Request for Proposals

United States Institute of Peace

Track 1.5 Digital Engagements with Sudanese Citizens on Peace and Political Priorities

Virtual

Release Date: July 15, 2024

RFP Due Date: 5:00 pm EST on August 5, 2024

Refer Questions to:

Submit Proposals to:

Ben Clarick

Ben Clarick

bclarick@usip.org

bclarick@usip.org

Pertinent responses will be made available to all offerors by e-mail. No inquiries will be accepted after specified time and date.

The response must be submitted by time and date listed above to be considered.

USIP has prepared an assessment required with the submission of your proposal. Please email Ben Clarick @Bclarick@usip.org for a copy of the assessment “Requesting RFP Assessment” in the subject line

Introduction and Background

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical, and essential for the United States and global security. In conflict zones abroad, the Institute works with local partners to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict. For more information, please visit http://www.usip.org.

For over twenty years, USIP has worked to build an inclusive peace in Sudan through expert advice and training. As part of its programming since the outbreak of the war in Sudan in April 2023, the Sudan program has sought to map out, in collaboration with a broad range of Sudanese civil society, activists, experts and analysts, potential future scenarios for the war in Sudan, to help positively influence the trajectory of the conflict. Through this initiative, USIP is using technology to further engage with a wide range of Sudanese civic actors.

Purpose of the RFP

USIP is seeking an organization to utilize or develop a digital engagement platform to engage with Sudanese civic actors. The digital engagement platform should allow USIP to engage tens of thousands of Sudanese civic actors at once. Through the platform, USIP Sudanese civic actors should be able to express recommendations, priorities, questions, and other short form statements and should be able to view and express agreement, disagreement or neutrality (i.e. up-vote) on statements made by other Sudanese citizens. The platform should collate and identify Sudanese areas of consensus and areas of disagreement for USIP.

The offeror should have prior experience working with political and international stakeholders and using a similar platform analysis. The offeror should not only be able to develop the platform but also provide insight on using the platform, including information on issues and questions that are effective and those that are not.

This RFP will be managed in two phases. USIP will issue a contract for a first phase to further develop the concept, planning, and timelines and hold a first digital engagement. USIP may select multiple vendors for the first phase. USIP will issue a second contract for the implementation of the digital engagements, including the AI analysis. Selection for the first phase does not guarantee a contract in the second phase.

* Scope of Work
* Background

USIP is working in partnership with the Office of Sudan and South Sudan Affairs at the U.S. Department of State to convene a series of Track 1.5 Dialogues with Sudanese citizens. These dialogues are designed inform peace and political processes and support those mediating and facilitating talks by identifying citizen priorities, perspectives and views on issues, including area of consensus and areas of disagreement. As part of this program, USIP seeks to engage with a wider population in a fully digital platform. USIP is also seeking to develop a mechanism to enable live feedback and input from Sudanese citizens to ensure that peace and political processes are more responsive to their needs and priorities.

Project Goals and Objectives

The goal of the project is to utilize a digital engagement platform that can host digital “conversations” with Sudanese citizens. The platform will allow Sudanese civilians to express recommendations, priorities, questions, and other short form statements and should be able to view and express agreement, disagreement or neutrality (i.e. up-vote) on statements made by other Sudanese citizens. The platform will utilize AI to analyze these statements and identify clear areas of consensus and difference. These inputs will allow USIP and those mediating and facilitating peace and political processes to engage on a live basis with tens of thousands of stakeholders and better understand and respond to Sudanese priorities, recommendations, and areas of consensus and disagreement.

Expected Contract Type

Firm Fixed Price

Scope

The project will require the organization to complete the following during the contract term:

Phase 1 Contract

Deliverable 1: Design, contextualize, or apply an existing engagement platform
* Design, contextualize, or apply an existing engagement platform that can identify Sudanese priorities, views and areas of consensus. The platform should have the following capacities:
+ Collect basic metadata;
+ Receive short statements from Sudanese citizens in response to prompt questions or topics;
+ Allow large numbers of Sudanese citizens to express their agreement, disagreement or neutrality on submitted statements;
+ Creates guidelines to minimize misinformation, disinformation or malinformation;
+ Creates guidelines to mitigate or permit management of dangerous speech or hate speech;
+ Auto-translates from English to Arabic and Arabic to English;
+ Operate asynchronously and with minimal internet bandwidth to allow users in Sudan to participate;
+ Use apps and communication platforms accessible to Sudanese (i.e. WhatsApp, Signal or Facebook);
+ Stores data in a secure manner;
+ Analyze and aggregate areas of agreement and disagreement, along with basic data on the number of participants, statements, expressions of agreement/disagreement/neutrality, as well as more advanced insights highlighting consensus statements, groups of individuals based on preferences and metadata, and areas of contention, agreement, or uncertainty.
* Advise on options to generate Sudanese participation in the platform (format, process, pathways to push out invitations and invite participants to opt-in) and identify any existing contact lists or communities of conversation that could be activated.

Deliverable 2: Run a first engagement and produce a report.
* Provide technical support and advice for a first engagement using the platform outlined in Deliverable 1 on a specific topic or issue area. The contractor will use the platform to produce the report on the engagement. The topic and issue area will be identified by USIP.

Deliverable 3: Debrief
* Hold a debrief with USIP and partners at the U.S. Department of State on the success and issues of the platform and test engagement.

Phase 2 Contract

Deliverable 1: Hold 5 Digital Engagements
* Using the previously designed platform, the contractor will provide technical support and advice to hold five engagements, produce and read/interpret AI generated reports and full data sets, with USIP on various topics.

Deliverable 2: Final Report
* The contractor will develop a final report on the engagement, including successes, failures, issue areas, and recommendations. The report should also detail how the work can be scaled up and utilized in other contexts.

Other Requirements

The contractor must be able to securely store data, including metadata, participant submissions, and participant expressions of agreement/disagreement/uncertainty. USIP will retain ownership rights of all data. USIP will weigh any proposals against the NIST Ai Risk Reduction Framework, which will evaluate the proposal on the following points:

1. Valid & Reliable
2. Safe
3. Secure & Resilient
4. Accountable & Transparent
5. Explainable & Interpretable
6. Privacy-enhanced
7. Fair- with harmful biased managed

Tentative Timeline

A tentative timeline for the completion of deliverables is provided below. USIP will work with the selected proposer to finalize deliverables and deliverable due dates upon selection.

First Contract Deliverable

Estimated Due Date

Deliverable 1: Design the Engagement Platform

August 9, 2024

Deliverable 2: Run a test engagement and produce a report.

August 31, 2024

Deliverable 3: Debrief

September 7, 2024

Second Contract Deliverable

Estimated Due Date

Deliverable 1: Hold 5 Digital Engagements

December 31, 2024

Deliverable 2: Final Report

January 31, 2025

Submission Requirements

Any proposal that does not contain all items listed below may be considered nonresponsive. For more detail on the selection process, including corresponding evaluation criteria, please see Section V below. To be considered under this RFP, please submit the following:

Technical Narrative Proposal

The technical narrative proposal should be no more than 5and include the following sections:

Prior Experience

Describe at least three projects of similar scope and complexity that the offeror has worked on previously, with a focus on those that have engaged with political actors and utilized auto-translation. Please provide a point of contact with a telephone number and email address for each of the described projects.

Describe existing platforms that can be used or repurposed to fit the needs of the contract.

Overall Approach and Methodology

Based on the information provided, describe the platform, proposed approach and design of the platform, including methodology, data collection, and data analysis.

Key Personnel, Staffing, and Specific Expertise

Describe the key personnel, their role, their level of knowledge, and how their experience is related and beneficial. Describe the overall staffing plan for the project.

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

For each of the key personnel, please provide a CV of no more than three pages. CVs will not count towards technical narrative proposal page limit.

Cost Proposal

The cost proposal shall include a detailed budget and a budget narrative. The contract for the first phase of work will be up to $5,000. The contract for the second phase of work will be up to $50,000. Budget must be in US dollars and in a spreadsheet format (e.g., Excel). Please note that USIP allows nonprofit organizations to include up to 15% indirect cost recovery on total direct costs for contracts.

Financial Management Assessment Form

Organizations must complete the Financial Management Assessment Form unless they have received Federal grants, contracts or cooperative agreements in the past two years and can provide their audited financial statement from their most recent fiscal year. Please reach out to Ben Clarick to request a copy of the Financial Management Assessment Form if it is not attached to the solicitation.

Certification Page

Complete and sign the Certification Page below and submit with the proposal.

1. Selection Process
2. Schedule

Date

Schedule

July 15, 2024

RFP issued

July 22, 2024

Questions concerning RFP and project emailed to bclarick@usip.org no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

July 29, 2024

Answers to questions will be made available to all offerors.

August 5, 2024

Proposals are due no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Late submissions may not be accepted.

August 9, 2024

Notification to selected offeror

August 23, 2024

Estimated project commencement date

USIP may adjust dates in the schedule or cancel this RFP at any time prior to contract award.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on the criteria below. For more detail on each submission requirement, see Section IV of this RFP. The USIP Selection Committee will review all proposals received on time using the evaluation criteria established below based on the best value offered to USIP. The Selection Committee reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, in whole or in part, to award multiple contracts, and/or to enter into negotiations with any party, in the best interests of the Institute.

Evaluation Criteria

Weight

Technical Narrative Proposal

Prior Experience

30%

Overall Approach and Methodology

30%

Key Personnel, Staffing, and Specific Expertise

10%

Cost Proposal

30%

General Instructions and Terms

1. Complete proposals must be submitted by email to bclarick@usip.org by 5:00 PM on August 5, 2024.
2. The Institute is not liable for any costs incurred by offerors prior to issuance of an executed contract with the Institute.
3. Submissions must be typed and submitted electronically and must include all submission requirements outlined in the Submission of Requirements section of this RFP. No changes or corrections to a response will be allowed after the deadline.
4. All submissions should be in English and US dollars.
5. Any questions concerning this RFP should be directed to Ben Clarick at bclarick@usip.org. Pertinent responses will be made available to all offerors by email. No inquiries will be accepted after specified time and date.
6. Any proposal not addressing all RFP requirements may be considered non-responsive. Late proposals may be rejected as non-responsive.
7. This RFP is not an offer to enter into an agreement with any party, but rather a request to receive proposals from offerors (organizations or persons) interested in providing the services outlined herein. Such proposals shall be considered and treated by USIP as offers to enter into a contract.
8. USIP shall not be obligated for the payment of any sums whatsoever to any recipient of this RFP until and unless a written contract between the parties is executed.
9. Unless stated otherwise within this RFP, the selected Contractor shall be responsible for providing all equipment and/or supplies required to perform the services.
10. The selected Contractor shall not discriminate against any person in accordance with Federal, state, or local law.
11. The submission of any materials to USIP in response to this RFP will constitute (i) a representation that the Offeror owns or has unrestricted license to use and license such materials and all intellectual property expressed therein; and (ii) the grant of a non-exclusive license to USIP to use such materials and intellectual property for any purpose, including specifically the evaluation, negotiation, and documentation of a contract with any party.
12. Offeror will commit to adhering to the attached USIP Terms & Conditions, else risk removal from consideration. Exceptions to these terms must be clearly outlined in an annex to the Technical Narrative Proposal.

Certification Page
(Please submit with the proposal)

A. The Offeror certifies that: (1) Prices in the offer have been arrived at independently without consultation, communication, or agreement with any other competitor; (2) Prices in the offer have not been and will not be knowingly disclosed by the offeror, directly or indirectly, to any other competitor before bid opening or contract award unless otherwise required by law; and (3) No attempt has been made or will be made by the offeror to induce any other competitor to/not to submit an offer for the purpose of restricting competition.

B. Has the offeror received funding from USIP? Yes/No
If yes, provide the grant or contract number and the offeror’s main point of contact at USIP:___________________________________________________________________________________

On Behalf of Offeror:

Name of Organization or Independent Contractor

Signature of Authorized Official

Printed Name of Authorized Official

Title

Date

How to apply

To apply for this position, please use the following URL:

https://ars2.equest.com/?response_id=0602b8a9aa185bfe38b21988cc41d441