Poverty Reduction by Increasing the Competitiveness of Enterprises (PRICE)

The Office of Acquisition and Assistance, USAID/Bangladesh intends to modify Contract No. 388-10-A19-B-0062 with Chemonics International Inc., 1717 "H" Street NW, Washington DC 20006, USA. The modification will extend the contract for a period of ten months from February 15, 2013 to December 31, 2013 and increase the total estimated cost by approximately $2,000,000. The purpose of the modification is to expand the PRICE activities within the Feed the Future (FtF) Implementation zone, in southern Bangladesh, under revised targets. The above contract was awarded to Chemonics International Inc. on a full and open competition basis on February 14, 2008 for a total amount of $10, 998,503. The services required include technical assistance and management support to implement services that support Bangladesh's competitive stance for global market competitiveness while contributing to pro-poor econimic growth in the geographic FtF zone, located in Southern Bangladesh. USAID/Bangladesh intends to solicit and negotiate non-competitively with only one source (Chemonics International) under the authority of AIDAR 706.302.70(b)(5). These highly specialized services include effective deployment of wide-scale value chain interventions; development of key relationshisps essential to the effective implementation; well executed monitoring and evaluation system that contributes significant outcomes to the Mission's reporting under the FtF Presidential Initiative; and capability of bridging field-based value chain activities. Chemonics has developed effective models for competitive strategies within the three value chains and have produced significant activity results which have contributed signifiant outcomes to FtF. These value chain models rely on the direct support of key relationshisps such as partnerships with Bangladesh Government counterparts in the Ministry of Commerse, the Ministry of Fisheries and livestock, a large number of local private and NGO partners, and cross-cutting support with other development projects. Specifically Chemonics has obtained the Bangladesh Minister of Commerce integration of the PRICE acivity into govenrment's annual development plan and targets. These partnerships are essential and may not be transferrable to a new contractor.