SPECIAL NOTICE
R -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development - SWFF RFI
- Notice Date
- 8/30/2013
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Agency for International Development, Washington D.C., USAID/Washington, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 7.10-006, Washington, District of Columbia, 20523, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20523
- Solicitation Number
- SOL-OAA-13-000134
- Archive Date
- 10/5/2013
- Point of Contact
- Securing Water For Food,
- E-Mail Address
-
securingwaterforfood@gmail.com
(securingwaterforfood@gmail.com)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development RFI with Draft Program Description REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Solicitation Number: SOL-OAA-13-000134 Notice Type: Special Notice Subject: Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development Issuance Date: August 30, 2013 Closing Date: October 4, 2013 Closing Time: 14:00 (2:00 PM) EST Background On September 2, 2013 in Stockholm, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Government (Sida), will launch Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development. The Grand Challenges for Development (GCD) program is an innovation and acceleration initiative that began in 2011. Through GCDs, USAID and its partners are sourcing and accelerating the best science and technology-focused innovators, entrepreneurs, and businesses that have the potential to solve specific development challenges. Innovators can come from anywhere in the world. Implementation must take place in a developing or emerging country. Securing Water for Food is the fifth GCD launched over the past two years and focuses on the water/food nexus. Through this program, we are seeking innovations that will improve water efficiency along the food value chain (see diagram below), thus boosting food security and alleviating poverty. The United States Government, represented by the Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Science and Technology (OST), and the Swedish government, represented by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), known henceforth as the Founding Partners, are seeking comments and/or questions from interested parties around the world to help us improve the attached program description in this Notice. Submittal Information Responses may be submitted within the body of the email or as an attachment. Responses must include the following information: •Organization name and address; •Organization point of contact name, telephone number, and email address; •Organization business size and status (e.g., small business, 8(a), HUBZone, etc.), the number of years in business, and affiliate information; •The organization's GSA Schedule contract number, if applicable. In addition to general comments and suggestions, we are requesting specific responses to the following questions: 1.Do you feel that the matching fund requirement (outside market-based financing or self-investment) is reasonable at the validation stage? 2.Should matching funds be an eligibility requirement for innovators at both the validation and scale/commercial growth stages? -Or-Should we only require matching funds as a milestone that must be met in order to receive additional Founding Partner financing? 3.Should we provide milestone-based funding? How do we provide milestone-based funding to ensure the best use of our resources and simultaneously allow for risk-taking and failure? 4.What is your perception of the eligibility and evaluation criteria? Are the evaluation criteria appropriate? Is this rigorous evaluation process too complicated and time consuming for your organization? 5.Are the size of the grants enough of an incentive for you to apply to this program? 6.What elements of the services offered under "non-financial support/acceleration" are most attractive to you? Least attractive? Is anything missing? 7.How easy would it be for you to find experienced implementation partners in a developing or emerging country? 8.How could we improve the program to maximize partnership opportunities between medium- to large-sized companies and entrepreneurs? 9.How can we improve the design of the program to ensure that supported innovations are sustainable? Submit responses to this RFI to securingwaterforfood@gmail.com no later than the time/date stated above. The Founding Partners have not finalized all aspects of the new initiative and need meaningful and substantive comment from the broader community of interest. Subject to availability of funds, current estimated funding for the entire Securing Water for Food program is approximately $25 million. Of this total amount, the Founding Partners anticipate making approximately $15 million available for this solicitation. This Notice can be viewed and downloaded from the Internet at www.grants.gov and www.fbo.gov. The Founding Partners bear no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. Further, be aware that amendments to this Notice may be issued and will be posted on the same Internet site from which you downloaded this notice. You are advised to regularly check the above Internet site for amendments and are encouraged to sign up for update notifications on the solicitation at www.grants.gov and www.fbo.gov. Please do not submit proposals or resumes as they will be discarded. Submissions will not be acknowledged. USAID may use any information provided without incurring any obligation. No phone calls or hand carries please. This announcement is a Request for Information (RFI), not a Request for Proposals (RFP) or a Request for Applications (RFA) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government to issue any solicitation or ultimately award a contract on the basis of this RFI, or to pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. It should be noted that responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any organization in the subsequent procurement. The U.S. Government will not provide answers to any question submitted in response to this request. Responses will be held confidential. Proprietary information should not be sent. Issuance of this Notice does not constitute a binding commitment on the part of the Government to issue a Solicitation, nor does it commit the Government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of any comments. Further, the Government reserves the right to reject any or all comments received. Thank you for your assistance and interest in the Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development. We look forward to your organization's participation. Attachment: Draft Program Description
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