Mark Walther, Contracting Officer, USAID, M/OP/B/PCE, Room 1504, SA- 14, Washington, D.C. 20523-1422, Attn: Sherry Jaouad

R -- ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING FOR THE CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENT SOL OP/B/PCE-96-002 POC Contract Specialist, Sherry Jaouad, 703/875-1068. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is solicitating for The Center for the Environment (G/ENV) in the Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support and Research offers for technical assistance to promote its environmental programs, which are aimed at reducing the long-term threats to the global environment. The purpose of this procurement is to award task order-based, indefinite quantity contracts to acquire quick-response, often iterative, short- (up to six months), medium- (up to one year), and long-term (up to the duration of the contract) advisory services and technical assistance. This assistance is required in two functional areas: (1) Administrative and Environmental Technical Support to Environment Center itself, and (2) Environmental Policy and Institutional Strengthening aimed at assisting USAID missions, Regional Bureau's and G/ENV offices in the design and implementation of their environmental programs. USAID intends to make two awards in the Administrative and Environmental Technical Support Category, one of which will be awarded under the U.S. Small Business Administration 8(a) program. USAID intends to make one award in the Environmental Policy and Institutional Strengthening Category. These two functional areas are described as follows: a. Administrative and Environmental Technical Support: The objective of the awards under this functional area is to provide the Environment Center with the technical support and administrative services that it needs to carry out its overall program. b. Environmental Policy and Institutional Strengthening Category: The objective of this functional area is to have mechanism in place for the Environment Center with the capacity to respond rapidly to requests from Missions, Regional Bureaus, and partners for services aimed at helping them develop and implement environmentally sound strategic planning, policies, and institutions. The areas of activity will include Environmental Sector Assessment and Strategic Planning, Environmental Sector Design, Policy Analysis and Implementation of Policy-related Programs and Activities, Development of performance Monitoring Systems, Information Management and Dissemination, Research, Surveys, Inventory, and Special Studies, Institutional Development, Support for International Fora, Commodity Procurement and Technical Specialty Requirements. The SIC Code for the above awards is 8742. Subcontracting with small business concerns and socially and economically disadvantaged entities: USAID encourages the participation, to the maximum extent possible, of U.S. entities that are small business concerns, small disadvantaged business concerns, and disadvantaged enterprises. It is anticipated that the prime contractor will make maximum practicable use of such entities. Small business and small disadvantaged business subcontracting plans, pursuant to FAR 52.219-9, are required to be included in submitted proposals. To help identify potential subcontractors, a list of all organizations requesting a copy of the solicitation will be sent with each document. By providing the list, USAID does not endorse the listed organizations as being capable of carrying out the activity, nor does USAID 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. All organizations are encouraged to indicate whether they are small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, 8(a) businesses, or disadvantaged enterprises so that their status may be indicated on the list. Interested parties may request a copy of RFP No. OP/B/PCE-96-002 by submitting a written request addressed to: Agency for International Development, M/OP/B/PCE, Room 1560, SA-14, Washington, D.C. 20523-1422, Attn: Sherry Jaouad. All requests must include four self-addressed mailing labels. All RFPs will be mailed not less than 15 days after this notice. No phone or fax requests will be accepted. There will be no RFPs available for pick-up. No walk-ins. Requests not conforming to this requirement will not be honored. All RFPs will be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service unless an organization prepares a self-addressed envelope already prepared for mailing with either their Federal Express or Express Mail account. Only one request for the RFP per organization will be honored. 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 CBD notice and the RFP text can be downloaded via Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The FTP address is FTP.INFO.USAID.GOV. Logon using the use identification of ''anonymous'' and the password is your e'mail address. Look under the following directory for the RFP: pub/OP/RFP/BPCE602/bpce602.rfp. Receipt of this RFP through Internet must be confirmed by written (fax or mail) 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. Questions must be directed to Sherry Jaouad, Contract Specialist, Agency for International Development, M/OP/B/PCE, Room 1560, SA-14, Washington, D.C. 20523-1422, (Phone 703-875-1068). (0152)

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