R -- Trade Capacity Building Bridge Sole Source Contract

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) intends to contract by other than full and open competition with Nathan-MSI Group in the amount of $480,000 for the acquisition of services to support USAID Trade Capacity Building (TCB) activities. The period of performance for this contract will extend from October 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007. This is not a solicitation, but a notification of our intent to contract. The purpose of this requirement is to assist the USAID Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade with developing performance measurements for project evaluations covering various TCB disciplines; piloting and revising the Nathan-MSI Group developed transport logistics analysis software; designing and developing an investment training curriculum based on the Nathan-MSI Group FDI report; and assessing Doing Business indicators to determine tariff equivalents for trade-related indicators This sole source action is being taken pursuant to USAID Regulation, AIDAR 706.302-70, which provides for an exception to full and open competition when it would impair or otherwise have an adverse effect on programs conducted for the purpose of foreign aid, relief and rehabilitation. Pursuant to AIDAR 706.302-70(b)(5), this authority may be used for: an award for the continued provision of highly specialized services when award to another resource would result in substantial additional costs to the government or would result in unacceptable delays. Please submit comments to E. Darlene Bullock, [email protected], by NLT 10:00 a.m. EDT, August 15, 2006.