Description
The U.S. Mission in Afghanistan has established a strategy and performance monitoring plan for all U.S. government activities to ensure that results are being achieved. Development Objective 1 is a "Foundation Created for Sustainable, Agricultural-led Economic Growth". A key Intermediate Result for achieving this Development Objective is a "Vibrant and Prosperous Agriculture Sector Developed". The Regional Agricultural Development Program (RADP) is working towards this intermediate result. The goal of the RADP is to "Improve food and economic security for rural Afghans in targeted areas by improving the productivity and profitability of targeted value chains". RADP supports the consolidation of licit economies to fuel economic growth, including providing alternatives to poppy cultivation. RADP-E is expected be the fourth of five contracts to be awarded under the RADP. The focus will be on improving the productivity and profitability of targeted value chains to be selected from within the fruits, nuts, cereals, livestock, and vegetable sectors. RADP-E will utilize interventions that facilitate improvements in how markets function without taking over functions within the market. RADP-E is expected to be a performance-based, five-year contract, commencing in approximately December 2014, with a total estimated cost of $48,000,000 - $58,000,000. The activity will focus on Nangarhar, Logar, Laghman, Kapisa, Parwan, Wardak, Ghazni, and Kabul provinces. The eight provinces selected for RADP-E are part of the Eastern Regional Economic Zone. The contractor will be expected to provide wide-ranging consultant services to identify end-market opportunities and link value chain actors to identified opportunities, strengthen vertical and horizontal linkages and relationships in selected value chains, and strengthen input supply and other supporting services and improve farmer access to these interconnected markets. Objective and illustrative list of deliverables: • Develop inclusive, self-sustaining agricultural markets which increase incomes for Afghan farmers a) Provision of market analysis for selected value chains, including an end market analysis b) Production of causal models and theory of change for each selected value chain c) Completion of a baseline survey for each selected value chain d) Production of strategic frameworks for each value chain, including interventions, targets, and exit strategy e) Implementation of interventions within strategic frameworks f) Development of a performance monitoring plan including systematic change indicators g) Development of a knowledge capture system for tacit and explicit knowledge h) Development of quantitative and qualitative data collection tools Illustrative example of potential contractor services: The USAID-funded Zambia Production, Finance and Improved Technologies (PROFIT) program increased incomes for 143,000 farmers of maize, beans, and groundnut by 273%. Instead of working directly with farmers, the project identified market participants, commercial input suppliers, which viewed farmers as potential customers and therefore saw a win-win relationship with farmers. Input suppliers saw that if farmers' yields and profits increased then their need for additional products would increase. Even with this potential, input suppliers faced inherent risks of trying to provide services in a dispersed network of smallholder farmers. The program used "smart subsidies" to work with the commercial input suppliers to create a cadre of for-profit input supply agents operating in villages and towns. The commercial input suppliers provided product training to the agents along with a supply of inputs and the agents provided feedback from the farmers to the commercial input suppliers. The PROFIT project did not become part of the market by delivering services directly but instead worked with input suppliers and agents to understand their risks and incentives to create an agent network that would last beyond the life of the project. ****** Issuance of this notice does not obligate USAID to release a solicitation or award a contract nor does it commit the Government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal. In addition, final award cannot be made until funds have been fully appropriated, allocated, and committed and internal USAID procedures have been completed. This notice satisfies the synopsis requirement in FAR 5.201. All information required for the submission of an offer will be contained in the electronic RFP package, which will be posted at www.fedbizopps.gov, no less than 15 days after this notice. Interested parties are advised to periodically monitor the above website for updates concerning this procurement. Telephonic requests or inquiries will not be taken.