U.S. Agency for International Development, Mark A. Walther, Contracting Officer, OP/B/PCE, RRB, Room 7.09-144, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20523-7100

B -- RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL INCOMES WITH A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT SOL OP/B/PCE-98-003 POC Contract Specialist, Douglas Kinloch, Tel: 202-712-1368, E-mail: dkinloch@usaid.gov, Fax: 202-216-3396 The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is developing an Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC) called RAISE (Rural and Agricultural Incomes with a Sustainable Environment) to promote economic growth and rural agricultural development through environmentally sound sustainable agriculture and natural resource management, enhanced policy conditions, and sound agri- business practices in developing countries. RAISE will help to identify, promote and pursue investments in natural resource- based industries -- (notably primary agricultural products, agribusiness, tourism, ecotourism, timber and fisheries) and community based natural resource management practice which sustainably raise incomes and are environmentally sound. USAID anticipates an estimated 2-3 IQC awards to consortia comprised of firms, business groups, universities, and NGOs, to provide long or short term technical assistance and project support to field missions and/or USAID/Washington bureaus. Technical assistance will involve services such as strategic planning and design, program implementation and management, performance monitoring, data management, support for information sharing, cooperation, and coordination, technical training and commodity procurement. The consortia should be prepared to utilize short and long-term U.S. personnel and locally hired personnel depending on the particular tasks required. Personnel will be expected to have significant experience in a variety of functional labor categories including but not limited to: land-use management, natural resource management, agri-business, policy reform and analysis, institutional capacity-building, and information management. The SIC Code for the above awards is 8742. Subcontracting with small business concerns and socially and economically disadvantaged entities: While no "set-aside" awards for small and disadvantaged businesses will be made under these RFPs, small business and small disadvantaged business subcontracting plans, pursuant to FAR 52.219-9, are required to be included in submitted proposals. All offerors' Plans must address subcontracting with small business concerns, with small disadvantaged business concerns and with women-owned small business concerns. The Plans must include a percentage goal of at least 15% of total planned subcontracting to small business concerns, small disadvantaged business concerns and women-owned small business concerns. Accordingly, USAID encourages all offerors to include the participation through subcontracting agreements, to the maximum extent possible, of U.S. entities that are qualified as "small business" concerns, "small disadvantaged business" concerns, and "women-owned small business" concerns. To help identify potential subcontractors, a list of all organizations requesting a copy of the RFP will be attached to each RFP. 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. Necessarily, 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, or women-owned small businesses so that their status may be indicated on the list. Interested parties may request a copy of RFP OP/B/PCE-98-003 by submitting a written request with (3) self-addressed mailing labels (indicating small business as noted above) to: Douglas Kinloch, Contract Specialist, USAID Office of Procurement, OP/B/PCE, Room 7.09-144, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20523. No phone or fax requests will be accepted. There will be no RFPs available for pickup. Requests not conforming to this requirement will not be honored. All RFPs will be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service unless an organization completes a self- addressed envelope for mailing with either their Federal Express or Express Mail account number. Only one request for the RFP per organization will be honored. Issuance of the RFP will not be less than 15 days after publication of this synopsis. The preferred method of distribution of USAID procurement information is via the internet or by request of a solicitation on 3.5" floppy disk (Wordperfect 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 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. (0099)

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