RFQ Number:	007
Issuance Date:	June 06, 2017
Deadline for Questions:	June 12, 2017
Deadline for Offers:	June 15, 2017
Description:	French and English Translation and Interpretation Services
For:	Strengthening Agriculture Value Chains and Youth (SAVY)
Funded By:	USAID AID-675-LA-16-00003
Implemented By:	CNFA
Point of Contact	Keletigui S CAMARA Finances and Operations Director Quartier Petel, Mamou, Guinea +224 622 93 52 52 kcamara@cnfaguinee.org

1. Introduction: The Strengthening Agiculture Value Chains and Youth (SAVY) is a USAID program implemented by CNFA in Guinea. The goal of the SAVY project is to facilitate improved agricultural inputs and credit tools, and increased market information and flows along the rice, horticulture, and livestock value chains in Guinea. CNFA will lead activities that improve input supply services, increase financial inclusion, and facilitate thriving markets, while building the capacity of the next generation of Guinean agro-entrepreneurs to sustain a commercialized, productive, and profitable agriculture sector.

As part of project activities, the SAVY Project requires the procurement of a translator/interpreter to interpret and/or translate documents in French, English and the local language for the SAVY team in and around Mamou, Guinea. The purpose of this RFQ is to solicit quotations for these services.

Offerors are responsible for ensuring that their offers are received by CNFA in accordance with the instructions, terms, and conditions described in this RFQ. Failure to adhere with instructions described in this RFQ may lead to disqualification of an offer from consideration.

2. Offer Deadline and Protocol: Offers must be received no later than 5:00pm, GMT, on June 15, 2017. Offers must be submitted by email or hard copy delivery to the SAVY office. Any emailed offers must be emailed to kcamara@cnfaguinee.org and dngaradoum@cnfaguinee.org. Any hard copy deliveries must be stamped and signed by the offeror’s authorized representative and delivered to the SAVY office located at Kipé, Carrefour Métal Guinéa Conakry, Guinéa, or the SAVY office located at Quartier Petel, in Mamou.

Please reference the RFQ number in any response to this RFQ. Offers received after the specified time and date will be considered late and will be considered only at the discretion of CNFA. The cover page of this solicitation summarizes the important dates of the solicitation process. Offerors must strictly follow the provided deadlines to be considered for award.

3. Questions: Questions regarding the administrative requirements of this RFQ may be submitted no later than 5:00pm GMT on June 12, 2017 by email to Keletigui S CAMARA at kcamara@cnfaguinee.org. Questions must be submitted in writing; phone calls will not be accepted. Questions and requests for clarification—and the responses thereto—that CNFA believes may be of interest to other offerors will be circulated to all RFQ recipients who have indicated an interest in bidding.

Only the written answers issued by CNFA will be considered official and carry weight in the RFQ process and subsequent evaluation. Any verbal information received from employees of CNFA or any other entity should not be considered as an official response to any questions regarding this RFQ.

4. Requirements: The table below contains the requirements of the services. Offerors are requested to provide quotations containing the information below on official letterhead or official quotation format.

Line Item	Description and Specifications	Unit of Measure (day, page, word)	Unit Price GNF
1	Translation	Per Page, 38 lines Calibri font 12, single spacing
2	Interpretation	Per Day

5. Quotations: Quotations in response to this RFQ must be priced on a fixed-price, all-inclusive basis, including delivery and all other costs. Pricing must be presented in GNF. Offers must remain valid for not less than thirty (30) calendar days after the offer deadline. Offerors are requested to provide quotations on official letterhead in the format provided in Section 4 –Requirements.

6. Evaluation: The award will be made to a responsible offeror whose offer based infollows the RFQ instructions, meets the eligibility requirements, and meets or exceeds the minimum required specifications. Evaluation for this procurement will be in two phases.

Phase 1:
The vendor must meet the following criteria to be considered acceptable for consideration in Phase 2:
• Interpreter must have availability in Mamou.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in professional translation or interpretation.
• Work samples provided are correctly translated from English to French and French to English

Phase 2:
Vendors determined to be acceptable in Phase 1 will be shortlisted for Phase 2. Shortlisted vendors will then be expected to take a timed online exam which will assess their knowledge of all three languages (French, English, local). Once exams are completed, the evaluation committee will select the best offeror using trade-off analysis in accordance with the following criteria:
• Online test score – 60 points
• Price – 40 points

Best-offer proposals are requested. It is anticipated that award will be made solely on the basis of these original proposals. However, CNFA reserves the right to conduct any of the following:
• CNFA may conduct negotiations with and/or request clarifications from any offeror prior to award;
• While preference will be given to offerors who can address the full requirements of this RFQ, CNFA may issue a partial award or split the award among various suppliers, if in the best interest of the SAVY Project;
• CNFA may cancel this RFP at any time.

Please note that if there are deficiencies regarding responsiveness to the requirements of this RFQ, an offer may be deemed “non-responsive” and thereby disqualified from consideration. CNFA reserves the right to waive immaterial deficiencies at its discretion.

7. Payment and Award: The award will be awarded to the offeror whose quotation represents the best value to the Project. Any award and payment resulting from this RFQ is anticipated to be in the form of a Blanket Purchase Agreement. This award is subject to the SAVY Project’s terms and conditions as stipulated in Annex C.

8. Offer Format Instructions: Format Instructions: All proposals must be formatted in accordance with the below requirements:

(a) English language only
(b) Include the individual/agency/organization name, date, RFQ number, and page numbers as a header or footer throughout the document.

A full offer will include the following documents:
(a) An offer checklist (Annex A).
(b) A cover letter on company letterhead, signed by an authorized representative of the offeror (Annex B).
(c) A complete Offer in response to the evaluation criteria in Section 6 and in the format provided in Section 4.
(d) A copy of the offeror’s business license, or, if an individual, a copy of his/her identification card.
(e) Two contacts for references from organizations/individuals for which the offeror has successfully performed similar work.
(f) Two samples of work translated from English to French and French to English. The original version should be in the same document as the translated version.
Annex A – Offeror Checklist
To assist offerors in preparation of proposals, the following checklist summarizes the documentation to include an offer in response to this RFQ:

? Offeror Checklist (Annex A)

? Cover letter, signed by an authorized representative of the offeror (see Annex B)

? Official quotation, including specifications of offered services (see Section 4)

? Copy of offeror’s registration or business license

? Two (2) contacts for references from organizations/individuals for which the offeror has successfully performed similar work.

? Two samples of work translated from English to French and French to English.
Annex B – Offeror Cover Letter
The following cover letter must be placed on letterhead and completed/signed/stamped by a representative authorized to sign on behalf of the offeror:

To: SAVY
Kipé, Carrefour Métal Guinée
Conakry, Guinée,

Reference: RFQ no. 2017-05-01

To Whom It May Concern:

We, the undersigned, hereby provide the attached offer to perform all work required to complete the activities and requirements as described in the above-referenced RFQ. Please find our offer attached.

We hereby acknowledge and agree to all terms, conditions, special provisions, and instructions included in the above-referenced RFQ. We further certify that the below-named firm—as well as the firm’s principal officers and all commodities and services offered in response to this RFQ—are eligible to participate in this procurement under the terms of this solicitation and under USAID regulations.

Furthermore, we hereby certify that, to the best of our knowledge and belief:
• We have no close, familial, or financial relationships with any CNFA or SAVY project staff members;
• We have no close, familial, or financial relationships with any other offerors submitting proposals in response to the above-referenced RFQ; and
• The prices in our offer have been arrived at independently, without any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other offeror or competitor for the purpose of restricting competition.
• All information in our proposal and all supporting documentation is authentic and accurate.
• We understand and agree to CNFA’s prohibitions against fraud, bribery, and kickbacks.
• We understand and agree to CNFA’s prohibitions against funding or associating with individuals or organizations engaged in terrorism or trafficking in persons activities.

We hereby certify that the enclosed representations, certifications, and other statements are accurate, current, and complete.

Authorized Signature:____________________	Name & Title of Signatory:_______________________________
Date:___________________________________	Company Name:_________________________
Company Address:_______________________ ________________________________________	Telephone:______________________________ Website:________________________________
Company Registration or Taxpayer ID Number:________________________________	Does the company have an active bank account? (Y/N):__________________________
Official name associated with the bank account (for payment): ___________________________________________________________________________________

Annex C – CNFA Terms and Conditions

1. Ethical and Business Conduct Requirements. CNFA is committed to integrity in procurement, and only selects suppliers based on objective business criteria such as price and technical merit.

CNFA does not tolerate fraud, collusion among offerors, falsified proposals/bids, bribery, or kickbacks. Any firm or individual violating these standards will be disqualified from this procurement, barred from future procurement opportunities, and may be reported to both USAID and the Office of the Inspector General.

Employees and agents of CNFA are strictly prohibited from asking for or accepting any money, fee, commission, credit, gift, gratuity, object of value or compensation from current or potential vendors or suppliers in exchange for or as a reward for business. Employees and agents engaging in this conduct are subject to termination and will be reported to USAID and the Office of the Inspector General. In addition, CNFA will inform USAID and the Office of the Inspector General of any supplier offers of money, fee, commission, credit, gift, gratuity, object of value or compensation to obtain business.

Offerors responding to this RFQ must include the following as part of the proposal submission:
• Disclose any close, familial, or financial relationships with CNFA or project staff. For example, if an offeror’s cousin is employed by the project, the offeror must state this.
• Disclose any family or financial relationship with other offerors submitting proposals. For example, if the offeror’s father owns a company that is submitting another proposal, the offeror must state this.
• Certify that the prices in the offer have been arrived at independently, without any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other offeror or competitor for the purpose of restricting competition.
• Certify that all information in the proposal and all supporting documentation are authentic and accurate.
• Certify understanding and agreement to CNFA’s prohibitions against fraud, bribery and kickbacks.

Please contact Djimasbe Ngaradoum at dngaradoum@cnfaguinee.org with any questions or concerns regarding the above information or to report any potential violations. Potential violations may also be reported directly to CNFA at to FraudHotline@cnfa.org or by phone at 202-296-3920.

2. Terms and Conditions: This solicitation is subject to CNFA’s standard terms and conditions. Any resultant award will be governed by these terms and conditions; a copy of the full terms and conditions is available upon request. Please note the following terms and conditions will apply:

(a) CNFA’s standard payment terms are net 30 days after receipt and acceptance of any commodities or deliverables. Payment will only be issued to the entity submitting the offer in response to this RFQ and identified in the resulting award; payment will not be issued to a third party.
(b) No commodities or services may be supplied that are manufactured or assembled in, shipped from, transported through, or otherwise involving any of the following countries: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria.
(c) Any international air or ocean transportation or shipping carried out under any award resulting from this RFQ must take place on U.S.-flag carriers/vessels.
(d) United States law prohibits transactions with, and the provision of resources and support to, individuals and organizations associated with terrorism. The supplier under any award resulting from this RFQ must ensure compliance with these laws.
(e) The title to any goods supplied under any award resulting from this RFQ shall pass to CNFA following delivery and acceptance of the goods by CNFA. Risk of loss, injury, or destruction of the goods shall be borne by the offeror until title passes to CNFA.
(f) United States law prohibits engaging in any activities related to Trafficking in Persons. The supplier under any award resulting from this RFQ must ensure compliance with these laws.

3. Disclaimers: This is a RFQ only. Issuance of this RFQ does not in any way obligate CNFA, the SAVY Project, or USAID to make an award or pay for costs incurred by potential offerors in the preparation and submission of an offer. In addition:

(a) CNFA may cancel RFQ and not award;
(b) CNFA may reject any or all responses received;
(c) Issuance of RFQ does not constitute award commitment by CNFA;
(d) CNFA reserves the right to disqualify any offer based on offeror failure to follow RFQ instructions;
(e) CNFA will not compensate offerors for response to RFQ;
(f) CNFA reserves the right to issue award based on initial evaluation of offers without further discussion;
(g) CNFA may negotiate with short-listed offerors for their best and final offer;
(h) CNFA reserves the right to order additional quantities or units with the selected offeror;
(i) CNFA may reissue the solicitation or issue formal amendments revising the original RFQ specifications and evaluation criteria before or after receipt of proposals;
(j) CNFA may modify the specifications without issuing a formal notice to all offerors when the revisions are immaterial to the scope of the RFQ;
(k) CNFA may choose to award only part of the activities in the RFQ, or issue multiple awards based on multiple RFQ activities;
(l) CNFA reserves the right to waive minor proposal deficiencies that can be corrected prior to award determination to promote competition;
(m) CNFA will contact all offerors to confirm contact person, address, and that the bid was submitted for this RFQ;
(n) CNFA will contact all offerors to inform them whether or not they were selected for award;
(o) In submitting a response to this RFQ, offerors understand that USAID is not a party to this solicitation and the offeror agrees that any protest hereunder must be presented – in writing with full explanations – to the SAVY Project for consideration. USAID will not consider protests regarding procurements carried out by implementing partners. CNFA, at its sole discretion, will make a final decision on any protest for this procurement.

4. Source/Nationality/Manufacture: All goods and services offered in response to this RFQ or supplied under any resulting award must meet USAID Geographic Code 935 in accordance with the United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 22 CFR §228. The cooperating country for this RFQ is Guinea.

Offerors may not offer or supply any commodities or services that are manufactured or assembled in, shipped from, transported through, or otherwise involving any of the following countries: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, or Syria.

5. Taxes and VAT: As an organization that is implementing a project on behalf of USAID, CNFA is exempt from being charged VAT, customs duty or fee, excise tax, road tax, or any other form of tax or tariff for goods and services purchased for USAID funded activities. As such, offerors agree to exclude VAT or any similar taxes or fees from its cost proposal.

6. Eligibility: By submitting an offer in response to this RFQ, the offeror certifies that it and its principal officers are not debarred, suspended, or otherwise considered ineligible for an award by the U.S. Government. CNFA will not award a contract to any firm that is debarred, suspended, or considered to be ineligible by the U.S. Government.