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

U.S.-Funded Projects Increase as Kazakhstan Power-Brokers Curry Favor From Washington

A trio of initiatives aimed at modernizing the infrastructure of oil-rich Kazakhstan—while simultaneously benefiting U.S. consulting firms—was unveiled, albeit without without fanfare, by the federal government. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) late last week began its search for Kazakh project vendors at a time when the U.S. increasingly is becoming embroiled in a tempestuous controversy between the Kazakh President and his exiled son-in-law.

According to The New York Times, Rakhat Aliyev, son-in-law to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, has taken his case to Washington in search of safe passage to the United States. Aliyev, whom Kazakh authorities had accused of kidnapping an oil company executive, is intent on recovering $2 billion allegedly stolen from family members—or simply is trying to smear his father-in-law’s reputation on the global stage, the Times reported (NYT, May 29, “Feud in Kazakh President’s Family Spills Into U.S."). Aliyev reportedly is hiding in an undisclosed European nation, while both he and President Nazarbayev concurrently strive to gain favor in the U.S., the Times says:

With billions of dollars at stake, plenty of people here have been willing to play bit roles in the Nazarbayev family drama, including teams of corporate lawyers, Capitol Hill lobbyists, a former American ambassador to Kazakhstan and the sister of a lawmaker. The dueling lobbyists have appealed to more than three dozen members of Congress, either to condemn the Kazakh government or help form pro-Kazakhstan caucuses. (One congressman even nominated the president for the Nobel Peace Prize.)

While there is no direct link between the timing of U.S.-funded projects and these revelations, nonetheless within three days of the Times report USTDA issued several Requests for Proposals for various consulting contracts, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor discovered via routine database research. The initial cost of these endeavors does not include potential, subsequent financing to execute the Kazakh projects.

The Rail Signaling and Train Control Systems Project (Solicitation #2010-81027A-1) needs a U.S. consulting firm to carry out a “feasibility study” on behalf of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, also known as KTZ or Kazakhstan Railways. The study, to be made possible with a $655,000 agency grant, will:

1. Evaluate the current status of KTZ's Rail signaling and train control systems;

2. Evaluate current technologies to determine the best fit for KTZ's current and future train control and rail signaling plans;

3. Develop technical specifications for updating KTZ's equipment on a system wide or rail corridor by corridor basis;

4. Develop cost estimates of the above recommended systems.

The Kazkahstan Monitoring and Diagnostic Systems Technical Assistance Project (Solicitation # 2010-81028A-1) requires a U.S. consulting firm to offer “technical assistance” to the Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC), which is “100% owned by the national state holding company, Samruk-Kazyna,” according to the solicitation (#2010-81028A-1). This technical assistance, which the agency will fund with a $392,000 grant, will:

1. Evaluate the current status of KEGOC's transmission line monitoring equipment and program;

2. Evaluate current technologies to determine the best fit for KEGOC's current and future monitoring and diagnostic plans;

3. Develop technical specifications for updating the KEGOC's equipment, and guidelines to update KEGOC's monitoring and inspection routines;

4. Prepare tender documentation for procuring the above systems.

The Definitional Mission for Kazakhstan: Gas Utilization and Coal Bed Methane Project (Solicitation #RFQ-CO201161209) seeks a vendor to assess whether the U.S. should provide financing for future modernization initiatives. The estimated cost is $35,000.

Separately, the Monitor discovered today (June 7) at deadline that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) issued a call to the private sector for an Almaty, Kazakhstan-based Strategy and Program Office Director. The position, which pays an annual salary in the $99,628-$129,517 range, will help to oversee an estimated $115 million in annual programs via USAID’s Regional Mission for Central Asian Republics, according to the solicitation (#27-2011).

Indeed, USAID has provided the bulk of aid for contracts awarded in support of ventures in Kazakhstan. USAID in 2010, for example, awarded contracts to vendors for the following endeavors:

Oct. 4; Regional Trade Liberalization and Customs Project; $16.1 million contract to AECOM International Development, Inc.

Sept. 28; Parliamentary-Strengthening-Program; sole-source, non-competitive $3.25 million contract to Development Alternatives, Inc.

Sept. 13; Quality Health Care Project for Central Asia; $72 million contract to Abt Associates.

July 13: Business Environment Improvement Project; sole-source, non-competitive $20.5 million contract to The Pragma Corporation.

USTDA-funded Kazakhstan initiatives in 2010 include:

May 6; Definitional Mission for Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan Rail Sector Projects; $50,000 contract to The Seneca Group, LLC.

March 1; Definitional Mission: Kazakhstan/Azerbaijan Maritime Vessel Traffic Systems/Port Security Projects; $38,000 contract to Telematics Engineering Corp, a Reston, Va., firm (no website could be found).

Feb. 26; Definitional Mission:  Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan Aviation Projects; $49,000 contract to Airline Capital Associates, Inc., (d/b/a ACA Associates, Inc.)

USAID and USTDA, plus several other U.S. government entities, have awarded dozens of additional contracts to vendors for Kazakh projects since 2002, a search of federal procurement records show.  The numbers of contracts awarded annually, however, increased significantly in the past two years.

Defense Unit Cancels WMD Initiative in Black Sea Region

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has cancelled a planned initiative to build what it characterized as a "warehouse of analytical tools and skills by which DTRA can identify possible routes" through which weapons of mass destruction (WMD), nuclear materials, and information travel in the Black Sea region. 

Though DTRA already established a Counter Smuggling Network (CSN) collaborative among law enforcement agencies of the Black Sea nations, it had hoped to expand the CSN's ability "to identify the types and quantities of WMD smuggled through illegal channels, identify the origin and destination of the smuggled items, and possibly disrupt the flow of WMD."  (Solicitation #CSO100019602A).

DTRA likewise had sought to expand CSN "to new geographic areas in Europe, Asia, and Africa."

The agency said yesterday that it cancelled the expansion effort due to budgetary constraints.

Obama Administration Pours Millions into Indonesian Education -- Support for Islamic, Public Schools Begun by Bush Continues

Insufficient public funding and substandard educational quality—-poorly qualified teachers, ineffective classroom methodologies, lack of education planning, teacher absenteeism, budgeting and management—all result in low completion rates after primary school and extremely low rankings against international testing standards, particularly in the areas of science and mathematics.

Having reached the above conclusion about one of the largest school systems in the world, the Obama Administration is infusing $90 million into a project to improve teacher performance and student outcomes in that particular system—the nationwide school network, that is, of Indonesia.

The five-year endeavor will benefit Islamic schools operated by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) as well as public schools of the Ministry of National Education (MONE), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) acknowledged in a solicitation, #SOL-497-11-000007, outlining the endeavor (.pdf; 934.83 kb).

USAID is reaching out to private sector organizations capable of delivering “quality improvements” to teacher-training institutions and providers to bolster the effectiveness of those schools and, ultimately, the future economic prospects for its 41 million students.

U.S.-led improvements to that nation’s education system—in addition to providing assistance in the realms of climate change and regional security—are seen as “priorities for U.S.-Indonesian relations,” according to a recently released Request for Proposals (RFP) for the new project, known as Prioritizing Reform, Innovation and Opportunities for Reaching Indonesia’s Teachers, Administrators, and Students, or PRIORITAS.

Indonesia—the world’s most populous Muslim nation—in 1999 started to decentralize national control over education. The Bush Administration through USAID/Jakarta in 2003 began helping Indonesia to carry out those changes through aid programs such as Managing Basic Education (MBE), a four-year, $10 million project

By the following year the Administration had embarked upon a six-year, $157 million program—which it described as “one of the largest, if not the largest, USAID education program in the world”—to help Indonesia simultaneously decentralize and strengthen its archipelago-wide educational system of schools and madrasah.

Cooperating institutions in that endeavor included Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, or Indonesia University of Education, and Universitas Muhammadiyah of Central Java, whose vision statement is to “Become the best university in developing the science and technology based on the Islamic values.”

Other participating organizations included Institut Agama Islam Negeri, or State Institute of Islamic Studies, whose mission is “To become the centre of excellence in the multidisciplinary and competitive study of Islam and its sciences.”

“A decade ago a decentralized education system offered the promise of improved management, increased parental and stakeholder participation, strengthened accountability and improved quality of teaching and learning,” the RFP says.

“The structure of a modern decentralized system has been put in place, yet decentralization has failed to deliver on its promises.”

Therefore one of the goals of PRIORITAS is to make national authorities more aware of “school-based management and teacher training activities” begun under previous projects, thereby making officials more sensitive to the needs of district governments responsible for carrying out and paying for education.

PRIORITAS seeks to ensure that such “technical and management capacity exists at all levels of responsibility” within the Indonesian public and religious education ministries.

Despite its successful decentralization efforts, the Government of Indonesia continues to impose “school and teacher accreditation criteria” and minimum school-performance standards upon local and provincial governments.

“Unfortunately, district governments are ill prepared to manage the 147,537 government primary and junior secondary schools, let alone support Indonesia’s 39,000 MORA schools,” the RFP says.

Contractors selected for PRIORITAS will consult with MONE, MORA and USAID in choosing at least fifty new districts for the five-year project.

“At least 200 model schools shall be selected for the purposes of demonstrating best practices in teaching, learning and school management,” the project’s Statement of Work says.

“Schools selected should include non-religious public schools, public and private madrasah and any other parochial schools in the area that teaches the national curriculum."

The specific provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi and Papua will receive “a full range of PRIORITAS technical assistance, training and support.”

SNAPSHOT: Hundreds of Millions of Gallons of Jet Fuel Used in Support of U.S. Ops in Afghanistan

Occasionally U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor will take a look at various facets of government spending; a snapshot, if you will, of a particular use of taxpayer funds. Today, the Monitor looks at how much the federal government spends on jet fuel in support of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

Calls to speed up the withdrawal of U.S. troops from and Central Asia have increased since Osama bin Laden’s death, but decision-makers have made clear that such a drawdown of troops is not happening any time soon. As the White House, Congress, and media pundits ponder and expound upon what, if any, changes should be made to U.S. policy on the issue, one thing is certain: U.S. military jets will continue to fly into, out of, and around Afghanistan.

But how much will this cost U.S. taxpayers?

A review of contracting documents obtained via federal database research sheds light on that question.

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), for example, currently is soliciting bids to provide close to a half-billion gallons of jet fuel over two years, beginning December 2011, to the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan. Manas is a primary support base for U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere in USCENTCOM’s area of responsibility.

“The Transit Center at Manas has four missions: Air Refueling, Airlift, Onward Movement of Troops and Humanitarian Assistance,” the U.S. Air Force says in its official description of the base. “They do this with the help of 850 military members and 750 U.S. and host nation civilian employees and contractors—the vast majority belong to the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing and others to various tenant units.

Although the solicitation did not provide an estimated cost, DLA is requesting bids on the provision of 208 million gallons of jet fuel for a one-year period, with two potential six-month option periods for an additional 104 million gallon each.

Those totals include 36 million gallons that the contractor would hold in reserve monthly—a service that enables the contractor to assess an additional multi-million dollar fee.

DLA in Nov. 2010 awarded to Mina Corp. a one-year contract for 240 million gallons of jet fuel—which, calculated at the then-going price of $3.24 a gallon, brought the value of the contract to $778 million, according to a Transit Center Jet Fuel Procurement document.

The contract price-per-gallon on Feb. 1 was upped to $3.80 a gallon to “reflect current market conditions,” according to the document.

In 2009 DLA awarded a contract valued at $327 million (plus a $3.7 million fuel-reserve fee) for 105 million gallons. That contract also had gone to Mina Corp.

Placing these expenditures into context—and indirectly confirming that such costs will continue to be borne by U.S. taxpayers into the foreseeable future—are remarks that Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) made during this morning’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing “Steps Needed for a Successful 2014 Transition In Afghanistan.”

Committee Chmn. Kerry emphasized that the terrorist leader’s death marked a turning point in U.S. policy for Afghanistan—but when and how the U.S. will make that turn remains unknown.

“Osama Bin Laden’s death was more than a critical triumph in our fight against terrorism,” Kerry said. “It provides a potentially game-changing opportunity to build momentum for a political solution in Afghanistan that could bring greater stability to the region and bring our troops home.”

Despite this acknowledgement, Kerry made clear that he was not referring to an abrupt departure of U.S. forces.

“A precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan would be a mistake and I, for one, would take that option off the table,” he said. “Instead, we should be working toward… a presence that puts Afghans in charge—and presses them to step up to that task—at the same time that it secures our interests and accomplishes our mission of destroying Al Qaeda and preventing Afghanistan from ever again becoming a terrorist sanctuary.”

Kerry said it was “unsustainable” for the U.S. to continue spending $10 billion monthly on military operations there.

He also said that the Afghanistan government was even less  capable, financially and otherwise, of filling a void that would be left by a hasty U.S. exit.

$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.

U.S. Aid to Pakistan Continues as Debate Over bin Laden Complicity Rages

Impassioned debate about whether the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a true U.S. ally or is complicit in hiding the now-deceased terrorist Osama bin Laden continues on Capitol Hill—and, according to a review of contracting records, the delivery of military and other aid to that nation continues relatively unimpeded in the meantime.

The types of aid flowing to Pakistan range from airport equipment in support of U.S.-provided F-16 fighter bombers to the funding of research into the causes of stuttering among the Pakistani people.

The following contracting actions represent a sampling of recent activity; indeed, the endeavors listed here are relatively small in contrast to overall expenditures, past and anticipated, by the U.S. on behalf of Pakistan. As noted in a U.S. Agency for International Development report released earlier this year, “Quarterly Progress and Oversight Report on the Civilian Assistance Program in Pakistan As of December 31, 2010”:

For fiscal year (FY) 2010, Congress appropriated $1.514 billion authorized by the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009, along with other assistance funds, to support the civilian assistance strategy in Pakistan. The U.S. Embassy reported that $3.931 billion in FY 2009, 2010, and 2011 civilian assistance funds had been obligated as of December 31, 2010.

Similarly noted in this week’s Congressional Research Service report “Osama bin Laden’s Death: Implications and Considerations” (made available through the Federation of American Scientists):

For FY2002-FY2010, Congress appropriated about $4.43 billion in security-related assistance and $6.22 billion in economic/development/humanitarian assistance for a total of about $10.65 billion. In addition, Pakistan has received $8.88 billion in Coalition Support Fund “reimbursements” for its operational and logistical support of US-led military operations during this period.

Some of the most recent requests come specifically from the U.S. Air Force for shipment to Shahbaz Air Force Base, where last year the U.S. delivered the first four of eighteen F-16s ordered by the Pakistani military. The newest equipment will come in the form of six “C-130 transportable” Panther fire trucks made by Rosenbauer America (Solicitation #FA8630-11-R-5025), six Allianz RT655 runway sweepers “to be used in support of the Pakistan Air Force F-16 program,”(Solicitation # FA8630-11-R-5024), plus two 60-ton and two 40-ton cranes. (Solicitation #FA8630-11-R-5027).

Shahbaz AFB is located near Jacobadab, about 300 miles north of Karachi and 300 miles southeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan..

Separately, the U.S. State Dept. is arranging for the delivery of VHF radio base stations, radio, and related equipment for the Balochistan Levies, a paramilitary force that patrols Pakistan’s violence-plagued Balochistan province. According to a Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and Open Competition document that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has obtained, State’s Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) at the American Embassy in Islamabad is ordering the communications gear. The urgent need for additional equipment, combined with the fact that NAS and the Bureau of International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs already invested million of dollars into Motorola equipment in that region, necessitates the noncompetitive acquisition.

The Balochistan Levies group “is tasked by the Government of Pakistan to cope up with terrorist insurgency in Balochistan along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border with the help of communication equipment. The agency carries out counternarcotics/counter-terrorism operations in the troubled areas,” according the document.

In a separate but related development, State on April 13 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Police to provide more than “$17 million in vehicles, communications, and other equipment.” State pointed out in the announcement that in 2010 the U.S. “committed $102.6 million for civilian law enforcement assistance. This year, the United States will continue to supply the KP Police with approximately 440 additional vehicles, including trucks, armored vehicles and personnel carriers, ambulances, and motorcycles…”

This week INL also began recruiting potential candidates to fill the role of Senior Counter Narcotics (CN) and Civilian Military Advisor, a position created to “play a central role in guiding and strengthening INL Afghanistan and Pakistan office's (INL/AP) relationship with the Department of Defense (DOD) and agencies of the Intelligence Community.” The main objective of the advisor is to help “develop and manage a major INL program” in support of Afghanistan's Ministry of Counter Narcotics. (Solicitation # PSC-11-027-INL).

The advisor likewise will “coordinate procurement activities associated with the MCN capacity-building program, planned as a $25M-per-year program, and work with the contractor(s) to maintain appropriate oversight.”

The State Dept. on March 16 had issued a solicitation for 1,000 bullet-proof vests destined for Karachi, Pakistan, but on April 20 cancelled that procurement without explanation. It’s unclear whether the vests were slated for use by U.S. personnel or would have been for Pakistani forces. (Solicitation  #0662-020001A).

The construction of a bombing-practice range in Pakistan also is on the radar screen of the U.S. government, a $10-$25 million project for which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers back in February began assessing potential contractors. Although the Army has not yet issues a Request for Proposals, it is weighing the interest of companies capable of designing and constructing “urban village mockups,” watch towers, fiber optic links to the Pakistani “defense grid,” and other “Close Air Support Range” infrastructure improvements. (Solicitation #W912ER-11-R-0061).

The National Institute of Health at the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services is negotiating a sole-source contract with the Allama Iqbal Medical College to continue researching the genetics of hearing and speech disorders such as stuttering. DNA samples from hundreds of Pakistani families already have been collected via collaborative research among Pakistani, U.S., and European medical experts. “This collaboration involves ascertaining families in Pakistan with hearing and speech disorders and mapping the underlying genes for theses disorders,” NIH says in Solicitation #LG-1547307. The estimated cost of this contract was not disclosed, not could any prior contract awards for this endeavor be located via the federal contracting database.

Despite the escalating rhetoric and congressional hearings on such matters, it does not appear that the U.S. will seriously curtail aid to Pakistan any time soon, as the following excerpts from the above-mentioned CRS report indicates:

Although there is considerable agreement in U.S. government circles that disengaging from Pakistan is an unwise course, intensive congressional scrutiny of U.S. assistance to Pakistan is already underway. In the post 9/11 era, Congress has appropriated more than $20 billion in foreign assistance and military “reimbursements” for Pakistan, placing that country among the top recipients of U.S. financial support over the past decade. The Obama Administration has requested nearly $3 billion in further security- and development-related assistance to Pakistan for FY2012, along with more than $1 billion for continued reimbursements to the Pakistani military…

In the wake of revelations that the world’s most-wanted terrorist had apparently been living for years in a comfortable home in a relatively affluent city and only one kilometer away from Pakistan’s premier military academy, congressional skepticism about the continuation of large aid disbursements to Pakistan has deepened even further. On May 3, 2011, H.R. 1699, the Pakistan Foreign Aid Accountability Act, was introduced in the House. The Act would prohibit future foreign assistance to Pakistan unless the Secretary of State certifies that the Pakistani government was not complicit in hiding OBL. Depending on the course of Pakistan’s future policy statements and levels of cooperation with the United States, Congress may choose to adjust current assistance funding levels. Such funding flows are already hindered by U.S. concerns about corruption and lack of transparency in Pakistan’s implementing partners.

The ongoing insurgency in Afghanistan and its connection to developments in Pakistan remain matters of serious concern to U.S. policy makers. NATO remains reliant upon logistical routes through Pakistan to supply its forces in Afghanistan, and these landlines of communication regularly come under attack by militants. It is widely held that success in Afghanistan cannot come without the close engagement and cooperation of Pakistan, and that the key to stabilizing Afghanistan is to improve the longstanding animosity between Islamabad and Kabul.

Relief Ops Overseer Sought for South Africa; Legal-System Strengthening Contractor Sought for Ukraine (News Briefs)

A private-sector overseer of relief operations in South Africa is being sought by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which will pay the selected individual contractor an annual salary in the $85,000-$110,000 range. The Pretoria-based regional advisor position was formed to “serve as the primary contact and liaison for on-going disaster activities related to disaster response, preparedness, mitigation and training programs.” In that role, the contractor will be tasked with increasing “the capability of host governments, international organizations (IOs), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond and prepare for disasters in the affected region.” (Solicitation #SOL-OFDA-11- 000020)

U.S.-funded measures aimed at strengthening the legal systems of Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus will be spelled out in a soon-to-be released Request for Proposal (RFP), USAID said today. The four-year Rule of Law Institutional Strengthening Program—the estimated cost of which USAID did not disclose—will seek potential contractors capable of bolstering the legal institutions of those nations “in order to guarantee the independence and increase the effectiveness and professionalism of the judiciary,” the agency said in a presolicitation notice. (#SOL-117-11-000001). In a similar but separate action, USAID on Monday (May 9) will hold a “pre-proposal conference” with contractors interested in providing such judicial-capacity services in the nation of Kazakhstan. (Solicitation #AID-SOL-176-11-000006).

USAID to Meet Contractors at Da Nang for Agent Orange Cleanup

The proposed Da Nang Airport clean-up project today took another step toward commencing, as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) alerted potential contractors to a planned “site visit and pre-proposal conference” that the agency will hold May 25 in Vietnam.

As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor reported last month, USAID is embarking upon an initiative, formally known as “Environmental Remediation at Da Nang Airport,” to clean up hazardous dioxin-tainted soil stemming from the use of the defoliant Agent Orange. (see Monitor, April 2). The airport had been a primary base of operations for U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam conflict, and remains a dioxin “hotspot.” The initiative will focus on the removal and remediation of contaminated soil.

The newly released Request for Proposals (RFP #486-11-028), which the Monitor located through routine federal database research, says the industry gathering will take place at Da Nang Airport, with all attendees first meeting 8:30 A.M. at the Green Plaza Hotel located at 238 Bach Dang St., Da Nang, Vietnam.

The document does not offer more specific details about how contractors can and must carry out the project; because of the large size of the documents, a CD of items such as the technical specifications, dioxin data, a health & safety plan, and a “sampling & analysis plan” will be mailed to potential vendors on request. It did, however, note that the Vietnam Minister of National Defense only recently approved—at least tentatively—the USAID project in recent weeks; discussions, however, between the U.S. and Vietnam about this particular endeavor have been ongoing, and Vietnam’s “final” approval is expected soon, it says.

A cover letter accompanying the RFP points out that USAID and “Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defense (MOD) signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) to implement the Environmental Remediation at Da Nang Airport Project on December 30, 2010. This MOI was followed by the Prime Minister of Vietnam accepting the project on February 22, 2011 and the Minister of National Defense approving the project on April 20, 2011. A final agreement on project implementation specifics will be signed by USAID and the MOU imminently.”

The upcoming site visit and conference seeks to “identify and resolve concerns” specific to USAID’s contracting strategy, the RFP says. Possible issues to be addressed include contract terms and conditions, planning schedules, and contractor performance requirements. Information gleaned from the gathering “will be summarized and included in a modification to the solicitation,” it says.

Interested attendees must submit a request to Mr. Craig Riegler, Regional Contracting Officer by e-mail (at criegler@usaid.gov) no later than May 16, 2011. The request to attend, which will be limited to two representatives from each company, “must include the names of attendees and their passport numbers in the request so that they are provided a facilities clearance by the Government of Vietnam.”

“Potential offerors may also submit questions concerning this solicitation in writing to Mr. Craig Riegler, Regional Contracting Officer and Praveena Virasingh, Procurement Specialist, by e-mail (at criegler@usaid.gov and pvirasingh@usaid.gov). The deadline for receipt of questions or requests for clarifications is no later than 4:00pm (Bangkok time), June 8, 2011. No questions will be answered after this deadline.”

Billion-Dollar Global Health Care Plan Unveiled

A trio of additional healthcare projects of the Obama Administration are slated to be administered by a handful of private-sector vendors at a cost of nearly $1 billion—initiatives that contractors will carry out in Africa, Asia/Middle East and the Latin America/Caribbean regions.

According to contracting documents that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through routine federal database research, the largest of the three health care packages (solicitation #SOL-OAA-11-000021) is the $500 million plan for Africa.

The Asia/Middle East plan will receive $300 million (solicitation # SOL-OAA-11-000022), while $100 million will go toward programs in Latin America and The Caribbean (solicitation #SOL-OAA-11-000020).

This nearly billion-dollar combination of foreign healthcare aid comes at a time when debate over implementation of domestic Obamacare is brewing to a boil. 

In addition to continuing concerns over the financial burden of the law’s requirements, compliance waivers granted to select companies have come under congressional scrutiny.

A subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for example, last month held hearings on the matter, questioning the legal authority of the Secretary for Health and Human Services to grant such waivers.

Similarly, Crossroads GPS—an organization affiliated with former Bush Administration Chief of Staff Karl Rove—is suing the Obama Administration for allegedly failing to comply with Freedom of Information Act request for data on the waivers.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which added the “population, health, and nutrition technical assistance and support” solicitations to the federal business opportunities system yon April 20 and April 21, respectively, will grant four contracts for each region over the next five years.

USAID, in an official justification for the endeavors, pointed out that for the past forty years the agency “has worked to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world through its global programs in family planning and reproductive health, infectious disease prevention and control, child survival, maternal health, and other life-saving areas.

“In FY 2007, the US Department of State and USAID established the Foreign Assistance Standardized Program Structure that included the goal to ‘Help nations achieve sustainable improvements in the well-being and productivity of their populations through effective and accountable investments in education, health, and other social services.’

USAID additionally will devote $60 million toward communications and information technology acquisitions in further support of the global health plan. Solicitation # SOL-OAA-11-000018. Tasks under that segment include computer system design and infrastructure management. 

The communications and IT plan also entails and what USAID describes as “health communication services.”

Those services specifically would require the contractor to:

• Provide support, including but not limited to editing and publishing services, to the production of health reports and other related publications
• Create strategy for internet publishing and broadcasting for health programs and provide support for the implementation plan.
• In collaboration with local partners, design, create, and maintain web portals for specific health interests
• Coordinate, design and implement a strategy that utilize social media and mobile communication technology for the promotion of healthy behaviors
• Media and public relations services for local government and other local partners to support the promotion of health services and healthy behaviors.

The price tag for a separate but corollary initiative titled African Strategies for Health—whose goal is to “identify policy and implementation constraints” and to devise strategies for overcoming hurdles to further investments in Africa—was not revealed.

Estimated costs for that segment “will be determined at time of award” granted to the winning bidder, the draft Request for Proposals says in that solicitation (#M-OAA-GRO-EGAS-11-0001).

The USAID Global Health Bureau says it is embarking upon this ambitious plan in support of the U.S. government’s Investing in People program area. Elements of that program include AIDS/HIV and tuberculosis reduction, support of the President’s Malaria Initiative, limiting the spread of avian flu in animals, and increasing “the availability and use of proven life-saving interventions” for mothers and children.

Among other support areas is the targeted expansion of access to voluntary family planning services and information—plus what USAID characterize as “reproductive health care,” a program element that “contributes to reducing unintended pregnancy and promoting healthy reproductive behaviors of men and women, reducing abortion, and reducing maternal and child mortality and morbidity.”

USDA to Train Chefs from China's Upscale Hotels

Chefs from five-star hotels across China soon will descend upon the U.S. to learn more about western-style menus, management and products—and U.S. taxpayers will be footing most of the bill.

According to a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Statement of Work (SOW) that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has obtained, eighteen professional chefs from some of China’s most upscale restaurants will come to America for the five-day training endeavor. The chefs, whom USDA’s Agricultural Trade Office in Shanghai is tasked with selecting, must pay for their own airfare; however, the U.S. government will cover remaining expenses such as lodging, training fees, and transportation during their stay.

Upon their return to China, some of these chefs will participate in a USDA-coordinated “Great American” menu-promotion initiative.

Ultimately, USDA is aiming to “create demand for more American food and beverage products in China’s rapidly developing food service sector,” according to the SOW.