Albanian Justice Sector Strengthening Project (AJSSP)

May 13, 2010 The United States Agency for International Development, Regional Services Center (RSC), Budapest, intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) on behalf of its client Mission, USAID Albania, in anticipation of the procurement of a cost plus fixed fee completion contract that will implement a five year project entitled the Albanian Justice Sector Strengthening Project (AJSSP). Transparency, fairness and functionality of the judicial process, training and discipline of attorneys, and corruption in the administrative and justice sectors are serious continuing shortcomings in the Albanian justice system. The AJSSP will address these challenges by focusing on three areas: a) court efficiency, fairness, and transparency; b) strengthened civil society watchdog role, and c) better legal education and capabilities for lawyers and graduating law school students. To improve court transparency and fairness the project will work directly with the courts to increase the utilization of court rooms so that fewer cases are heard in judges' chambers where the public cannot attend. Cases that are heard in the court rooms will be recorded verbatim through the use of audio recording. This initiative is strongly supported by both the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the High Council of Justice (HCJ). This will directly affect judges' behaviors and their decision making by putting a barrier to corruption-motivated decisions. The project will also introduce mediation as a technique for reducing case backlogs in commercial and family law cases. To improve lawyers' professionalism and their behaviors in the court the project will strengthen the role of the National Bar Association and provide continuous legal education to lawyers. Legal education will also become more practice oriented for law school students through the establishment of the legal clinic so they will be better qualified when they enter the legal profession. Civil society and media, being in the forefront of the anticorruption, will receive special attention. Some local NGOs will receive technical assistance to strengthen their organizational capacities and become more capable in advocating on their members' behalf, others will receive grants to implement novel and measurable programs that result in decreased levels of corruption. Technical assistance and training will be provided to journalists to develop and improve their investigation skills and to create independent avenues for publishing articles, expressing their opinion and sharing information. This will be a full and open competition and the procedures set forth in FAR Part 15 shall apply. Interested firms can register and use the Interested Vendor List (IVL) on the FedBizOpps page: http://www2.fbo.gov/EPSVendorsManual/VG6-Interest.html, so that firms can contact one another for consideration of teaming arrangements and/or small business subcontracting opportunities in response to this solicitation. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541990. The small business size standard is $7 million. In accordance with FAR 5.102(d) availability of the solicitation is limited to this electronic medium only. The solicitation will be posted herewith at FEDBIZOPPS web page (www.fedbizopps.gov) on or about May 25, 2010, or not less than fifteen (15) days after this notice is issued. Please do not contact USAID/Albania. All communications must be through this office. Questions must be directed to Ms. Agnes Cserhati and Ms. Martha L. Aponte, U.S. Agency for International Development, email: maponte@usaid.gov; acserhati@usaid.gov and htakla@usaid.gov. We anticipate making one direct award for the implementation of this project. The release of this notice in no way obligates USAID or the US Government to release an RFP or make an award of any type.