Description
The U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong and Macau’s Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S.Department of State announces an open competition for one cooperative agreement to carry out the U.S. Consulate’s 2025 Education Summer Scholarship Program in Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR, China. PAS Hong Kong and Macau invites U.S., Macau, and Hong Kong organizations skilled in facilitating and managing academic exchange programs to strengthen cultural ties between the United States and Hong Kong and Macau to submit proposals for a Cooperative Agreement to implement administrative and logistical aspects of this program. All proposals must address the following elements: 1) Administration: Carrying out all administrative, logistical, and reporting responsibilities, as established by the assistance award, and following all relevant federal guidelines and circulars. Planning, organizing, and administering the program to include: a. Enroll students in the participating U.S. universities. b. Collect passports, forms, and other materials for visa processing. c. Work with students to sign all necessary documents, including waivers, consent forms, bank account statements, school documents, etc. d. Organize pre-departure orientation(s) for the group, to be held at the Consulate, with light refreshments. e. Organize debriefing upon the group’s return to Hong Kong and Macau, to be held at the Consulate, with light refreshments. f. Liaise with parents and teachers regarding the students’ participation in this program. g. Determining any reasonable accommodation requirements of the students and relaying that to the Consulate for procuring appropriate services, if needed. h. Other required administrative and logistical tasks. 2) Travel support for students in Hong Kong and Macau: a. Abiding by the Fly America Act, work with the U.S. university/ies to purchase roundtrip air tickets for travel between Hong Kong and the U.S. university location. b. Organize local travel for students in Hong Kong, and between Hong Kong and Macau (for Macau participants) for orientation, visa appointments, and debriefing. 3) Management/disbursement/payment of expenses. These expenses must be included in the proposal: a. Phone cards. a. Round-trip air tickets (mentioned above). b. Local travel, visa fees and miscellaneous expenses. c. Tuition costs for each participant (based on $5,500 per person). Awardee must maintain accounting control over the funds provided by this award with proper documentation, including invoices, receipts, etc. that adequately substantiates all payments charged to this award. 4) Creating and distributing pre- and post-program surveys in order to assess the impact of the program. 5) Awardee organization will work closely with the Education Advisor at the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong and Macau on the project. Along with the Grants Officer, the Education Specialist exercises final authority to approve the project design, pace, itinerary, and budget expenditures within the parameters of current guidelines.