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

Obama Plan: Temp Jobs at $1 Million Each (WND)

My latest from WND -- S.P. 

The federal government’s portfolio of international health-care initiatives has grown so enormous that the Obama administration is infusing another quarter-billion dollars simply to help operate this global bureaucracy.

The estimated return on this taxpayer-funded venture: 250 new support staff.

Continued at WND.com...

ead more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/obama-plan-temp-jobs-at-1-million-each/#R1iMTbM7biAJgswS.99

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.

Feds Hid Spending During Government Shutdown (WND)

My latest from WND. -- S.P.

The Obama administration during the partial government shutdown concealed a plan to funnel millions into yet another project in Afghanistan, where U.S. taxpayers are helping farmers grow wheat instead of illicit crops used in narcotics production.

Iranians and Pakistanis could particularly benefit from the endeavor, according to contracting documents WND discovered via routine database research.

The U.S. Agency for International Development explicitly identified Iran and Pakistan as long-time recipients of food products exported from the targeted provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul, which likewise have helped satisfy Afghanistan’s nationwide food requirements.

Read more at WND.com...

USAID to Drop Hundreds of Millions on Farmers - Starting in Kenya

Although the House and Senate remain in a stalemate over what to cut or keep in the controversial Farm Bill, the Obama administration is proceeding with its own plan for farmers – in and around Kenya.

The East Africa Regional Construction initiative overall could cost U.S. taxpayers $210 million.

Pack-house and cold-storage facility construction “appropriate to the Kenyan rural environment” is the first step, according to a Request for Proposals from contractors that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor discovered via routine database research.

In the request, the U.S. Agency for International Development identified only the Kenyan endeavor, which aims to help farmers properly store products such as broccoli, sweet corn, potatoes and peppers.

The Kenyan project is just one facet of a broader initiative. The agency said it expects to award up to four design and construction contracts – each with a maximum value of $75 million – across East Africa over five years.

However, it did not disclose the specific cost of the initiative’s Kenyan segment.

USAID said the project will be advantageous for Kenyan farmers in Kitui County, as the new facility will expand the ability of small growers and farmer associations to ship their products to “other domestic or export markets.”

This “marketing flexibility” will allow them to sell produce at a more appropriate time, as the new cooling and storage facilities will make it unnecessary to sell produce immediately after harvest.

The construction initiative comes as Obama separately has vowed to send many hundreds of millions of dollars in additional aid to African energy programs.

Similarly, during the “President and First Lady’s Africa Trip,” as the White House touts the purportedly $100 million visit, Obama unveiled the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

The fellowship, beginning next year, “will bring more than 500 young African leaders to the United States each year for leadership training and mentoring,” the administration announced.

Program fellows – whose numbers Obama hopes to double in subsequent years – will gain access to millions of dollars in business and NGO start-up grants through the U.S. African Development Foundation and the U.S. Department of State, it said.

One year ago, the Monitor reported the administration’s spending on Kenya had become so voluminous that USAID was asking for more contractors to oversee the work.

A recent report said the agency – after covering up its propaganda plan to sway U.S. and international media views on U.S. assistance to Kenya – has repackaged its contractor-support plan.

Although USAID admittedly cannot adequately manage the numerous initiatives it has launched in Kenya, cost-wise, overall aid dropped from a high of $830 million in FY 2009 to $460 million in FY 2013.

Nonetheless, the monitor has continued to reveal new programs unfolding under Obama, including:

• A $50 million project to help decentralize national power while increasing power at the county level, despite the risk of creating 47 equally corrupt county systems.
• A nationwide reading project – with a still-undisclosed cost – that seeks to improve the skills of children in tens of thousands of Kenyan schools.
• Peace initiatives providing “reflective workshops” and “trauma education” to warring clans and tribes in and around Kenya. The administration acknowledged that chronic cattle rustling and other cultural practices – such as killing rivals “to prove their manhood or impress young women” – might impede the success of this program.

This article oriignally was published July 3 via WND.com. Under agreement with WND, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.

Obama Drops Hundreds of Millions on (Kenyan) Farmers (WND)

My latest from WND...

Although the House and Senate remain in a stalemate over what to cut or keep in the controversial Farm Bill, the Obama administration is proceeding with its own plan for farmers – in Kenya.

The East Africa Regional Construction initiative overall could cost U.S. taxpayers $210 million.

Pack-house and cold-storage facility construction “appropriate to the Kenyan rural environment” is the first step, according to a Request for Proposals from contractors that WND discovered via routine database research.

Read more at WND.com...

Hearing: Modernizing U.S. International Food Aid: Reaching More for Less

House Committee on Foreign Affairs

2172 House Rayburn Office Building Washington, DC 20515 | Jun 12, 2013 10:00am

Chairman Royce on the hearing: “Modernizing U.S. international food aid to help more people facing starvation, more quickly, at a lower cost is common sense, especially given our national debt.  By reforming food aid, we can reach more people in need, while at the same time saving hundreds of millions of dollars.  At this hearing, the Committee will hear from two top food aid experts about the best approaches to improving our current, inefficient system of food aid delivery.”

Witnesses

The Honorable Andrew Natsios
Executive Professor
The George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service
Texas A&M University
(Former Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development)

The Honorable Dan Glickman
Executive Director
Aspen Institute Congressional Program
(Former Secretary of Agriculture)

ADM, Cargill, Others Get $57 Million in Global Food Aid Contracts (NEWS BRIEF)

Nearly $57 million in contracts recently were awarded to multiple vendors by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for  food-aid endeavors such as USAID Title II, Food for Peace and the FAS, McGovern-Dole Food for Education programs. Vendors include contracting behemoths  Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill as well as smaller U.S. distributors, all whom totally will export about 72 metric tons of cornmeal, lentils, rice, vegetable oil, and other subsistence items.

Source document: Contract award #AGINTPP130029-AGINTPP130064.

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.

Bids Due on $100 Million Afghan Slaughterhouse

The U.S.-funded construction of an Afghan National Army slaughterhouse -- whose estimated cost reaches upwards of $100 million -- is coming closer to fruition, as contractor bids are due this Saturday (July 21) .  The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers project, as spelled out in a 1,300+ page solicitation released earlier this year, will provide a modern, climate-controlled facility to help the U.S. achieve its policy goal of making the Afghanistan military more self-sufficient. The facility will be located in the Deh-e-Sabz District, Kabul Province.

Source document: Solicitation #W5J9JE-12-R-0078.

USAID Launching El Salvador Food & Trade Initiative

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)  will embark upon a what it is calling the Regional Integrated Trade and Food Security Project in El Salvador, according a presolicitation notice released about an hour ago. The document offered a one-sentence description:

The purpose of this Program is to promote inclusive economic growth, improve food security and facilitate trade in the region.

Aside from contact information for the USAID acquisition specialist handling the project, it provided no other specifics.

Solicitation #SOL-596-12-000004.