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

U.S. Extends Program to Reduce School Dropout Rate

A U.S. government effort to discourage students from dropping out of secondary and even primary  school has been extended, giving a federal contractor two more years to achieve the Obama Administration's goals in this program. The initiative, however, focuses on students in the Middle East and Asia.

Creative Associates International since 2010 has carried out the School Dropout Prevention Pilot program (SDPP) in Cambodia, India, Tajikistan, and Timor Leste on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which awarded Creative a three-year task order with a $51.5 million maximum ceiling.

The contract balance is projected to remain around $25.5 million by September, necessitating no additional program costs, according to a Justification & Approval for Other Than Full & Open Competition (J&A) document that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through routine database research.

The J&A claims that opening up the project to competitive bidding would have interfered with ongoing research, data collection, and program-implementation, subsequently resulting in unnecessary costs to the government.

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

ALSO SEE THE MONITOR'S EDUCATION PAGE.

- See more at: /education/#sthash.nYLHoHjp.dpuf

USAID/Tajikistan Seeks 'Social Sector Advisor'

The oversight of U.S.-funded health and education programs in the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan is the primary task of a vacant Social Sector Advisor position that USAID is seeking to fill via a Personal Services Contract. The selected private-sector vendor will “perform the functions of a technical team leader for the health and education portfolio in USAID/Tajikistan… S/he will serve as a high level decision-maker and provide guidance and recommendations to senior USAID and U.S. Embassy staff.” The closing date for position, which pays in the $71,674-$110,104 range plus 35% post differential pay, is Aug. 18.

Source document: Solicitation #36-2011.

USAID Dumping $50 Million into Central Asia Trade & Reform Project

$50 million in contracts recently were awarded to four vendors under an initiative that seeks to promote economic growth in Central Asia, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) revealed today. Contracting documents indicate that the program will benefit "failed states" that have poor banking and other economic policies and institutions: 

"A wealthier, healthier and more stable Central Asia will be characterized by increasing trade and investment between countries among which economic interests are aligned. It will also be characterized by the establishment of mutually beneficial commercial ties with neighboring countries such as Russia and China."

The $50 million figure encompasses an estimated ceiling for the Macroeconomic Foundations for Growth program (Solicitation #SOL-176-11-00000-2), for which the agency awarded indefinite quantity contracts, or IQCs, to Chemonics International, Inc., Deloitte Consulting, LLP, Pragma Corporation, and AECOM International Development. The vendors each will receive an unspecified number of  "task orders" over five years, during which time they could execute a variety of potential initiatives in the nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Chemonics, Deloitte, Pragma, and AECOM will provide training, research, and technical and advisory services that USAID hopes "will improve the macro environment for business enterprise formation and growth, trade, and domestic and foreign investment" in Central Asia.  The project will seek to accomplish those goals through:

1) Legal and institutional reform;

2) Financial sector reform and expansion;

3) Economic policy and institutions development;

4) Trade and investment, and:

5) Addressing exogenous shocks, assistance to ease the adjustment to exogenous economic and financial shocks that cause short and medium-term development problems affecting the national business environment and potential to generate economic growth.

6) Stabilization – Crisis Assistance Projects.

Although USAID technically awarded the contracts on July 1, the agency did not announce them via the Federal Business Opportunities database until July 11.