USAID/RCSA Gabrone, Botswana; Department of State; Washington, DC 20521-2170

R -- REGIONAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITY SOL 690-96-002 DUE 070896 POC Jay M. Bergman; Regional Contracting Officer; USAID/RCSA, Department of State; Washington, DC 20521-2170; Telephone: 011-267-324449; Fax: 011-267-324486; E-Mail: jbergman@usaid.gov. The United States Agency for International Development/Regional Center for Southern Africa (USAID/RCSA) in Gaborone, Botswana plans to issue RFP No. 690-96-002 for implementation of the Regional Technical Assistance Activity (RTAA) o/a 15 days following the publication date of this synopsis. The closing date for receipt of proposals is anticipated to be 45 days after the issuance date of the RFP. To alleviate the difficulties experienced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in acquiring the capital they need to start or expand their businesses, USAID has developed the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund (SAEDF) which will provide $100 million of capital to SMEs. The SAEDF is both a commercial venture to be operated along market lines and a powerful capital instrument for private sector development, specifically amongst historically disadvantaged Southern Africans. However, some SMEs within this target group will not possess the capacity to utilize SAEDF services with technical assistance. Therefore, the RTAA has been designed to support and accelerate the SAEDF's efforts to invest in indigenous SMEs by identifying suitable financial intermediaries and strengthening their ability to service SME investors on behalf of the SAEDF and providing specialized support to innovative entrepreneurial projects for SAEDF investment. Over a four-year period, the RTAA contractor will develop and provide packages of technical assistance on an as-needed basis to approximately 24 selected financial intermediaries, each of which is expected to invest an average of $250,000 in approximately 100 SMEs. In addition, the RTAA will target approximately 24 special project clients of the SAEDF, each utilizing an average of $200,000 in SAEDF investment funds and benefitting an average of 50 participants in the Southern African region. A performance-based, cost-plus-award-fee (CPAF) contract is anticipated, with technical proposal evaluation criteria emphasizing the approach(es) proposed by the offeror to achieve the desired results. The contractor will be expected to mobilize expertise in each of the Southern African countries in which they work. In addition, all other evaluation factors being equal, the utilization of U.S. small, small disadvantaged, small women-owned, and other disadvantaged enterprises may become a determining factor in contractor selection. The preferred method of distribution for USAID procurement information is via the Internet or by request of a solicitation on a 3.5'' floppy disk (WordPerfect 5.1/5.2 format). This CBD notice can be viewed and downloaded using the Agency Gopher. The RFP, once issued, can be downloaded from the Agency Gopher. The Gopher address is GOPHER.INFO.USAID.GOV. Select USAID PROCUREMENT AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES from the Gopher menu. From there, choose the heading USAID PROCUREMENTS and then DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE USAID SOLICITATIONS. The RFP can also be downloaded via Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The FTP address is FTP.INFO.USAID.GOV. Logon using the user identification of ''anonymous'' and the password is your e-mail address. Look under the following directory for the RFP: pub/OP/RFP/6909602/690602.rfp. Receipt of this RFP through INTERNET must be confirmed by written notification to the contact person noted above. It is the responsibility of the recipient of this solicitation document to ensure that it has been received from INTERNET in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. (0131)

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