The United States Agency for International Development Mission to Iraq intends to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit proposals from qualified organizations interested in implementing the National and Provincial Administrative Reform Project (hereinafter referred to as “Tarabot”).

USAID’s strategic objective for this program is to support a whole-of-government approach for governance and resource management. Underpinning such a whole-of-government approach is an assumption that long-term stability and state building can only be achieved through governance and institutional capacity development-assistance.

Specifically, the purpose of Tarabot is to support the Government of Iraq (GOI) in achieving its strategic goal of improving the functions of the GOI’s public institutions in order to improve service delivery processes through better governance and resource management approaches. The Tarabot project will have a national scope targeting federal, provincial and sub-provincial entities. The program will fulfill its strategic objective and sub-objectives through legal and institutional reforms that:

• Establish and modernize civil service regulatory institutions, structures, systems and processes.
• Assist both central, provincial and local government institutions eliminate gaps and build linkages between civil servants and policy makers in executive and legislative branches of government;
• Promote horizontal linkages (across ministries at the central level, and between provincial ministry departments and the provincial government) and vertical linkages (central to provincial) among civil servants at all levels of service delivery; and,
• Push decision-making down to the lowest levels of service delivery and empower district and sub-district civil servants to better serve their customers.

To meet this development objective, USAID will provide technical assistance for:

(1) The implementation of civil service reforms, through legislative and institutional building reforms. This includes assistance to draft civil service legislation and implementing regulations and assistance to establish civil service commissions and related institutions.
(2) Strengthening national policy management structures, through engagement of the various GOI policy units. This component will also include help to catalogue current laws, decrees and regulations and determine their effectiveness, as well as establish appropriate structures for monitoring and evaluating the National Development Plan (NDP), and
(3) The implementation of administrative decentralization reforms, through assistance to ministries to draft administrative orders to accommodate devolved ministries’ directorates. This includes providing civil servants with the necessary structures, administrative systems, skills and other tools necessary to implement administrative decentralization reforms and improve performance in key service sectors.
Tarabot will support practical approaches that can be institutionalized in and sustained by the GOI, and that will have a positive impact on service delivery and can eventually be felt by the Iraqi citizens.

Cost sharing mechanisms with the GOI will be built into the project at a rate of 1:1.  This will be a full and open competition and the procedures set forth in FAR Part 15 shall apply. USAID anticipates awarding a 4-year Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee, completion contract. The solicitation is expected to be available through the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOps) website (http://www.fbo.gov). Any amendments to the solicitation will also be issued on this website.

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.

For companies interested in Joint Ventures or need assistant with this solicitation, please go to the contact tab above and complete the form.