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

USAID Still Seeks Contractors for Syrian Operations

Private contractors capable of helping the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) prepare for potential future actions in Syria still are being sought by the agency.

USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) last week extended until Dec. 28 the deadline for Personal Service Contract (PSC) applications for two positions based in Turkey:  OTI Country Representative-Syria (Solicitation #SOL-OTI-13-000010) and OTI Deputy Country Representative-Syria (Solicitation #SOL-OTI-13-000011).

USAID in 1994 created OTI:

as a distinct operating unit within USAID to help local partners advance peace and democracy in priority conflict-prone countries. Seizing critical windows of opportunity, OTI works on the ground to provide fast, flexible, short-term assistance targeted at key transition needs.

Both solicitations provided an extensive overview of general OTI goals and functions, but provided few specifics about Syrian activities other than to say the Country Representative, as a member of the:

Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA)/OTI Middle East (ME) Regional Team, reports to the OTI Regional Team Leader, and is based in Turkey. There may be substantial travel to countries in the region if/when conditions allow.

[The] principal responsibility will be development, oversight and management of DCHA/OTI's Syria country program. The incumbent will be called upon to represent OTI's mission and programs to senior-level government officials, in-country visitors, senior officials from other international organizations, bilateral donors and local government officials.

The Deputy Country Representative's principal responsibility simply "is to support the OTI Country Representative in the development, oversight, and management of the DCHA/OTI Syria country program."

The pay range for the Country Representative is $84,697 - $110,104, whereas the deputy slot offers $71,674 - $93,175.

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

U.S. Seeks to Improve Municipal Emergency Communications -- in Turkey

Significant steps have been taken since 9/11 to increase the interoperability of communications systems among emergency service providers; the U.S. government, however, is stepping up efforts to coordinate such efforts in one particular city: the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The incompatibility of systems used by dozens of emergency and municipal service providers across Istanbul is negatively affecting that city's disaster preparedness. Conequently, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) is assisting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, known as the IBB, in its consolidation of 41 operations centers.

According to a USTDA solicitation notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research:

At present, each municipal service (police, fire, transportation, electricity, gas, water/wastewater) runs its own Operations Center, and these employ a variety of often incompatible and non-interoperable hardware and software platforms. The lack of interoperability among these Operations Centers severely impairs the municipal authority's ability to effectively respond to emergency and disaster situations.

Accordingly, IBB is planning to design, construct and operate a Consolidated Technology Center that would incorporate common platforms, systems and data sources for its Operations Centers to use, allowing for more coordinated approaches to service delivery.

USTDA initially will provide a $700,000 grant to IBB to hire a contractor to provide "technical assistance." The contractor must be a U.S. company, which can then subcontract up to 20% of the project to Turkish vendors.

A more detailed Request for Proposals is available from USTDA upon request. Proposals are due June 1.

Source document: Solicitation #2012-21009A.

FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE U.S TRADE & DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, VISIT THE MONITOR'S USTDA PAGE.

Spotlight On: U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), an independent White House agency, in recent weeks awarded several contracts and separately launched multiple initiatives in nations including Colombia, Egypt. Nigeria, South Africa, Vietnam, and Turkey.  U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor posts these news briefs to encourage readers to ponder -- and comment on -- the question: are these relatively small expenditures a worthwhile investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars to promote global U.S. trade, or are they unjustifiable transfers of wealth from the taxpayer to businesses and to U.S. client states? We leave it up to the reader to decide. Your feedback is welcome. Intelligently crafted comments will be considered for publication as featured posts if you are interested. Both pro and con positions are welcome and will be given equal weight.

NIGERIA: The recently formed Nigerian Ministry of Communications Technology is having difficulties developing nationwide policies, and has requested USTDA assistance in accomplishing that task; consequently, USTDA has embarked upon a "definitional mission" to assist the Ministry (Solicitation #RFQ-CO201211060). On Jan. 19 the agency awarded a $65,000 contract to Washington Strategic Advisors, LLC, to perform a feasibility study before the U.S. government proceeds further with the project (Contract award #USTDA-CO201211060).

Additionally, the  Southwestern Nigeria Gas Pipeline Project Feasibility Study will be paid for with a $446,000 USTDA grant to assess a Nigerian gas utility plan to expand its natural gas transmission and distribution network. (Solicitation #2012-11003A).

Separately, a USTDA contractor recently completed a feasibility study of a proposed project to help the Nigerian Stock Exchange move from a paper-based to a digitized record-keeping system.

TURKEY: USTDA will fund a $450,000 pre-project feasibility study to assist Turkey in diversifying its energy supply, a measure that the government-owned Turkish Hard Coal Enterprises (TTK) intends to pursue through a Coal Bed Methane Recovery and Utilization project. The agency recently extended its contractor bid-submission deadline to Feb. 7. (Solicitation #2012-21004A).

SOUTH AFRICA: As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor previously reported (Monitor, 12/16/11), the agency is offering a $758,000 grant to the South African government and the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) to pay for a feasibility study of an anticipated airport upgrade project. USTDA on Jan. 18 extended the bid-submission deadline to Feb. 3.

EGYPT:  A USTDA project exploring opportunities for U.S. information and communications technology companies to pursue business ventures in Egypt led to a $50,ooo contract for RGITC of Centreville, Virginia (Contract #TDA-CO201221021A).  The company will perform a feasiblity study of the Egyptian ICT sector, which USTDA acknowledged could lead to additional contracting opportunities to perform more in-depth studies of such business opportunities.  (Solicitation #RFQ-CO2012221021A).

COLOMBIA: The Cartagena Wastewater Treatment System Start-Up Project entails a $513,000 grant for a feasibility study of a project that the Government of Colombia is spending $300 million of its own funds to implement (Solicitation #2012-51001A).

VIETNAM: The Preparatory Study for the Development of Chu Lai International Airport involves a $538,000 grant for a feasibility study prior to possibily expanding that airport (Solicitation #2011-31025A).

FOR ADDITIONAL COVERAGE OF THE U.S. TRADE & DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, PLEASE VISIT THE MONITOR'S USTDA PAGE.

Air Force Fuel Supply and Storage to be Outsourced Around Globe

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) plans to outsource a chunk of its global fuel supply and storage services to industry, though the agency has not disclosed the exact magnitude of those future contracts,  U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has discovered. According to several presolicitation notices dated Dec. 5 and discovered though a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, the Monitor has learned that significant opportunities to take over such DLA operations on behalf of the U.S. Air Force are on the horizon.

DLA-Energy anticipates releasing a Request for Proposals (RFP) in about 30-60 days for "Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) Aviation and Ground Fuel Bulk Storage Services" in the following global facilities:

Osan Air Base, Korea (Solicitation #SP0600-12-R-0501);

Andersen Air Force Base, Guam (Solicitation #SP0600-12-R-0505);

Kadena Air Base, Japan (Solicitation #SP0600-12-R-0504);

Incirlik Air Base, Turkey (Solicitation Number #SP0600-12-R-0502);

Ramstein Air Base, Germany (Solicitation#SP0600-12-R-0509);

Lajes Field, Azores (Portugal) (Solicitation #SP0600-12-R-0510);

Misawa Air Base, Japan (Solicitation #SP0600-12-R-0503);

Domestic U.S.  sites include:

Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska (Solicitation #SP0600-12-R-0511);

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska (Solicitation #SP0600-12-R-0500); and:

Defense Fuel Support Point (DFSP), San Pedro, CA.  (Solicitation #SP060012R0517)

The solicitations stated little else other than declaring that:

The Contractor's responsibility under the resulting contract will be to operate and maintain bulk storage facility to ensure safe and accurate receipt, storage, transfer, and issue of petroleum products under their control.  The contractor will not be required to perform alongside aircraft refueling, truck deliveries, handling cryogenics, operating automated service stations, or other unrelated tasks not specified in the Performance Work Statement.

Most of the above documents indicated that DLA anticipates awarding five-year contracts beginning 2012-2013, depending on location. Additionally, the agency will hold preproposal conferences and site visits for interested contractors at the respective sites.

U.S. Seeks New Means of Predicting Internet Growth Overseas, from Albania to Zimbabwe

The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is looking for a contractor capable of developing a new analytical model to predict Internet usage and growth in thirty-two foreign nations, from "A" (Albania) to "Z" (Zimbabwe).

The agency, which runs U.S. government-funded international broadcasting systems such as Voice of America and Radio Sawa and Alhurra Television of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, said in a Statement of Work (Solicitation #BBG50-R-11-0020) that existing models for predicting growth are inadequate. The SOW said those models solely focus on specific technology sectors rather than the Internet in its entirety:

The ultimate goal is to estimate, using empirical data, the expansion of the number of unique individuals using the Internet on a weekly basis in these markets over the next five years. While various organizations have produced such estimates and prejections for sub-segments of the Internet market, such as mobile Internet use or fixed line broadband, BBG requires estimates of the growth of the entire Internet market, regardless of platform, including use via public access facilities.

Although the BBG attempted to justifiy why it wants a new predictive model, it did not specify why it needs -- nor what it intends to do -- with such a new mode of analysis. The agency said it would apply the model to Internet usage in the following nations: Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam,  Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The BBG said the selected contractor should be able to complete the work within an eight-week period. It did not offer an estimated cost of the project.