Invitation for bids (1) – IRI عودة إلى الفرص

Background: The International Republican Institute (IRI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization dedicated to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide. Since 1983, IRI has worked to develop democratic institutions and ideals, carrying out a variety of international programs to promote freedom, self-government and the rule of law worldwide. IRI provides technical assistance in the areas of political party strengthening, developing civic institutions and open elections, promoting democratic governance and advancing the rule of law. 

IRI has been operating in Tunisia since 2011 in variety of capacities including development of political parties, civic and voter education, improvements in communications; development of civil society and support for good governance in ministries. IRI seeks to work with a car rental agency to rent cars for expats in Tunisia. 

Period of Performance: July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 with the option to extend for one additional year. 

Scope of Work: Interested bidders must provide a bid outlining the following: 

• Ability to lease two or three four-doors large sedans with unlimited mileage to IRI’s office based in Tunisia on a monthly rate. 
• Provide additional vehicles (including vans or buses) as needed, on a daily rate, for visiting trainers, consultants or IRI headquarters staff. The vehicles will be driven throughout Tunisia. 
• Ability to provide transfer services on an as needed basis. 
• Offeror will be responsible for all repairs and maintenance for the leased vehicles. 
• Offeror will be also responsible for providing comprehensive all-risk (full coverage) insurance for the vehicles. 
• During repair and maintenance periods, the Offeror will assume responsibility for repair of the vehicle and provide an alternative vehicle for IRI to use during the period of repair or maintenance. 
• For monthly and daily rentals, IRI will provide its own drivers and fuel for the vehicles. 

Technical Bid: Interested bidders must present the technical bids, no more than 5 pages (not including attachments), outlining the following information: 

• Brief description of the organization, including the number of available vehicles and location of office(s) 
• Pricing for one car per month, inclusive of taxes. Offeror should also submit pricing for one van, one additional car, and one bus per day and per airport transfer or other transfer (if available) 
• Proof of organization’s registration in Tunisia 
• Photos of and details on each vehicle available in fleet, including vehicle make, model, year, mileage and registration. 

If the Bidder is a U.S. organization/resident, or a foreign organization/resident which has income effectively connected with the conduct of activities in the U.S. or has an office or a place of business or a fiscal paying agent in the U.S., the technical bids must contain Bidder’s Taxpayer Identification Number. 

Price information should be presented as a firm-fixed Unit Price for each of the deliverables identified below and in the format of the table below. Pricing must be valid for at least 60 (sixty) calendar days after the due date for proposal submission. The proposed Unit Price should be fixed and inclusive of all costs to perform, including inspection services, transportation, taxes, import duties (if any), and other levies. If there are any additional fees not reflected in the table below, such pricing must be fully described in the bid. Bids must be submitted in TND; payments under any resulting contract will be made in this currency. 

IFB Terms and Conditions:
1. Prospective Bidders are requested to review clauses incorporated by reference in the section “Notice Listing Contract Clauses Incorporated by Reference”. By submitting a bid, bidder agrees to comply with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation and agreement to the services identified above, and will specifically identify any disagreement with or exceptions to the terms, conditions, and provisions.

2. IRI may reject any or all bids if such is within IRI’s interest.

3. The Bidder’s initial bid should contain the Bidder’s best offer.

4.IRI reserves the right to make multiple awards or partial awards if, after  considering administrative burden, it is in IRI’s best interest to do so.

5.Discussions with Bidders following the receipt of a bid do not constitute a rejection or counteroffer by IRI.

6. IRI will hold all submissions as confidential and shall not be disclosed to third parties. IRI reserves the right to share bids internally, across divisions, for the purposes of evaluating the bids.

7. If IRI continues to require the goods and services and the price remains reasonable and within market norms, resulting contract may be renewed each year for up to 2 years with 30 days’ notice to the Contractor. Bidder must establish any price increase for each renewal year in the initial bid.

8. Bidders confirm that the prices in the bid/proposal/application/quote have been arrived at independently, without any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other bidder or competitor for the purpose of restricting competition.

9. Bidders agree to disclose as part of the bid submission: 

a.Any close, familial, or financial relationships with IRI staff and agents. For example, the bidder must disclose if a bidder’s mother conducts volunteer trainings for IRI.

b. Any family or financial relationship with other bidders submitting bids. For example, if the bidder’s father owns a company that is submitting another bid, the bidder must state this.

c. Any other action that might be interpreted as potential conflict of interest.

Evaluation and Award Process: 

1. IRI may contact any Bidder for clarification or additional information, but Bidders are advised that IRI intends to evaluate the offers based on the written bids and reserves the right to make decisions based solely on the information provided with the initial bids. IRI may but is not obligated to conduct additional negotiations with the most highly rated Bidders prior to award of a contract, and may at its sole discretion elect to issue contracts to one or more Bidders.
2. Mathematical errors will be corrected in the following manner: If a discrepancy exists between the total price proposed and the total price resulting from multiplying the unit price by the corresponding amounts, then the unit price will prevail and the total price will be corrected. If there were a discrepancy between the numbers written out in words and the amounts in numbers, then the amount expressed in words will prevail. If the Bidder does not accept the correction, the offer will be rejected.
3.  IRI may determine that a bid is unacceptable if the prices proposed are materially unbalanced between line items or sub-line items. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable total evaluated price, the price of one or more contract line items is significantly overstated or understated as indicated by the application of cost or price analysis techniques. A bid may be rejected if IRI determines that the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk.
4.  IRI will conduct a source selection based as follows:

Best Value

IRI intends to make an award to the responsible Bidder based on the following evaluation factors: 

a) Technical evaluation, (including technical capabilities and proposed technical approach) – 60 percent 

• Vehicles in good condition, secure and can withstand long-distance travel between regions- 40 percent 
• Ability to provide extra vehicles as needed – 20 percent

b) Price – 40 percent 

IRI intends to evaluate bids in accordance with these factors and make an award to the responsible bidder whose proposal is most advantageous to the program. 

5. If a cost realism analysis is performed, cost realism may be considered in evaluating  performance or price.

IRI Obligations Issuance of this IFB does not constitute and award commitment on the part of IRI, nor does it commit IRI to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a quotation. 

Notice Listing Contract Clauses Incorporated by Reference IRI is required to make the contractor subject to the clauses of the prime award. This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Where “flow-down” to the contractor is appropriate and applicable, references to “USAID” or ”Department of State” shall be interpreted to mean “IRI”, “Recipient” to mean “Contractor”, and “Subrecipient” to mean “lower-tier subrecipients”. Included by reference are 2 C.F.R. 200 and USAID Standard Provisions for Non-US Non- governmental Organizations/US Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions.