$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.