Project SEARCH Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Project SEARCH? What are the details of procurement procedures, end date of the IQC, and any issues with ceiling price?
Project SEARCH is an Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC) with five prime contractors: Boston University, Futures Group International, Family Health International, Johns Hopkins University, and the Population Council.
A Mission writes a Request for a Task Order Proposal (RFTOP) – including a Scope of Work (SOW) – which the Mission contracting officer then sends to the IQC COTR who circulates the RFTOP to all Project SEARCH primes requesting a bid. The proposals are reviewed at the Mission level, and the Mission or regional contracting officer awards the task order contract. There is no ceiling on individual task orders. The ceiling for the overall IQC is $200 million. A task order can go five years starting at the time of award and can go up to three years beyond the life of the Project SEARCH IQC contract. Even if a task order is awarded three years into the Project SEARCH contract, it still can go for five years.
Visit the Project SEARCH Web site.
2. What’s the difference between TASC3 and Project SEARCH?
TASC3 and Project SEARCH are two separate IQCs, with a different set of prime contractors. Some organizations have been named as prime contractors under both TASC3 and Project SEARCH, but they are separate programs.
TASC3-Global Health is designed to meet the need for cost-effective short- and long-term support to Missions and other Bureaus in the areas of population, health, nutrition, and infectious diseases by offering operating units the flexibility to procure customized services and the ability to operate quickly in an emerging and expanding health initiative. Illustrative Global Health sector areas in which TASC3-Global Health contractors are likely to be requested to perform are service delivery, health policy reform, community mobilization and individual behavior change, monitoring and evaluation, capacity building, and commodities system management.
Project SEARCH (Supporting Evaluation and Research to Combat HIV/AIDS) more narrowly aims to carry out research and evaluation to improve the coverage, quality, and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs worldwide. In addition, it will serve to strengthen local capacity in HIV/AIDS research and public health assessments through training and in-country collaborations. Project SEARCH may be used for developing and evaluating models of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs; conducting public health evaluations to investigate effectiveness of interventions and translating results into public health guidelines; identifying and disseminating best practices to improve program efficiency and effectiveness; developing national and international standards and indicators for the purpose of program monitoring and evaluation; conducting analyses of clinical, community-level, and population-based epidemiologic, demographic, and surveillance data; testing program implementation models, including research on practical applications of new technologies and intervention models in resource-poor settings; carrying out feasibility studies, community preparedness studies, and policy analyses; and developing local capacity in applied research and ethical procedures by increasing technical skills of in-country investigators and providing technical assistance to local institutions.
3. What is an estimated time frame needed for USAID/Washington to review the SOW with budget and approve it prior to being able to release the RFTOP?
The role of the COTR is to certify that the SOW of the task orders written by Missions fit under the overall SOW of the IQC. Complete drafts of SOWs can normally be cleared within one week. The COTR does not have to approve the budget for the task order, but the COTR may review budgets for over $5 million, given the $200 million worldwide ceiling for this IQC. The COTR for Project SEARCH will also work with the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to assure that proposed SOWs are consistent with the goals, policies, and priorities of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
4. Will there be any centrally managed task orders under Project SEARCH with the opportunity for Missions to buy into?
Yes, there will be centrally managed task orders under Project SEARCH. These task orders have not yet been developed, but they will be managed by a COTR
at USAID/Washington. Some of the priorities of forthcoming central task orders may include addressing global priorities across multiple countries in line with PEPFAR priorities for research and evaluation; providing Missions with smaller evaluation budgets a mechanism to buy into a central program; supporting the evaluation of special initiatives as designated by the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator; supporting research and evaluation in areas where USAID’s comparative advantage, including linkages to other global health and development issues, is important.
5. Are there any opportunities for assistance from HQ in writing RFTOPs or SOWs?
Yes. HQ will post examples of well-structured SOWs and RFTOPs on the Project SEARCH Web site. There are also opportunities for some hands-on assistance from HQ, but this will be very limited in scope and provided on a case-by-case basis, as there are few HQ personnel who are able to commit significant time to this type of assistance on a regular basis.
6. What is a general timeline to compete a task order within Project SEARCH?
A timeline is set by the Missions. The Mission writes the RFTOP, posts it on the Project SEARCH Web site, gives the contractors time to respond, evaluates the responses, and makes the award. Depending on complexity, this process can take as little as three weeks or as long as three months.
USAID’s New Management System (NMS) states that contracting officers shall generally complete task order negotiations and awards within 64 calendar days of receipt of an acceptable statement of work (including tangible results and benchmarks), budget estimate, and selection criteria.
7. Is it possible for USG agencies besides USAID to use this mechanism? For example, could a CDC program under PEPFAR use this mechanism?
Yes. The contractual structures are in place for other USG agencies to use the Project SEARCH mechanism if they wish to do so. However, the structure to transfer GHAI funds from one agency to another is not well established, so it may take some time to work this out if another agency actually wishes to use this mechanism. We anticipate that this will be resolved in the near future.
8. Can a non-competitive task order be awarded? What is the benefit of sole sourcing a task order?
Missions do have the option under an IQC to justify a non-competitive task order to a prime partner. The contracting office permits non-competitive awards due to urgency, unique or highly specialized capability of the prime partner, or follow-ons to a task order written against Project SEARCH or another contract – but the justification must be compelling and fully explained in writing. Exceptions must be approved by the contracting officer in the field.
Sole sourcing a task order cuts out the time a panel would spend evaluating proposals. However, an SOW must still be written, a budget negotiated, and the task order awarded.
9. One of the prime contractors of Project SEARCH is working in my country. Can I use the Project SEARCH mechanism to continue what they are doing?
Missions do have the option under an IQC to justify a non-competitive follow-on activity to a prime partner to a task order written against Project SEARCH or another contract. If the previous activities were funded under a cooperative agreement, then Missions must consider whether using the urgency or unique or highly specialized capability justifications is reasonable. However, an SOW must still be written, a budget negotiated, and the task order awarded.
The follow-on activity must be directly related to prior work in this area in order to be considered for a non-competitive follow-on. For example, if a prime contractor has already collected baseline information for a particular technical area of HIV prevention, care, or treatment, then it may be reasonable (though not required) to consider a non-competitive task order for a follow-on activity to that Project SEARCH prime contractor.
Having an established performance record and reputation of conducting HIV/AIDS research and evaluation is not justification for a non-competitive follow-on, nor is having in-country experience justification for sole-sourcing a task order.
10. One of the prime contractors of Project SEARCH is working in my country. Can I use this mechanism for them to do some new work?
Any new HIV/AIDS research and evaluation efforts through Project SEARCH will be subject to limited competition within any of the five prime contractors who wish to bid on an RFTOP. Having an established performance record and reputation of conducting HIV/AIDS research and evaluation is not justification for a non-competitive follow-on, nor is having in-country experience or presence enough to sole-source a new scope of work. See the answers above regarding parameters for non-competitive awards, including follow-ons.
11. How specific can one be in eligibility requirements for a contractor and for the key personnel to be hired?
RFTOPs may state as a requirement that the offeror has prior experience in a certain health sector and use local staff. Past performance in the country or region may be one of the scoring criteria. At the same time, the criteria cannot be so restrictive that they do not give fair opportunity to compete.
12. Are the prime contractors limited in their subpartners to those listed on the award?
No. Prime partners may solicit the assistance of other subpartners beyond those listed in the initial award of the Project SEARCH IQC. However, the overhead rates and indirect costs that have been negotiated with the prime are fixed, regardless of adding new subpartners.
13. Can a prime contractor use a subpartner from another prime partner’s list of subpartners?
USAID works directly with the prime contractor only. Prime contractors may engage other subpartners within the parameters of their contracts and fixed overhead and indirect cost rates.
14. If a prime contractor wins the task order based on a certain sub doing critical work and then switches the sub after the award, what recourse do we have?
A prime contractor will be awarded a contract based on the technical criteria established in the RFTOP. If subpartners are proposed in the RFTOP, the use of these subpartners will become part of the terms of the task order. Regardless of the subpartners, the prime partner will be contractually bound to complete the work proposed.
15. Can a task order be written initially for $XXX with the possibility of expansion or is a new task order required to continue the following year?
A task order can be incrementally funded, exactly like a contract or a cooperative agreement. The ceiling amount should be written into the award with language such as “year two will be funded after review of the year one performance.” An outline of possible activities for the following year(s) should be put into the language of the SOW. Further details can be developed within the following years’ work plans if the activities are to be continued. Task orders can also utilize options in their contract language for items and services that are likely to be bought as work progresses.
16. What is the usual overhead rate used in the Project SEARCH proposal budgets?
Overhead rates and indirect costs have already been negotiated under the IQC and are fixed. It is therefore possible for the contracting officer to see these rates. (They are not distributed beyond the contracting officers because they are proprietary information).
17. Where can one get a copy of IQCs contracts for all contractors?
Only Lisa Bilder, the contracting officer for the IQC, is authorized to send the contracts of the primes under Project SEARCH. She can be reached at lbilder@usaid.gov.
18. Is there an estimated negotiated rate for indirect costs and fees for each contractor? Are there estimated fee rates that can be used? What is the highest daily rate? What is the estimated fringe rate for a group?
Only the IQC contracting officer, Lisa Bilder, can provide copies of the IQCs to the contracting officer/specialist at the Mission end. However, the IQCs do not list functional labor categories or burdened daily rates. They include ceilings on indirect cost rates and fee. Every contractor has its own rates.
Therefore, and for estimating purposes only, use the following ranges:
32-35 percent Fringe Benefit – applied to direct labor
45-60 percent Overhead – applied to labor and fringe
7-15 percent G&A – applied to total cost excluding fee
6-9 percent fee for the prime – applied to total cost
5-6 percent fee for subs – applied to subcontract cost
Back to Top ^
|
