Clement J. Bucher, Contracting Officer, USAID/Haiti, 17 Boulevard Harry Truman, Port Au Prince, Haiti, Clement J. Bucher@Co@Haiti

R -- TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, MANAGERIAL AND TRAINING OVERSIGHT FOR THE ENHANCING FOOD SECURITY II PROJECT SOL RFP HAITI 521-96-002 POC Clement J. Bucher, Contracting Officer, Tel (509) 22-5500, Fax (509) 23-9603 Port Au Prince, Haiti. USAID/Haiti (hereinafter known as USAID) is looking for the services of a U.S. Firm/Institution to implement its Enhancing Food Security Phase II Project (hereinafter known as EFSII or Project). The objectives of this contract that will contribute to achievement of the project purpose are: 1) to further develop, implement and transfer to the Government of Haiti a National Food Security Policy Information System (FSPIS) in a manner which progressively increases Government of Haiti (GOH) management and resources for the system. The FSPIS will support the collection, collation, analysis, dissemination and use of data on food security in subject areas which have been determined to be critical predictors and/or descriptors of food security status in Haiti, such as: health, nutrition, rainfall and related meteorological information, agricultural production, and agricultural, livestock, and imported food prices, and 2) to provide limited informatics equipment, TA and in-country training to an intersectoral coordination committee for food aid and food security (or similarly-named entity), acting through its Executive Secretariat (or similarly-named entity) so that it can improve its policy and support services to public and private sector national and international agencies active in food security. Under the supervision of the Executive Secretariat of the Government of Haiti (GOH) intersectoral coordination committee for food aid and food security mentioned above and USAID, the contractor will serve as the primary implementing agency for the food security policy information systems sub-component of the EFS2 project (The FSPIS) and will provide short-term TA and training to assist the GOH as it assumes this responsibility. In this capacity, the contractor will provide the following inputs: 1. Core management staff: funding will be provided for 4 years each of the following illustrative positions: Chief of Party/FSPIS Coordinator, 1 Administrative Officer, 1 Senior System Analyst, 2 System Analysts, 2 Data Analysts, 2 Research Assistants, 1 Bookkeeper, 1 Secretary and 1 Driver/Messenger for the core staff. Although some staff will be posted in Port-Au-Prince and some may be deployed in the Provinces, they will collectively form the Project Office (PO) under the contract. The PO will serve as the managing entity for the FSPIS. The contractor will collaborate closely with the Executive Secretariat on development of workplans and for development of scopes of work, etc. for all studies and short-term TA undertaken under the contract. The core staff will develop in conjunction with GOH personnel detailed terms of reference for and monitor approximately 52 PM of short-term TA to the GOH and PVOs involved in food assistance programs for specific needs as described below. It will procure limited informatics commodities on behalf of the Executive Secretariat, and assist that agency to develop databases necessary to its policy and planning functions. Finally, it will manage approximately 20 PM of off-shore and 48 PM of in-country training and workshops, including national and regional consensus workshops on food security policy. 2. On-going data collection and reporting: over the life of the project, in close consultation with the Executive Secretariat, the PO will solicit, review, negotiate, award, monitor, pay local organizations through sub-contracts or other appropriate mechanisms to provide valid and reliable data that will signal trends and changes in food security throughout Haiti. Some of these efforts, such as the collection of health, nutrition, and price information, can benefit from further refinement, although can call on the efforts being made by other groups under other direct USAID grants. Other efforts, such as the agricultural production data, have only been initiated in FY 1995 and may be substantially revised as the contractor assumes management responsibility. The formulation of exact indicators is in process and the contractor will be expected to consolidate such efforts into an overall system design. The contractor will be responsible for developing, managing, and assuring a system design that provides timely and useful data, and for assuring the most cost-effective means of collecting such information. The entire effort of data collection, analysis and dissemination should be accomplished in a manner which meets minimum needs of policy makers. To a significant degree, the contractor will be expected to organize existing data and to ease access to and use of such data. Data collection efforts should increasingly, over the life of the project, be geo-referenced to support the use of such data in Geographic Information System (GIS) applications. These are also expected to build upon existing field resources, including GOH personnel, PVOs/NGOs, and other partners in the field, to the maximum extent possible to avoid incurring costs and support for new personnel. The contractor will also be responsible for producing timely, user-friendly periodic reports in French and English which analyze and synthesize data for an audience that includes GOH decision-makers, USAID and PVO partners, and other interested parties (e.g. other Donors, NGOs, etc.). The preferred method of distribution of USAID Procurement Information is via the Internet or by request of a solicitation on a 3.5'' floppy disk (Wordperfect 5.1/5.2 format). This CBD notice can be viewed and downloaded using the Agency Gopher. The RFP, once issued, can be downloaded from the Agency Gopher. The Gopher address is GOPHER.INFO.USAID.GOV. Select USAID PROCUREMENT and BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES from the GOPHER menu. From there, choose the heading USAID Procurements and then download available USAID Solicitations. The RFP can also be downloaded via anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The FTP address is FTP.INFO.USAID.GOV. Logon on using the user identification of ''anonymous'' and the password is your e-mail address. Look under the following directory for the RFP: pub/OP/RFP/52196002/52196002.rfp. Receipt of this RFP through INTERNET must be confirmed by written notification to the contact person noted above. It is the responsibility of the recipient of this solicitation document to ensure that it has been received from INTERNET in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. USAID/Haiti anticipates issuing the solicitation for this procurement on/or shortly after March 11, 1996. Copies may be obtained only by written request to the Contracting Officer, USAID/Haiti (Fax 509-23-9603). Requests should include complete mailing address, phone and fax numbers. (0057)

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