SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Wildlife Trafficking Technology Challenge - SOL-OAA-14-00051 Sources Sought
- Notice Date
- 1/16/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- 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-14-00051
- Archive Date
- 2/11/2014
- Point of Contact
- Veronica Bates-Shields,
- E-Mail Address
-
vbates-shields@usaid.gov
(vbates-shields@usaid.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Wildlife Trafficking Technology Challenge (WTTC) Prospective Offeror, The United States Agency for International Development seeks to obtain sources contractor, to provide services that fall within the attached Statement of Work Description for the Office of Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3). The specific tasks include designing, launching, managing an international program of innovation competitions, supporting the acceleration to scale, and scaling up of promising ideas and technologies for wildlife trafficking. The Government anticipates issuance of a solicitation mid February 2014. For the consideration set forth in this contract, the contractor shall provide the deliverables or outputs further described in the Statement of Work Description section of this notice. Please ensure registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) and Online Representations & Certifications Application (ORCA) are current and up to date. SAM can be accessed at www.sam.gov; ORCA can be accessed at www.orca.bpn.gov. Questions pertaining to this Sources Sought document shall be submitted no later than 1 pm EST on January 22, 2014 via e-mail to vbates-shields@usaid.gov. Responses to questions will be given no later than 2 business days thereafter. Interested offerors will provide its company profile in accordance to Attachment A of this sources sought document by 1pm EST on January 27, 2014 to vbates-shields@usaid.gov. No phone calls for questions related to this sources sought document will be accepted. The sources sought and subsequent issuance of a synopsis and solicitation in no way obligates the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to award a task order, nor does it commit USAID to pay any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a company profile. Sincerely, /s/ Roderick Watson Contracting Officer   SOURCES SOUGHT In accordance with FAR 5.207, the following prescriptions apply. A. CONTENT: 1. Proposed Solicitation Number: SOL-OAA-14-000051 2. Anticipated Date of Issuance of Solicitation: February 12, 2014 3. Anticipated Closing Date of Solicitation: March 13, 2014 4. Contract Award Dollar Amount: $2,000,000 5. Set-Aside Status: TBD 6. Duration of Contract: Two Years from Date of Award 7. Point of Contact: Veronica Bates-Shields, vbates-shields@usaid.gov 8. NAICS: TBD 9. Contract Type & Service: The Government anticipates awarding a two (2) year labor hour contract. Labor hours shall be based on firm fixed price labor rates and other direct costs will be reimbursed at cost. For the consideration set forth in this contract, the contractor shall provide the deliverables or outputs described within the attached Statement of Work and comply with all requirements. B. TRANSMITTAL: This transmission of Sources Sought is in accordance with the interface description and is available at http://www.fedbizopps.gov. C. GENERAL DESCRIPTION: C.1 TITLE: Wildlife Trafficking Technology Challenge (WTTC) C.2 WORK DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this sources sought transmission will be to obtain sources contractor, to provide services that fall within the proposed Statement of Work specified in the section below for USAID's Office of Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3). The specific tasks include designing, launching, managing an international program of innovation competitions, supporting the acceleration to scale, and scaling up of promising ideas and technologies for wildlife trafficking.   C.3 STATEMENT OF WORK: The overall goal of the Wildlife Trafficking Tech Challenge program is to generate innovative science and technology solutions to combat wildlife trafficking and support the acceleration and scaling up of promising solutions. This will be accomplished through two major tasks: Task 1 - Design, launch and manage an international program of innovation competitions for wildlife trafficking to generate solutions to challenges for use by USAID and its partners. Task 2 - Support the acceleration to scale and scaling up of promising ideas and technologies. USAID would like to initially pursue the ‘Movement of animals and animal parts' sub-challenge, followed by the remaining four in some order; (1) movement of trafficked wildlife and wildlife parts, (2) forensics and intelligence gathering, (3) consumer demand reduction and (4) corruption. C.4 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TASKS 1 AND 2 C.4.1 Task 1: Design, launch and manage an international program of innovation competitions for wildlife trafficking to generate solutions to challenges provided by USAID. In consultation with USAID and partner institutions, the Offeror will design, launch and manage a program of international innovation competitions to generate technological solutions to combat wildlife trafficking. Below is an illustrative list of the types of activities that could be undertaken as part of this objective. I. Competition Design: • Design the award: create the right incentives to attract the best talent o Awards may be monetary, publicity/recognition, assistance (e.g. incubator services like USAID LAUNCH program), or new opportunities (e.g. potential USAID or other partner awards or referral). Incentives offered must be in line with appropriate USAID legal/procurement guidance. o Determine the number of awards to give (e.g. ranked or winner takes all) o Determine the prize platform (e.g. open vs. closed, collaborative vs. competitive, narrow vs. broad audience; see below) • Design the submission process o Decide if applicants should pre-register for the competition and how long the system will be open for pre-registration o Determine submission format (e.g. page limit, appendices, multimedia, prototypes, etc.) and timeline for applications • Design the judging process o Determine if stages should be used for judging, with finalists selected first o If selecting for finalists as the first stage, choose who and what criteria will be used to screen the applicants in consultation with USAID and partners. The criteria should be transparent to all applicants (e.g. listed and explained on the competition website) and may include, for example, measures of feasibility, potential impact, sustainability and scalability. o Choose high-profile judges that will lend credibility to the competition and create publicity o Determine a scoring matrix for the judges and a timeline for decisions. A scoring matrix may weigh each criterion differently, if appropriate, and be numerical or categorical. Each scoring category should have an explicit description available to judges and all potential applicants. • Challenge platform selection/creation o The vendor will create or build on an existing challenge platform to best support the final design of the competitions. o This platform should be able to attract appropriate audiences to match the competition specifications (i.e. a more competitive, closed platform vs. a more open and collaborative platform) II. Competition launch o Publicize the competition to the general public and potential solution holders, including outreach through existing networks and media outlets (see more below) o Identify the most competent and diverse applicants and use targeted approaches to reach a high-probability applicant pool (see more below) o If possible, take advantage of concurrent anti-wildlife trafficking or conservation events/fora for a launch event III. Outreach to solution holders A critical element of the design process will be to animate potential solution holders by creating a supportive structure and process for their engagement. The challenge topics selected for the Wildlife Trafficking Tech Challenge are all important for fighting wildlife crime; however, they may differ in their appeal or relevance to potential solution holders. As each challenge is designed, the Offeror will need to identify the most relevant set of solution holders to target for participation. Because wildlife trafficking is a global crisis, solution holders may come from anywhere in world, and the Offeror should include potential solution holders in developing countries in their outreach. Potential solution holders may be identified from the networks of the Offeror, USAID or its partners on this program. Traditional actors who work in the field of wildlife crime, such as local and international NGOs and governmental entities on the front lines of wildlife trafficking, are natural allies for this program and may wish to submit their own ideas and solutions. An additional role for these actors, rather than as solution holders, may be as key informants/educators about a given challenge to non-traditional solution holders (see more on this below). Non-traditional actors can be an important source of new ideas and solutions. Non-traditional actors may come from the general public, organizations or companies that have a stake/interest in not contributing to wildlife crime or they may come from narrowly focused, expert-led communities. Below are some illustrative examples of non-traditional solution holders that could be targeted for participation in this program: Table 1- Non-Traditional Solution Holders Examples: Movement of trafficked wildlife and wildlife parts Geospatial experts, intelligence analysts, social network analysts, criminologists, organized crime experts, robotics and radio technology experts, explosive detection experts, RFID experts, researches with "detector" animals, programmers, shipping companies Forensics and intelligence gathering Museum and university experts, customs officials, personalized medicine companies, forensic scientists, park staff Consumer Demand Reduction Internet and social media experts, youth, religious and community groups, pet trade groups, hotel and restaurant associations, transportation associations Corruption Various government entities, e.g customs, judicial, enforcement entities, banks, money transfer businesses, social media experts, surveillance technology experts and the press An important part of working with non-traditional partners is ensuring that they understand enough about the issue to propose appropriate solutions. As part of the competition design, it may be necessary to build in some targeted low-cost awareness-raising/education for the potential solution holders. There are many ways to achieve this, such as designing the launch platform (i.e. website) to include links to relevant background/educational material and by organizing virtual fora that bring together potential solution holders with potential users of the technologies or with institutions that have a history of working on issues of wildlife crime. Below is an illustrative list of activities that could be used to reach out to potential solution holders: • Identify the most competent and diverse solution holders through, for example, an analysis of the relevant technological skills required for each challenge, groups with subject matter expertise, non-traditional actors that belong to relevant but seemingly unrelated fields (see table above), the solution holders likely to be drawn to particular prize platforms deemed appropriate for each challenge (e.g. general public vs. highly technical experts, students, tech companies), etc. • Publicize the competition to the general public and potential solution holders through, for example, media outlets, social media, existing USAID, partner, and Offeror networks, trade publications, scientific societies, University department bulletins, etc. • If potential solution holders need additional training on wildlife trafficking issues to be competitive, an educational component should be built into the outreach effort as described above. IV. Competition Post-launch: • Accept submissions o Establish and maintain secure website for submissions o Due to the sensitive subject matter, address issues of anonymity if the personal safety of applicants is a concern • Finalist selection (if applicable) o Based on the judging process determined above • Judges Scoring o Establish a secure process for judges to submit scores • Notify Winners o Ensure proper vetting of winners has been conducted in accordance with USAID and US Government standards for prizes o Address legal paperwork with winners and partners • Plan for awarding events o Determine the preferred scale of events and potential coordination with other anti-wildlife trafficking or conservation events/fora • Help host awarding events (if applicable) o Also serves to build public awareness about wildlife trafficking o Potential to engage high-profile participants (e.g. affiliated with partners) V. Deliverables The following deliverables are expected: • An approved strategy for Phases 1-4 that includes details on: o Competition design o Launch o Post-launch o Management o Outreach to potential solution holders o Post-Selection of winners • An approved web platform for Wildlife Trafficking Tech Challenge program management and outreach. • At least one affordable and accessible technology or other solution developed per challenge to combat wildlife trafficking. C.4.2 Task 2: Support the acceleration to scale and scaling up of promising ideas and technologies. Stimulating the creation of innovative solutions to wildlife crime has little meaning if those solutions are not deployed where needed and scaled as appropriate. A second stage of this program is envisioned that may provide additional resources to support acceleration to scale or scaling up of some of the technologies identified through the innovation competitions. For the current stage, the Offeror will provide limited support towards this aim. Acceleration to scale and scaling up promising technologies generated through the competition could include the following illustrative activities: • Ensure that the competition design and implementation use all opportunities within its means to position technologies for acceleration or scale-up, including, e.g. well-honed challenge statements with opportunities for solution holders to engage with potential users of the technology, relevant judging criteria, selection of judges and more. • In consultation with relevant stakeholders, identify the most appropriate "pathway to scale," i.e. though public means, private means or mixed, and provide some initial recommendations for a pathway to scale. • Provide/create opportunities for technologies to be introduced to potential target users, investors and donors. • Build winner/participant/user communities o Can be accomplished using different processes (e.g. as part of the awarding event, additional workshops that bring winners and investors together, online fora, etc.) o Create a web-based wildlife crime technology clearinghouse where developers/users/funders can connect and follow up on their own with each other. Deliverables The following deliverables are expected: • A report identifying initial recommendations for a pathway to scale for each of the winning solutions and potentially other promising technologies identified through this program. • A Web-based wildlife crime technology clearinghouse, e.g. as part of the Wildlife Trafficking Tech Challenge website. • For each challenge, at least one opportunity for winning solutions and potentially other promising technologies to be introduced to potential target users, investors or donors. C.5 Monitoring and Evaluation USAID will monitor the adequacy of outputs and the Offeror's effectiveness in achieving intended results through USAID's Program Management Plan (PMP) process. The PMP will be developed collaboratively with the Offeror and USAID within 90 days after award. Performance evaluation may include indicators that measure the quantity and diversity of submissions and participants, public awareness (e.g. press attention, website traffic) and adoption rate of solutions. We will focus initial monitoring and impact assessment efforts on understanding and documenting the impact the competition has on the overall level of technological innovation in the field of anti- wildlife trafficking. C.6 USAID Staff Participation The Offeror will report to the Cognizant Technical Officer (COR) located in the USAID/E3 Forestry and Biodiversity Office. The COR expects to review and approve annual work plans and performance monitoring plans; review and follow-up on quarterly progress reports; review proposed changes of key personnel, sub-contractors or partner organizations, meet on at least on a quarterly basis, or as needed, and facilitate information exchange among partners, and monitor compliance with Reg 216. As noted elsewhere in this document, the Contractor is expected to closely consult with USAID on the implementation of this program. C.7 Environmental Determination These activities comply with the Agency's environmental regulations, found at 22 CFR, Part 216. Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) and was approved as a Negative Determination. C.8 Responses to Sources Sought In response to this sources sought transmission, potential offeror must provide at minimum, a completed company profile following the provided format from "Attachment A: Company Profile Format". Offerors should not submit company logos/graphics in the header/footer areas.   Attachment A: Company Profile Format I. EXAMPLE FORMAT: Company Name: Address: City, State & Zip Code: Phone & FAX: Graduation date from the 8(a) program(if applicable):_________________________ Contract Manager (CM)/POC Phone: (123)-456-7890 CM FAX: (123)-456-0000 CM EMAIL: me@mycompany.com Corporate Website: www.website.com Socioeconomic Status (check all that apply): HUBZone  Veteran Owned  SDV Owned  Woman Owned  1. GWAC Functional Area's: 2. History of the Company: 3. Products and Services Offered w/ applicable NAICs:
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