U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), REDSO/WCA/OP, Abidjan (ID) Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20521-2010

R -- AUDIT SERVICES SOL RFP NO. 624-97-001 DUE 012497 POC John R. Taber, Regional Contracting Officer, REDSO/WCA/OP (Abidjan, Ivory Coast), Tel: (225) 41-45-28; fax nos: (225) 41-34-60 or (225) 41-35-44; internet address: jtaber@usaid.gov. USAID requests proposals from audit firms for Indefinite Quantity Contracts (IQCs) to conduct financial and compliance audits of USAID's projects and activities and to provide other financial services. Services will be requested via "Delivery Orders" issued by the cognizant Regional Contracting Officer on behalf of the requiring USAID mission. Up to three (3) separate two-year IQCs may be awarded with the possibility of extensions. At least one of the awards will be reserved as a total small business set-aside. At least audit work will be performed throughout West and Central Africa, and, on an exceptional basis, in other locations. Therefore, knowledge of French (as well as English), customs, and travel requirements and conditions is important. Contractors will be required to have established an office in West Africa by the time of contract award in order to be awarded a contract. Audits must be performed in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards, 1994 revision (Yellow Book) issued by the Comptroller General in June 1994 and which incorporates standards adopted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code for this requirement is 8721, and the small business size standard for this SIC Code is $6M. During the life of the IQC the maximum ordering limitation is $750,000 and a minimum order of $10,000 is guaranteed. Affiliation with and accountability to a U.S. CPA firm, demonstration of an understanding of U.S. government auditing standards, and the supervision of work by a CPA currently licensed to practice in the U.S. are preferred. Most preferred are offers from certified public accounting firms, or firms in which the primary expertise is certified public accounting, rather than from firms who provide certified public accounting, among other consulting services. All questions related to this notice and requests for a copy of the RFP must be addressed in writing or by fax or e-mail to the Contracting Officer at the address stated above. Specify the RFP requested, and include your complete firm name, street address, phone and fax No. No telephone requests will be honored. The issuance date of the RFP is expected to be approximately fifteen (15) days from the date of publication of this notice. The closing date for submission of proposals will be approximately forty five (45) days from the actual issuance date, and will be specified in the RFP. 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). Only in these instances where internet access or utilization of diskette are not possible will a hard copy of the RFP be distributed upon request. 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 RFP can also be downloaded via Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The FTP address is FTP.INFO.USAID.GOV. Logon 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/62497001/62497001.rfp. Receipt of this RFP through 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 internet in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. The publication of this notice and/or the issuance of an RFP do not obligate the U.S. Government to award a contract. (0346)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0073 19961213\R-0017.SOL)