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

First Step of U.S.-Funded African Drought Project? Create New Bureaucracy

A $20 million Kenya-based anti-drought program continues its search for contractors to carry out the five-year endeavor for the U.S. government -- and half the estimated cost will be eaten up in Phase One, which establishes a management bureaucracy to oversee the project.

The U.S. Agency for International Development extended its vendor-bid deadline until Jan. 20, 2014, in the Resilience Learning Project, whose goal is to increase collaboration and "drought resilience" information-sharing among stakeholders in the Horn of Africa drylands.

The program is part of a larger Obama administration "resilience agenda" whose aim is to strengthen governmental and private responses to drought -- and the conditions that bring about drought -- in Africa, according to the initial Statement of Work.

Related programs include Resilience and Economic Growth in the Arid Lands-Accelerated Growth, or REGAL-AG, which seeks to improve the business climate for Kenyan livestock farmers.

As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor previously reported, REGAL-AG was one of numerous Kenya-specific aid initiatives that emerged amidst a sudden spike in U.S.-funded Kenyan projects.

Soon after it was discovered that the Kenyan program -- in the admininstration's own words -- had "increased rapidly and exponentially, outstripping workforce resources available to effectively perform assessments and rigorous analyses … track results … manage recordkeeping, and other project development and program office functions.”

USAID subsequently sought to hire additional contractors to assist existing contractor already involved in such U.S.-Kenya initiatives.

FOR ADDITIONAL REPORTING ON THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, SEE THE MONITOR'S USAID PAGE.

FOR MORE REGIONAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S KENYA PAGE AND AFRICA PAGE.

Obama Deploying Drones Around U.S.

The deployment of federal drones in and around U.S. shores represents one of the Obama administration’s next steps in the nation’s expanded use of unmanned aircraft systems for surveillance purposes.

The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, or ONMS, recently acquired Puma UAS – a type of drone that the U.S. Navy also uses – for operations off the coast of Los Angeles.

ONMS now is enlisting contractor support in expanding UAS use in California, Hawaii, Florida, and Washington state. Vendors experienced in working with law enforcement and military personnel are needed for this endeavor, according to a solicitation that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through routine database research.

The Puma drones – which are small enough to launch by hand – will be used by ONMS to enforce federal regulations, the document says.

The ONMS drone project will focus on Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary located northwest of LA. However, the contractor also will assist Puma UAS operations at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument Midway in Hawaii, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary in Washington.

ONMS operates under the umbrella of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, itself a unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

This initiative comes at a time when the U.S. Army is evaluating contractor proposals to develop a cadre of trainers in the operation of drones, specifically in the operation of Puma as well as Raven vehicles.

As this writer via WND reported in late June, the Army says vendors will help it maintain nearly 1,800 Puma and Raven systems “currently fielded, and alternative medium and long range systems procured in the future.”

Puma UAS are quiet enough “to avoid detection and operate autonomously, providing persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting data,” according to their manufacturer, the Monrovia, California-based AeroVironment, Inc., or AV.

AV touts the ability of its drones to provide operators with “eyes on target” capabilities, thanks to electro-optical and infrared cameras built into the UAS.

“The air vehicle’s modular design allows for alternative payload development to meet the needs of specific military or civilian applications,” the company’s product description also says.

Puma UAS likewise are leveraged by the U.S. Navy, which in recent months awarded a no-bid sole-source contract to AV for Puma spare parts.

The U.S. Army relies on AV for drones as well. Last year the agency awarded a contract worth upwards of $66 million for miniature Raven systems, which share with Puma a common launch and operating platform.

AV recently delivered the latest installment of Raven systems and parts to the Army, and expects to fulfill the remainder of its contract by July 25.

Among other recent domestic drone-related developments:

• The construction of a $100 million drone hangar at Ft. Riley, Kan., is being planned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The solicitation said the Army Corps project will focus on the construction of “a maintenance hangar for three Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) companies.” The document did not disclose which companies were to benefit from this endeavor.
• The Army Corps also plans to build a $25 million, 30,000-square yard airfield at Ft. Hood, Texas, for UAS deployment. The construction of a drone hangar facility separately is slated for that location.
• The U.S. Air Force awarded a $26 million contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., which will conduct research and development for the agency’s Aircraft Structural Integrity Program. The project, which the company will carry out at its Poway, Calif., facility, seeks to make improvements to the MQ-9 Reaper System, which the Air Force describes as a “larger and more heavily armed than the Predator UAV.”
• The creation of air- and underwater-based UAV-launch technologies is being explored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which on Aug. 5 will meet with industry representatives to discuss what is known as the “Hydra” R&D project. DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office will hold the Proposers’ Day event at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
• Technological advances in the collection and analysis of surveillance data and images – particularly that which can be used aboard drones – are being sought by the Rome, N.Y.-based Air Force Research Lab, which seeks to fund contractor-led R&D projects in its Multi-Intelligence Exploitation and Correlation initiative. “Given current levels of activity, operational requirements, hostile environments, and resources being heavily tasked, collection systems will need to be developed for embedding on advanced collection platforms, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs),” the AFRL said in Broad Agency Announcement no. BAA-RIK-12-04.

This article originally was published via WND.com July 21,2013. Under agreement with WND, rights have reveretdd ack to the author, Steve Peacock.

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Sequestration-Related Cuts? Fed Spending Continues Unabated

The Obama administration recently issued warnings to contractors of potential sequestration-related spending cuts, but in the meantime federal spending continues unabated, domestically and globally.

Some of the apparently indispensable projects include a environmental public murals in Hebron and Jericho along with similarly themed summer camps and field trips for Palestinian children, alternative energy outings to Turkey, and assistance to mango growers and hotel operators in Pakistan.

The U.S. Agency for International Development said in a public notice that “due to the failure of Congress to reach a deal on balanced deficit reduction to avoid sequestration, the president on March 1, 2013, as required by law, issued a sequestration order canceling approximately $85 billion in budgetary resources across the federal government for the remainder of the federal fiscal year.”

USAID recently advised vendors that the agency “is taking every step to mitigate the effects of these cuts, but … it is likely that your company’s workforce, revenue, and planning processes may be affected.”

But that is not stopping USAID from reaching out to contractors to carry out its new $700 million global “ecological-governance” program.

The primary goal of the agency’s Restoring the Environment through Prosperity, Livelihoods and Conserving Ecosystems, or REPLACE, program is to strengthen the ability of governments and non-governmental organizations around the globe to provide climate-change mitigation and adaptation, seascape and landscape management, and other environmental and economic interventions.

Numerous other federal entities issued similar warnings via the FedBizOpps contractor database.

Despite the advisories, new projects continue to emerge while existing programs undergo expansion, from the seemingly inconsequential – such as a $79,000 U.S. Trade & Development Agency grant to send U.S. railway representatives on an exploratory mission to India – to initiatives on a multi-billion-dollar scale.

Most notable is the Department of Defense’s extended outsourcing of global counter-narcotics functions through its Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office, or CNTPO, a potential $15 billion contract vehicle that has enriched – and will continue to enrich – Blackwater Lodge & Training Center Inc.; Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems; ARINC Engineering Services LLC; Raytheon Technical Service Company; and Northrop Grumman/TASC Inc.

The report "DoD Prepares Follow-Up to $15 Billion Global Counterdrug Contracts" continues to be one of the Monitor's most regulalry visited articles, generating consistent visits and Google search hits nearly twenty months later.

The following list of federal procurement actions represents an additional snapshot of recent contracts, requests for proposals and other solicitations, both large and small. This nation-by-nation compilation is by no means comprehensive but is designed to enlighten U.S. taxpayers about how the federal government is spending – or intends to spend – their money.

GAZA/WEST BANK

The creation of environmental-themed public murals, conducting student field-trips to “environmentally important sites” in Hebron and Jericho and holding environmental summer camps for Palestinian children are among programs that the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service intends to fund. And the USFS is procuring the services of the Palestinian Association for Child Arts and Culture to carry out these tasks for youth in the city of Hebron. The agency did not disclose the estimated cost.

Helping the Palestinian Authority to “build more effective and competent public institutions that are accountable to the public and respond to citizens’ needs” will cost $20.5 million under a contract that USAID awarded to Development Alternatives Inc.

U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor founder Steve Peacock initially broke the story on the project’s unveiling last April for WND.com.

PAKISTAN

Current efforts to improve the competitiveness of small- and medium businesses in Pakistan have been extended another 20 months, now that USAID has raised Chemonics International’s contract ceiling to $93 million. The current contract for the Pakistan Firms Project was slated to end April 15, but with a $2.5 million increase, Chemonics will continue to provide technology upgrades, skill development and other assistance to hotels, mango growers, knitted-garment manufacturers and other Pakistani enterprises through December 31, 2014.

TURKEY

Alternative-energy industry representatives are getting free hotel rooms and airfare to Turkey to explore ways to capitalize on the nation’s energy boom. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency is offering a $537,000 grant to carry out the Smart Grid Upgrades to the Teias Electricity Transmission Network Feasibility Study. According to the agency, “Turkey is facing a rapidly rising demand in the midst of its bustling economic growth. The Turkish government is consequently making a concentrated effort to explore alternative sources of energy, such as wind, hydro and geothermal power as a way of meeting this shortfall.”

Consequently, the Obama administration has decided that U.S. taxpayers should shoulder the burden of that trip to Ankara.

UNITED STATES

Under its Adult Education and Immigrant Integration project, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a $1.3 million contract to World Education Inc. of Boston to design an initiative to “reduce linguistic, academic, and employment barriers for skilled and low-skilled immigrants and refugees, and to integrate them into the U.S. workforce and professions.”

A similar version of this article first appeared via WND.com on March 18, 2013. Under agreement with WND, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.

USAID Seeks Leader for Central African Enviro Program (NEWS BRIEF)

A 25-year environmental endeavor in Central Africa is being extended through 2020, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is looking for a team leader/director to run the program. The goal of the USAID Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) is to "maintain the ecological functioning of the Central Africa tropical forests and its biodiversity," according to a personal services contract notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located. The $13 million annual program is based in Kinsasha, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The position, which is part of a five-member management team, pays in the $100,000-$130,000 range.

Source document: Solicitation #SOL-623-13-000002.

U.S. Takes Action to Reduce Energy Dependence -- in Europe

The nation faces a critical need to "overcome a number of serious problems" related to economic development and growing energy needs, particularly because of its "strong dependence on energy imports," the Obama Administration has concluded.

Consequently, it has launched a project to increase "competitiveness and energy security" while reducing "greenhouse gas emissions via greater clean energy investments" across the nation.

Across the nation of Macedonia, that is.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will devote an unspecified amount of funding for the Competitiveness through Clean Energy Investment – Industrial Management Project.

USAID acknowledged in the document  that an "important influence on Macedonian energy policy" is the country‘s objective of becoming accepted into the European Union. According to a project Statement of Work, the agency will hire a contractor over the next 3-4 years to:

(1) Recruit Macedonian industry particpation;

(2) Provide energy management and efficiency systems to selected businesses;

(3) Train various sectors in the use of such systems; and:

(4) Promote energy management across the nation by attending industry association meetings and holding workshops "to engage industry, local consultants, and the financial community."

Source document: Solicitation #SOL-165-12-000005.

White House Seeks to Spark Agribusiness Growth -- But Guess Where?

Certain sectors of the agricultural industry are experiencing a “less impressive” growth rate than anticipated by the Obama Administration, which is stepping in to spark that growth. And it doing so in Uganda, where its Commodity Production and Marketing campaign aims to “sustainably increase the production and marketing of quality maize, beans, and coffee” in that African nation.

The administration last year devised a plan to cut Ugandan poverty in half, while also reducing other social ills, such as the frequency of cattle raiding across the country.  As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor reported last year, “Plan Uganda” will cost American taxpayers $3.5 billion from 2011-2015.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in a Statement of Work, or SOW, that this latest project—which is connected with the administration’s broader Feed the Future initiative—will help achieve  USAID/Uganda’s development goal of achieving “Economic growth from agriculture and the natural resource base increased in selected areas and population groups.”

Despite continued U.S. assistance to Uganda’s agricultural sector over the past two decades, the industry continues to struggle, for instance, with creating efficient regional distribution systems as well as producing quality corn and maize, the SOW acknowledged.

Among some of those programs were:

• Investment in the Development of Export Agriculture (IDEA) project (1993 to 2004);
• Rural Savings Promotion & Enhancement of Enterprise Development project (2004 and 2007);
• Strengthening the Competitiveness of Private Enterprise project (2003 to 2006);
• Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program (APEP) (2003-2008).
• Current USAID/Uganda projects include:
• Livelihoods and Enterprises for Agricultural Development (LEAD) project (2008-2013);

The Commodity Production and Marketing activity said it will achieve its objectives by:

• increasing crop productivity (increase in yields, reduction of production costs, and reduction of post-harvest losses);
• increasing the availability and effectiveness of support services (financial, advisory, market information, and other production and marketing services);
• strengthening inter-actor relationships for more effective movement of products and information between buyers and sellers; and:
• increasing access to competitive markets (domestic, regional and international).

The selected vendor also must takes steps to educate Ugandans about climate change and gender equality, according to the SOW.

The endeavor will cost about $23 million over five years.  Contractor proposals are due Oct. 5.

Source document: Solicitation #SOL-617-12-000020(1).

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

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

ALSO SEE THE MONITOR'S FOOD & NUTRITION PAGE.

U.S to Demilitarize & Dispose Depleted Uranium Ammo for Taiwan

The cost of removing and destroying of depleted-uranium ammunition in Taiwan may be borne by American taxpayers, as the U.S. Army is looking for industry sources capable of performing that service on behalf of the Taiwanese government.

The Demilitarization and Disposal of 20mm and 105mm Depleted Uranium Ammunition in Taiwan Project at this stage only seeks to identify “potential sources possessing the capabilities, experience, and expertise necessary” for the endeavor.

If indeed the Army fully pursues this, the selected contractor will “go to Taiwan and either perform the demilitarization service for Taiwan or instruct them in how to do it.”

The Sources Sought Notice (Solicitation # W52P1JDUDEMIL), which U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through routine database research, defines demilitarization, or DEMIL, as the act of:

(1) disassembling chemical or conventional military munitions for the purpose of recycling, reclamation, or reuse of subcomponents; or (2) rendering chemical or conventional military munitions innocuous or ineffectual for military use (i.e., removing the military offensive or defensive characteristics), which may include disposal of unusable components of the munitions.

If further added that DEMIL “encompasses various approved methods such as mutilation, alteration, or destruction to prevent further use for its originally intended military purpose.”

The Taiwan government needs to DEMIL and dispose of 4,000 20mm depleted uranium shells and 150 105mm depleted uranium shells, the notice said.

Agent Orange Cleanup in Vietnam to Begin

The U.S.-funded cleanup of dioxin-tainted Da Nang Airport in Vietnam is poised to begin.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) revealed today that it awarded a $17 million contract (Award #AID-486-C-12-00002) to Tetra Tech, Inc., to begin remediating the tainted soil in and around the airport, which remains poisoned with remnants of the Agent Orange defoliant used by the U.S. during the Vietnam Conflict.

USAID initially had estimated that the Environmental Remediation at Da Nang Airport project, as the endeavor is known, would cost closer to $10 million.

U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor broke the story on this project last year during the first week of the Monitor website's unveiling.

RELATED:

Five Months Later, USAID Puts Da Nang Documents Online (Nov. 22, 2011)

Da Nang Agent-Orange/Dioxin Technical Documents Obtained (May 23, 2011)

USAID to Meet Contractors at Da Nang for Agent Orange Cleanup (May 4, 2011)

USAID Reaches Out to Contractors for Agent Orange Cleanup in Vietnam (April 2, 2011)

U.S. Getting Closer to Funding China Enviro Clean-Ups, Brazil Airport and Ukraine '9-1-1' Upgrades

The U.S. government yesterday took the next step towards partly financing environmental cleanup projects in China. As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor previously reported, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) last month issued a Scope of Work related to a series of groundwater remediation initiatives in China—projects for which that nation intend to infuse (USD) $5.5 billion of its own money through 2020 (Monitor, March 16).

Nonetheless, USTDA awarded a $44,000 contract to Ascendant Program Services, LLC, a Bethesda, Md.-based infrastructure consulting firm, to embark upon a "definitional mission," or DM, to China. (Contract award #USTDA-CO201261140).

Despite the seemingly inconsequential price tag of the DM, it is one of several potential exploratory missions for which USTDA might fund—standard steps that the agency typically takes, such as the crafting of next-step “feasibility studies”—before arranging much larger financing of the actual remediation projects.

Ascendant now will travel to Beijing and two other cities that the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection has identified as "priority locations for groundwater and soil remediation projects."

The contract is one of a trio that the company secured from USTDA since last year. The agency awarded Ascendant a $35,000 contract, for example, to perform a feasibility study of an emergency call center project for the Government of Ukraine. 

Likewise, in 2011 it separately awarded it a $50,000 contract to carry out a definitional mission to Brazil, where it was to evaluate possible USTDA funding of airport modernization projects.

As a follow-up measure to that Ascendant mission, the agency last week agreed to give a $485,000 “technical assistance” grant to the Rio de Janeiro State Transport Secretariat toward such airport projects. The Secretariat will not use the money for actual modernization of transportation infrastructure; rather, the funds will help the Rio state authority to “update its statewide airport plan and develop a funding strategy to modernize and expand the state's airport and heliport networks,” USTDA announced.

There is an “urgent need” to fund the project, USTDA justified, as Brazil is experiencing “rapidly increasing air traffic” while also preparing for an influx of visitors due to the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games.

FOR ADDITIONAL REPORTING ON THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, SEE THE MONITOR'S USAID PAGE.

FOR FURTHER TOPICAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S ENVIRONMENTAL PAGE.

FOR ADDITIONAL REGIONAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S CHINA PAGE,  BRAZIL PAGE, AND UKRAINE PAGE.

U.S. to Fund Vietnam 'Clean-Energy' Initiative

The Government of Vietnam will receive U.S. assistance in carrying out clean energy development in that nation, a measure that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) says will help the Obama Administration to execute its global "climate change" policies. 

The March 23 presolicitation notice (Solicitation #486-12-020), which U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, says that the main goal of the Vietnam Clean Energy Program, or VCEP, is to:

support clean energy development through the increased use of renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency practices, and by providing support to the Government of Vietnam for the design of its Low Emission Development Strategy.

Three specific objectives of VCEP, according to the document, are to:

• Enhance capacity to acquire, manage, analyze, and use energy sector data in decision making
• Increase energy efficiency in high energy use sectors
• Increase investment in and piloting of renewable energy technologies.

USAID will provide further details of the endeavor upon release of a formal solicitation at a later, unspecified date. The agency did not reveal the project's estimated cost.

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

FOR FURTHER TOPICAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S ENVIRONMENTAL PAGE.

FOR ADDITIONAL REPORTING ON THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, SEE THE MONITOR'S USAID PAGE.