U.S. Agency for Int'l Development; Regional Center for Southern Africa/Gaborone, Botswana; Dept of State, Wash. D.C. 20521-2170

R -- STRENGTHENING REGIONAL ECONOMIES THROUGH NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (STRENGTH) ACTIVITY SOL 690-97-007 DUE 090297 POC Contact Point: J.M. Bergman; RCO; USAID/RCSA, Department of State; Washington, D.C. 20521-2170; Tel: 011-267-324449; Fax: 011-267- 324486; E-mail jbergman@usaid.gov. The United States Agency for International Development/Regional Center for Southern Africa (USAID/RCSA) in Gaborone, Botswana plans to issue RFP No. 690-97-007 for implementation of the Strengthening Regional Economies Through Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Activity (STRENGTH) o/a 15 days following the publication date of this synopsis. The closing date for receipt of proposals is anticipated to be 30 days after the issuance date of the RFP. USAID/RCSA is responsible for implementing the Initiative for Southern Africa (ISA), a regional program which seeks to increase trade and investment, strengthen democratic practices, and effectively manage the region's resources. In recent years, there has been considerable growth in the number of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. However, almost all have been operating at national and sub-national levels. Moreover, while a number of international NGOs and donors have sponsored seminars and workshops on regional issues, systematic and substantive regional operations are currently lacking, and the number of NGOs working on a regional level is very limited. Consequently, despite the desirability of working with NGOs and the fact that USAID policies explicitly encourage partnership with NGOs, USAID/RCSA has had limited success in identifying NGO partners with which it can work. Overcoming these contraints will require a concerted effort to identify potential partners and to help strengthen those whose organizational capacity is currently limited. However, staff and programmatic constraints have impeded USAID/RCSA's ability to do so. Thus, in order to provide needed scope for regional leadership of the ISA, USAID/RCSA desires to put in place a mechanism that will enable USAID/RCSA to finance regional initiatives and the conduct of regional programs by, and will develop the capacity of, indigenous NGOs which contribute to the goals and objectives of the ISA. This is the impetus behind STRENGTH. Under STRENGTH, a STRENGTH Support Facility (SSF) contractor, to be selected as a result of this RFP, will manage a grant program (with grants to be awarded for capacity-building, proposal and program development, and activity implementation) and provide technical assistance and training to potential and actual indigenous NGO partners. A performance-based, cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF) contract is anticipated. The SSF contractor will be expected to mobilize and utilize expertise in the southern Africa region to the maximum practicable extent. In addition, all other evaluation factors being equal, the utilization of U.S. small, small disadvantaged, small woman-owned, and other disadvantaged enterprises may become a determining factor in contractor selection. 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 USAID Web Site. The RFP, once issued, can be downloaded from the USAID Web Site. The Worldwide Web address is http://www.info.usaid.gov. Select "BUSINESS AND PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES" from the home page, then "USAID PROCUREMENTS." On the following screen, select "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/6909707/6909707.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. (0202)

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