Contracting Office, USAID/Nepal, G.P.O. Box 5653, Kalimati Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal

R -- MARKET ACCESS FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT SOL USAID/NEPAL-96-007 DUE 071696 POC Contact Point; Khem R. Gurung, Contracting Office, USAID/Nepal, G.P.O. Box 5653, Kalimati Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal. Fax 977-1-270144. CO: Thomas M. Stephens, RCO, USAID/Bangkok. Fax 662-255-1287. USAID/Nepal requests proposals from qualified and responsible organizations to provide long-term and short-term technical assistance, training, and certain commodities for the implementation of the Market Access for Rural Development (MARD) Activity. MARD will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and district-level Agricultural Development Offices, village-based production marketing associations, and private sector entreprenuers. The geographic focus of the MARD Activity will be the five districts of the Rapti Zone of the Mid-Western Development Region of Nepal. The purpose of the MARD Activity is to increase the production and sales of the high-value agricultural products. This will be accomplished by expanding markets and increasing the participation of farmers and agroentreprenuers in high-value crop production and marketing through the implementation of four highly complementary and interrelated interventions. They are: (1) Market Development; (2) Technology and High-Value Agriculture Extension Services; (3) Improved Nutrition Status; and (4) Bottom-Up Planning and Policy Reform. The total contract duration is five years with an estimated level of effort of: 60 person months (pm) of one long-term expatriate advisor: 54 pm of short-term expatriate technical assistance; 960 pm of long-term Nepali technical assistance; and 150 pm of short-term Nepali technical assistance. The offeror will have the flexibility to make changes in the long-term LOE and the short-term consultants as deemed necessary to achieve the desired results and the program success. (It is assumed the Nepali technical assistance will be in the form of a subcontract to the prime U.S. firm.) This is a Cost-Reimbursement-Award Fee Contract (Performance Based Completion type). The achievement of MARD Performance Plan Outcome Indicators will form the basis for the performance objectives for the contract. These indicators are drawn from the MARD Activity Description, and annual quantitative increases in these indicators are expected to be achieved by the Contractor based on benchmarks collaboratively determined in Contractor workplans. The Contractor will be required to establish a comprehensive Management Information System to systemically collect, analyze and report on data required to measure progress towards achievement of the MARD Performance Plan Outcomes. Subcontracting with Gray Amendment Entities: The requirements for subcontracting with the qualified Gray Amendment organizations will be applicable to this contract as part of it will be funded from FY 95 funds. The actual extent of Gray Amendment subcontracting requirements will be determined during negotiations. Nethertheless, offerors should initially anticipate complying with the requirements that ''No less than 10 percent of the total value of the contract will have to be subcontracted to Gray Amendment entities (U.S. Socially and economically disadvantaged, including women-owned, business; historically Black colleges and universities; U.S. colleges and universities with at least 40 percent Hispanic American students; and U.S. private voluntary organizations controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, including women.) To help identify potential subcontractors, a list of all organizations requesting a copy of the solicitation will be sent with each solicitation document. Organizations are encouraged to indicate whether they are Gray Amendment Entities when requesting the solicitation and may indicate that they do not wish to be included on the list. By providing the list, AID does not endorse the listed organizations as being capable of carrying out the activity, nor does AID verify the claimed status of the organizations. Necessarily, the list will contain the names of only those organizations known prior to the issuance of the solicitation document. Proposals shall include such plans reflecting no less than 10 percent subcontracting with the above-defined entities. Proposals not including such plans will be considered to be non-responsive''. A Request for Proposals (RFP) will be released not earlier than 15 days after the date of CBD publication and proposals will be due at the submission location in Nepal 45 days thereafter. Proposals received after this date will not be considered. Interested offerors may request a copy of the RFP by submitting a written request, to the Contracting Officer, Contracting Office, USAID/Nepal, Kalimati/Durbar, Kalimati, P.O. Box 365, Kathmandu, Nepal, and must contain two (2) self-addressed mailing labels. Request may be faxed for early notice but must be followed by written request with self-addressed mailing labels. Offerors should note that RFPs will be mailed via diplomatic pouch and will take 2-3 weeks for delivery. It is the responsibility of the potential offeror to submit a request for the RFP document in a timely manner to ensure receipt of documents well in advance so submission can be made within the submission period. RFPs will not be mailed in response to requests received with less than two weeks remaining until proposal submission date. It is the sole responsibility of the offerors to insure that their proposal reaches the specified location for receipt of proposals in Nepal no later than the date and time stipulated in the RFP document. Final approval of this procurement is still pending. While it is fully anticipated approval will be received, potential proposers should be aware that if it is not received, an RFP will obviously not be issued. 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 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/36796007/36796007.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. The publication of this notice and/or the issuance of an RFP do not obligate the U.S. Government to award a contract. (0143)

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