Subcontracts

 Our Process

We’re committed to a fair, compliant, and streamlined procurement process. DAI will never ask you to submit payment in order to complete an application or proposal.

Subcontract awards to Africa Trade and Investment activity partners contribute significantly to our overall impact and long-term success and to the success stories that USAID and Prosper Africa will be promoting more broadly. Each year, our Africa Trade and Investment partners are compounding development and business results, and we are committed to working collaboratively with them to capture the most relevant data in streamlined ways to validate the impact of all their work.

    • USAID and DAI develop a solicitation (typically in the form of a Request for Proposal) and evaluation criteria.

    • DAI releases a solicitation to:

      • Full USAID Africa Trade and Investment program partner network.

      • Additional vendors identified through market research (e.g. niche expertise needed outside of the partner network).

    • USAID and DAI answer questions received from offerors and send answers to all potential bidders.

    • Offerors submit proposals.

    • The DAI procurement team identifies a Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) of DAI and USAID staff. DAI holds the majority vote on all TECs.

    • All TEC members certify that they have no conflicts of interest and will adhere to non-disclosure requirements. If there are conflicts of interest, that individual will recuse themselves from the TEC.

    • TEC members receive technical proposals and score proposals individually according to the RFP evaluation criteria.

    • The non-voting DAI TEC facilitator compiles all scores from voting members.

    • The DAI TEC facilitator convenes a TEC panel discussion on technical proposals, limiting discussion to pre-established selection criteria from the RFP. The TEC panel voting members then decide on one of the following actions:

      • To Identify a Shortlist: The DAI TEC facilitator coordinates with offerors to answer written clarification questions or have a phone interview with the TEC panel. The TEC reconvenes to review short-list responses and discuss tradeoffs.

      • Select Successful Offeror(s): TEC agrees on the best firm or consortium, making a unanimous, best-value determination.

      • Cancel or Reissue the RFP

    • The DAI TEC facilitator sends award decision to Chief of Party for concurrence.

    • The DAI TEC facilitator notifies successful offeror(s) and sends required contracting paperwork, including compliance documentation, a draft SOW, and draft subcontract template.

    • DAI holds an orientation call with the winning offeror(s) on the subcontracting process and compliance requirements.

    • If the subcontract is over $250,000 or labor-based, DAI sends a request for consent to subcontract to the USAID Contracting Officer before signing the subcontract.

    • If the subcontract is not over $250,000 or labor-based, DAI can finalize the SOW with the offeror and finalize the subcontract.

    • Subcontract is fully executed. DAI notifies unsuccessful offerors and provides evaluation debrief letters upon request.

    • The team holds a technical kick-off call and implementation begins.