Alvera Reichert; USAID Contracting Officer; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Department State; Washington D.C. 20521-6120

R -- DESCRIPTION FOR DEV. AND IMP. OF THE RECIPIENT'S PROGRAM DESCRIPTION FOR DEVELOPING AN INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATING PROGRAM FOR THE POOR OF BANGLADESH TO COVER PERIOD 1997 TO 2002 SOL BANGLADESH-96-A-003 DUE 093096 POC Submit written requests for a copy of RFA to Carrie M. Williams, USAID-ANE/ORA/O. Submit written requests for copy of RFA to Carrie M. Williams USAID-ANE/ORA/O; Room 3313 N.S.; 2201 C Street, N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20523-0087. Questions about RFA, contact Alvera Reichert, USAID/Bangladesh; Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20521-6120. Fax 880-2-883648; Telephone 880-2-884700, Internet areichert@usaid.gov. USAID/Bangladesh seeks a qualified organization(s) and/or institution(s) to develop a program to increase productive and sustainable employment and income generation opportunities for poor households. USAID has identified three general areas to increase employment and income opportunities for the poor: (a) enhance the atmosphere for direct employment and income opportunities for the poor, including individuals and microenterprises, (b) enhance business skills for employers to encourage increased wages and productive employment, and (c) identify and promote policies to alleviate constraints to business development and expansion. Description of the Proposed Program: (a) employment and income generation for the poor: develop business skills, nurture entrepreneurial skills, assist in identifying and securing access to appropriate inputs/services (e.g., credit, electricity, and income generating ideas and opportunities), (b) employers' business skills development: create new ways to enhance management skills, develop domestic and export marketing knowledge, and instill a sense of internationally acceptable business ethics, (c) policy constraints: support and enhance private sector policy advocacy capacities which can adequately gather information on private sector interests and concerns affecting employment and income, analyze those interests and concerns and represent them in public fora (e.g., the media, and in dialogue with the Bangladesh Government). USAID/Bangladesh foresees this program operating within the context of one of its USAID/Washington approved strategic objective for food security. The process by which USAID/B has chosen to develop this program is based on the Agency's five new core values which are: (1) teamwork, (2) customer focus, (3) results orientation, (4) empowerment and accountability, and (5) diversity. USAID/Bangladesh intends to award a cooperative agreement for the design and implementation of an employment and income generating program for the poor of Bangladesh. The selected partner should be prepared to commence collaborative development of a program description immediately upon signature of the initial award o/a November 30, 1996. USAID anticipates that approximately U.S. $2,000,000 will be available annually to implement this income and employment generating program over a five (5) year period. Issuance of this notice does not constitute an award commitment on the part of USAID. RFA will be available o/a August 15, 1996. 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 RFA, 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 PROCUREMENT and then DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE USAID APPLICATIONS. The RFA can be 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 RFA: pub/OP/RFA/3889603/3889603.rfa. Receipt of the RFA through INTERNET must be confirmed by written notification to the contact person noted above. It is the responsibility of the recipient of this application 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. (0213)

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