c) Purchases of $150,000 or above4 -At least three bids, in writing with proposed terms and conditions must be obtained for goods and services expected to exceed $150,000 per transaction. RFP or RFA required. Whenever possible, R4D's request for bid should be submitted in writing to potential suppliers to avoid any miscommunication or misinterpretation of expectations and/or specific requirements. All bids from suppliers should detail the requirements both parties, R4D and the supplier, have agreed upon. After all bids have been reviewed and the supplier has been selected, please see the R4D Policy on Grant and Contract Execution for further guidance on executing grants, contracts, subcontracts, and subgrants with suppliers. 2. Individual Consultants services5 No competitive bidding of individual consulting agreements if R4D Contractor Rate Schedule is applied except where required by federal guidelines or other funder requirements. 6 (see also footnote #7) 3. Sole Source Justification - Conditions for Waiving the Competitive Bidding Process?. If there are justifiable reasons for not competing procurement, document the reasons and attach the justification to the contractor agreement or invoice. a. If Only One (1} Bid is Received When purchasing goods or services where the total value of the procurement exceeds the small purchase threshold for a supplier in the event only one quote can be obtained, detail the solicitation process that resulted in only one bid being received, and include an explanation for why the procurement process was not reopened. Maintain copies of all relevant information in the procurement files. b. If R4D Determines that there is Only One Source When purchasing goods or services where the total value of the procurement exceeds the small purchase threshold, if determined that there is only one source for the desired goods 4 This provtsion does not remove the requirement of Federal awarding agency approval of procurement exceedt ng $100,000 when such approval is requtred in the fundt ng agreement. Procurements (1) awarded by noncompetitive negotiation, (2) awarded when only a single bid or offer was received. (3) awarded to other than the apparent low bidder. or (4) specifying a "brand name" product (~.36(g)(Z) and 2 CFR 215.44(e)) may require prtor Federal awarding agency approval. (NOTE: The above-specified $100,000 threshold for procurement under grants remains unchanged. It is not affected by the change in the Federal simplified acquisition threshold to $150,000.) 5 An individual consultant for the purposes of this pol1cy is a person h1red to provide consulting services whose payment comes from a grant or contract funded project. Please see R4D's policy on Grant and Contract Execution for further details. 6 Where federal funding is involved (via prime or sub contract or cooperative agreement) the provisions outlined in footnote 5-7 must be strictly followed. Applicable competitive bidding requirements must be followed. See #3 of this policy also. 7 Sole Source Procurement (no-bid contracts)are illegal under European Union commissioning law. Contractors (vendors and consultants) selected for services funded by EU based organizations must be competitively bid.
or services, document the justification for sole source award. The justification must be approved by the Managing Director overseeing the program, or the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). Maintain copies of all relevant information in the procurement files. c. Sole Source Justification and Approval. The burden of proof to justify sole source procurement falls to the requester who should prepare a document called a Sole Source Justification and Approval (J&A). The J&A form can be found in the R4D Procurement shared file. It should be signed by the requestor and approved by the Managing Director with oversight for the project/program and the R4D President or CAO. d. Inappropriate Sole Source Justification. Sole sourcing is not appropriately justified and justifiable when used as a method of selecting a preferred supplier. Purchases of this kind, when put under scrutiny, will surely attract auditors interest in their quest for details suggesting a bit of favoritism, partiality, and other bias. At least annually R4D will update its market research before soliciting new bids from vendors who have received sole source contracts from R4D. The market research should evaluate whether R4D is receiving a fair and reasonable price from the vendor and whether such a sole source award is still justified given current market conditions. R4D will prepare a memorandum to the file that includes the documentation that lead to the approval of the sole source justification and the related request for bid; the sole source justification; the request for bid (or a summary of the request where one was not provided in writing); and the cost or price reasonableness evaluation for each sole source award. The memorandum to the file should be updated to include any applicable market research that justifies a subsequent sole source award to the same supplier. 4. Things to Consider When Soliciting Competitive Bids. R4D staff should contact the Operations department for assistance and guidance in developing a request for proposal/bid (RFP). The following guidelines apply when soliciting bids from potential bidders: a) Each potential bidder must receive the same information and business requirements. Be as specific as possible with requirements. Include a complete description of desired product(s) and/or services, the delivery location and required-by date. b) Provide a copy of the R4D's terms and conditions (see the Appendix A of the R4D Supply Services Agreement Template and Appendix B of the Independent Contractor Agreement Template) to each potential bidder. c) Obtain the required number of bids (see above for thresholds) from competent sources of supply. In support of the R4D's commitment to supplier diversity, include small business suppliers in the bid solicitation process whenever possible (see the R4D Small Business Subcontracting Policy). d) To the extent practicable and economically feasible. require goods or services that conserve natural resources, protect the environment, and are energy efficient and that use of the metric system of measurement. 8 e) Obtain federal agency approvals as required for federally funded subcontracts or subgrants.9 f) Provide a contact name, phone number and e-mail address for the supplier that may have questions regarding the request or requirements. g) Clearly define bid submission instructions and submittal day and time. 1100 15th Street. N.W. Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005 R4D.org
Due diligence should be conducted to ensure bids are only awarded to responsible suppliers.10 The responsibility of the supplier should be evaluated considering matters including contractor integrity, past performance, financial and technical resources, and after ensuring the supplier is not otherwise excluded by law or regulation from performing the contract (see for example, the R4D Policy on Conducting Clearances on US Consolidated Screening List UN and EPLS Websites). R4D will prepare a memorandum to the file that includes the documentation that lead to the approval and release of the request for bid, the request for bid, a cost or price reasonableness evaluation, as well as the basis for each competitive award. At no time should one supplier's proprietary information be shared with another supplier. Please remember to allow sufficient time (usually two weeks for complex requests) for the supplier to respond to a request for bid. Once the bids have been received from the suppliers, analyze the proposals to determine which supplier is able to meet all business and delivery requirements, at the least total cost. Contact the Procurement Team if assistance is required to determine which bid represents the best value to R4D. 8 9 Applicable to federally funded subcontracts such as those R4D may award under the R4D Cooperative Agreement. See e.g., 22 C.F.R. 226.44(a) (3) (v). (vi). USAlD rec1pients shall, on request, make available for USAlD, pre-award review and procurement documents. such as request for proposals or invitations for bids, independent cost estimates. etc., when any of the following conditions apply. (1) A recipient's procurement procedures or operation fa 1ls to comply with the procurement standards in this part. (2) The procurement 1s expected to exceed the small purchase threshold fixed at 41 U.S. C. ~(11) (currently $150,000) and is to be awarded without competition or only one bid or offer is received in response to a solicitation. (3) The procurement. which is expected to exceed the small purchase threshold, specifies a "brand name" product. (4) The proposed award over the small purchase threshold is to be awarded to other than the apparent low bidder under sealed bid procurement. (5) A proposed contract modification changes the scope of a contract or 1 ncreases the contract amount by more than the a mount of the small purchase threshold. See 22 C.F.R. 226.44(e). 10 Federally funded subcontracts and subgrants such the R4D Cooperative Agreement may only be performed by responsible contractors. See e.g., 22 C. F. R. 226.44(d).
5. Conflicts of Interest. All procurements shall be conducted in a manner that ensures full and open competition to the maximum extent practicable. R4D employees or members of their families should not directly or indirectly own a "significant" financial interest in any entity doing business with R4D unless: (a) employees have fully disclosed these interests, in writing, to R4D; (b) the employees duties at R4D will not require them to make decisions for R4D that could be influenced by these interests; and (c) the conflict of interest has been reviewed and the employee has received a waiver in writing from R4D that allows the employee to continue his or her involvement in the transaction. In addition, R4D contractors or consultants that develop or draft specifications. requirements. statements of work. requests for bids and/or requests for R4D shall be excluded from competing for such procurements. 6. Competitive Bidding Mechanism. The two primary mechanisms for competitive bid procurement are the Request for Proposals (RFP) and the Request for Applications (RFA). Standard templates for RFPs and RFAs can be found in the R4D shared folder "R4D Procurement." 7. Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Small Purchases When purchasing goods or services where the total value of the contract or subgrant agreement falls below the small purchase threshold, competition is deemed to be impractical. The basis for this determination is that the cost of staff time required to prepare. solicit. and document multiple quotations exceeds the amount that can be saved by such a process on procurements below the small purchase threshold. R4D staff may arrange such purchases through any responsible contractor. a. Small Purchase Threshold - Suppliers (Vendors and Independent Contractors who are entities) Goods - Purchases with a cumulative value less of $10,000 or less. Services - Purchases with a cumulative value of $10,000 or less. 8. All Contractors receiving R4D funds must undergo clearances in accordance with R4D's policy on Conducting Clearances on US Consolidated Screening List UN and EPLS Websites.