Partnerships Incubator Quality Control Plan (QCP)

The Incubator works with USAID headquarters and Missions to identify and engage new and local partners, provide training and capacity-building assistance, and develop tools and resources to support the Agency's partnership goals. In addition, it works to help partners identify their own capacity to compete for and manage USAID awards, improve USAID resources for partners, and deliver training to enhance partners' relationship with USAID. The Partnerships Incubator Quality Control Plan (QCP) describes the procedures and guidelines that the Partnerships Incubator implementation team will deploy in response to all project elements. The QCP provides a means to evaluate if the contractor (Kaizen) is meeting performance standards and quality levels, and ensures the performance and compliance with USAID expectations. The QCP is created to provide USAID with oversight of Kaizen's quality-control efforts to assure that they are both timely and effective while delivering the results specified in the contract. The Partnerships Incubator team will follow three tiers of responsibility for implementing the QCP and ensuring that it effectively covers relevant project tasks. The first tier involves the Partnerships Incubator technical, finance, and administrative staff, with close oversight by the Partnerships Incubator Project Director. The second tier involves Kaizen's HO team, which oversees hiring and provides programmatic guidance and oversight. The third tier involves Kaizen's technical and programmatic management structure, which includes one of the firm's four owners who oversee overall quality and provide an extra level of quality assurance over the course of the program. The Partnerships Incubator will collect or document data and report on the indicators outlined below on a quarterly basis per USAID contractual reporting requirements. These indicators include the number of Incubator-produced storytelling and news items posted by the Incubator to public content platforms, the number of work products completed for M/B/OUs, and the number of potential new and/or underutilized partners identified through landscape or similar analyses upon request by M/B/OUs. To ensure cost, performance, and schedule compliance with task planning, Kaizen will ensure that each task is conducive to the overall goals of the activity. During task planning, Kaizen will outline how the proposed task reflects the contract's overall cost, performance, and schedule, and will present this to USAID. Kaizen is experienced in managing demand-driven and iterative activities for USAID, and has set up a process for the Partnerships Incubator to ensure all costs comply with task planning. Kaizen has a strong track record of implementing quality-control methodologies for both programmatic and technical oversight, and will tailor its approach to the Partnerships Incubator according to the specific needs of the New Partnerships Initiative. The Partnerships Incubator team will augment the QCP with input and approval from USAID, and will use U.S. Government tools, as well as Kaizen-developed tools, to test systems and procedures to manage projects while building the team's capacity for effective leadership and management.