U.S. Agency for International Development, M/OP/A/HRN, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, RRB 7.10-041, Washington, DC 20523-7101

R -- NETMARKS SOL M/OP-99-717 DUE 042199 POC Mr. Kent Howard, Contract Specialist, E-mail: kehoward@usaid.gov, Tel: 202-712-1818, Fax: 202-216-3052 WEB: http://www.info.usaid.gov, http://www.info.usaid.gov/procurement_bus_opp/procurement/announce/cbd. E-MAIL: http://www.info.usaid.gov, kehoward@usaid.gov. USAID is issuing a Request for Application (RFA) for the Netmark Project. NetMark, a five year initiative, is designed to address these concerns by supporting a comprehensive approach to delivery of Insecticide Treated Material (ITM) services in a limited number of African countries -- with particular emphasis given to developing the role of the commercial sector in the manufacture, promotion and distribution of netting and insecticides. To date most ITM programs haave been subsidized by international donors and implemented through the public sector and non-governmental organizations. The capacity of the commercial sector in Aafrica to promtoe and distribute ITM services remains ill defined -- though it is widely accepted that the sustainable delivery of effective ITM services will require an actively engaged commercial sector. It is expected that NetMark will clarify the potential of the commercial sector to provide effective and affordable ITM services -- while achieving full-cost recovery, and by extension allowing for the development of complementary strategies for selective targeting of scare public sector resources -- to ensure equity in the provision of ITM services. A Pre-Bidders Conference is scheduled on Wednesday, April 7, 1999, in Pretoria, South Africa. The meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m., at the USAID South Africa offices located in the Sancardia Building, at the corner of Church and Beatrix Street. Please see the Receptionist who is located on the 9th floor. 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 (Word format). This CBD notice can be viewed and downloaded using the Agency Web Site. The RFA, 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 "Ddownload Aavailable USAID Solicitations." Receipt of this RFA 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. Please contact the M/OP Internet Coordinator at (202) 712-4442 if you experience downloading problems. Posted 03/15/99 (W-SN308462). (0074)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0065 19990317\R-0003.SOL)