Short Term Technical Assistance (STTA): Conference and Travel Support

Job Description

Scope of Work Overview

The Securing Water for Food TA Facility seeks to engage a firm/team of individuals to support the Amsterdam International Water Week (AIWW) Conference taking place November 2-6, 2015. Conference and travel support will include:

CONFERENCE SUPPORT

• Kick-off meeting
• Conference timeline development and management
• Attendance building, maximize ROI of planned networking event
• On-site speaker management and support
  • Speaker materials/attendee notebook prep with session materials
• On-site problem solving
• Meeting space/room setup
• Attending the AIWW SWFF TA Facility meetings (by phone or in-person if a local vendor)
• Oversee attendee arrivals and departures
  • Setup and staffing for attendee onsite registration or hospitality desk
  • Per diem visa cards – identification of vendor and on-site distribution (sign for) at registration
• Formally designed & printed agenda (card stock)
• General assistance to the project director

TRAVEL SUPPORT

• Travel oversight, documentation/data entry (in Podio), and overall coordination of travel for approximately 50 attendees (tickets will be paid for by Kaizen, issued by our travel agent, and hotel has already been pre-booked)
• Liaising and working directly with the travel agent who will book and issue the tickets

Days Map

• We expect at least 30 person-days of work covered by mostly mid-level staff support, with some hours given to senior management oversight, and some hours to a more junior staff for the administrative support needs. Please state the team make-up that you will provide. A differentiator for this contract is application of the “at least 30-person days” – how you apply the days. The estimated days per month are shown. Days can be carried over to the next month (moved to the next month), but days cannot be moved from a forthcoming month to cover a current month. The bullets show the estimated number of days for each month, building towards more activity in October (just prior to the conference).
  • (3 Days) August – week of August 17 (1); week of August 24 (1); week of August 31 (1)
  • (7.5 Days) September – week of Sept. 7 (1); week of Sept. 14 (2); week of Sept. 21 (3); week of Sept. 28 (1)
  • (13 Days) October – week of Oct. 5 (3); week of Oct. 12 (3); week of Oct 19 (3); week of October 26 (4).
  • (5 Days) November – 2-6 (5 days)
  • (1.5 Days) November – 1.5 days for the final report

Acceptance Criteria

The response to this RFP should be no longer than 5 pages, including the cover letter, which must have the following information:

1. Clearly differentiated (two different) price quotes, one for Conference Support and one for Travel Support
2. Contractor’s name and mailing address
3. Reference to the solicitation (RFP) name
4. Technical and contract points of contact (name, phone number, and e-mail address)
5. Business size (large, small, state/federal certifications—MBE, 8(a), HUBZone, etc.)
6. Dunn & Bradstreet Number (DUNS)
7. Federal Tax ID (EIN, TIN, SS)
8. Affirmation that the quote is valid for at least 60 days
9. A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation and agreement to furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the price set opposite each item
10. Ability to travel to Amsterdam for on-site support

Evaluation Criteria

Award will be made to the Contractor who proposes a best-value offer, as determined by following the procedures outlined in the previous sections. We reserve the right to reject proposals that are unreasonably low or high in price. Price will be evaluated for cost realism. The price will be determined with regard to the fulfillment of the requirements as based on the Scope of Work outlined in the Project Requirements section. We will determine the Contractor’s acceptability by assessing the Contractor’s compliance with the terms of the RFP.

• Technical Proposal and Management Approach – 30%
• Past Performance – 50%
• Cost – 20%

Deliverables

1. Brief activity report (Work Day 10, Work Day 20, Work Day 30)
2. Attendance at the AIWW (November 2-6)
   • Travel would be included for at least one vendor staff member to attend (paid for by the TA Facility budget); pending budget review in October, we may have room for two.
3. Post-Conference Summary Document
   • Conference lessons learned, problems/resolutions, lessons learned document (post-conference) – Due November 19
4. Participation in post-conference TA Facility survey
5. Materials
   • The Contractor will provide materials, such as name tags, name tents, hard copy agenda, signage (2 signs), and other materials as required (or suggested by the contractor).
6. Communications between The Kaizen Company and the Contractor
   • The Contractor will ensure active communication to the participants to keep them informed of the details of the conference/event they will be attending. Further, the Contractor’s point of contact (POC) will coordinate with the Kaizen Travel Agent, ensuring that all travel and hotel bookings meet event requirements, with correct dates, times, and logistical details accounted for.
7. Project Management
   • The Contractor will provide representatives, personnel, and equipment necessary to ensure that the highest quality of service is provided. The Contractor will have the ability to respond to e-mails or phone inquiries and take corrective action on issues. All Contractor personnel providing services under this contract will be fluent in English and meet the requirements detailed below.
8. Key Personnel
   • Project Manager: The Contractor will provide a Project Manager who will be responsible as the POC for Kaizen. The Project Manager will have experience in the management of conference and event planning and will have adequate authority to make decisions to assure timely resolution of problems.
   • Travel Coordinator: The Contractor will provide a Travel Coordinator to coordinate the logistics of all attendees at the conference. The Travel Coordinator will coordinate closely with the Kaizen Travel Agent.

Contractor’s Quality Control and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan

It is Kaizen Company’s intent is to develop Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for this effort. The SLAs will be developed post-award and as mutually agreed between the Contractor and the Kaizen Company. The SLAs, once established, may be subject to change as the conference program progresses and matures.

1. The Contractor will describe its procedures to monitor the quality of the conference and event management (CEM) services relative to the scope described herein with the goal of providing and maintaining the highest level of customer service and satisfaction.

These procedures should include:

• An internal method for monitoring, identifying, and correcting deficiencies in the quality of service furnished
• Providing a “lessons learned” summary for continuous improvement throughout the duration of the contract
• A Quality Service survey form that addresses CEM services to be furnished under this contract.

2. The Contractor should describe and outline its procedures to ensure that the CEM services that are obtained and that any adjustments in conference/event meetings or facilities are professionally facilitated and that any reissue of information is expedited.

Within 15 days of contract award, the Contractor will furnish a preliminary Quality of Service survey (questionnaire) to the Kaizen POC for approval. The Quality Service survey will include, at a minimum: • Courtesy and professionalism of Contractor personnel; Registration accuracy; Overall quality of service provided. The TA Facility will include these questions in the post-event survey.

Instructions for Applying

Please submit a resume and cover letter.

In your attached cover letter, please provide an expression of interest in this position and how you can meet the evaluation criteria as specified above.

Expected Start Date and Completion Date

The period of performance is August 15 – November 19.

About the Organization

The Global Context and Securing Water for Food: Grand Challenge for Development

Approximately 2.8 billion people – 40% of the world’s population – live in river basins impacted by water scarcity. Of those impacted, 1.2 billion people live in areas of physical water scarcity, where demand is greater than the available supply. Another 1.6 billion people face economic water scarcity, where institutional, financial and human factors limit access to water despite an available natural supply.

Between 2000 and 2050, water demand is projected to increase by 55% globally, meaning that the number of people impacted by water scarcity will continue to rise. Furthermore, 70% of all global water use occurs in the food value chain. By 2050, 45% of total GDP ($63 trillion) will be at risk due to water scarcity. We are at pivotal moment when we face unprecedented challenges to food security and the preservation of our global environment.

The $32 million Securing Water for Food: Grand Challenge for Development funded by USAID, the Swedish government (Sida), and the Dutch government (MFA-NL) was launched at World Water Week in 2013. The overarching goal of Securing Water for Food is to enable the production of more food with less water and/or make more water available for food production, processing, and distribution.

The Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development is harnessing the forces of science and technology to develop solutions to water scarcity. At the same time we’re harnessing the forces of the market – the businesses that can actually implement these solutions – to make sure the solutions get to the people. This is an enormous challenge, and with this challenge comes an enormous opportunity.

Securing Water for Food is meant to be additive to ongoing global water initiatives efforts by focusing on prototypes, products, and business models that can promote economic growth and community stability. We believe that by investing in water technologies and business models, we can stimulate new innovation, reach untapped markets, and get water technologies into the hands of people that need them most – thus offering a unique value proposition. Securing Water for Food is therefore focused on areas in which science and technology can play a key role and is identifying game-changing solutions that will increase water availability and/or promote efficient use of water in agriculture.