Margaret Dula, Regional Contracting Officer, USAID/Bolivia, APO AA, 34032

R -- U.S. PERSONAL SERVICES CONTRACT OPENING FOR A MICROFINANCE SPECIALIST SOL RFP BOLIVIA 96-002 DUE 070196 POC Patrick Keirnan, Regional Procurement Officer, International Tel. 591- 2-786445, Fax 591-2-785689, E-Mail (pkeirnan@usaid.gov), La Paz, Bolivia. USAID/Bolivia is seeking the services of a U.S. citizen or resident alien to serve as a Microfinance Specialist in La Paz, Bolivia. The contractor will work in the Economic Opportunities Office and report to the Office Director. He/she will be responsible to coordinate the implementation of technical assistance and training to local microfinance institutions. This position is a field level implementation job and the large majority of the contractor's time will be spent working directly with microfinance institutions. The contractor will be required to establish strong working relationships with high ranking Government of Bolivia officials from the Superintendency of Banks and the Central Bank, as well as with high level commercial banking officials. Illustrative duties include: 1) developing working relationships with microfinance institutions' top and middle level management, understanding these institutions' strategies and operations, identifying and assessing strengths and weaknesses, 2) coordinating plans to address weaknesses through technical assistance and training, 3) providing a wide range of direct technical assistance and training to microfinance institutions, both in administrative and financial areas, such as business plan development, organizational and human resource development, data collection and analysis, information systems development, assistance in accessing financial resources and in diversifying liabilities structure, developing client deposit services, developing systems to comply with regulatory requirements, improving financial analysis and administration, and formulating procedures and developing systems to comply with Superintendency regulations, 4) identifying short-term technical assistance needs that the contractor cannot provide either for technical reasons or time constraints and developing scopes of work and initiating procurement requests for the contracting of international and local experts to provide this technical assistance, 5) identifying training needs and developing courses to be carried out mostly by local and international training experts, 6) conducting ongoing monitoring of project implementation and evaluation of project impact. Qualification Requirements: 1) at least six to eight years professional experience working with financial institutions, preferably microfinance institutions. Candidate's work must have covered a wide variety of the institutions' operations, both financial and administrative, 2) excellent financial and analytical skills. Must have an ability to detect institution's financial strengths and weaknesses through financial statements analyses, 3) must have a complete understanding of financial institution management, including planning strategies, financial products, liquidity management, assets/liabilities management, human resource management, information systems, and financial performance monitoring, 4) a thorough understanding of Bolivian banking law and regulations is highly desired, 5) excellent interpersonal skills, 6) minimum Masters degree in finance, economics or a related field, 7) R4/S4 fluency in Spanish and English. Compensation: The position is classified at the GS-13 level. Salary, benefits and allowances shall be negotiated in accordance with the applicable provisions of Appendix D of the AIDAR for U.S. Personal Services Contractors and their authorized dependents. Post differential (15%), housing, education, international travel, APO and commissary privileges are granted to qualified contractors. The selected candidate and any accompanying dependents must complete and pass a full medical examination. The selected candidate must also pass a security clearance process. All interested and qualified candidates should send via mail, fax, courier or e-mail: a curriculum vitae, with salary history information and references for the past three years, and a letter of interest specifically relating individual background and experience to position requirements. Please indicate available starting date. Application information should be received no later than July 1, 1996 addressed to: Regional Procurement Officer, USAID/Bolivia, APO AA 34032 for U.S. mail or Calle 9 y Costanera, Obrajes, La Paz, Bolivia for courier service (phone (591-2) 786445/fax (591-2) 78-5689/e-mail (pkeirnan@usaid.gov)). This solicitation serves as the RFP. No other solicitation document will be issued. (0165)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0085 19960614\R-0012.SOL)