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

Disturbing Truth Behind Obama's Travel Madness (WND)

My latest from WND. -- S.P.

Supporters of Barack Obama tout his dedication to the responsibilities of the presidency by noting that he had taken 96 days of vacation at the point in his term that President George W. Bush had taken a reported 335.

But they admit that 51 of Bush’s trips were to his Texas ranch, while records show that Obama’s destinations have ranged from exotic European and African locales to pricey digs to Hawaii, where he’s sometimes traveled separately from his family, effectively doubling transportation costs for taxpayers.

The records released are partial, meaning no firm travel-expense total can be assembled. But individual cases are revealing.

Continued at WND.com...

ALSO SEE: CNN Rips Off U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor Story on Biden's Plush Parisian Jaunt

 more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/the-disturbing-truth-behind-obamas-travel-junkets/#SMBd76Lp60bvCSCW.99

Obama's Colombia Travel Documents Now Available

Following up on the exclusive report "Obama Crew's Colombian Hotels & Vehicles -- Without Hookers -- Costs a Million," U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor belatedly is making available the related contracting documents it had obtained.

As previously reported, President Obama's delegation rented 1,046 rooms at 13 separate hotels for an estimated cost of  $640,000, plus 163 vehicles for use by "over 1,300 hundred visitors/guests" for an additional $351,000.

See documents below.

ACQUISITION OF HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENTIAL AND VIP TRAVEL (.pdf)

ACQUISITION OF VEHICLE RENTAL IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENTIAL AND VIP TRAVEL (.pdf)

Obama Crew's Colombian Hotels & Vehicles -- Without Hookers -- Costs a Million

Excluding the cost of Colombian prostitutes for U.S. Secret Service agents, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has discovered that hotel rooms and rental vehicles alone for President Obama's scandal-plagued trip to Colombia cost taxpayers nearly $1 million. 

Slated for inclusion in the presidential entourage had been "the Secretary of State, several other Cabinet members, and at least one CODEL," or congressional delegation, according to U.S. Department of State planning documents that the Monitor has obtained.

The trip called for the rental of 1,046 hotel rooms at 13 separate establishments in Cartegena, Colombia, where the sixth annual Summit of the Americas took place.

Out of that total, 258 rooms, including the Presidential Suite,  were located at the Hilton Cartegena. The U.S. Embassy likewise rented two conference rooms at the Hilton, though it's unclear why it rented those units -- if the document is accurate -- for "20 days," since the Summit began April 13 and ended April 15. 

The Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition, or JOFOC, document said the total number of rooms rented at the hotels -- including the Hotel Caribe, where Secret Service agents allegedly patronized hookers -- was equvalent to a period of "1,877 room nights." Total cost of the rentals was exactly $640,179.10, the JOFOC document said.

The cost of vehicle rental services -- which included a combination of 163 "sedans, vans, minivans, buses, minibuses, SUVs, and trucks" for use by "over 1,300 hundred visitors/guests" -- was $350,533.95.  "As an added value, vehicle rental includes the following: Coolers, water, ice, umbrellas, uniforms, and communication media (cell phone) for each driver," according to the JOFOC.

THIS REPORT WAS UPDATED MAY 10 TO INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS:

ACQUISITION OF HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENTIAL AND VIP TRAVEL (.pdf)

ACQUISITION OF VEHICLE RENTAL IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENTIAL AND VIP TRAVEL (.pdf)

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.

USAID Awards Another Job-Creation Contract in Colombia -- This Time: $90 Million

A $90 million contract aimed at creating jobs as well as strengthening local governments in Colombia has been awarded to Chemonics International by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Consolidation and Enhanced Livelihoods Initiative, or CELI, as it is known, seeks to sway Colombian citizens from participating in drug-related activities and to instead pursue legal livelihoods.

A U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor previously reported, USAID earlier this year separately awarded a $110 million contract to a different vendor to achieve similar goals across Colombia (see: U.S. Contractor to Help Colombia Establish 'Presence' in Former Coca-Eradication Zones, April 27, 2011).

Source document: Award #AID-514-C-12-00001

FOR ADDITIONAL REGIONAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR’S COLOMBIA PAGE.

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

ALSO SEE THE MONITOR'S LAW ENFORCEMENT/POLICE PAGE AND DRUGS PAGE.

Washington Post: Colombia Diverted U.S. Aid for Political Power-Grabs

The Washington Post on Aug. 20 reported that the government of Colombia under former president Alvaro Uribe -- which received about $6 billion in U.S. assistance during his eight years in power -- leveraged U.S. dollars to "carry out spying operations and smear campaigns against Supreme Court justices, Uribe’s political opponents and civil society groups..." The Post said it learned of these abuses of power through interviews with Colombian officials and via law enforcement documents. See: "U.S. aid implicated in abuses of power in Colombia."

FOR ADDITIONAL REGIONAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S COLOMBIA PAGE.

ALSO VISIT THE MONITOR'S DRUGS PAGE.

U.S. Taxpayers to Bear Brunt of Human Rights Programs That the Colombian Government Does Not Fund

Although the Government of Colombia typically investigates allegations of human rights violations, its budget does not allocate enough funds to promote human rights and prevent violations; consequently, the Government of the United States instead will continue to force U.S. taxpayers to pay for such endeavors.

Indeed, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is about to embark upon Round Three of such efforts. Management Sciences for Development, Inc., the contractor carrying out Human Rights Program II, or HRP II, is nearing completion of its obligations under a five-year, $38.8 million  contract. The next phase, known as HRP III (Solicitation # SOL-514-11-000005), will build upon previous successes, according to USAID, and will shift focus on “addressing the needs of those groups disproportionately affected by human rights violations, and/or which have become increasingly vulnerable in the shifting context of the conflict.” According to the HRP III Statement of Work (SOW), such groups include:

indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, women, children and youth, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) community, human rights activists, journalists, labor union members, and victims of the armed conflict.

The agency did not disclose an estimated cost for HRP III.

The U.S. over the past decade "provided more than $6 billion in assistance under Plan Colombia, including more than $1 billion in economic and social assistance," the SOW says.

DoD Prepares Follow-Up to $15 Billion Global Counterdrug Contracts

A privately contracted, five-year global counterdrug program valued upwards of $15 billion is one year away from expiring—and the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) wants to assess the capabilities of potential prime contractors in advance of the August 23, 2012, expiration date.

The DoD Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office (CNTPO) on Aug. 2 issued a Special Notice (Solicitation # W9113MCNTPO) announcing its intentions to “issue a follow-on procurement” to perpetuate that endeavor. 

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, on behalf of the CNTPO, in 2007 issued a multiple award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, or MAIDIQ, contract (Solicitation #W9113M-06-R-0014) to five prime contractor:s: Blackwater Lodge & Training Center, Inc.; Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems; ARINC Engineering Services, LLC; Raytheon Technical Service Company; and Northrop Grumman/TASC, Inc.

Though it is not yet seeking proposals, the CNTPO made clear it will award a MAIDIQ follow-on contract to unspecified vendors in the future. In the meantime, it is accepting “capability statements” from qualified companies. The anticipated acquisition, as was the case in the prior contract vehicle, will be for: “critical services and procurements” in support of the CNTPO mission to:

disrupt, deter, and defeat the threat to national security posed by illicit trafficking in drugs, small arms and explosives, precursor chemicals, people, and illicitly-gained and laundered money. Support shall be provided in the following major functional areas: Training; Operations and Logistics; Program Support; and Command, Control, Communications, Information, Detection & Monitoring (C3IDM).

The embedded links in the above summary offer documents that detail specific  projects anticipated under the MAIDIQ follow-on contract, most of which are planned for Afghanistan, Colombia, and Pakistan.These endeavors involve various DoD combatant commands, the Drug Enforcement Administration, client-nation law enforcement and military organizations, and other U.S. federal entities.

Information about previous tasks is contained in a separate Statement of Work for the current MAIDIQ contract.

Separately, back in November the CNTPO announced that it intended to award a no-bid contract to The Rendon Group to perform "Public Communications Support and Facilitation" services specific to CNTPO operations within the U.S. Southern Command and the U.S. Central Command areas of responsibility.  Those services largely were targeted toward helping the governments of Pakistan and Colombia to communicate with the news media and to develop national and international support for U.S.-led counterdrug operations in those nations. 

Specific to Pakistan, the objective for the The Rendon Group was to:

(a) provide training and support to the Pakistan Government to increase their capability to use public communications as a means of building national and international support for counterdrug and related initiatives; (b) to develop a public engagement strategy for implementation by the Pakistan Government and third party valuators to initiate, maintain and drive public conversation related to the overall mission objective; and (c) provide open source media analysis of English, Pashtu and Urdu print and electronic media in support of the U.S. Embassy.

Relevant to Colombia, the objective for the firm was to:

(a) continue to work with the Colombian Ministry of Defense (MoD) to inform the Colombian public and the world community on the negative impact of the drug trade and the efforts of the Government of Colombia to thwart drug trafficking; (b) train Colombian MoD personnel on the proper way to interface with the media in the field; (c) presenting the MoDs message to the public; and (d) continuing to develop tactical media products to aide in CN activities.

The solicitation (#W9113M-11-C-0030) emphasized that "None of the products developed or proposed under this contract are intended for US audiences." No further information is available, as DoD did not post an award notice, contrary to federal policy, to the FedBizOpps database.

FOR ADDITIONAL COVERAGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES, PLEASE VISIT THE MONITOR'S LAW ENFORCEMENT/POLICE PAGE AS WELL AS ITS DRUGS PAGE.

ALSO SEE THE MONITOR’S DoD PAGE.

FOR ADDITIONAL REGIONAL COVERAGE, PLEASE VISIT THE MONITOR'S AFGHANISTAN PAGE, COLOMBIA PAGE, AND PAKISTAN PAGE.

FOR ADDITIONAL COVERAGE OF INFORMATION-DISSEMINATION ISSUES, SEE THE MONITOR’S PROPAGANDA/PR PAGE.

U.S. Poised to Unveil New Stage of Human Rights Program -- and Contract Awards -- in Colombia

Round Three of a U.S.-funded human rights initiative in Colombia is expected to be revealed later in the year, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Friday. According to a presolicitation notice (#SOL-514-11-000005) that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research, USAID by September will release further details of the Human Rights Program III endeavor.

HRP III, which will be carried out by a private contractor:

is expected to consolidate prior gains, strengthen institutions, and expand geographic/territorial reach to more effectively confront the human rights concerns of vulnerable populations.  The program's main objectives will be to support a culture of human rights, prevent abuse and violations of human rights, and provide meaningful and efficient responses to human rights violations once they have occurred.  This third phase of human rights program assistance is intended to increase capacity and institutionalization of Colombian actors and entities, while diminishing the role and responsibility of USAID programming over the life of the program; the ultimate goal is to conclude or substantially reduce this area of assistance by the end of this phase.

USAID did not disclose the estimated cost of the four-year project, which the agency tentatively plans to begin by December. An earlier phase of the initiative had begun with a $37.8 million contract awarded to Management Sciences for Development, Inc. in 2006, which also received a $2.5 million dollar contract extension in 2008.

U.S. Army to Build Remote Colombian 'Intel' Center

The U.S. Army plans to build an "intelligence fusion center" in the remote geographic center of Colombia. The modest facility, whose estimated cost is in the $100,000-$250,000 range, will be located in La Macarena, a municipality of a region known as the Meta Department (Departamento del Meta).  The Army Contracting Command said in a solicitation (#WF7LKT-1125-0600) that it soon will release a more detailed statement of work, "including drawings and specifications," around June 15. Both U.S. and non-U.S. firms will be allowed to submit bids on this competitive procurement.