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

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.

$250 Million Contract-Ceiling Set for Global Small-Arms Destruction

As much as a quarter-billion dollars in contracts could be awarded over the next five years to provide worldwide “conventional weapons destruction” (CWD) services on behalf of the U.S. State Department.

In a document released today (May 9) titled “Questions and Answers for the [CWD] Solicitation, the department confirmed that the maximum ceiling for the five-year program indeed was set at $250 million. Since State earlier had designated the endeavor as a “100% small-business set aside,” a perplexed but unidentified contractor had submitted the question, “This seems to be a very big contract for a Small Business. Is this ceiling correct?” State responded in the affirmative, while pointing out, however, that “annual spending on the current contract has ranged from $30 million-$40 million per year.”

A previous, $160 million award had gone to contracting behemoth DynCorp International. In December 2010 DynCorp had received an $8 million sole-source contract-extension to continue destroying weapons and stockpiles in Laos, Montenegro, and Albania that State claimed may “otherwise fall into use by terrorists, criminals, or similar organizations,” according to a Justification for Approval of Other Than Full and Open Competition (J&A) document. 

Separately, late last year RONCO Consulting Corporation received a $3 million extension to a previously awarded $185 million contract to perform CWD services in Iraq and Peru. Similarly, State awarded to ArmorGroup North America a $3 million extension to a previously awarded $78 million contract to perform CWD services in the same nations where DynCorp was conducting such operations: Laos, Montenegro, and Albania.

It should be noted that ArmorGroup lost an even larger contract to provide security services to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, after the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight helped expose lewd and irresponsible behavior by contractor personnel.

The latest contracting action—which would open up the DynCorp, RONCO, and ArmorGroup projects to competitive bidding—has extended the due date for proposals to May 18.