U.S. Agency for International Development, FAO Branch, Division A, Office of Procurement, Room 7.10-060, RRB, Washington, D.C. 20523

R -- PROFESSIONAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES SOL M/OP-98-192 POC Contact Point: Ellen R. Wills, Tel: 202-712-1132 (e-mail: ewills@usaid.gov), Contracting Officer, Rosella Marshall, (202) 702-1102 The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contemplates issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the award of a Performance-Based Contract entitled "PVO Child Survival Technical Support (CSTS)," for a period of three (3) years, with two 1-year options, subject to the availability of funds. The purpose of this Performance-Based Contract is to assist the Bureau for Humanitarian Response (BHR), Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation (PVC) meet its strategic objective of strengthening the capability of PVOs to achieve sustainable service delivery in their child survival (CS) and health programs. PVC will report the strengthened capability of its partners through (a) increased success of the projects in the Child Survival Assistance Program (CSAP) in meeting the health needs of mothers and children in developing countries; (b) increased joint programming of community health activities by PVOs and USAID operating units; (c) increased resource mobilization by PVOs for CS activities; (d) increased PVO technical and operational support to local partners/NGOs in the design and implementation of child interventions; and (e) increased awareness of the success of PVO child survival programs. The current technical support contractor is John Hopkins University. To achieve the purpose of this Performance- Based contract, the CSTS contractor shall strengthen: 1. the ability of PVO staff to design, manage and evaluate their child survival activities; 2. the organizational capacity of PVO health units to fund, administer and provide backstopping support to a growing portfolio of child survival projects; 3. the development and dissemination of information on the PVOs' successes and comparative advantage in implementing health programs; 4. the ability of PVOs to strengthen host-country local partners/NGOs in long-term partnerships for child survival and health programming; and 5. PVC's monitoring of performance and management of the CSAP. The award will be based upon full-and-open competition. The SIC Code for this award is 8741. Subcontracting with small business concerns and socially and economically disadvantaged entities. USAID encourages the participation, to the maximum extent possible, of U.S. entities that are small business concerns, small disadvantaged business concerns, and disadvantaged enterprises. It is anticipated that the prime contractor will make maximum practicable use of such entities. Small business and small disadvantaged business subcontracting plans, pursuant to FAR 52.219.9, are required to be included in submitted proposals. To help identify potential subcontractors, a list of all organizations requesting a copy of the Request for Expressions of Interest (REI) and solicitation will be included under Attachment J to the Request for Proposals (RFP) document. By providing the list, USAID does not endorse the listed organizations as being capable of carrying out the activity, nor does USAID verify the claimed status of the organizations. The list will contain the names of only those organizations known prior to the issuance of the solicitation document. All organizations are encouraged to indicate whether they are small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, 8(a) businesses, or disadvantaged enterprises as part of their response to the RFP. The RFP will be issued on or about 15 working days from the date of this publication. The closing date will be on or about 30 days from the issuance date. Interested parties may request a copy of RFP No. M/OP-98-192 by submitting a written request with three (3) self-addressed, self-adhesive mailing labels, addressed to: US Agency for International Development, Office of Procurement, M/OP/A/FAO, Room 7.10-060 RRB, Washington, DC 20523, Attn. Ellen R. Wills. 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 (WorldPefect 5.1/5.2 format). This CBD notice can be viewed and downloaded using the Agency Web Site. The RFP, once issued, can be downloaded from the Agency 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." 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 the INTERNET in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. (0356)

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