Carlton M. Bennett, Regional Contracting Officer, USAID/Dakar, Senegal, Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20521-2130

D -- PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN FOR USAID/SENEGAL STRATEGY 1998-2006 SOL 685-98-P-006 POC Contact Point: Carlton M. Bennett, Regional Contracting Officer, Tel: (221) 823-1602; Fax: (221) 823-2965 Correction: This action originally publicized in the CBD dated 07/13/98, supersedes and cancels the previous announcement. The United States Agency for International Development Mission to Senegal (USAID/Senegal) is issuing this pre-solicitation notice in order to seek public comment on its requirement for a publicity campaign to be executed in Senegal for its new strategy (1998-2006). Comments will be accepted through August 8, 1998. The objective of the publicity campaigns is twofold: (a) to disseminate adequate information on USAID/Senegal's new development strategy and investment opportunities to a nation- wide audience, and; (b) to generate proposals for assistance from USAID/Senegal's local investment partners and customers. The implementation of the new strategy is envisioned under a demand-driven approach to further emphasize customer/partner ownership of the results as the key to sustainability. The proposed approach to implementing the new strategy will be bifurcated into a local level and a national level, with each level being implemented differently, as described below. 1) Local level demand-driven approach: USAID/Senegal wishes to invest in those local "entities" that want to achieve the results set out in the results framework developed jointly with its partners and customers. However, to manage its investment portfolio, USAID must have investment units (i.e., different geographic and administrative entities such as "communes, communautes rurales, regions, and districts sanitaires") and investment packages (the minimum investment package is one entire SO) large enough to achieve broad impact. USAID/Senegal will receive investment proposals from investment units, and choose those which best meet established selection criteria and principles. Proposals for USAID's assistance may be made through investment units by both public and private sector entities, including: rural, regional, municipal councils, non governmental and private voluntary organizations (NGOs/PVOs), grassroots associations (e.g., women, youth, farmer groups, etc.), small, medium and micro businesses, decentralized financial systems, banks, chambers of commerce, banks, private business associations/organizations, health committees/associations, The investment units will be eligible to submit proposals for any or all SOs: proposals which affect synergies between SOs will be encouraged. 2) National level demand-driven approach: The Mission will execute a series of core activities for each SO at the national level with the GOS. Core programs will consist of policy dialogue, systems strengthening, and other strategic issues best approached on a national level. Selection of national level activities will be driven by the Mission's technical and policy agenda which will support or facilitate success of local level demanders/partners. Scope of Work: This scope of work sets USAID's contract requirements for conducting publicity campaigns aimed at obtaining demands for assistance from "entities" contemplated under the local level approach to implementing the new strategy. The purpose of this scope of work is to provide design and implementation services that will assist USAID/Senegal in "selling" the new development assistance strategy to local partners and customers through nationwide publicity campaigns. A. REQUIRED TASKS: Four major tasks are required of the contractor: 1. Design of publicity campaigns: The preliminary steps will be to undertake documentary research on USAID/Senegal's new assistance strategy, and to conduct surveys on the types of activities that USAID/Senegal is willing to fund under each SO. This will require meeting with USAID/Senegal staff, represen- tatives of locally-elected institutions, GOS, grassroots, private sector and non- governmental organizations, etc., to gather sufficient data for designing the publicity program. The design task will primarily consist of developing four annual campaigns of up to six months each. In this regard, the contractor will develop an investment package format and propose an implementation/marketing plan showing the media, content, and methodology for communication of messages, the human and technical resources to be utilized, and a detailed timeline. 2. Implementation of publicity campaigns: The contractor will be required to conduct four annual, nationwide publicity campaigns in Senegal. The campaigns will be conducted in French and in Senegalese national languages to provide adequate information on the investment units and packages, the SOs, illustrative activities, groups eligible to request USAID's assistance, selection criteria and principles, the format, content and submission schedules of the proposals. The purpose of the publicity campaigns will be: (a) to advertize the new strategy and the availability of USAID/Senegal's investment packages to interested local investment unit partners, and (2) to solicit proposals for USAID/Senegal's assistance. Various communication channels (i.e., national and local radio stations, TV and newspapers, posters, leaflets) may be used by the contractor to reach the largest possible audience. 3. Assistance with proposal development: The contractor shall be responsible for developing and providing a format for, and assisting with formulating (if necessary) the investment package proposals. The format recommended for the proposals shall be approved by USAID prior to being publicized. As necessary, the contractor may enter into subcontract arrangements with locally- based private sector firms or non-governmental organizations to provide assistance to investment unit partners in formulating/developing their proposals. 4. Assistance with receipt and processing of proposals: The contractor will work closely with USAID/Senegal SO teams to assure that the proposals received are complete and organized for easy review. This will require that the contractor screen the received proposals against the criteria and principles disseminated during the publicity campaigns, and classify them by strategic objective. In connection with this task, the contractor shall prepare a receiving report for the proposals submitted in response to each publicity campaign. However, he shall not select or rank proposals based on their technical merit. B. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN: The contractor shall propose an implementation plan and budget showing the media, content, and m thodologie for communication of messages. The contractor shall clear ALL basic information messages with USAID before dissemination to ensure that the content is correct. Once the Mission formally verifies the basic content, the contractor shall act independently to achieve results required for payment. The contractor may spend as much time in regions, etc., as it wishes, but USAID recommends the bulk of efforts be targeted away from Dakar and toward areas where information is more difficult to obtain. The Mission recommends that the contractor translate these documents into the six major local languages of Senegal, use the traditional methods of communication, and all available networks and media to ensure that the target populations fully understand the key information of the publicity campaigns. Posted 07/16/98 (I-SN224301). (0197)

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