Amendment 2 Attachment - BEACON Industry Day Documentation.pdf

Industry Day

Better Access and Connectivity
(BEACON)

6 February 2020
US Embassy, Manila

Participants:

1. Krystyna Osea, GHD Philippines
2. Arnel Paciano D. Casanova, AECOM Philippines
3. Laurence Kristoffer P. Espiritu, AECOM Philippines
4. Olivia Holmes, Chemonics International
5. Meliza Agabin, Chemonics International
6. Edgar E. De Las Alas, Roche, Philippines Inc.
7. Mary Grace Mirandilla-Santos, The Asia Foundation
8. Princess Lou M (Princess) Ascalon, IBM Philippines and Asia Pacific Market Support
9. Elizabeth Crebassa, US-ASEAN Business Council
10. Norika Pineda, US-ASEAN Business Council
11. Jesse Jerome Adrian L. Garcia, Micro-D International, Inc.
12. Yolanda Fernandez, KPMG in the Philippines R.G. Manabat & Co.
13. Dr. Enrico L. Basilio, RESPOND Project
14. Alex Ginn, Nathan Associates
15. Kristen Roggemann, DAI

Sandra Jansen, Contracting Officer
Regional Acquisition and Assistance Office

USAID welcomes and thanks all participants. The purpose of
the Industry Day is to seek the participants' opinions about the
BEACON solicitation. At the same time, this is the participants
opportunity to ask questions and clarify their concerns on the
new design. USAID is still in the process of refining its design.
The proceedings of the Industry Day are recorded, and the
documentation will be released as addendum to the Request for
Information (RFI). The RFI closes on 2 March 2020.

Jeffrey Lehrer, Chief
Office of Economic Development and Governance

Background information relevant for the RFI includes the Journey
to Self-Reliance, a new approach initiated by USAID Administrator
Mark Green. USAID Missions are encouraged to ensure that host
countries are supported in ways that empower them to become
less dependent on foreign assistance.

Another important new approach is USAIDs Private Sector
Engagement Policy which is focused on enterprise-driven
development and market-based solutions. The aim is to partner
with the private sector towards common objectives.

The US Government is also advancing its Indo-Pacific vision to
strengthen partnerships with key strategic countries such as the

Philippines. This Indo-Pacific vision includes three pillars: Economic, Governance and Security.
BEACON contributes to the objectives of the Economic Pillar:

a. Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership (DCCP)
b. Infrastructure Transaction and Assistance Network (ITAN)
c. Trade and Competitiveness (T&C)

Finally, USAID Philippines very recently released its new Country Development Cooperation
Strategy (CDCS), 2020-2024. This is a product of review and consultations with the
government, mentioning the goal. Development partners can support the Philippines.

Further details of the policies mentioned can be accessed through USAIDs website.

John Avila, BEACON Planner
Office of Economic Development and Governance

Several references provide more context and clarity to
USAIDs design for BEACON.

Indo-Pacific vision. This is a US government initiative that
targets three pillars, namely Economic, Governance and
Security. BEACON aims to contribute to three objectives
under the Economic Pillar. For DCCP and ITAN, the draft
Statement of Objectives (SOO) makes references to the
infrastructure and logistics. For T&C, the draft SOO is relevant
to the extent that ICT and logistics contribute to greater trade
competitiveness initiatives.
USAIDs draft Digital Strategy. This can be sourced online.
Private Sector Engagement Policy. This initiative is often

emphasized by USAID Administrator Mark Greens statements. In the context of the
Philippines, logistics and ICT are heavily supplied by the private sector, and it is
important that BEACON proposals describe ways to foster private sector engagement
beyond simply leveraging funding.

BEACONs Theory of Change was reiterated: if ICT infrastructure and logistics performance
are improved, then access and connectivity are enhanced, which will lead to more trade and
investment. Poor access and connectivity contribute to higher costs of doing business.
Thus, a more efficient system is expected to lower costs

On-going Economic Growth awards, including RESPOND and DELIVER, are pursuing

related objectives on trade and investment. BEACON is envisioned to provide
complementary effort to these activities.

ICT and logistics are linked, especially in connection with the growth of the e-commerce
sector. USAID foresees a fast-growing digital economy that will affect all other aspects of the
economy beyond just the internet economy. This may include mainstream industries such
as food, exports and manufacturing, and even the government's delivery of public services.
All these services have a direct link to the transportation and logitics sector. E-commerce
platforms will not be efficient without an efficient shipping industry.

At the start of the solicitation process, USAID plans to publish a SOO which will lay out the

problem and its context. Offerors are expected to provide the solutions. USAID recognizes
that there are reform initiatives being implemented by the government sector, private
partners and other donors. The challenge in coming up with solutions will be to advance
greater coordination, more inter-agency actions, stakeholder cooperation. USAID does not
want to duplicate but rather complement existing efforts.

In the RFI, addressing cybersecurity and privacy issues were not emphasized on its
discussion of DCCP. USAID expects to encourage Offerors to propose initiatives to
strengthen cybersecurity in a future solicitation.

The participants were informed that USAID has developed indicators for each of the Pillars
and objectives under the Indo-Pacific vision. USAID awards will be required to monitor and
report indicators relevant to BEACON.

In the discussion of BEACONs sub-objectives, USAID encourages the Offerors to refer to
the global indices such as:
1. Logistics Performance Index is an annual index that includes ratings for Customs and

Borders Management. The latter is a sub-component of BEACON.

2. World Economic Forum (WEF) Competitiveness Report which both measures

infrastructure and ICT readiness of countries.

3. WEF Network Readiness Index is an annual comparison of the Philippines across its

4. The International Telecommunications Union publishes relevant reports about

cybersecurity readiness as well as the Philippines relative position against its peers.

peers.

In USAID, the Philippines is often compared to its ASEAN peers. That is Thailand,
Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Currently, the Philippines is behind its neighbors,
example, in terms of speed and cost of the internet. The definition of improvement is not
just move the Philippines ranking above but to be at par with its peers.

A greater private sector engagement will be one of the items that will be highlighted in the
solicitation. More than funding leverage, USAID would like to see coinciding objectives
between the private sector partner and BEACON. Offerors should also recognize that the
two sectors under BEACON, in the case of the Philippines, are mostly private sector
supplied.

The White House announced the Womens Global Development and Prosperity Initiative to
support womens economic empowerment. This is a cross-cutting objective adopted by
USAID across all its activities. This could mean highlighting women-led businesses, using
technology for women empowerment or for mitigating crimes against women like human-
trafficking.

Environmental and Climate Risk Management is one of USAIDs mandatory sectoral review

in all of its activities. The Offerors are encouraged to conduct an assessment of the
infrastructure and technology assistance and its implications to the environment. At the
same time, all USAID activities are called to be conscientious of the Philippines vulnerability
to climate risks. Investments to ICT and logistics should be made resilient to these risks.

Questions and Answers:

1. The draft RFI touched on several aspects of ICT. In terms of procurement, are you

looking at several vendors?

Sandra Jansen: This activity is for a single award. If your organization only specializes in
one component, you can partner with other organizations that can handle the other half
of the activity. This session is a market research and USAID is still at the design stage.
If, based on your experience, the industry thinks that putting together several aspects of
ICT and logistics together does not make sense, USAID would like to hear about that.

John Avila: This particular concern was posted as a question in the RFI. USAID would
appreciate the market opinion on this. As for USAID, we do recognize that the
combination of these sectors will be challenging, both technically and in administrative
management. However, USAID also has its financial, management and time limitations,
which are reasons for consolidating multiple components into a single award.

2. Agreed to point raised by the first question and separating the components will be more

manageable. Based on her companys experience, coordination was a challenge
especially with companies that tried to push forward their products.

Sandra Jansen: Thank you.

3. Requesting USAID to update the forecast for potential Offerors to see the objectives,

timeline and expected funding.

Sandra Jansen: The Industry Day is still part of the design process. At the same time,
USAID is also working on securing management approval. As soon as USAID is ready
with the solicitation, all information will be provided.

4. Requesting for USAIDs expectation on the size and value of this