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Kaboom! State Dept. finally gives explosive answer (via WND)

My latest article gets top-of-the-page visibility. See “Kaboom! State Dept. finally gives explosive answer” via WND. -- S.P.

Bureau boss overseeing shipments has Benghazi connections

The State Department bureau tasked with secretly sending to embassies plastic and liquid explosives operates under the guidance of Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, whom a congressional panel last year separately found to be largely responsible for security lapses in Benghazi, WND has learned.

A series of WND articles recently exposed the purchase and international transport of many hundreds of pounds of plastic, sheet and linear explosives along with thousands of containers of high-energy liquid explosives.

Weeks after a State official laughed in response to WND’s inquiry, the department belatedly reacted to a follow-up request for information about how, where and by whom the blasting equipment will be used.

Read more at WND.com...

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NightTalker Radio: Michael David McGuire Interview with Steve Peacock

Business Start-Up Grants to Accompany Obama Economic Improvement Project

The Obama Administration is unfolding its latest plan to address lackluster economic growth, an action it seeks to accomplish partly by reforming national trade policies and regulations.

National, that is, specific to the nation of the Philippines, where the U.S. Agency for International Development has launched yet another program to help improve the ability of that country’s business sector to compete internationally.

The Trade‐Related Assistance for Development (TRADE) project, as the endeavor is known, is the latest effort of the U.S.-Philippine “Partnership for Growth,” or PFG , according to a solicitation that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located during routine database research. USAID said in the document that separately it expects to award several multi‐year grants to private Philippine groups and business organizations “to promote business start‐ups and incubators.” It did not disclose the estimated cost of those grants. 

It described PFG as

a signature inter‐agency effort of President Barack Obama’s Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development... PFG will provide USG assistance and non‐assistance resources over the next five years to assist the Philippines overcome binding constraints to investment expansion and capital formation for increased employment and higher incomes.

The TRADE Project will hire contractors to “provide technical assistance, training, and other services to economic agencies of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the private sector,”

The estimated contract value for the five-year TRADE program—not including the cost of the previously mentioned business start-up and incubator projects—is $13.5 million.

Source document: Solicitation #SOL-492-12-000013

RELATED:

USAID to Spend Tens of Millions Promoting Filipino Tourism, Agribusiness

Federal Government to Audit Tens of Thousands of Schools for Tech Deployment

U.S. to Assess Education Program Progress -- in USAID-backed Filipino Muslim Schools

USAID to Spend Tens of Millions Promoting Filipino Tourism, Agribusiness (NEWS BRIEFS)

The following is a quick rundown of several recently unveiled foreign aid contracts and projects through the U.S. Agency for International Development:

THE PHILIPPINES: USAID may spend up $43.5 million over five years to promote tourism and agribusiness in the Philippines. The Advancing Philippine Competitiveness, or COMPETE, Project seeks to "contribute to higher growth through the better provision of infrastructure, increased competitiveness of key industries, and increased access to credit," according to a modified solicitation released Sept. 21. The agency is accepting proposals through Nov. 2 (Solicitation #SOL-492-12-00001).

Separately the agency is looking for contractors capable of helping to strengthen "the capacity, legitimacy, and transparency and accountability of local governments " while also "increasing the involvement of youth and adults in governance processes" the largely Muslim Mindanao region of the Philippines. A five-year contract award valued at about $19 million is anticipated to carry out the Enhancing Governance, Accountability and Engagement, or ENGAGE, Project (Solicitation #SOL-492-12-000016).

UGANDA: Contracts worth upwards of $23 million dollars could be awarded to "sustainably increase the production and marketing of quality maize, beans, and coffee in Uganda" over five years, USAID said Sept. 21 in a modified solicitation (Solicitation #SOL-617-12-000020(1)).

VIETNAM: USAID awarded a $12.9 million contract to Little Rock, Arkansas-based Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development to help it “directly influence and catalyze investment in clean energy technologies, practices, and policies” in Vietnam (Contract award #AID-486-C-12-00008).

BANGLADESH: Chemonics International secured a $2 million noncompetitive contract extension to help promote the “global market competitiveness” of the horticulture, aquaculture, and leather products sectors in Bangladesh. USAID on Sept. 21 said in a Justification & Approval document that it raised the contract from about $11 million to $13 million as part of the Poverty Reduction by Increasing the Competitiveness of Enterprises (PRICE) initiative (Contract award #388-C-08-00021-00).

Federal Government to Audit Tens of Thousands of Schools for Tech Deployment

The U.S. government is embarking upon an audit of over 35,000 public schools in order to assess the extent of educational technology deployment—the extent of deployment, that is, in schools across The Philippines.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday announced that it awarded a $280,000 contract to carry out the project, formally known as “Understanding the State of the Art of Information and Communications Technology for Education (ICT4E) in the Philippines – An Assessment.”

The award (#AID-492-C-12-00006) went to the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development, Inc. (FIT-ED), a Makati City, Philippines-based non-profit organization.  The chairman of FIT-ED is Roberto R. Romulo, a Georgetown University-educated ambassador.

Romulo also serves on the board of McClarty Associates, an international consulting firm founded by Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, III, former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton. John D. Negroponte, former U.S. ambassador to The Philippines, currently is the firm's vice chairman.

The two-fold project will perform an:

• Inventory of current and ongoing ICT4E projects in basic education
• Assessment of [the Philippine Department of Education] computerization and connectivity (C&C) program for public secondary schools using a survey and case studies.

A USAID solicitation document (#SOL-492-12-000011) explained that the rationale behind the study:

is to provide USAID/Philippines and DepED with the information necessary to apply lessons learned from the implementation of ICT4E programs in schools, especially with regard to how these programs help improve the quality of education.

The specific aim of the study is to determine "factors that may have accounted for successful and unsuccessful programs," as well as to identify "institutional barriers or opportunities for replication or expansion" of such computerization and connectivity programs.

RELATED:

U.S. to Assess Education Program Progress -- in USAID-backed Filipino Muslim Schools

Obama Administration will Seek to Encourage Business Investments -- in the Philippines

Indonesians to Receive Master's Degrees Courtesy U.S. Taxpayers

U.S. to Assess Education Program Progress -- in USAID-backed Filipino Muslim Schools

A U.S.-funded education project carried out in predominantly Muslim regions of The Philippines is about to undergo a review of its effectiveness, following the conclusion of the latest five-year segment of the $90 million endeavor.

This review -- in addition to a bevy of other new or follow-up programs now seeking private contractor assistance in that nation -- comes at a time when President Obama has declared the Pacific Region as a new "top U.S. priority."

The initiative, known as the Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS) Project, had begun in 2004 under the Bush Administration, which awarded a five-year, $30.1 million cooperative agreement to carry it out primarily in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The U.S. Agency for International devleopment (USAID) in 2006 issued a new 5-year, $59.3 million cooperative agreement to Education Development Center, Inc., to implement Phase II of the plan.

USAID today issued a draft statement of work for the proposed assessment (Solicitation #SOL-492-12-000001) and is seeking comments and suggestions from interested parties.

The goal of the evaluation is to:

assess the impact of USAID’s investment in EQuALLS 2’s intended beneficiaries at the national, regional and local community levels, and assess the performance of EQuALLS 2 in achieving its objectives of improving quality and access to basic education in areas most affected by poverty and conflict in the Philippines, specifically the ARMM and Regions 9 and 12 in Mindanao, and of providing alternative learning opportunities, including livelihood training, to out-of-school youth in these regions.

The evaluation will also look at the effectiveness of its three intermediate results -- increased learning opportunities, improved teaching in math, science, and English, and greater relevance of education and training for out-of-school children and youth… If any stated results were not achieved, the contractor shall identify probable impediments…

It appears that the Obama Administration is looking to keep the momentum going for the EQuALLS Project or a successor educational initiative in The Philippines, as the SOW emphasizes that the evaluation "will inform the USAID/Philippines Country Development Strategy (CDCS) for FY 2011-2016 and will guide the design and development of future education programs."

FOR ADDITIONAL REGIONAL COVERAGE, VISIT THE MONITOR'S PHILIPPINES PAGE.

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

ALSO SEE THE MONITOR’S EDUCATION PAGE.

USAID Seeks 'Climate Change Advisor' for The Philippines

A contractor to serve as a Regional Climate Change Advisor in The Philippines is being sought by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which will leverage the Manila-based position to “provide expert technical and policy advice on a broad range of issues related [to] climate change…” across the region.

According to a Personal Service Contract notice dated Sept. 14, the selected vendor will, among various other specific tasks:

Develop new regional adaptation initiatives in areas such as ‘climateproofing’ urban infrastructure, coastal community resilience, mangroves, integrated water resources management, water conservation and demand management, and/or transboundary cooperation. Promote use and integration of cross-cutting themes and tools into development approaches, including human and institution capacity building, environmental governance, public-private partnerships, regional cooperation, gender issues, human health, economic development, poverty reduction, and information and communications and technology.

A one-year contract for the position offers annual compensation in the $84,697-$110,104 range.

Source document: Solicitation #SOL-492-11-000023.

USAID New Briefs; June 24, 2011

CHEMONICS SECURES MONGOLIAN ECONOMIC-GROWTH CONTRACT

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently awarded an $18.2 million contract to Chemonics International, Inc., to carry out its "Business Plus Initiative" in Mongolia. Chemonics will be tasked with promoting economic growth in Mongolia by carrying out four primary duties over the course of the five-year endeavor:  (1) Implementation of Business Enabling Policies; (2) Private Sector Investment Support; (3)  Financial Sector Deepening Support; (4) Public Outreach and Performance Monitoring and Evaluation.

USAID REDUCES SCOPE OF AZERBAIJAN PROJECT

USAID has decided to scale back a proposed $10 million healthcare initiative in the Central Asian nation of Azerbaijan (Solicitation #SOL-112-11-000004). The "Azerbaijan Strengthening Health Systems through Integrated Programs" initiative, or AZ-SHIP, "has been reconfigured as a much smaller in scope, funding and time activity," USAID said today in an amendment to a Feb. 18 solicitation.  "Given the extent of changes to the program, USAID has determined that it will be best implemented through assistance.  Consequesntly, a Request for Proposals will not be issued.  The agency instead will post future "assistance opportunities"  to the federal government's grants.gov website.

USAID-ZIMBABWE SEEKS PHYSICIAN

As part of USAID"s $50 million healthcare program in Zimbabwe, the agency is seeking to hire a Health Development Physician for its team (Solicitation #613-11-001). The position offers a $99,628-$129,517 annual salary range via a two-year contract with extensions options.

USAID-CAMBODIA STILL SEARCHING FOR PROJECT OFFICER

USAID continues to seek candidates for a Project Development Officer who would be stationed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The agency this week readvertised the personnel services contract notice (Solicitation #442-11-001-RFP) for the slot, which pays an annual salary in the $84,697 - $110,104 range.  The selected candidate would help to  plan, assess, and monitor USAID programs in this Southeast Asian nation.

$100 MILLION PHILIPPINES PROJECT NEED SENIOR ADVISOR

USAID-Manila is seeking a Senior Rural Development Advisor for The Philippines, where the selected candidate would help to manage the $100 million Growth with Equity in Mindanao II, or GEM II, initiative. (Solicitation # SOL-492-11-000012). The one-year position pays an annual salary in the $99,628-$129,517 range.

Obama Administration will Seek to Encourage Business Investments -- in the Philippines

A U.S.-funded program whose aim is to “address the constraints that impede the overall business climate of the Philippines and consequently improve levels of investments in the country” is on the horizon. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to launch the 2-3 year endeavor, known as the Investment Enabling Environment (INVEST) Project, so that it can help make “regulations less cumbersome” for Philippine business owners.

USAID ultimately intends to accomplish that task by lowering the cost of compliance with -- and “limiting the scope” of -- excessive bureaucratic oversight, according to a presolicitation notice (#SOL-492-11-000011) that the Monitor located via routine database research.

The primary “reform-oriented components” of the INVEST Project will be:

Streamlining business registration process and lowering business transaction costs of compliance with rules and regulations. The overall objective of this component is to reduce the steps, time and costs (both official and non-official) that business operators in the targeted cities spend interfacing with national government agencies and local governments to obtain business permits or to renew them.

Improving investment planning and promotion in targeted cities. The overall objective of this component is to facilitate the entry of new business ventures that will generate employment and increase revenues for local governments.

Launching the program will be “contingent upon the availability of funds,” the document says. If and when those funds become available, USAID apparently will be poised to award a contract to a hand-picked vendor, as it made clear that the agency will seek “approval of a Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition.”

USAID did not provide an estimated cost of the INVEST project.