense. USAID reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications received. If your organization decides to submit an application in response to this funding opportunity, it must be received via email and by the stated due date, time and place designated below for receipt of Applications. Applications and amendments thereto, must be submitted with the name and address of the applicant and the RFA number inscribed thereon to: USAID/South Sudan/Office of Acquisition and Assistance Attn: Dennis Fuentes, Agreement Officer RFA-668-13-000001 4420 Juba Place Washington, 20521-4420 Ph: +1.202.216.6279 All Applications must be sent to the following email account:
[email protected] Hard Copy and Facsimile submission of applications is not authorized and will not be accepted. Applicants may upload applications to http://www.grants.gov; however, USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes associated with electronic submissions. Therefore, USAID/South Sudan requires that applications be submitted electronically (e-mailed) to
[email protected] as further detailed below no later than Thursday, March 28, 2013, 05:00 P.M., Local Time, Juba, South Sudan. All applications must be in the English language and must be received by the Office of Acquisition and Assistance, USAID/South Sudan and not at the USAID offices in Washington, DC or any other location. Applicants should take account of the expected delivery time required by the application transmission and are responsible to ensure that applications are received at USAID by the due date and time stated no later than the deadline date and time indicated at the top of this cover letter and in accordance to the instructions contained in this RFA. Applicants must submit via email one (1) copy of the technical application, and one (1) copy of the cost application. Technical and cost applications must be kept separate and identified as such, with the name and address of the applicant, and the title and number of the RFA inscribed thereon. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered in the review process. Any questions on the information contained in this RFA must be sent to
[email protected] with subject line: RFA-668-13-000001 Questions on 5S RFA from *Name of Organization+ by the specified due date above. If it is determined that the answers to any questions are of sufficient importance to warrant notification to all applicants, a Questions and Answers document, and/or if needed, an amendment to the RFA will be posted at www.grants.gov Questions, comments and requests for clarifications must be sent to
[email protected] no later than Friday, February 22, 2013, 5.00 P.M. Local Time, Juba, South Sudan as stated on the cover letter of this RFA. A pre‐application conference will be held on February 15, 2013, 9:00 am at USAID Office in Juba, South Sudan. Interested applicants who wish to attend the pre-application conference must send an email with the names of representatives and their position titles to
[email protected] with the subject line: Interested Applicant *Name of Organization+. Since space is limited, only two representatives from each organization will be allowed. The issuance of this RFA does not constitute an award commitment on the part of USAID, nor does it commit USAID to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of an application. Applicants who come under consideration for an award that have never received USAID funding will be subject to a pre-award audit to determine fiscal responsibility, ensure adequacy of financial controls, and establish an indirect cost rate (if applicable). While it is anticipated that these procedures will be successfully completed, potential applicants are hereby notified of these requirements and conditions for award. Thank you for your consideration of this USAID initiative. We look forward to your organizations participation. Sincerely, //S// Dennis Fuentes Agreement Officer