Steve Peacock's U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor

ADM, Cargill, Others Get $57 Million in Global Food Aid Contracts (NEWS BRIEF)

Nearly $57 million in contracts recently were awarded to multiple vendors by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for  food-aid endeavors such as USAID Title II, Food for Peace and the FAS, McGovern-Dole Food for Education programs. Vendors include contracting behemoths  Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill as well as smaller U.S. distributors, all whom totally will export about 72 metric tons of cornmeal, lentils, rice, vegetable oil, and other subsistence items.

Source document: Contract award #AGINTPP130029-AGINTPP130064.

White House Seeks to Spark Agribusiness Growth -- But Guess Where?

Certain sectors of the agricultural industry are experiencing a “less impressive” growth rate than anticipated by the Obama Administration, which is stepping in to spark that growth. And it doing so in Uganda, where its Commodity Production and Marketing campaign aims to “sustainably increase the production and marketing of quality maize, beans, and coffee” in that African nation.

The administration last year devised a plan to cut Ugandan poverty in half, while also reducing other social ills, such as the frequency of cattle raiding across the country.  As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor reported last year, “Plan Uganda” will cost American taxpayers $3.5 billion from 2011-2015.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in a Statement of Work, or SOW, that this latest project—which is connected with the administration’s broader Feed the Future initiative—will help achieve  USAID/Uganda’s development goal of achieving “Economic growth from agriculture and the natural resource base increased in selected areas and population groups.”

Despite continued U.S. assistance to Uganda’s agricultural sector over the past two decades, the industry continues to struggle, for instance, with creating efficient regional distribution systems as well as producing quality corn and maize, the SOW acknowledged.

Among some of those programs were:

• Investment in the Development of Export Agriculture (IDEA) project (1993 to 2004);
• Rural Savings Promotion & Enhancement of Enterprise Development project (2004 and 2007);
• Strengthening the Competitiveness of Private Enterprise project (2003 to 2006);
• Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program (APEP) (2003-2008).
• Current USAID/Uganda projects include:
• Livelihoods and Enterprises for Agricultural Development (LEAD) project (2008-2013);

The Commodity Production and Marketing activity said it will achieve its objectives by:

• increasing crop productivity (increase in yields, reduction of production costs, and reduction of post-harvest losses);
• increasing the availability and effectiveness of support services (financial, advisory, market information, and other production and marketing services);
• strengthening inter-actor relationships for more effective movement of products and information between buyers and sellers; and:
• increasing access to competitive markets (domestic, regional and international).

The selected vendor also must takes steps to educate Ugandans about climate change and gender equality, according to the SOW.

The endeavor will cost about $23 million over five years.  Contractor proposals are due Oct. 5.

Source document: Solicitation #SOL-617-12-000020(1).

FOR ADDITIONAL REGIONAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S AFRICA PAGE.

FOR FURTHER COVERAGE OF THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, PLEASE VISIT THE MONITOR'S USAID PAGE.

ALSO SEE THE MONITOR'S FOOD & NUTRITION PAGE.

Bids Due on $100 Million Afghan Slaughterhouse

The U.S.-funded construction of an Afghan National Army slaughterhouse -- whose estimated cost reaches upwards of $100 million -- is coming closer to fruition, as contractor bids are due this Saturday (July 21) .  The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers project, as spelled out in a 1,300+ page solicitation released earlier this year, will provide a modern, climate-controlled facility to help the U.S. achieve its policy goal of making the Afghanistan military more self-sufficient. The facility will be located in the Deh-e-Sabz District, Kabul Province.

Source document: Solicitation #W5J9JE-12-R-0078.

USAID Launching El Salvador Food & Trade Initiative

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)  will embark upon a what it is calling the Regional Integrated Trade and Food Security Project in El Salvador, according a presolicitation notice released about an hour ago. The document offered a one-sentence description:

The purpose of this Program is to promote inclusive economic growth, improve food security and facilitate trade in the region.

Aside from contact information for the USAID acquisition specialist handling the project, it provided no other specifics.

Solicitation #SOL-596-12-000004.

USAID Contractor Gets $61 Million to Boost Nigerian Agribusiness

The U.S.  Agency for International Development (USAID) today revealed it recently awarded a $61 million contract to Chemonics International, Inc.,  to boost the productivity and product quality of the Nigerian agriculture sector.

Chemonics is led by Richard Dreiman, a Harvard University and UC Berkley educated CEO who worked as a privately contracted advisor to USAID/Zaire before coming to the company in 1992. Indeed, the Chemonics executive team is composed of many former USAID officials and independent contractors, including ex-USAID staffers and current Chemonics Senior VPs James Griffin, Stephen Pelliccia, Chris Scott, and Douglas L. Tinsler.

Although Chemonics secured the award April 18, USAID did not upload the contract announcement to the FedBizOpps database until this morning (April 27).

As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor previously reported, Phase II of the Maximizing Agricultural Revenue and Key Enterprise in Targeted Sectors Program, or MARKETS, project seeks to build upon previous successes of the endeavor's initial phase (See "Phase II of Federal Project to Help Poor Farmers Forthcoming," Aug. 3, 2011).

USAID paid nearly $52 million to Chemonics for MARKETS Phase I.

Source document: Solicitation #SOL-620-11-000001.

FOR ADDITIONAL REPORTING ON THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, SEE THE MONITOR'S USAID PAGE.

FOR MORE REGIONAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S NIGERIA PAGE AND  AFRICA PAGE.

USAID Proposes New $60 Million Project for West African Farmers

African farmers ostensibly will benefit from an approximately new $60 million project that U.S. taxpayers could be funding.  The U.S. Agency for International Development's "USAID/WA [West Africa] Trade Hub and African Partner Network Project," as the endeavor is known, will seek to "assist farmers and firms to increase trade in key grains and livestock" in that region, according to a presolicitation notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has located.

The document says the initiative, which remains "subject to the availability of funds," will keep in line with the U.S. government's Feed the Future strategy (.pdf) as well as support the

Africa Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Initiative (ACTE) goals of creating jobs and reducing poverty through value added exports.

USAID is not yet seeking bids on the proposed five-year project. The agency expects to release a formal Request for Proposals around June 2012.

Source document: Solicitation #624-12-0000TBD.

FOR ADDITIONAL REGIONAL COVERAGE, PLEASE VISIT THE MONITOR'S AFRICA PAGE.

FOR ADDITIONAL COVERAGE OF THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, PLEASE VISIT THE MONITOR'S USAID PAGE.

Phase II of Federal Project to Help Poor Farmers Forthcoming

A potential $65 million contract to help boost the productivity of poor farmers is about to be unveiled by the U.S. government — in Nigeria.

Indeed, this is just the latest phase of Maximizing Agricultural Revenue and Key Enterprise in Targeted Sectors Program (MARKETS), which from 2005-2010 contractor Chemonics International Inc., helped carry out for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at a cost of $51.7 million to U.S. taxpayers.

According to the new solicitation (#SOL-620-11-000001), which was released yesterday:

MARKETS II is conceived of as a follow-on of the MARKETS project and shall continue MARKETS activities to build the eight value chains currently being supported: Rice, Cassava, Sorghum, Cowpea, Aquaculture, Sesame, Maize, Cocoa.

Whereas the initial project was conducted throughout twenty-three Nigerian states, MARKETS II, as it will be known, will focus on the states of “Bauchi and Sokoto, one or two states of the Niger Delta region and additional states to reach a maximum of ten.” According to the solicitation, the project will:

build on the successes of its predecessor MARKETS project in addressing constraints along the agricultural commodity value chain, working with farmers to increase production and the quality of produce through improved post-harvest handling, linking farmers and agro-processors, providing incentives to adopt improved technology along the value chain, producing value-added products and identifying new markets.

The deadline for submitting proposals to USAID for the MARKETS II program is Sept. 16.

SNAPSHOT: Milk & Dairy for U.S. Military in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Plus Honduras

Previous snapshots have explored, for instance, the magnitude of military fuel purchases to carry out Dept. of Defense operations in particular parts of the globe. Today the Monitor takes a look at… milk and dairy.

The following is a rundown of anticipated Defense Logistics Agency purchases of milk, other dairy items, and ice cream products for U.S. troops in Cuba and Honduras from July 31, 2011 through August 3, 2013.

Low-fat milk: 1,496 five-gallon containers.

Non-fat milk: 45,000 half-pint containers.

Low-fat chocolate milk: 358 five-gallon containers.

Sour cream: 16,040 pint containers.

Cottage cheese: 4,934 five-pound containers.

Low-fat yogurt (assorted flavors): 27,456 six- or eight-ounce containers.

Liquid chocolate ice-milk mixture for soft-serve machine: 1,056 half-gallon containers.

Liquid vanilla ice-milk mixture for soft-serve machine: 3,048 half-gallon containers.

Eggnog: 1,044 quart containers.

 

$3.5 Billion "Plan Uganda" Seeks to Cut Poverty in Half -- While Reducing 'Cattle Raiding,' Too

 

Cutting poverty by 50% in Uganda is one of the chief goals of the Obama Administration's 2011-2015 strategy for that African nation, which will receive $3.5 billion under the ambitious plan. Among other stated ambitions is a reduction in cattle-raiding and counter-cattle-raiding in one particularly conflict-prone region of the country.

The U.S. Agency for International Development today made available the following policy documents governing the program:

Description: The Country Development Cooperation Strategy 2011-2015 (CDCS) is USAID/Uganda’s approved country strategy and will guide USAID programming over the strategy period. The CDCS demonstrates how a number of important USAID policy initiatives will be implemented in Uganda, such as aid effectiveness principles, strengthened monitoring and evaluation, and procurement reform, and other initiatives under USAID Forward. This document should provide useful context to those reviewing upcoming solicitations and assistance opportunities.

UgandaCDCS - Working Extract.pdf (658.82 Kb)

Description: Feed the Future (FtF), the U.S. Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative, is a $3.5 billion commitment by President Obama at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy to address two goals: 1) reducing poverty by 50% and 2) reducing under-nutrition by 50% that will in turn contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1. The Feed the Future Strategy for Uganda will guide programming for this initiative and should provide useful context to those reviewing upcoming solicitations and assistance opportunities.

Uganda Feed the Future Strategy Mar10 Final.pdf (2,946.38 Kb)

Billion-Dollar Global Health Care Plan Unveiled

A trio of additional healthcare projects of the Obama Administration are slated to be administered by a handful of private-sector vendors at a cost of nearly $1 billion—initiatives that contractors will carry out in Africa, Asia/Middle East and the Latin America/Caribbean regions.

According to contracting documents that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through routine federal database research, the largest of the three health care packages (solicitation #SOL-OAA-11-000021) is the $500 million plan for Africa.

The Asia/Middle East plan will receive $300 million (solicitation # SOL-OAA-11-000022), while $100 million will go toward programs in Latin America and The Caribbean (solicitation #SOL-OAA-11-000020).

This nearly billion-dollar combination of foreign healthcare aid comes at a time when debate over implementation of domestic Obamacare is brewing to a boil. 

In addition to continuing concerns over the financial burden of the law’s requirements, compliance waivers granted to select companies have come under congressional scrutiny.

A subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for example, last month held hearings on the matter, questioning the legal authority of the Secretary for Health and Human Services to grant such waivers.

Similarly, Crossroads GPS—an organization affiliated with former Bush Administration Chief of Staff Karl Rove—is suing the Obama Administration for allegedly failing to comply with Freedom of Information Act request for data on the waivers.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which added the “population, health, and nutrition technical assistance and support” solicitations to the federal business opportunities system yon April 20 and April 21, respectively, will grant four contracts for each region over the next five years.

USAID, in an official justification for the endeavors, pointed out that for the past forty years the agency “has worked to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world through its global programs in family planning and reproductive health, infectious disease prevention and control, child survival, maternal health, and other life-saving areas.

“In FY 2007, the US Department of State and USAID established the Foreign Assistance Standardized Program Structure that included the goal to ‘Help nations achieve sustainable improvements in the well-being and productivity of their populations through effective and accountable investments in education, health, and other social services.’

USAID additionally will devote $60 million toward communications and information technology acquisitions in further support of the global health plan. Solicitation # SOL-OAA-11-000018. Tasks under that segment include computer system design and infrastructure management. 

The communications and IT plan also entails and what USAID describes as “health communication services.”

Those services specifically would require the contractor to:

• Provide support, including but not limited to editing and publishing services, to the production of health reports and other related publications
• Create strategy for internet publishing and broadcasting for health programs and provide support for the implementation plan.
• In collaboration with local partners, design, create, and maintain web portals for specific health interests
• Coordinate, design and implement a strategy that utilize social media and mobile communication technology for the promotion of healthy behaviors
• Media and public relations services for local government and other local partners to support the promotion of health services and healthy behaviors.

The price tag for a separate but corollary initiative titled African Strategies for Health—whose goal is to “identify policy and implementation constraints” and to devise strategies for overcoming hurdles to further investments in Africa—was not revealed.

Estimated costs for that segment “will be determined at time of award” granted to the winning bidder, the draft Request for Proposals says in that solicitation (#M-OAA-GRO-EGAS-11-0001).

The USAID Global Health Bureau says it is embarking upon this ambitious plan in support of the U.S. government’s Investing in People program area. Elements of that program include AIDS/HIV and tuberculosis reduction, support of the President’s Malaria Initiative, limiting the spread of avian flu in animals, and increasing “the availability and use of proven life-saving interventions” for mothers and children.

Among other support areas is the targeted expansion of access to voluntary family planning services and information—plus what USAID characterize as “reproductive health care,” a program element that “contributes to reducing unintended pregnancy and promoting healthy reproductive behaviors of men and women, reducing abortion, and reducing maternal and child mortality and morbidity.”