Ryszard Wisniewski, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, European Integration Unit, Pl. Malachowskiego 2, 00-940 Warsaw, Poland, Tel: (48-22) 27 83 27, Fax: (48-22) 26 71 76

L -- POLISH NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY AND PILOT PROJECT POC Carol Stillwell, USTDA, Room 309, SA-16, Washington, D.C. 20523-1602, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax No.: (703) 875-4009 Poland's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications ("the Ministry") invites submission of Prequalification Statements from interested U.S. firms which are qualified on the basis of experience and capability to develop a strategy for the development of a Polish National Information Infrastructure. Based upon the Prequalification Statements, the Ministry will develop a short list of qualified firms which will be invited in writing to submit a formal Technical Proposal to carry out the study. The Government of Poland is interested in developing a National Information Infrastructure ("NII") strategy. This NII strategy will develop the framework for an open, competitive market where private sector operators can provide electronic commerce and services for government, business, education, health, and research. The objective of the project is to establish a National Information Infrastructure strategy for deployment in Poland, and to spur the NII's implementation by funding a pilot project based on the recommendations of the consultants performing the strategy study. The strategy will also develop specific project recommendations and the tender documents for interactive multimedia, rural access to the NII, Value Added Network Service (VANs) operators, and internet service providers (ISPs). One or more of these components of the NII would be implemented as a single pilot project. The Ministry is responsible for promoting and licensing ISPs and VANs and providing the policy and regulatory framework that allows them to contribute to the NII. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA) has approved a U.S. $389,000 Grant to fund a feasibility study to develop the NII strategy and to implement the pilot project. The feasibility study will be divided into two phases. Phase A (which is the subject of this CBD announcement) will be a consultancy to prepare the NII strategy and will be funded by $189,000 of the TDA Grant. Phase B will be the implementation of the pilot project valued at approximately $400,000. Phase B will be funded by $200,000 of the TDA Grant. All remaining costs of Phase B, estimated at $200,000, are to be provided by the U.S. firm selected as contractor. The Phase A consultant will develop the Phase B Terms of Reference and assist the Ministry in conducting a competitive procurement to select a firm to perform Phase B. Notice of the Phase B procurement will be published in the Commerce Business Daily. The Ministry will enter into a separate contract with the firm selected to implement Phase B and the Ministry will become the owner at the completion of Phase B of all equipment purchased for its implementation. A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP) for Phase A, which includes the requirements for submission of the Prequalification Statements and the Technical Proposal, the Phase A Terms of Reference, and a background definitional mission report is available from TDA, at Room 309, SA-16, Washington, D.C. 20523-1621. Requests for the RFP should be faxed to the IRC, TDA at 703-875-4009. In the fax, please include your firm's name, contact person, address, and telephone number. Please check your internal fax verification receipt. Because of the large number of RFP requests, TDA cannot respond to requests for fax verification. Requests for RFPs received before 4:00pm will be mailed the same day. Requests received after 4:00pm will be mailed the following day. Please check with your courier and/or mail room before calling TDA. Some firms have found that RFP materials sent by U.S. mail do not reach them in time for preparation of an adequate response. Firms that want TDA to use an overnight delivery service (e.g. Federal Express) should include the name of the delivery service and your firm's account number in the request for the RFP. Firms that want to send a courier to TDA to retrieve the RFP should allow one hour after faxing the request to TDA before scheduling a pick-up. Please note that no telephone requests for the RFP will be honored. Only U.S. firms and individuals may bid on this TDA financed activity. Interested firms, their subcontractors and employees of all participants must qualify under TDA's nationality requirements as of the due date for submission of qualifications and proposals and, if selected to carry out the TDA-financed activity, must continue to meet such requirements throughout the duration of the TDA-financed activity. All goods and services to be provided by the selected firm shall have their nationality, source and origin in the U.S. or host country. The U.S. firm may use subcontractors from host country for up to 20 percent of the TDA grant amount. Details of TDA's nationality requirements and mandatory contract clauses are also included in the RFP. Interested U.S. firms should submit their Prequalification Statements as outlined in the RFP in English directly to the Ministry in Poland by January 8, 1997. Evaluation criteria for the Prequalification Statements and the Technical Proposals are included in the RFP. Price will NOT be a factor in contractor selection, and therefore, cost proposals should NOT be submitted. The Ministry reserves the right to reject any and/or all Prequalification Statements or Technical Proposals. The Ministry also reserves the right to contract with the selected firm for subsequent work related to the project. The Ministry is not bound to pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of Proposals. (0346)

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