Request for Proposal: Evaluation of the New Advocates for Mexican Justice Program aT American Bar Association

Request for Proposal:

Evaluation of the New Advocates for Mexican Justice Program

Table of Contents

Bid Timetable [2]

1.0 General Bid Information [2]

2.0 Proposal Requirements [5]

3.0 Criteria for Selection [5]

4.0 Specifications and Work Statement [6]

Appendix A: Bidder Response Sheet [7]

Appendix B: Evaluative Questionnaire [8]

Appendix C: Price Submittal [9]

Appendix D: Other [9]

Appendix E: Other [9]

Page BreakBid Timetable

The ABA will make every effort to adhere to the following schedule:

Activity

Responsibility

Date

RFP submitted for posting on the ABA website and distributed via e-mail to selected bidders.

ABA

05/26/2021

Deadline for unsolicited bidders who located this RFP on the ABA website to submit clarifying questions.

Unsolicited Bidders

06/06/2021

Deadline to submit clarifying questions via e-mail to Morgan Wyrick lac-recruitment@abaroli.org

Bidders

06/09/2021

Deadline to answer clarifying questions

ABA

06/11/2021

Proposals must be submitted electronically to lac-recruitment@abaroli.org by 11:59 pm ET.

Bidders

06/30/2021

Review is completed and finalists are notified

ABA

07/6/2021

1. General Information

1.1 Purpose. The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative Mexico (ABA ROLI) is a non-profit program, under the ABA’s Fund for Justice and Education, that implements legal reform programs in roughly 43 countries around the world. ABA ROLI has nearly 350 professional staff working abroad and, in its Washington, D.C. office. With a mission of promoting justice, economic opportunity, and human dignity through the rule of law, ABA ROLI has unique needs.

This request for proposal (RFP) is for a Program Evaluation of ABA ROLI’s New Advocates for Mexican Justice Program.

1.2 Issuing Department. The Rule of Law Initiative has issued this RFP on behalf of the American Bar Association. The sole point of contact in the ABA for this RFP shall be:

Morgan Wyrick

1050 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 450

Washington, DC 20036

lac-recruitment@abaroli.org

Please refer all inquiries to Morgan Wyrick.

1.3 Problem Statement or Type of Goods Required.

ABA ROLI Mexico is searching for an evaluation of the program’s effectiveness in 1) improving capacities of training/legal education institutions across three main learning focal areas (alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, oral litigations, and institutionalization of these practices in curricula); and 2) increasing law students’ capacity to effectively provide legal services as future lawyers, with a focus on governmental agencies.

1.4 Type of Contract. The contract needs to comply with the ABA Contract Policy and will be reviewed by the ABA’s General Counsel’s Office. ABA entities do not have separate legal standing to enter into oral or written contracts in their own names. All contracts are entered into on behalf of the American Bar Association. ABA ROLI, in its sole discretion, may undertake negotiations with Bidders whose proposal, in its’ judgment, show them to be qualified, responsible and capable of performing the project or providing the goods. ABA ROLI has the right to select the number of final bidders and the right to use one or more companies to meet its requirements. Only staff authorized by the ABA Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer has authority to execute contractual agreements on behalf of the ABA.

1.5 Rejection of Proposals. The American Bar Association reserves the right, in their sole and complete discretion, to reject any proposal received because of this RFP. ABA reserves the right to reject all offers, to waive technicalities, and to pursue procurement in a manner that is in the best interests of the organization.

1.6 Incurring Costs. The ABA is not liable for any costs the Bidder incurs in preparation and submission of its proposal, in participating in the RFP process or in anticipation of the award of the contract.

1.7 Pre-proposal Conference. There will be no pre-proposal conference.

1.8 Questions & Answers. If a Bidder has any questions regarding this RFP, the Bidder must submit the questions by email to the issuing employee named in Section 1.2 of the RFP. Questions should be submitted no later than the date indicated on the Bid Timetable. The Bidder shall not attempt to contact the issuing employee by any other means.

1.9 Response Date. To be considered for selection, electronic submissions must arrive to the issuing employee on the date specified in the RFP Bid Timetable. Bidders who send proposals by mail or other delivery service should allow sufficient delivery time to ensure timely receipt of their proposals.

1.10 Proposals. To be considered, Bidders should submit a complete electronic response to this RFP, using the format provided in Section 2.0. In addition to any paper copies of the proposal, Bidders must submit one complete and exact electronic copy of the proposal via e-mail. The Bidder shall make no other distribution of its proposal to any other Bidder or ABA employee or ABA consultant. An official authorized to bind the Bidder to its provisions must sign the proposal in Appendix A. For this RFP, the proposal must remain valid for 120 days taking into consideration time required for evaluation of proposals and processing of the contract or until a contract is fully executed. If the Issuing employee selects the Bidder’s proposal for award, the contents of the selected Bidder’s proposal will become, except to the extent the contents are changed through Best and Final Offers or negotiations, contractual obligations.

1.11 Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Information: The ABA encourages participation by minority, women, and small disadvantaged and disabled veteran businesses as prime contractors, joint ventures, and subcontractors/suppliers. MWBE Businesses are businesses that are owned or controlled by a Minority and Women owned business that have a 51% ownership. The Bidder must provide documentation from a certifying agency, state and federal certification that they are a certified minority or women owned business.

1.12 Discussions for Clarification. Bidders may be required to make an oral or written clarification of their proposals to the issuing employee to ensure thorough mutual understanding and Bidder responsiveness to the solicitation requirements. The issuing employee will initiate requests for clarification.

1.13 Prime Contractor Responsibilities. The contract will require the selected Bidder to assume responsibility for all services offered in its proposal whether it produces them itself or by subcontract. The issuing employee will consider the selected Bidder to be the sole point of contact with regard to contractual matters.

1.14 Proposal Contents. Bidders should not label proposal submissions as confidential or proprietary. The issuing employee will hold all proposals in confidence and will not reveal or discuss any proposal with competitors for the contract, unless disclosure is required:

a. Under the provisions of any State or United States statute or regulation; or

b. By rule or order of any court of competent jurisdiction.

All material submitted with the proposal becomes the property of the ABA and may be returned only at the issuing employee’s option. The issuing employee, in its sole discretion, may include any person other than competing Bidders on its proposal evaluation committee. The issuing employee has the right to use any or all ideas presented in any proposal regardless of whether the proposal becomes part of a contract.

1.15 Best and Final Offers. The issuing employee reserves the right to conduct discussions with Bidders for obtaining “best and final offers.” To obtain best and final offers from Bidders, the issuing department may do one or more of the following: enter into pre-selection negotiations, including schedule oral presentations and request revised proposals.

1.16 Term of Contract. The term of the contract will be for a three year period. The final contract will contain language extending the agreement by one year with mutual agreement of the parties. The issuing employee will fix the effective date after the contract has been fully executed by the selected Bidder and by the ABA. The selected Bidder shall not start the performance of any work prior to the effective date of the executed contract and the ABA shall not be liable to pay the selected Bidder for any service or work performed or expenses incurred before the effective date of the contract.

The contract is not considered approved until the terms have been reviewed and approved by the Office of General Counsel. An “American Bar Association Office of General Counsel” approval seal will appear on the contract with the signature of the attorney approving the terms of the contract.

1.17 Use of Electronic Versions of this RFP. This RFP is being made available by electronic means. If a Bidder electronically accepts the RFP, the Bidder acknowledges and accepts full responsibility to insure that no changes are made to the RFP.

American Bar Association2.0 Proposal Requirements

Bidders must submit their proposals in the format outlined below in Appendixes A – C. To be considered, the proposal must respond to every requirement in this part of the RFP. Bidders should provide any extraneous information only as a separate attachment to their proposal.

2.1 Statement of the Problem or Goods Required. Briefly state your understanding of the problem presented, services required by this RFP and any unique capabilities that your company has to deliver these services

2.2 Proposed Solution and Approach. Describe your solution in detail for accomplishing the work as specified in Section 4.0 of this document.

2.3 Evaluative Questionnaire (See Appendix B). Bidders must fully answer all questions listed in Appendix B.

2.4 Price Submittal (See Appendix C). Bidders must not include any assumptions in their price submittals. If the Bidder includes assumptions in its price submittal, the Issuing employee may reject the proposal. All direct pricing information must be submitted in C.

For the program evaluation:

1. Include the cost per workday and hourly rate to design and conduct the program evaluation (including any and all costs for external consultants).
2. Include any administrative/additional fees not included in the cost per workday and hourly rate above.
3. Include payment terms outside of the ABA’s standard payments of 45 days after recAmerican Bar Associationeipt of invoice.
4. General Overhead Expenses should be covered in this quote. However, if there are other costs incurred in support of the activities described in the RFP, please detail these in Appendix C.
5. Include any and all additional costs that may be applied.

3.0 Criteria for Selection

3.1 Mandatory Responsiveness Requirements. To be eligible for selection, a proposal must:

1. Be received according to dates set in the Bid Timetable;
2. Be properly signed by a representative of the Bidder who is eligible to bind them in contract with the ABA;
3. Be in accordance with all instructions as set forth in Sections 1 and 2.

3.2 Technical Nonconforming Proposals. The Issuing employee reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to waive technical or immaterial nonconformities in a Bidder’s proposal.

3.3 Evaluative Questionnaire, See Appendix B.

The Evaluative questionnaire consists of eight questions – bidders should complete all questions.

3.4 Criteria for Selection. The following criteria will be used, in no particular order, in evaluating each proposal:

a. Bidder qualifications;

b. Overall costs to the American Bar Association;

c. Competitiveness in pricing, including any timelines and guarantees;

d. Experience conducting program evaluations and assessing impact relating to the judicial sector.

4.0 Specifications and Work Statement

4.1 Objectives.

The Program Evaluator will assess ABA ROLI’s New Advocates for Mexican Justice Programs four main objectives which include 1) Mexican law schools have capacity to properly train in litigation skills for the New Criminal Justice System (NCJS); 2) Mexican law schools have capacity to properly train in mediation for the accusatorial system; 3) Law schools have a mechanism for continual improvement of teaching practices for the Mexican accusatorial system, 4) Trained law school graduates have an opportunity for placement in government agencies that are involved with the criminal justice system.

4.2 Nature and Scope of the Work needed by the ABA. The ABA requests bidAmerican Bar AssociationAmerican Bar Associationders to describe their process for conducting a program evaluation of this nature and requests bidders to describe how they plan on conducting the program evaluation

4.3 Requirements. As described in Section 3.4 Criteria for Selection, the Association is focused on the following characteristics of the successful Bidder:

• Competitive pricing
• Proven experience conducting program evaluations relating to the rule of law
• Ability to create databases with machine-readable information created from surveys

4.4 Reports and Project Control. The ABA seeks bidders with a demonstrated ability to maintain timelines and regular contact with the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) team at ABA ROLI who handles the program evaluation

Thank you for your interest in working with the American Bar Association.

Appendix A – Bidder Response Sheet

Bidder Information:

Bidder Name

Bidder Mailing Address

Bidder Website

Bidder Contact Person

Contact Person’s Phone Number

Contact Person’s Email Address

Bidder Federal ID Number If DBA in the U.S.

Signature

Signature of an official authorized to bind the Bidder to the provisions contained in the Bidder’s proposal:

Printed Name

Title

Failure to complete, sign, and return this form with the bidder’s proposal may result in the rejection of the bidder’s proposal.

Page Break

Appendix B – Evaluative Questionnaire

Statement of the Problem or Goods Required. Briefly state your understanding of the problem presented, services required by this RFP and any unique capabilities that your company has to deliver these services.

Proposed Solution and Approach. Describe your solution in detail for accomplishing the work as specified in Section 4.0 of this document.

Please respond to each question below.

1. How many years have you been in operation? Where is your major center of operation?
2. Are you a publicly traded or private company?
3. Are you a certified Minority, Women or Disadvantaged Business?
4. What experience do you have conducting program evaluations for rule of law programs?
5. How many clients do you have?
6. Provide references of three existing customers that we may contact. Please include names, phone numbers and emails.
7. What type of invoicing do you typically supply your customers?

Appendix C – Price Submittal

Include all costs related to the program evaluation. Please refer to the full list as shown in section 2.4 of this RFP.