USAID/Egypt, Directorate of Procurement (D/PROC), 6th Floor, Unit 64902, APO AE 09839-4902. An action for the USAID program.

R -- INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING AND POLICY REFORM FOR THE ALEXANDRIA GENERAL ORGANIZATION FOR SANITARY DRAINAGE (AGOSD) SOL RFP NO. 263-97-P-023 POC Contact Point: Mr. William Reynolds, Contracting Officer, USAID/Egypt, Tel: 011-20-2-357-3257/58, Fax: 011-20-2-356-2932. The U.S. Agency for International Development Mission to Egypt is soliciting proposals from U.S. (USAID Geographic Code 000 only) firms/joint ventures for a contract to provide Technical Assistance under the Institutional Strengthening and Policy Reform Program for the Alexandria General Organization for Sanitary Drainage (AGOSD), located in Alexandria, Egypt. AGOSD is currently operating two primary wastewater treatment plants with a capacity of 585 MLD, a mechanical sludge dewatering and disposal facility as well as pump stations and collection systems. The successful contractor will work closely with AGOSD under the Alexandria Wastewater System Expansion II, Project No. 263-0241, to achieve the following objectives: a) Assist AGOSD to establish a process to become a self-sustaining, independent utility, b) strengthen AGOSD's management, financial, organizational, personnel and procurement practices. The two principal components of the required technical assistance are AGOSD internal institutional strengthening and national sector policy reform. Both of these components are key to ensuring sustainability of AGOSD as a modern operated utility. The successful offeror will be awarded a USAID direct cost-plus fixed- fee type contract to perform the duties of assisting AGOSD in developing and implementing procedures, regulation, training, a business plan, and other institutional strengthening tasks as required by AGOSD and USAID. The contractor shall assist/advise/guide AGOSD in achieving specific policy actions and organizational and institutional strengthening. The contractor shall provide an adequate number of professionals with appropriate disciplines and skills to work with AGOSD to plan and implement reform actions. The contractor team must consist of experienced personnel in areas such as accounting, finance, systems management, regulatory boards, legal, utility management, utility economics, manpower development, and other areas as required. The duration of the contract is estimated at 48 months. Funds for this procurement are not currently available, however, they are anticipated to be available shortly. Issuance of this request does not constitute an award commitment on the part of USAID, nor does it commit USAID to pay for costs incurred in the preparation or submission of any information. It is anticipated that the successful offeror will sign a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide technical services to AGOSD subject to availability of funds. It is a requirement that the firms must comply with AID geographic code 000 (USA) for nationality and source regulations. If a joint venture seeks proposing, information must be submitted for all firms in joint venture. Interested offerors must request a copy of the Request For Proposals (RFP No. 263-97-P-023) in writing from Mr. William Reynolds, Contracting Officer, Directorate of Procurement, United States Agency for International Development, USAID/Egypt, Cairo Center Building, Sixth Floor, 106 Kasr El Aini Street, Cairo, Egypt. Address for U.S. mail: Directorate of Procurement, Unit 64902, APO AE 09839-4902. Telefaxed requests to 011-20-2-3562932 will be accepted. Telephone requests will not be considered. The RFP is expected to be released during February, 1997. Offerors will be given 60 days from the date of issuance of the RFP to prepare and submit their proposals. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) encourages the participation to the maximum extent possible of small business concerns, small disadvantaged business concerns and women-owned small business concerns in this activity as prime contractors or subcontractors in accordance with Part 19 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. In this respect, it is anticipated that the prime contractor will make every reasonable effort to identify and make maximum practicable use of such concerns. All other evaluation criteria being found equal, the participation of such concerns may become a determining factor for selection. "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. The RFP text can be downloaded via Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The FTP address is FTP.INFO.USAID.GOV. Logon on 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/26397P023/26397p023.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 the INTERNET in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes." (0021)

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