Doing Business With the United States Agency for International Development

1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW<br>Washington, DC 20523<br>(202) 712-0000

1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NWWashington, DC 20523(202) 712-0000 Nov. 3, 1961 Andrew Natsios About 6,910, serving as civil servants and foreign service officers and nationals USAID, as it's commonly known, is an independent federal agency. It provides economic and humanitarian help to nations throughout the world in support of U.S. foreign policy. Among its efforts, the agency recently awarded $10 million to the World Heath Organization to strengthen the health system in Iraq, and announced an initiative to rebuild the educational infrastructure in Afghanistan for $60 million. About 85 offices worldwide. A list may be found at . Major organization units are called bureaus; USAID has four geographic bureaus (Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Eurasia), three functional bureaus and three headquarters bureaus.Doing business with USAID is all there at . I found it easily on the homepage under the heading "how." Why can't it be this easy to find this information on all Web sites? Besides being right there for you, the Web site thoroughly explains important info on procurements, procedures for small business, preparing proposals and the like. XXXSPLITXXX- Deputy chief information officer for operations, and agency information systems security officer "Deputy CIO for Operations is a newly created position, with many duties similar to those I have performed as director of information resources management since July 1997. For the past year and a half, I've been the information systems security officer." Seward, Neb. Northern Virginia Wife Debbie, three sons A "rowing dad," has spent the last few weekends in Philadelphia attending regattas. Also enjoys cooking and landscaping. "Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War" by Robert Coram Reading now: "The One to One Field Book: The Complete Toolkit for Implementing a One to One Marketing Program" by Don Peppers, Martha and Bob Dorf Master's degree in public affairs, Maxwell School of Syracuse University; Bachelor of arts degree, St. Olaf CollegeStreufert: There has been some limited support for administrative applications and telecommunications. Streufert: The quality and reliability of electrical power as well as host-country-managed telecommunications is a problem in most of the developing countries we operate in. Not all Web applications that function in the United States will work at our overseas missions, because of circuit interruptions and latency in satellite communications. [Also,] much of USAID's work in developing countries is done by private voluntary and nongovernmental organizations, which calls for the best telecommunications and Internet support we can get.Streufert: Financial and acquisition systems experience is a top priority for applications initiatives. Firms with key officials that have program management certification, and experience in bidding companies to automate operational processes, such as software distribution.Streufert: Broad-scale collaboration with the State Department on financial and acquisition systems; further integration of networks with the State Department; implementing electronic vouchering; expanding automated software distribution; wider implementation of [the Office of Management and Budget's] e-Authentication initiative.

Contracts to watch

Principal Resource for Information Management Enterprisewide

RFP: October

Value: $350 million

Purpose: Known as its PRIME contract, USAID uses the contract to manage, modernize and maintain its information technology program. The contract will consolidate operations and implement a comprehensive approach to the acquisition, integration, life-cycle management and operation of the agency's IT resources. Computer Sciences Corp. is the incumbent contractor.

Institutional Support Services for the Food for Peace Program

RFP: December 2005

Value: $10 million

Purpose: The contractor will provide administrative, technical and program support in the planning, management, monitoring and evaluation of certain development and emergency programs and institutional support assistance programs.

Quality Assurance and Related Workforce Development

RFP: September 2006

Value: $48 million

Purpose: The contractor will provide technical services in international health care quality assurance. This project is a global leader in the advocacy, development, and promotion of cost-effective methods to strengthen health care services and systems in developing and middle-income countries. The current contractor is University Research Corp.

Source: Input Inc

Number crunching

2004 budget request: $8.7 billion

2003 budget: $4.4 billion

Of the funds requested in the fiscal 2004 budget, USAID will manage and program about $5.1 billion; it will manage $3.6 billion that will be programmed along with the State Department. Basic education (primary and secondary education are at $212 million, 28 percent more than in fiscal 2003) and sustainable agriculture (at $269 million, about $8 million over fiscal 2003) are slated for substantial funding increases. A summary of details of the 2004 budget request is at www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2003/fs030203.html.

Things to note

USAID works with more than 3,500 companies and more than 300 private volunteer organizations in the United States. Information on these organizations and resources can be found at www.usaid.gov/hum_response/pvc/pvcpubs.html.







www.usaid.gov

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Major subagencies:www.usaid.gov/procurement_bus_opp/osdbu/guide10a.htm

The Web site

www.usaid.gov/procurement_bus_opp

John Streufert

USAID

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WT: USAID has a lot on its plate with Iraq. What has this called for from the technology arm of the agency?



WT: Are your technology needs different from the typical tech needs of an agency?



WT: What do you look for in companies with which you are thinking of doing business?



WT: A year from now, where do you see USAID's technology capabilities?

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