Note that this is a Special Notice, not a Request for Proposal (RFP). The purpose of this Special Notice is to solicit industry comment(s) on the draft Statement of Objectives (SOO) for the implementation of the proposed Agriculture Market Activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The United States Government represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) anticipates issuance of an RFP for technical assistance services to implement the Agriculture Market Activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). A five-year activity will be jointly funded by USAID and the Embassy of Sweden/Sida in BiH. The goal of the activity is to increase trade and exports of BiH's food products with the aim of increasing economic growth and advancing BiH's accession into the European Union (EU). The purpose of the Activity is to 1) create agricultural and agri-business economic opportunities by assisting agricultural producer organizations (POs) in adopting European Union (EU) and international agricultural and food standards and new production techniques, producing new high-value products, and expanding domestic and international market access of producers, and 2) assist BiH government and public agencies to implement regulations related to food and agricultural products that meet EU and international requirements. The activity will have the following two objectives and cross-cutting priorities and resources: Objective One: Strengthened agricultural producer organizations (POs) that have adopted EU and international food standards, production techniques, produce new high value products and have expanded markets. Expected results for Objective One: - Increased jobs of assisted-POs in selected agricultural subsectors; - Increased exports of assisted-POs in selected agricultural subsectors - Increased sales of assisted-POs in selected agricultural subsectors - Assistance provided to POs that represent at least 50% of the sub-sectoral output. Objective Two: Strengthened public sector that fully implements regulations, norms, practices, and rules in the areas of food, veterinary and plant health and safety, accreditation, standardization, and quality certification related to food and agricultural products and meets EU and international best practice requirements. Expected results for Objective Two: - Increased private and public sector capacity for product certification and standardization in line with the EU acquis and market requirements. - Harmonized and implemented legislation related to agriculture and food to meet EU requirements (as measured by progress in the relevant sections of the EU Country Progress Report and legislative and policy progress benchmarks); USAID is seeking comments on the draft Statement of Objectives. To assist in the efficiency of this process, please consider the following in preparation: • Please ensure comments are concise and specific; and • Please ensure submitted comments make specific reference to page and section numbers. Comments are to be sent to the following individuals: Amira Vejzagic Ramhorst, Deputy Director of the Economic Development Office and Sanela Pasanovic, Contract Specialist at
[email protected]. Comments are welcome from the date of release of this Special Notice on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) through COB (Eastern Standard Time), June 4, 2015. Interested parties may submit more than one set of comments, if appropriate. On the subject line of your email, kindly state "Agriculture Market Activity - Requested Comment/s on SOO". USAID does not seek questions at this time, only comments. Questions will be taken once the RFP is released. USAID is not obligated to provide any response to the comments submitted. USAID will issue an RFP around June 19, 2015. Please do not consider this pre-solicitation announcement as an RFP and do not submit your proposals until the formal RFP is released. Award of this activity shall be made subject to the availability of funds. 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, committed, and internal USAID procedures have been completed. This notice satisfies the synopsis requirement in FAR 5.203(a). Thank you for your interest in this USAID initiative.