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

R -- PROVIDING TECHNICAL & ADVISORY SERVICES TO THE MINISTRY OF FOOD SOL BANGLADESH-96-P-004 DUE 103196 POC Contact Alvera Reichert, USAID-Bangladesh; Telephone No. 880-2-884700- 22. Submit written requests for copy of the RFP to Carrie Williams, USAID-ANE/ORA/O; Room 3313 N.S.; 2201 C Street N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20523-0087. Questions about RFP, contact Alvera Reichert, USAID-Bangladesh; Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20521-6120. Telfax No. 880-2-883648; Telephone No. 880-2-884700-22, E-mail AREICHERT@CO@DHAKA, Internet areichert@usaid.gov. Providing technical and advisory services to the Ministry of Food in areas of policy formulation, continuous policy research and information dissemination and enhancing technical and analytical skills of local professionals through training during the life of the project. USAID/Bangladesh seeks a qualified organization(s) and/or institution(s) to provide technical assistance and advisory services to the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Food to: (i) conduct analysis and applied research on specific food policy areas, including evaluation of existing food distribution assistance programs for the poor and recommending new programs, (ii) transforming research findings to policy prescriptions to better manage host government's current and future food policy programs and private sector foodgrain trade, (iii) advises the government and donors on alternative food policies, and (iv) enhancing technical and analytical skills of the public sector and private professionals through training (in-country and overseas). The project follows many years of USAID involvement in food aid and food policy, but requires new advisory, analysis, and research services to make sure that the Bangladesh Government--under current circumstances of reduced food aid and active, competitive private foodgrain markets--understands the best options available to it in: a) public-private division of labor in food imports and price stabilization, b) distributing food to poor people in a cost-effective way. USAID/Bangladesh foresees this activity operating within the context of one of its USAID/Washington approved strategic objectives towards achieving the goal of food security in the country. This project would be implemented by a U.S. based contractor, who would be responsible for: (a) supplying long and short term consultants (both expatriate and local) in specific policy research and advisory areas, (b) procuring all project commodities and personnel, and (c) arranging all project funded training and study tours (in-country and overseas), and information dissemination. The contractor would work directly with the Ministry of Food's Food Planning and Monitoring Unit for a period of 42 months beginning from the date of the contract award. USAID intends to award a contract for the services sought herein. The estimated budget for this contract is $4,882,198.00. Initially, USAID will provide incremental funding of $3,372,000.00. Future funding will be subject to availability of funds. Issuance of this notice does not constitute an award commitment on the part of USAID. RFP will be available o/a September 25, 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 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 PROCUREMENT and then DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE USAID APPLICATIONS. The RFP can 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 RFP: pub/OP/RFP/3889604/3889604.rfp. Receipt of the RFP 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. (0249)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0054 19960906\R-0002.SOL)