U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of Agriculture and Food Security, Economic Growth and Agriculture Development Center, Bureau for Global Affairs (G/EGAD/AFS), RRB, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 2.11-082,Washington, DC 20523-710

R -- PARTNERSHIPS FOR FOOD INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM SOL RFA G/EGAD/AFS-00-002 POC Vicki B. Booker, Tel: 202-712-4939, Fax: 202-216-3579, E-mail: vbooker@usaid.gov WEB: http://www.info.usaid.gov, http://www.info.usaid.gov. E-MAIL: http://www.info.usaid.gov, vbooker@usaid.gov. On or about April 11, 2000, Request for Applications (RFA)G/EGAD/AFS-00-002 will be issued by the Office of Agriculture and Food Security in the U.S. Agency For International Development's (USAID's) Bureau for Global Programs (G/EGAD/AFS), to enter into Leader with Associates (LWA) Type Cooperative Agreements for a Partnerships for Food Industry Development (PFID) program. The purpose of this program is to contribute to economic growth of USAID client countries by mobilizing private and public sector expertise to add value, as well as meet safety and quality standards, in the production of food products for domestic and international markets. In collaboration with USAID Missions, the partnerships will help client countries apply strategies to increase food quality and export earnings by: 1) adapting and applying food processing technologies and marketing systems to create value-added products or to improve their safety and quality for domestic and global markets; and 2) promoting a science-based legal,regulatory, and policy framework for international trade in food products through global trade regime enhancements as required under World Trade Organization agreements. With an LWA agreement, Missions and Bureaus can develop their own stand-alone (Associate) agreements or grants with any organization that is awarded a LWA agreement under the RFA -- without repeating the competition process -- so long as the Associate agreements or grants are within the scope of the LWA agreement. USAID anticipates that the term of the LWA agreements will be four years. It is anticipated that up to a total of $1 million per year will be available for two Leader agreements that focus on any one of the following eight categories: meat, seafood, poultry, fruits and vegetables, natural products/spices, bulk tree crop commodities, field crops, and broad multi-commodity approaches to effective food industry regulation or effective international food trade negotiations. These two LWA agreements would support partnerships between universities, business associations and individual firms with the partnership being led by one of its university members. Also, a third Leader agreement of up to $1 million per year may (to be determined in the RFA) be awarded to a partnership that focuses on the dairy industry. This third LWA agreement would support a partnership led by any member of the partnership. Total amount of all Associate awards for these three LWA agreements are anticipated to be up to $3 million per year from other USAID bureaus or missions. Under any of the above circumstances, however, USAID does not intend to make any of the above LWA awards in the same categories. 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 "Download Available USAID Solicitations." Receipt of the 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. Interested applicants may also request the RFA via electronic mail at vbooker@usaid.gov, in writing by faxing 202-216-3579 or writing via the U.S. Postal Service to the Office of Agriculture and Food Security, Economic Growth and Agricultural Development Center, Bureau for Global Programs, United States Agency for International Development, RRB 2.11-053, Washington, D.C. 20523. Attention: Vicki B. Booker. Any mail sent by courier should be sent to Vicki B. Booker at the Office of Agriculture and Food Security, Economic Growth and Agricultural Development Center, Bureau for Global Affairs, United States Agency for International Development, RRB Room 2.11-053, Washington, D.C. 20523. Posted 03/16/00 (W-SN435077). (0076)

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