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

U.S. to Help Vietnam 'Peoples Committee' to Modernize Water InfoCom System (News Brief)

A Vietnamese water company has asked the Obama Administration for help in assessing its information and communications technology (ICT) modernization plan, and a White House agency has agreed to provide a $600,000 grant for that purpose. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) will fund the endeavor, which entails footing the bill for an ICT contractor to fly to Vietnam to provide "technical assistance" to the Saigon Water Corporation, or SAWACO. SAWACO is described as "a government-owned enterprise operating under the HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) Peoples' Committee," according to a contracting notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through routine database research.

Source document: Solicitation #2012-31025A

FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE U.S TRADE & DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, VISIT THE MONITOR'S USTDA 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.

Five Months Later, USAID Puts Da Nang Documents Online

Back in May, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor obtained documents detailing the federal government's environmental cleanup of the Da Nang Airport in Vietnam, which remains tainted by dioxin stemming from the U.S. government's use of the Agent Orange defoliant during the conflict of the 1960s and 1970s; the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is coordinating the cleanup, initially would not put the documents online because the files supposedly were too large. The Monitor, in turn, made a  simple e-mail request for the documents (without making any misrepresentation of itself), and a Thailand-based USAID contracting specialist subsequently delivered, via international mail, a CD-ROM containing all the requested information. The Monitor, to the delight of several Vietnam veteran's groups, immediately made that data available online.

Well, yesterday USAID, for reasons unexplained, suddenly made all those documents accessible via the FedBizOpps database. ***(UPDATE: The agency made the documents available Oct. 5, then modified them Oct. 21)

We ask just one question in the context of the Digital Age (and in the context of a blogger accomplishing a simple task that the federal government could not or would not perform): Why the wait?

U.S. Seeks New Means of Predicting Internet Growth Overseas, from Albania to Zimbabwe

The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is looking for a contractor capable of developing a new analytical model to predict Internet usage and growth in thirty-two foreign nations, from "A" (Albania) to "Z" (Zimbabwe).

The agency, which runs U.S. government-funded international broadcasting systems such as Voice of America and Radio Sawa and Alhurra Television of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, said in a Statement of Work (Solicitation #BBG50-R-11-0020) that existing models for predicting growth are inadequate. The SOW said those models solely focus on specific technology sectors rather than the Internet in its entirety:

The ultimate goal is to estimate, using empirical data, the expansion of the number of unique individuals using the Internet on a weekly basis in these markets over the next five years. While various organizations have produced such estimates and prejections for sub-segments of the Internet market, such as mobile Internet use or fixed line broadband, BBG requires estimates of the growth of the entire Internet market, regardless of platform, including use via public access facilities.

Although the BBG attempted to justifiy why it wants a new predictive model, it did not specify why it needs -- nor what it intends to do -- with such a new mode of analysis. The agency said it would apply the model to Internet usage in the following nations: Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam,  Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The BBG said the selected contractor should be able to complete the work within an eight-week period. It did not offer an estimated cost of the project.

Da Nang Agent-Orange/Dioxin Technical Documents Obtained

The following documents detailing the U.S. government’s Agent Orange/dioxin contamination-cleanup at Da Nang Airport in Vietnam have been obtained by U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is overseeing the project, had not publicly made available this information, which federal entities typically upload to government procurement databases. The agency claimed the documents were too large and subsequently limited distribution to potential vendors interested in submitting bids.

As the Monitor previously reported, USAID official are meeting in Vietnam this Wednesday (May 25) with companies interested in submitting bids on the environmental remediation program.

While the documents obtained are not necessarily new or revelatory, until now they have been kept out of the public domain, with distribution largley limited to vendors who submitted requests to USAID for CDs containing the data . The following is a summary of and link to each document, all of which are being stored—and will remain available—via the Monitor network.

Agreement for Economic and Technical Cooperation between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

This document lays out the scope of the agreement between the two nations, in English and in Vietnamese, tackling topics ranging from diplomatic immunity and tax exemptions to project publicity and various responsibilities of parties involved.

Final Design Report

Contains specifications for what specifically needs to be done, where it needs to be accomplished in and around the airport, and also lists prior soil test results. This large document also contains site photos.

Dig-Haul Bid Form

A fill-in-the-blanks form for contractors wishing to put together bids to carry out the project. Lists categories of project requirements (i.e.: Site Preparation, Site Restoration, Contaminated Soils and Sediments, etc.)

Dig-Haul Bid Specifications

A detailed description of what needs to be removed, how it will be treated, stored, and returned, and task documentation requirements.

Dig-Haul Design Package & Drawing

Dioxin Data

Breakdown of the specific chemical composition of dioxin and other contaminants found in Da Nang.

Health and Safety Plan

Contains everything from the official philosophy behind safety precautions to the specifics of safety equipment usage and training.

Memorandum of Intent between USAID and the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam.

The formal agreement that the two parties signed in Hanoi on Dec. 30, 2010.

Final Site-Wide Sampling and Analysis Plan

Additional details on contaminated-soil sampling, packaging, and shipment criteria.

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 [email protected]) 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 [email protected] and [email protected]). 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.”

USAID Reaches Out to Contractors for Agent Orange Cleanup in Vietnam

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday began reaching out to potential vendors to carry out its planned cleanup of ground contamination in Vietnam, according a contracting document that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has located.  The environmental damage stemming from dioxin, which  continues to linger long after the U.S. military’s departure from Vietnam in 1975, will cost millions of dollars over the next four years, the document says.

The proposed cleanup project at Da Nang Airport—the former base of operations for numerous units of the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnamese conflict—will focus on the removal and remediation of dioxin-tainted soil, a presolicitation notice dated April 1 says (Solicitation Number: 486-11-028).

“The airport in Da Nang, Vietnam has been referred to as a dioxin ‘hotspot’ due to high dioxin concentrations remaining decades after large volumes of Agent Orange and other defoliants were handled at this site,” the document says. “…The Government of Vietnam (GVN) has requested assistance from the United States Government to remediate dioxin-contaminated soil and sediment at the Da Nang Airport.”

USAID in 2008 launched an environmental initiative in that nation, and the agency the following year conducted a comprehensive assessment necessary steps to carry out the cleanup. USAID anticipates that the remediation phase will begin in December and will continue until at least October 2015, not including a follow-up six-month contract-closeout activity period.

The prime contractor selected for the project, which has an estimated $10 million value, must be a U.S. vendor, though private Vietnamese companies are eligible as subcontractors. While the presolicitation notice offers a general summary of the plan, USAID will release a more detailed Request for Proposals around April 20, the document said.