AIDS Support and Technical Assistance Resources (AIDSTAR) Program Introduction: The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) The President's Emergency Plan works in over 120 countries around the world, with a special emphasis on 15 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. In the 15 focus countries, which are home to approximately half of HIV infections worldwide, the President's Emergency Plan aims to support treatment for at least two million people living with HIV/AIDS, prevent seven million new infections, and support care for 10 million people infected with and affected by HIV, including orphans. To ensure accountability and results for the President's Emergency Plan, in 2003 the President created the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator at the Department of State, responsible for overseeing all USG international HIV/AIDS assistance and for coordinating the efforts of the various agencies and departments. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. USAID is a major implementing partner in the President's Emergency Plan and currently supports HIV/AIDS programs in the 15 Emergency Plan focus countries and approximately 100 other countries worldwide. The award described below will be accessible to all of these countries. The Award Under the Emergency Plan, USAID intends to competitively award several Indefinite Quantity Contracts (IQC) for the AIDS Support and Technical Assistance Resources (AIDSTAR) Program. These contracts are intended to provide state-of-the-art technical assistance and implementation support for the expansion of high-quality HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment services, and to build in-country technical and management capacity to sustain these services. The goal is to decrease HIV transmission, morbidity and mortality in program areas and to improve the quality of life for affected populations. The awards will contribute to the President's Emergency Plan in mitigating the impact of AIDS on individuals, families and communities in both Emergency Plan focus and other countries. The U.S. Government seeks to make a total of up to fourteen (14) awards under the AIDSTAR IQC in two separate sectors: Sector (1) Prevention, Care and Treatment (up to eight awards); and Sector (2) Institutional Capacity Building (up to six awards.) - Awards under Sector 1 will provide technical expertise and implementation support for the expansion of HIV/AIDS services across the continuum of prevention, care, and treatment. Through new and existing partnerships, it will also support and strengthen the technical capacity of a broad range of in-country partner institutions to deliver high-quality, effective interventions. Partnering with indigenous institutions is a key element of sector 1. - Awards under Sector 2 will support broader institutional development for long-term sustainability of in-country partners, for example, strengthening management and financial accountability systems of local organizations and government agencies. Each sector will include up to two (2) set-asides for small, minority-owned and/or women-owned businesses. Non-profits, for-profits, universities, private voluntary agencies and faith-based organizations (FBOs) with expertise in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment, and any combination of the above, are invited to submit proposals for Sector 1. For Sector 2, USAID is especially interested in organizational management and accounting firms and other non-profit and for-profit organizations with prior experience strengthening the management capacity of public and private institutions in the developing world. USAID encourages new and non-traditional partners that can add value to the U.S. Government's HIV/AIDS assistance to participate either as primes or as partners within consortia, especially institutions in developing countries/regions and organizations that represent People Living With AIDS (PLWA). Given the broad scope of the program and array of skills needed to carry out the scope of work, USAID will consider consortia of organizations, where these consortia demonstrate clear complementarities of expertise and division of responsibility to effectively implement the range of proposed activities in the field and strengthen capacity. Such consortia will be expected to propose management arrangements that effectively integrate the contributions and strengths of different partners. Organizations that provide an - umbrella structure to coordinate and support technical assistance provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), FBOs and other partners, including those in the developing world, are invited to submit proposals. USAID hopes to attract offerors that demonstrate commitment to local ownership, capacity strengthening and sustainability, as well as technical excellence in HIV/AIDS programming. USAID seeks partners that are cost-effective, offer best value, and keep management and overhead costs low. Technical Summary The scope of the AIDSTAR program is broad. It will encompass prevention interventions in countries with generalized epidemics as well as those with epidemics largely concentrated among high-risk groups. It will support expansion of the entire continuum of care and support interventions, including clinical, home-based, psycho-social and orphan care. It will also support the delivery and expansion of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to slow the progression of disease in PLWA, using the - network model of referral linkages between different levels and types of health services and facilities. The program will give special emphasis to linkages, referral networks and integration across these different HIV/AIDS services, in order to support a comprehensive approach and take advantage of the synergies between prevention, treatment, and care. Where there is a need, the program will also support program-related data collection and analysis, including operational research, behavioral surveys, situation analyses and formative research to provide the evidence base to guide the design and implementation of HIV services. Institutional capacity building of indigenous organizations is a key strategy for achieving the prevention, care and treatment goals of the Emergency Plan and for ensuring long-term sustainability of Emergency Plan-assisted programs. A major thrust of the AIDSTAR program will be to devolve skills and leadership to developing country institutions. It will support local partners in scaling-up state-of-the-art, best-practice interventions, and in building the management and financial systems to support these efforts. AIDSTAR will build the capacity of local partners and health networks across the public and private sectors, working with national and local governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as private businesses. When requested, it will also make technical and/or capacity building support available to the Country Coordination Mechanisms (CCMs) and Principal Recipients (PRs) of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). The emphasis will be on supporting affected countries in mounting comprehensive, effective and sustainable responses to the epidemic. The program will support innovative modes of partnering to transfer expertise to developing country institutions, facilitate programs at the local level, expand the network of in-country partners and strengthen the HIV services they provide. Performance will be measured in part by quantifiable capacity building and sustainability indicators. The AIDSTAR program is expected to play varying roles in different countries. Where U.S. field Missions have limited staff and HIV budgets, it may serve as a mechanism to assist those Missions broadly in implementing their HIV/AIDS assistance programs. In countries where U.S. Missions have more staff and resources, and have already identified implementing partners, AIDSTAR may serve primarily as a mechanism to access specialized technical or institutional strengthening expertise. AIDSTAR will also help to advance excellence in HIV/AIDS programming by supporting technical leadership and knowledge management functions, for example, sharing lessons learned, best practices, innovations and state-of-the-art across countries. AIDSTAR is subject to the eligibility limitations on the use of funds and opposition to prostitution and sex trafficking identified in Section 301 (d), (e) and (f) of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003 (www.usaid.gov.business.cib.pdf.aapd05-04.) Additionally, the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator will shortly be issuing guidelines on planning for sustainability for indigenous organizations. The preferred method of distributing information pertinent to this procurement will be through Federal Business Opportunities (www.fbo.gov.) All correspondence regarding this notice must be submitted in writing to Mr. Eduardo Elia, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20523, or by e-mail at eelia@usaid.gov. Place of Performance: Worldwide 10/07/05
