The Millennium
Challenge Corporation is assisting the nation of Tunisia in achieving greater
economic growth by getting it to improve its government and private-sector institutions, which MCC says suffer from a bloated workforce and strict labor laws that keep that unwieldy
labor market intact.
Tunisia, a
North African nation tucked between Libya and Algeria, has agreed to pursue their
reforms as a step toward signing a formal compact with MCC. First it must
undergo scrutiny via MCC’s Threshold Program, which:
assists
countries in implementing policy changes in order to improve prospects for MCC
Compact eligibility. MCC has signed 23
threshold program agreements with 21 countries totaling nearly $500 million to
date. Of the 21 countries, eight countries have been selected as Compact
eligible; seven have signed Compacts; and one is in Compact development.
MCC, a U.S.
government-funded corporation, in this latest instance is following up on what
is known as a market “constraints analysis,” or CA, that the government
of Tunisia, the African
Development Bank, and the Obama Administration jointly conducted last
year.
The CA reached
the conclusion that one of the biggest constraints to economic growth in
Tunisia is the absence of institutions capable of ensuring “public sector
accountability, the rule of law, and checks and balances on power.”
Another conclusion is that Tunisia spends too much on social
security and has regulations making it too difficult for even the private
sector to fire employees. As a result of this “high fiscal and regulatory cost
of employing workers,” Tunisian
companies face one of the “highest payroll tax burdens in the world.”
As Tunisia has
some of the most stringent worker-dismissal laws around the globe, it
discourages investment and reduces demand for workers of all skill levels, MCC
says. Consequently, Tunisia negatively affects its ability to compete
internationally, according to MCC.
MCC seeks to
correct this situation by hiring independent contractors to assist Tunisia in
carrying out relevant reforms.
The
organization is seeking, in separate solicitations, contractors capable of
assisting the Tunisian government is achieving reforms via contract vehicles
known as Design of Tunisia Threshold Program Labor Markets (Solicitation #MCC-13-RFQ-0024) and Design of
Tunisia Threshold Program Public Sector Accountability (Solicitation #MCC-13-RFQ-0029).
The Obama Administration claims it is helping Tunisia in its transition to a more a democratic society, following what have been hailed as "free and fair multiparty elections for a Constituent Assembly," which was then tasked with drafting a new constitution.
U.S. Prepares for Casualties in Africa
The extrication of U.S. Special Forces injured in African military ventures soon will provide contractors with an additional revenue stream, now that the Obama administration plans to keep such vendors on stand-by, 24/7, for cross-continent airborne mobilization.
While the Pentagon’s reliance on private vendors to support international military operations is nothing new, plans to station such providers specific to such a large swath of Africa does deviate from prior procurement actions.
The Trans-Sahara Short Take-Off and Landing Airlift Support initiative will rely on outside assistance in the event that soldiers of U.S. Special Operations Command-Africa sustain traumatic medical emergencies, thereby requiring urgent transportation out of hostile zones.
Indeed, SOCOM-Africa places such urgency on its anticipated use of such Casualty Evacuation, or CASEVAC, services that, at a minimum, contractors must be capable of launching an airborne response with only a three hour notice.
The selected vendor likewise must possess the ability to be placed on heightened response and “be airborne within one hour of notification,” according a revised Performance Work Statement released April 16 that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research.
Despite this urgency, the vendor securing that contract largely will engage in cargo- and personnel airlift activities, plus a limited number of air-drop missions.
The “most likely” locations for such operations are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia, according to the U.S. Transportation Command solicitation.
Kenya, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda also fall within the Primary Operating Area, or POA, of this endeavor, the USTRANSCOM document says.
SOCOM-Africa will enable this expedited response-capability by stationing the contractor in Burkina Faso, a landlocked West African nation, it says.
A search of prior Tactical Combat Casualty Care and CASEVAC solicitations available via the FedBizOpps system shows that USSOCOM and other Department of Defense units typically and primarily seek only training and equipment.
Rather than soliciting continent-wide provision of emergency medical and flight assistance, those contracting actions generally have sought assistance to enable combatant commands to provide themselves with such medical assistance.
One USSOCOM contracting action representative of the government’s acquisition of CASEVAC “kits” and trauma-management training, for example, described a critical need for Special Operations combat forces to obtain new techniques and technology in support of “ongoing operations worldwide.”
Another Special Ops solicitation from late last year revealed a $40 million, two-year contract extension awarded to Tribalco, LLC, a Bethesda, Maryland-based maker of CASEVAC and other “soldier-survival” equipment.
USTRANSCOM did not disclose an estimated cost of the Africa-centric CASEVAC procurement.
In other U.S. military procurement actions specific to Africa:
This article originally appeared via WND April 28. Under prior agreement, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.
Posted at 06:49 PM in Africa, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Commentary, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Mauritania, Military, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, North Africa, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, U.S. Navy, U.S. Special Forces, White House, WND | Permalink | Comments (0)
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