USAID/REDSO/ESA, Unit 4102, APO AE 09831-4102

R -- MICRO-PED, SUSTAINABLE DELIVERY OF FINANCIAL SERVICES TO MICRO ENTERPRISES SOL RFP 623-96-P-003 POC Francis Kavulu, Internet Address: fkavulu@usaid.gov, Telephone: 011- 254-2-751613, Fax ZNo. 254-2-743204, Contracting Officer, Francis Donovan, REDSO/ESA Nairobi, Kenya. The United States Agency for International Development Mission to Kenya plans to issue an RFP which will lead to the award of a follow-on contract to provide sustainable delivery of financial services to micro enterprises. USAID will make grants directly to Kenyan financial institutions. This Scope of Work refers to the Technical Assistance portion of the finance component. The objective of the Technical Assistance is to stimulate the market for and facilitate the availability of technical assistance to Kenya micro enterprise lending institutions. The following activities are to be carried out by the contractor: Refine the grantee selection criteria for providing funds to NGOs that are implementing micro enterprise lending programs. USAID has already developed and defined broadly the parameters of the selection criteria but it needs to be refined further to reflect the current performance standards of micro enterprise finance sector in Kenya and elsewhere, provide assessments of lending operations and institutional development issues. These assessments in some cases will be to determine eligibility, but primarily to determine areas where NGO programs need to be improved and where technical assistance may be required. The NGOs will be involved in drawing up the terms of reference for the assessments, organize and conduct a minimum of three workshops/seminars per year for USAID partners and the micro enterprise finance community in Kenya on such topics as managing delinquency, increasing outreach, developing new loan products, MIS system development, mobilizing savings, etc, compile a database of technical assistance sources that NGOs can access, and strengthen a network of NGOs involved in micro-enterprise lending to perform the above functions. The micro-enterprise lending NGOs will take responsibility for forming and supporting the network. The contractor will only provide technical assistance to enhance the capacity (as needed) of the network in assisting member organizations improve performance in the delivery of financial services to micro-enterprises. USAID encourages the participation to the maximum extent possible of small businesses in this activity as contractors or subcontractors. In addition, prime contractors are required to set aside no less than ten (10) percent of the total value of the award for subcontracts with Gray amendment entities (firms including women-owned, historically black colleges and universities, U.S. Colleges and Universities with forty (40) percent or more Hispanic American students, and minority private voluntary organizations) in accordance with part 19 of the FAR and part 726 of the AIDAR. It is anticipated that the prime contractor will make maximum use of these concerns. All other selection criteria being found equal, the participation of such concerns may become a determining factor for selection. The RFP issuing date is expected to be no earlier than 15 days after publication of this notice. 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 Gopher address is GOPHER.INFO.USAID.GOV. Select USAID PROCUREMENT AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES from the gopher menu. The RFP text, once issued, can be downloaded via Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The FTP address is FTP.INFO.USAID.GOV. Logon using the user identification ''anonymous'' and the password is your e-mail address. Look under the following directory for the RFP: pub/OP/RFP/62396P003/62396p003.rfp. Receipt of this RFP through INTERNET must be confirmed by written notification to the contact person 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. The solicitation document will be sent to you on a 3.5 inch diskette using wordperfect 5.2, unless you ask specifically for a hard copy. Requests for the solicitation document may be sent to REDSO/ESA by mail, telex or facsimile, or downloaded through INTERNET (but see above). Requests must include a point of contact and the exact mailing address. We do not assume responsibility for verifying the requestor's address. (0131)

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