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

U.S. Takes Action to Reduce Energy Dependence -- in Europe

The nation faces a critical need to "overcome a number of serious problems" related to economic development and growing energy needs, particularly because of its "strong dependence on energy imports," the Obama Administration has concluded.

Consequently, it has launched a project to increase "competitiveness and energy security" while reducing "greenhouse gas emissions via greater clean energy investments" across the nation.

Across the nation of Macedonia, that is.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will devote an unspecified amount of funding for the Competitiveness through Clean Energy Investment – Industrial Management Project.

USAID acknowledged in the document  that an "important influence on Macedonian energy policy" is the country‘s objective of becoming accepted into the European Union. According to a project Statement of Work, the agency will hire a contractor over the next 3-4 years to:

(1) Recruit Macedonian industry particpation;

(2) Provide energy management and efficiency systems to selected businesses;

(3) Train various sectors in the use of such systems; and:

(4) Promote energy management across the nation by attending industry association meetings and holding workshops "to engage industry, local consultants, and the financial community."

Source document: Solicitation #SOL-165-12-000005.

U.S. Crafting New Economic Recovery Plan

The damage caused by the global financial crisis requires additional federal intervention, according to the Obama Administration, which is launching a new program to “foster growth and stability at a time of increasing economic turmoil.” This particular endeavor, however, will focus its efforts on improving conditions in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, and the “newly independent states,” or NIS, of the former Soviet Union.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is designing this Europe & Eurasia (E&E) regional project in order to “promote trade, investment and regulatory integration; enhance regional competitiveness, and support financial sector stability.”

The agency did not disclose an estimated cost of the program, which remains under development. It is conducting market research of potential contractors capable of carrying out services in the region. USAID may—or may not—release a more detailed solicitation at a later date.

If indeed it executes this project, USAID will target thirteen nations where USAID already has established a presence, “including the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia), Western NIS (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus), Russia, and the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan).

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According to a Sources Sought Notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research:

Despite the tremendous progress made over the years, many of these countries are still struggling to regain the living standards that they enjoyed under communism and to integrate themselves into the ever more competitive world economy.  Furthermore, the region has been disproportionately adversely affected by the 2008-2009 global economic crisis and, now, by the ongoing Eurozone financial crisis… Several countries in the region have unemployment rates above 20%, labor productivity remains well below the EU standards, and export growth rates have stagnated. 

The four “principal technical areas” for which contractors may provide services include:

            1. Regional Trade Facilitation;  

            2. Private Sector Competitiveness and Enterprise Development;

            3. Business Enabling Environment (meaning, support of “legal and regulatory reform and rule of law issues”); and:

            4. Financial Sector Stability, Growth & Inclusion.

USAID will accept capability statements from interested providers until June 11 at 2 p.m.

Source document: Solicitation #M-OAA-GRO-LMA-12-1002

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

FOR FURTHER REGIONAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S EUROPE PAGE.

OTHER NATION-SPECIFIC MONITOR PAGES ARE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE ABOVE ARTICLE.

Small Businesses Receive Yet Another Boost from Washington

Another small-business support project is about to be unveiled by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—this time in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in southeastern Europe.

While the endeavor is significantly smaller than other overseas small-business programs financed by U.S. taxpayers, it comes at a time when USAID is embarking upon other—and bigger—related initiatives. As the Monitor recently reported, for instance, the agency increased to $73 million the Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality (SABEQ) project in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. (Monitor, May 16, 2011: Small-Business Initiative Gains Momentum, More Money)

Macedonia Regional Small Business Development, or MRSBD, as the new project is known, involves the anticipated awarding of a $5 million contract to a U.S. firm. According to a Request for Proposals (#SOL-165-11-000004), the selected contractor will provide:

[T]echnical assistance and/or services contributing toward local economic development and job creation through strengthening the micro, small and medium enterprises with growth potential. The proposed project will build upon USAID‘s prior activities related to private sector growth, competitiveness, microenterprise support and microfinance provided over the past fifteen years.

Search of a federal procurement database show that USAID has led numerous prior small business initiatives in Macedonia, including a $9.2 million contract (Award #165-C-00-07-00101-00) in 2007 to CARANA Corporation—an Arlington, Va., firm whose management team is composed largely of former USAID officials and staffers. CARANA was tasked with carrying out the Macedonia Competitiveness for the 21st Century project, or MacComp-21, to “help Macedonia improve its competitive position within the global market place.”

The stated reasons for U.S. support to Macedonia are many, several of which are represented in the following excerpt from a FY 2009 U.S. State Dept. foreign aid statement:

The U.S. Government (USG)’s overarching foreign assistance goal is to build and sustain a more democratic Macedonia that is more fully integrated into European and Euro-Atlantic structures, and able to contribute to the stability of the western Balkans. Sector-specific foreign assistance goals include strengthening Macedonian law enforcement and military organizations; addressing corruption and improving the performance of the judiciary; increasing the ability of the Macedonian educational system to produce a workforce for today’s economy; and increasing business growth, investment, and exports.

The previously mentioned small business-related procurements represent just a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the U.S. government has provided to or “invested” into Macedonia over the past decade and half, a review of contracting documents and awards indicate.

Likewise, the bulk of this aid—which has come from USAID as well as multiple U.S. defense, trade, education, and law enforcement entities—has flowed particularly since Macedonia began hosting U.S. and NATO troops that support operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region.