U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Office of Microenterprise Development, Economic Growth Center

R -- IMPLEMENTATION GRANT PROGRAM, THE MICROENTERPRISE INNOVATION PROJECT SOL RFA G/EG/MD-97-A-001 POC Contact Point: Barbara Adams, Phone (202) 663-2360. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Office of Microenterprise Development, Economic Growth Center, Bureau for Global Affairs (G/EG/MD), Room 300, SA-2, Washington, D.C. 20523-0230. On or about November 15, 1996, Request for Applications (RFA) RFA G/EG/MD-97-A-001 will be issued by the Office of Microenterprise Development in the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID's) Bureau for Global Affairs (G/EG/MD). The RFA will request cooperative agreement proposals from a wide range of organizations including U.S. PVOs, cooperatives, credit unions, developing country organizations capable of working in more than one country, and for-profit firms. Applicants must have demonstrated capacity to implement microenterprise development programs. While for-profit firms may submit applications, it is USAID's policy not to award fees/profits under assistance instruments. The Cooperative Agreements will finance expansion of service provision to microenterprises by local institutions, particularly by increasing the financial viability of those institutions that provide financial services and the cost effectiveness of those that provide other inputs. Types of eligible financial service programs include poverty lending, village banking, solidarity group lending, individual lending, savings mobilization and other program methodologies that demonstrate a capability to serve the poor. A wide variety of non-financial services are potentially eligible, including client services, training, market systems activities, and policy reform activities specific to microenterprises in the country proposed. All proposals will be rated for the local organizations management capabilities, their ability to achieve scale of service delivery and deepen outreach to the poor, especially women, and either the sustainability of financial services or the cost effectiveness of non-financial services. Roughly 7-12 finalists will be selected for field assessments which will verify local institutional capabilities and assess the probability that the program's targets will be achieved. Approximately 5-10 grants will be awarded. The success of implementation will be measured against specific program targets set for the local implementing organization(s). Proposed programs must: 1) receive USAID Mission concurrence for each proposed country, 2) contribute at least 25% of the proposed program's cost in cash or in kind, 3) cover a period of 3 to 5 years, and 4) be generally within a range of $250,000 to $700,000 of USAID funding per year, and total no more than $3.5 million. Startup programs should request no more than $1 million of USAID support and not exceed 3 years. Proposals may be for one or multiple countries chosen from among those countries world-wide currently eligible for USAID funding. Interested applicants should request the RFA in writing by faxing 202-663-2708 or writing via the U.S. Postal Service to the Office of Microenterprise Development, Economic Growth Center, Bureau for Global Affairs, United States Agency for International Development, Room 300 SA-2, Washington, D.C. 20523. Attention: Barbara Adams. Any mail sent by courier should be sent to Barbara Adams at the Office of Microenterprise Development, Economic Growth Center, Bureau for Global Affairs, United States Agency for International Development, Room 300, 515 Twenty-Second Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037. This CBD notice can be viewed and downloaded using the Agency Gopher menu. The RFA 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. The RFA text can 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/GMD701/gmd701.rfa Receipt of this RFA through the 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 the INTERNET in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion process. (0304)

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