SPECIAL NOTICE
99 -- Lesotho: RFI - Pre-cooling Technologies/Equipment for Agricultural Produce Ref no: MDIH/S/23-07
- Notice Date
- 1/21/2024 6:45:18 PM
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 3331
—
- Contracting Office
- MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION Washington DC 20005 USA
- ZIP Code
- 20005
- Response Due
- 2/16/2024 7:00:00 AM
- Archive Date
- 03/02/2024
- Point of Contact
- Procurement Agent
- E-Mail Address
-
palesotho@charleskendall.com
(palesotho@charleskendall.com)
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION for Pre-cooling Technologies/Equipment for Agricultural Produce Ref No: MDIH/S/23-07 2 Instructions to Vendors (ITV) Maseru, Lesotho 17th January, 2024 Pre-cooling Technologies/Equipment for Agricultural Produce in Lesotho 1. In May 2022, the United States Government, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a grant agreement called a Compact with the Government of Lesotho (GOL) to help accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction in the country. MCC is a federal corporation of the government of the United States of America, which aims at reducing poverty through development assistance to countries that are dedicated to good governance, economic freedom, and investing in their citizens. The Compact includes investment from MCC of approximately US $300 million and a corresponding contribution of approximately $22.273 million from the GOL, which is acting through a Millennium Challenge Account-Lesotho II Authority (�MCA-Lesotho II� or �MCA Entity�),. MCA-Lesotho II is the accountable entity ( AE) established through an act of the Government of Lesotho (GoL) Parliament to implement the Lesotho Compact II. The Compact addresses ineffective delivery of public goods and services necessary to create private-sector led, poverty-reducing growth in Lesotho, one of the country�s most binding constraints to economic growth. The Compact and its related documents can be found on the MCC website (Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact). The Compact includes three projects: the Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) project, the Business Environment and Technical Assistance (BETA) project and the Market-Driven Irrigated Horticulture (MDIH) project (Annex 2), which will assist the Government to increase rural incomes related to commercial horticulture, including for women, youth, and the rural poor, and to establish a sustainable and inclusive model of irrigation, water resource, and land management. The MDIH project consists of three closely related investment activities described below: Institutional Reform Activity: to support policy reforms, capacity building, and technical assistance that ensure strong legal and policy frameworks in water, land and gender are in place to equitably and sustainably support inclusive growth of irrigated horticulture in Lesotho; Irrigated Horticulture Support Services Activity: to help smallholder farmers and landholders, including women and youth, overcome the obstacles to sustaining their irrigation systems by providing relevant technical assistance and attracting experienced commercial farmers to help leverage smallholder efforts and sustain infrastructure investments. In addition to training and capacity building in horticulture, business development, gender and social development approaches, the project will provide grants to smallholder farmers (SHFs) to cover their capital requirements including costs of on-farm connections to the main irrigation systems and of mechanized machinery. Additionally, the project will support with the award of grants to small businesses that design for commercial use, mobile, energy efficient and affordable technology/equipment for precooling or the process of removing field heat from produce immediately after harvest to slowdown the deterioration and senescence processes thereby decreasing potential post-harvest loss. Given that post-harvest handling and cold chain management in particular are generally expensive and consume significant energy, the Parties expect that developing an affordable precooling system will work to reduce financial barriers of irrigated horticulture for smallholder farmers, while also reducing the exorbitant amount of value destruction associated with post-harvest losses associated with poor cold chain management. Irrigation Infrastructure Development Activity: to develop up to four irrigation schemes in the Lesotho Lowlands, at Manka, Tsoili-Tsoili, Likhakeng, and Phamong, to the north and south of Maseru, respectively. This irrigation infrastructure will cover up to 1,580 hectares on these four (4) sites. 3. MCC requires that all beneficiaries of MCC Funding, including the MCA Entity and any applicants, Bidders, Suppliers, contractors, Subcontractors, consultants, and sub-consultants under any MCC-funded contracts, observe the highest standards of ethics during the procurement and execution of such contracts. MCC�s Policy on Preventing, Detecting and Remediating Fraud and Corruption in MCC Operations (�MCC�s AFC Policy�) is applicable to all procurements and contracts involving MCC Funding and can be found on the MCC website at: https://www.mcc.gov/resources/doc/policy-fraud-and-corruption. 4. The MCA � Lesotho II is requesting information from vendors with considerable experience in Integrated Cold Chain. This Request for Information (RFI) is to identify vendors capable of designing and implementing mobile, climate-smart, and affordable pre-cooling solutions suitable for fresh produce in Lesotho. 1) We are searching for market solutions to the pre-cooling issues affecting the MDIH Project in Lesotho; 2) The RFI is intended to obtain information on whether such solutions exist in the market; 3) If MCA identifies that such solutions exist in the market, it will solicit proposals from commercial suppliers to provide such solutions to address the pre-cooling needs of the project in exchange for grants and other payments; The MCA-Lesotho II intends to apply a portion of the MCC funding to incentivize the design of a precooling equipment responding to the following technical requirements: � Precooling core temperature of horticultural products at least three (3) metric tons of 17�C horticulture product down to 4�C in eight (8) hours or less; � For at least three (3) consecutive days; � Relying on renewable, non-fossil fuels during this three-(3)-day period; � Demonstrating the mobility of the entire unit, including associated components to transform from fully operational to completely mobile in less than two (2) hours; � Priced to enable positive return on investment (ROI) to smallholder farmers or entrepreneurs leasing or buying the pre-cooling solutions. MCA-Lesotho II is publishing this RFI to find out whether there exist market solutions to respond to the pre-cooling needs specified above. The RFI is intended to collect information and proof of technical capability from existing vendors that are currently generating innovative cooling solutions. Should the RFI findings show availability of similar technologies/equipment, MCA-Lesotho II will solicit proposals from the vendors to provide such solutions to address the pre-cooling needs of the MDIH projects in exchange of grants or other forms of compensation. 5. A Pre-Procurement Conference will not be held. 6. Interested vendors are advised to seek clarifications to this RFI by email to palesotho@charleskendall.com by 26th January 2024. The AE may not respond to any clarifications submitted after this date and time. All request for clarifications shall be official and in writing. Responses to clarification questions shall be issued no later than 17:00 hours on 1st February 2024. 7. Vendors may submit a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) or similar pricing metrics based on their responses. For the avoidance of doubt, the MCA-Lesotho II is not requesting or accepting actual priced proposals or quotes. 8. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. MCA-Lesotho II is not seeking quotations, bids or proposals, and shall not accept unsolicited quotations, bids or proposals if submitted. 9. All costs associated with responding to this RFI (or participating in the pre-procurement conference and/or demonstrations where applicable) are solely the responsibility of the vendors; the MCA Entity will not be responsible for any costs incurred in response to this RFI. 10. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation document, if any is issued. 11. Information shall be submitted only electronically, via email to palesotho@charleskendall.com. 12. Submitted Information (including ROM/price metrics) shall not exceed 10 pages. A page is considered to be one printed side of A4 or US letter-size paper. 13. The deadline for receipt of your Information is Friday 16th February 2024 at 17:00 hours Lesotho time (GMT +2). Yours sincerely, For MCA-Lesotho II 5 TECHNICAL DOSSIER 1. Additional MDIH project details The Irrigated Horticulture Support Services (IHSS) Activity within the MDIH project, is comprised of three sub-activities that support development of a sustainable, market-driven commercial irrigated horticulture sector in Lesotho, characterized by gender and social equity and empowered smallholder farmers. The Land Rights Formalization Sub-Activity is intended to work in tandem with the Rural Land Registration sub-activity under the Institutional Reform Activity. The aim of the Land Rights Formalization Sub-activity is to support landholders within the planned scheme perimeters in securing documented land rights through land leases, the strongest form of landholding in Lesotho. Documenting women�s rights and those of vulnerable groups is a high priority. This will be accomplished through technical assistance and support to local councils and the relevant government entity to identify landholders, confirm land rights, conduct land use planning, and issue formal land leases for each irrigated parcel in the names of the lease holders, and through support to landholders with pre-existing rights to decide how they want to use the irrigated land parcels they will receive through the project. The Scheme Management and Capacity Building Sub-Activity will support the design and establishment of the governance structures necessary to successfully manage, operate ,and maintain the irrigation schemes, including farmers associations, water users� associations, and scheme governance boards. It will also design and implement the training and capacity building required by smallholders, as well as provide ongoing support throughout implementation through on-site support teams. Home gardens are also included in this sub-activity. Social and behaviour change and gender transformative methodologies will be used across all tasks under this sub-activity. The Financial Assistance Program Sub-Activity is intended to lower the immediate- and short-term barriers to participation in irrigated horticulture for smallholder farmers and small- to medium-sized commercial entities (e.g., costs of mechanized equipment, recurrent costs for inputs, maintenance or repair of equipment, cost of pre-cooling for produce, on-farm connections to main irrigation systems, etc.). Additionally, the sub-activity supports award of grants to small businesses that design energy efficient and affordable mobile products for precooling or the process of removing field heat from produce immediately after harvest to slowdown the deterioration and senescence processes thereby decreasing potential post-harvest loss. Given that post-harvest handling and cold chain management in particular are generally expensive and consume significant energy, the Parties expect that developing an affordable precooling system will work to reduce financial barriers of irrigated horticulture for smallholder farmers. 2. Proposed questions to the potential vendors Although encouraged, respondents are not required to answer all questions. To aid MCA-Lesotho II - in the review of your submission, please segregate proprietary information. Please 6 be advised that all submissions become MCA-Lesotho II�s property and will not be returned. MCA-Lesotho II reserves the right to reject any or all responses without recourse. This is not a formal question or clarification period; therefore, MCA-Lesotho II will not be providing responses. Responses should not exceed 10 pages, single-spaced, in 12-point font and should include the following: Cover page, not to exceed one (1) page, that includes: � Organization name and address. � Point of contact name and contact information. � Legal registration status. � A brief statement of interest that indicates the organization�s interest in applying as a lead or sub-recipient. If a team or consortium is envisioned, please provide the names of the potential partner organizations. Feedback on the following questions: Provide description of your organizations similar experience in providing working equipment that meets the following technical requirements: � Precooling the CORE TEMPERATURE of at least three (3) metric tons of 17�C horticulture product down to 4�C in eight (8) hours or less; � For at least three (3) consecutive days; � Relying on renewable, non-fossil fuels during this three-(3)-day period; � Demonstrating the mobility of the unit to transform from fully operational to completely mobile in less than two (2) hours; � Priced to enable positive return on investment (ROI) to smallholder farmers or entrepreneurs leasing or buying the pre-cooling solutions. � Experience in Lesotho, other SADC countries, Sub-Saharan Africa, or similar developing countries � What would enable your organization to continue support for the program after the Compact ends, including your organization�s ability to advance activities and deliver a proof of concept of a mobile, precooling unit meeting the specifications above. (estimated duration: 6-9 months) ? � Briefly outline your organisation�s ability to attract funds for the creation, delivery, setup and training of a mobile product meeting the specifications above. � Would your organization consider bidding on this opportunity? If yes, why? If no, why not? � Please include in your reply concerns that are related to i) technical content of the scope of work; ii) any challenges related to the requirements; and any other. � What questions do you have on the Scope, Tasks, Deliverables, or other parts of this RFI? � Please provide any other feedback that would be valuable for this inquiry. 7 Annex 1: Overview of Compact Projects The Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact 1.Business Environment and Technical Assistance (BETA) Project The objective of the BETA Project is to stimulate an increase in firm-level profits and formal employment from a pipeline of Firms supported by the Project, including micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) owned by women and youth and firms in rural areas. The Parties expect inclusive, sustainable private sector growth in Lesotho will be stimulated by creating a robust pipeline of businesses and facilitating a public private dialogue in which these private sector actors can engage with the Government and the Government can respond. 2.Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Project The objective of the HSS Project is to improve health outcomes through strengthening Lesotho�s primary health care system. To accomplish the HSS Project Objective, the Project focuses on strengthening key elements of the primary health care system in Lesotho, specifically increasing the capacity of Lesotho�s Ministry of Health in all ten districts, including all healthcare facilities receiving subventions from the Government, strengthening the patient registration and referral systems, improving clinical competencies and supervision, integrating budgeting and financial reporting systems, and increasing coordination across all levels of the health care system. The Project also supports improved information availability and utilization to contribute to greater transparency and accountability in the health sector. 3.Market Driven Irrigation Horticulture (MDIH) Project The objective of the MDIH Project is to increase rural incomes related to commercial horticulture, including for women, youth, and the rural poor, and establish a sustainable and inclusive model of irrigation, water resource, and land management. The Project plans to achieve this objective by making a catalytic investment in irrigation in partnership with commercial investors, providing local capacity building and technical assistance, and supporting reforms in land, water, and gender with the expectation that these interventions will spur sustainable and inclusive private sector growth and investment in the horticulture sector. DISCLAIMER: THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. FOR UPDATES ON THIS SOLICITATION PLEASE FOLLOW THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE LINK PROVIDED. THIS PROCUREMENT IS NOT CONDUCTED UNDER THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATIONS, IS NOT ADMINISTERED BY THE US GOVERNMENT, AND THE RESULTING AWARD WILL BE MADE BY THE COUNTRY INDICATED IN THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PROCUREMENT PLEASE CONTRACT THE PERSON NAMED IN THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT.
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://sam.gov/opp/9b647343dd1d4ab6964e5e7effe786dd/view)
- Place of Performance
- Address: LSO
- Country: LSO
- Country: LSO
- Record
- SN06940680-F 20240123/240121230039 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's SAM Daily Index Page |