Contact: Chairman, South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Block B, Pin Mill Farm, Sandton, 2196, Republic of South Africa. Phone: 011-27-11-321-8202, Fax: 011-27-11-321-8547

D -- SOUTH AFRICA -- THIRD PARTY EMERGENCY AND MUNICIPAL RADIO TRUNKING FEASIBILITY STUDY POC Evangela Kunene, USTDA, 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209-2131, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax: (703) 875-4009. South Africa Emergency and Municipal Radio Trunking Feasibility Study. The Grantee invites submission of qualifications and proposal data (collectively referred to as the "Proposal") from interested U.S. firms which are qualified on the basis of experience and capability to develop a feasibility study to assist the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) in the development of emergency communications radio trunking systems in South Africa. SATRA is a relatively new agency created to be the independent regulator of telecommunications activities in South Africa. One of SATRA=92s principal goals at the moment is the immediate improvement of basic telephone access in the previously unserved areas. However, SATRA is also pushing actively for improved "value added" services, such as internet connection, satellite communications, and data transmission. SATRA has identified the need to more equitably and pro-actively address the issue of access for all South Africans to safety and security =96 a requirement of the new South African Constitution. SATRA has cited the lack of communications infrastructure for ambulance dispatch services in rural areas as a principal example of this need. To address these problems, SATRA is considering offering two or more licenses for private companies to provide emergency communications services with a radio trunking system, and has requested funding for a feasibility study which would examine application of radio trunking in the emergency environment of fire and rescue, emergency medical, and police services, disaster management, and road traffic control; establish market size to determine number of licenses with due consideration of spectrum availability, expected traffic demand, and technical feasibility; and determine licensing requirements. The terms of reference for the study will include: 1) Review of existing project documentation, 2) Site survey, interviews, and requirement definition, 3) Market analysis, 4) Licensing requirements 5) Report preparation, 6) Final report presentation. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $75,000 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA). A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and a background desk study report are available from TDA, at 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209-2131. Requests for the RFP should be faxed to the IRC, TDA at 703-875-4009. In the fax, please include your firm=92s name, contact person, address, and telephone number. 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 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. 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 4:00 PM will be mailed the same day. Requests received after 4:00 PM will be mailed the following day. Please check with your courier and/or mail room before calling TDA. 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 the host country for up to 20 percentof 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 Proposal in English directly to the Grantee by 4:00 p.m., August 14, 1998 at SATRA=92s above address. Evaluation criteria for the Proposal are included in the RFP. Price will not be a factor in contractor selection, and therefore, cost proposals should NOT be submitted. The Grantee reserves the right to reject any and/or all Proposals. The Grantee also reserves the right to contract with the selected firm for subsequent work related to the project. The Grantee is not bound to pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of Proposals. Posted 07/22/98 (I-SN227121). (0203)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0030 19980724\D-0012.SOL)