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

U.S. Contractor to Help Colombia Establish 'Presence' in Former Coca-Eradication Zones

A $115 million contract was awarded yesterday to a group tasked with helping the government of Colombia (GOC) establish a “presence” in “priority municipalities” across the nation (Contract Award #AID-514-C-11-00002). Associates in Rural Development, the Burlington, Vermont subsidiary of TetraTech, Inc., will attempt to “create thousands of licit economic opportunities” while promoting citizen participation and strengthening links between public and private organizations. “In transition zones where the GOC has only recently established minimum security, the contractor will emphasize immediate, short-term activities to meet urgent economic and social needs with the goal of demonstrating presence of the state and to help the target areas recover quickly from the effects of the conflict and [coca crop] eradication,” USAID says in its original solicitation (#SOL-514-10-000001).

IN OTHER USAID BUSINESS

A $22 million contract aimed at improving rural incomes, reducing poverty levels; improving food security; and addressing “critical, small-scale household and agricultural water constraints” in the nation of Georgia was awarded to Chemonics International Inc. (Contract Award #AID-114-C-11-00001). Although USAID awarded the contract April 21, the award document was not uploaded into the federal business database until today (April 27). Chemonics will help carry out USAID’s New Economic Opportunities (NEO) project, which seeks to help targeted communities of “internally displaced persons” in household rehabilitation and maintenance as well as to “assist communities distressed by natural or other disasters.” (Solicitation #SOL-114-10-000002).

USTDA NEWS BRIEF

The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) is funding a “definitional mission” to Romania to assess whether the agency should help fund airport modernization efforts in that nation. USTDA on April 25 awarded the $50,000 contract to the South Carolina-based consulting firm KED Group LLC, who will assess the project on behalf of a Romanian air-traffic control agency. (Solicitation #RFQ-CO201121123)

Romanian IT and e-Health Projects May Get Financial Boost from U.S.

The subsidization of Romanian information and communications technologies (ICT) and e-health projects are among the latest overseas endeavors for which American taxpayers likely will be footing the bill, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor (TRAM) has discovered.

According to contracting documents that TRAM has located through routine database research, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) on March 31 hired a consulting firm to “evaluate Romanian ICT sector opportunities for USTDA funding consideration.” New York City-based Actionable Strategies, which also has offices in Europe, Saudi Arabia, and China, was granted a $49,000 contract to prepare a report that will “identify and evaluate potential project opportunities.

Although the overall future  transfer of funds from the U.S Treasury to industry on behalf of the Government of Romania has yet to be determined, what is known is this: according to the Scope of Work (SOW) for the “Romania: ICT Sector Definitional Mission” endeavor, the Romanian software industry already “is one of the fastest growing in Europe…” Additionally, U.S. technology companies already are “heavily represented in Romania and are poised to take advantage of increased opportunities…” the SOW acknowledges. In fact, the agency further acknowledges that currently “more than ¾ of foreign software products in Romania are American.”

Nonetheless, USTDA is prepared to give more so these U.S. companies can gain more.

“Several U.S. companies have expressed interest” in large-scale projects that the Romanian Ministry of Communications & Information Society and the Ministry of Health are planning or considering, the document points out. Such initiatives include plans to improve broadband access nationwide as well as to roll out “an electronic health card project, an electronic health records system, and an electronic prescription system,” according to the SOW.

(Sources: Solicitation #RFQ-C0201121124 and Contract Award #TDA- C0201121124)