Mark Walther, Contracting Officer, U.S. Agency for International Development, M/OP/B/PCE, RRB Room 7.09-132, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20523-7100

R -- AGRICULTURAL POLICY DEVELOPMENT SOL OP/B/PCE-99-001 POC Michael Clark, Tel: 202-712-1323, Fax: 202-216-3396, E-mail: mclark@usaid.gov WEB: http://www.info.usaid.gov, http://www.info.usaid.gov/procurement_bus_opp/procurement/announce/cbd. E-MAIL: http://www.info.usaid.gov, mclark@usaid.gov. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) seeks to competitively award a 3 year Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC) entitled Agricultural Policy Development (APD) under the Agricultural Policy Analysis Project (APAP). Since 1983, the Agricultural Policy Analysis Project (APAP) has been providing assistance to USAID missions and host-country decision-makers in 48 countries. By identifying and resolving problems related to agricultural policy, APAP has promoted sustainable economic growth through policy reform. Ongoing activities under APAP have emphasized making markets work better with better policies. It has focused on identifying economy-wide and sectorial policy issues and resolving problems relating to agricultural growth. This assistance has included: implementing policy analysis and reform to make markets work better; promoting agricultural and environmental sustainability; assessing impacts of policy reform on various socioeconomic groups and on natural resources, such as water and forests; and building capacity to initiate, implement and sustain agricultural policy in Africa. APAP has made considerable progress in developing ways to work with decision-makers, create demand for policy analysis, and provide tools that respond to analytical needs as reform efforts evolve. The purpose of APD is to help bureaus, missions, and host country decision-makers in identifying issues and resolving problems concerning agricultural policy, especially issues related to trade reform, market performance, food equity, and agricultural sustainability. Illustrative areas of focus include: establishing general development policies that promote development of the agricultural and fishery sectors and rural and coastal areas; promoting efficient trade and market environments so long term changes are transmitted to the domestic economy; developing early-warning systems (including nutritional surveillance) that provide information on local food situations, taking into account geographic features, seasonal fluctuations, and natural climatic variability, in order to ensure that local production and/or local markets make available safe and adequate food supplies to meet the energy and nutrient needs of the population; establishing non-binding codes of conduct for food aid to identify goals and best practices to which participating donors and recipient countries might aspire; and developing measures which least-developed and net food-importing countries could implement to take advantage of international trade reform should the implementation of the Uruguay Round program result in inadequate supplies of available basic foodstuffs from external sources. The SIC Code for the above procurement 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 this RFP, 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 the 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-99-001 by submitting a written request with (3) self-addressed mailing labels (indicating small business status as noted above) to: Michael Clark, Contract Specialist, USAID Office of Procurement, OP/B/PCE, Room 7.09-132, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20523-7100. No phone, fax or e-mail 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. The preferred method of distribution of USAID procurement information is via the Internet or by request of a solicitation on 3.5" floppy disk (Microsoft Word 97 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 INTERNET in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. Questions should be directed to Mike Clark, Contract Specialist. Posted 05/03/99 (W-SN326747). (0123)

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