Buyer/Supplier Dialogues in China Request for Proposals

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Buyer/Supplier Dialogues in China Request for Proposals


March 9, 2012


Department of State
Public Notice
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Request for Proposals: Program for China
SUMMARY
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces a Request for Proposals (RFP) from organizations with the capacity to launch of buyer-supplier dialogues in China through a cooperative agreement. The purpose of the dialogues is to identify and develop innovative approaches to address root causes of labor rights violations in the buyer-supplier relationship in order to improve working conditions. Participants will include U.S. manufacturers subcontracting operations to China (“buyers”) from relevant industries, Chinese suppliers, researchers from the U.S. and China, CSR and labor rights advocates, representatives from Chinese civil society and unions representing worker interests, and, in consultation with DRL, representatives of the U.S. and PRC governments.
PLEASE NOTE: DRL strongly encourages applicants to access immediately www.grants.gov in addition to www.grants.gov as indicated in the Proposal Submission Instructions in order to obtain a username and password. It may take up to a week to register with grants.gov and grants.gov. Please see the section entitled, “DEADLINE AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS” below for specific instructions.
REQUESTED PROPOSAL PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
DRL invites organizations to submit proposals outlining program concepts and capacity to manage projects targeting the issues outlined below; all requests are subject to the availability of funding.
This is an open call for organizations that have past experience and expertise with similar initiatives, dialogues, and seminars; demonstrated ability to convene relevant academic, civil society, and company stakeholders; and experience identifying and implementing practical solutions to improve working conditions in supply chains. DRL has up to $350,000 for a project up to one year in length.
Proposed funding should support the following specific activities:
Coordinate and manage at least at least two buyer-supplier dialogues (with at least one taking place in China) with participation from relevant researchers (preferably based in the United States and China), NGOs, companies, and unions. The objective of the dialogues is to bring together multiple stakeholders to improve working conditions in supplier factories. Dialogues should strive to identify innovative, practical strategies for addressing the root causes of labor rights violations and seek to secure commitments from stakeholders to implement such strategies. Potential topics might include, but are not limited to:
Demand, workforce, and material forecasting
Costing techniques and communication
Best practices for remediating health and safety violations
Effective grievance and dispute resolution systems
Produce a written summary of both dialogues and a final report. The final report should include recommendations to buyers, suppliers, and the U.S. and Chinese governments on innovative tactics to improve working conditions through the buyer-supplier relationship. At the grantee’s discretion, the final report may be co-authored with Chinese academics or academic institutions
Develop action plans for implementation of the recommendations developed in the final report.
Dialogue participants should include:
U.S. buyers from relevant industries as determined by topics
Chinese suppliers
Researchers from the United States and China
CSR and labor rights advocates and unions
Representatives from Chinese civil society
U.S. Government – determined in consultation with DRL
PRC Government - determined in consultation with DRL
The proposal will be evaluated against the specific needs identified above, as well as the technical requirements listed in the attachment. As described in the technical requirements, your proposal should demonstrate robust knowledge and experience coordinating dialogues of a similar nature.
The proposal will be evaluated against the specific needs identified above, as well as the technical requirements described below. Proposals should demonstrate robust knowledge and experience coordinating dialogues of a similar nature. Organizations that demonstrate past experience and expertise with similar initiatives, dialogues, and seminars; experience identifying and encouraging implementation of practical solutions to improve working conditions in supply chains; and an ability to convene other academics, civil society organizations, and companies will be deemed most competitive, particularly those exhibiting such experience and expertise within the China context.
Proposals should conform to DRL’s posted Proposal Submission Instructions (PSI), as updated in March 2012, available at http://www.state.gov/j/drl/p/c12302.htm. (For this solicitation, applicants must use the Revised PSI dated March 2012.)
Organizations may request up to $350,000. Proposals that do not meet the requirements of the announcement and PSI may not be considered. Programs that focus solely on academic research, without practical or actionable outputs, will not be highly considered.
The Bureau is committed to the containment of administrative expenses, consistent with overall program objectives and sound management principles. Additional budget guidelines are explained in the PSI. In any cases where the guidelines in the PSI differ from this request, this document takes precedence.
Note: To ensure all applications receive a balanced evaluation, the DRL Review Committee will review the first page of the requested section up to the page limit and no further. DRL encourages organizations to use the given space effectively.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The bulk of funding activities should take place during a one year time frame. DRL welcomes programs that leverage resources from funds internal to the organization or other sources. Cost sharing is strongly encouraged, and cost sharing contributions should be outlined in the proposal, budget, and budget narrative.
DRL will not consider proposals that reflect any type of support, for any member, affiliate, or representative of a designated terrorist organization, whether or not elected members of government.
The information in this solicitation is binding and may not be modified by any Bureau representative. Explanatory information provided by the Bureau that contradicts this language will not be binding. Issuance of the solicitation does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the Government. The Bureau reserves the right to reduce, revise, or increase proposal budgets in accordance with the needs of the program evaluation requirements.
This request for proposals will appear on www.grants.gov and DRL’s website, www.state.gov/j/drl.
APPLICANT/ORGANIZATION CRITERIA
Organizations submitting proposals must meet the following criteria:
Be a U.S. non-profit organization meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c) (3) or a comparable organization headquartered internationally, or an international organization.
Have demonstrated experience administering successful and preferably similar projects. DRL reserves the right to request additional background information on organizations that do not have previous experience administering federal grant awards. These applicants may be subject to limited funding on a pilot basis.
Be a registered user of www.grants.gov. NOTE: This process can take up to one month for new organizations so please register early. See additional details below.
Have existing, or the capacity to develop, active partnerships with in-country entities and relevant stakeholders including industry and non-governmental organizations.
Organizations may form consortia and submit a combined proposal. However, one organization should be designated as the lead applicant.
An OMB policy directive published in the Federal Register on Friday, June 27, 2003, requires that all organizations applying for Federal grants or cooperative agreements must provide a Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number when applying for all Federal grants or cooperative agreements in or after October 1, 2003. Please reference: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/06 ... tifier.pdf for the complete OMB policy directive.
All organizations applying for Federal grants or cooperative agreements will need to be registered with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) http://www.ccr.gov/. Your organization's DUNS number is needed to complete this process.
REVIEW PROCESS
The Bureau will review all proposals for eligibility. Eligible proposals will be subject to compliance of Federal and Bureau regulations and guidelines and may also be reviewed by the Office of the Legal Adviser or by other Department elements. Final signatory authority for assistance awards resides with the Department’s Grants Officer. DRL and the Grants Office reserve the right to request any additional programmatic and/or financial information regarding the proposal.
Proposals will be funded based on an evaluation of how the proposal meets the solicitation review criteria, U.S. foreign policy objectives, and the priority needs of DRL. A Department of State Review Committee will evaluate proposals submitted under this request. Each proposal will be rated along six criteria as detailed in the March 2012 Proposal Submission Instructions (PSI). Please visit the PSI for more details.
DEADLINE AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
Applicants must submit proposals using grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on March 23, 2012. DRL will not accept proposals submitted via email, fax, the postal system, or delivery companies or couriers. Applicants may submit more than one application; however, each application should be submitted only once.
Several of the steps in the www.grants.gov registration process can take several weeks. Therefore, applicants should check with appropriate staff within their organizations immediately after reviewing this solicitation to confirm or determine their registration status with grants.gov.
Applicants are encouraged to submit applications via www.grants.gov. This website is available to all applicants, but DRL especially encourages foreign NGOs and public international organizations to submit proposals through this web site.
Interested organizations using grants.gov for the first time should register on the www.grants.gov site to create a new Applicant account as soon as possible because this process must be completed before an application can be submitted. To register with grants.gov, follow the “Get registered” link. Organizations that have previously used www.grants.gov do not need to register again. If an organization that has previously used www.grants.gov is not able to access the system, please contact Customer Support for help in gaining access (see contact information below).
Please note: In order to safeguard the security of applicants’ electronic information, www.grants.gov utilizes a credential provider to confirm, with certainty, the applicant organization’s credentials. The credential provider for www.grants.gov is Operational Research Consultants (ORC). Applicants MUST register with ORC to receive a username and password which you will need to register with www.grants.gov as an authorized organization representative (AOR). Once your organization's E-Business point of contact has assigned these rights, you will be authorized to submit grant applications through www.grants.gov on behalf of your organization.
Each organization will need to be registered with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) http://www.ccr.gov/, and you will need to have your organization's DUNS number available to complete this process. For more information regarding the DUNS number, please visit www.dnb.com or call 1-866-705-5711. After your organization registers with the CCR, you must wait approximately three to five business days before you can obtain a username and password. This may delay your ability to post your proposal. Therefore, DRL strongly urges applicants to begin this process on www.grants.gov well in advance of the submission deadline.
No exceptions will be made for organizations that have not completed the necessary steps to post applications on www.grants.gov .
Once registered, the amount of time it can take to upload an application will vary depending on a variety of factors including the size of the application and the speed of your internet connection. In addition, validation of an electronic submission via www.grants.gov can take up to two business days. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you not wait until the application deadline to begin the submission process through www.grants.gov.
The www.grants.gov website includes extensive information on all phases/aspects of the www.grants.gov process, including an extensive section on frequently asked questions, located under the "For Applicants" section of the website. DRL strongly recommends that all potential applicants review thoroughly www.grants.gov, well in advance of submitting a proposal through the www.grants.gov system.
Direct all questions regarding www.grants.gov registration and submission to:
www.grants.gov Customer Support
Contact Center Phone: 1-800-518-4726
Business Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 hours a week
Email: support@grants.gov
Applicants have until midnight (12:00 a.m.), Washington, D.C. time of the closing date to ensure that their entire application has been uploaded to www.grants.gov. There are no exceptions to the above deadline. Applications uploaded to the site after midnight of the application deadline date will be automatically rejected by the www.grants.gov system and will be technically ineligible.
Please refer to www.grants.gov for definitions of various "application statuses" and the difference between a submission receipt and a submission validation. Applicants will receive a validation e-mail from www.grants.gov upon the successful submission of an application. Again, validation of an electronic submission via www.grants.gov can take up to two business days. DRL will not notify you upon receipt of electronic applications.
Faxed, couriered, or emailed documents will not be accepted at any time. Applicants must follow all formatting instructions in this document and the PSI.
It is the responsibility of all applicants to ensure that proposals have been received by www.grants.gov in their entirety. DRL bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes.
NOTE: Approved applicants will need to register on www.grantsolutions.gov in order to process final awards. In order to use this portal, please follow the instructions to register on www.grantsolutions.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Should you have any questions regarding the solicitation, please feel free to contact georgecm@state.gov . Once the deadline has passed, State Department officials and staff - both in the Bureau and at embassies overseas - may not discuss this competition with applicants until the entire proposal review process is completed.