Regional Contracting Office, American Embassy/Amman, Unit 70206, APO AE 09892-0206

R -- INCREASED PARTICIPATION BY CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS (CSOS) IN PUBLIC DECISION-MAKING SOL 294-00-777 DUE 080300 POC Jeffery D. Bell, Regional Contracting Officer, USAID/Jordan, Fax: 962-6-592-0143, E-mail: jefferybell@usaid.gov WEB: http://www.info.usaid.gov/procurement_bus_opp/procurement/announce/cbd, http://www.info.usaid.gov. E-MAIL: http://www.info.usaid.gov, jefferybell@usaid.gov. The United States Agency for International Development Mission to West Bank|Gaza intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to support its Democracy and Governance Strategic Objective. In particular, the Mission wishes to achieve the following: a) Preserve the "space" occupied by Palestinian civil society and civil society organizations as an important element in the competition and diversity necessary to a democracy; b) Enable civil society to maintain democratic and open points of contact and influence along the spectrum between citizens and the government; c) Strengthen civil society in skills that contribute to the oversight role civil society can play in holding government accountable; d) Strengthen civil society organizations in skills that contribute to a representational and advocacy role with and for their constituencies; and e) Contribute to the sustainability of Palestinian civil society organizations by building their capacities. The successful contractor will implement a five-year program that is intended to provide large and small grants to CSOs to support democratic process activities they conduct. These activities may be the central work agenda of a CSO or may be a by-product of their central work agenda. This program should also be able to provide small grants in rapid response to political developments and to actually pay for democratic process activities conducted by organizations too institutionally weak to receive grants outright. The Contractor will: a) Design and implement a grant-making project component that is accessible and user friendly to even small Palestinian CSOs; b) Provide grants management support for grants to CSOs working in democratic processes; c) Design and implement a rapid response program to fund democratic process activities conceptualized and implemented by Palestinian civil society organizations, even those who cannot be granted funds directly; d) Design and manage a program that will fund democratic process activities without actually granting funds to CSOs; e) Design and administer a capacity building program for CSOs in coordination with Palestinian universities and training institutions in the West Bank and Gaza that:(1)Is intensive and accessible enough to provide measurable transfer of skills; and (2) Is sustainable in that it increases the capacity, viability, and credibility of the Palestinian cooperating institutions; f) Strengthen the capacity of selected Palestinian training institutions and firms to be able to directly respond to the training and capacity building needs of CSOs; g) Conduct periodic needs assessments and respond to community demand for technical assistance in democratic process activities relying on local resources and offshore expertise; and h) Modify the proposed project implementation method to accommodate the particular and greater needs of the Gaza Strip. It is expected that the RFP for this activity will be released and posted on the USAID Web Site within 15 days following publication of this notice. This procurement is being administered by the Regional Contracting Office at USAID/Jordan, but is intended to support the USAID West Bank|Gaza Mission. A five year, cost reimbursable, performance based contract is anticipated. It is expected that the government's estimate for this activity will be included in the RFP. 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 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 website. 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." 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 firms may request a copy of the RFP by sending an e-mail, citing RFP No. 294-00-777, to Jeffery D. Bell, jefferybell@USAID.gov. Telephonic requests will not be honored. Requests for the RFP that are received one week or less before the RFP closing date will be filled subject to the availability of copies. The Internet Address is http://www.info.USAID.gov/procurement_bus_ opp/procurement/solicitation/ Receipt of this RFP through INTERNET must be confirmed by written (fax or mail) notification to the contact person noted above. It is the responsibility of the recipient of the RFP to ensure that it has been received from INTERNET in its entirety. USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. http://www.info.USAID.gov/procurement_bus_ opp/procurement/announce/cbd URL http://www.info.USAID.gov EMAIL jefferybell@USAID.gov American Embassy Amman, Regional Contracting Office, Unit 70206, APO AE 09892-0206. You can subscribe to the USAID CBD listserve by sending an e-mail to "listproc@info.usaid.gov" -- in the body of the e-mail include the message: subscribe USAID-CBD-L your name. If you are already subscribed to the listserve and want to unsubscribe send an e-mail to "listproc@info.usaid.gov" -- in the body of the e-mail type the message: unsubscribe USAID-CBD-L. Posted 06/07/00 (W-SN462344). (0159)

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