Dear Prospective Offerors:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Southern Syria Assistance Platform (SSAP) intends to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) on or about June 18, 2019, for the USAID/SSAP Accountability and Research Team (ART) Activity.

ART is anticipated to be a five-year Cost-Reimbursement Plus Fixed-Fee Completion-Type Contract with a three-year base period and two one-year option periods. This activity is a U.S. Small Business set-aside. This procurement will be conducted under full and open competition procedures, pursuant to Part 15 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

ART is intended to provide fast, flexible, demand-driven third party monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), as well as high quality research & analysis (R&A), data visualization and mapping services for USAID's Middle East Bureau (MEB) programs implemented in Syria. The procurement is not applicable to programs administered by the MEB in countries other than Syria, or programs supported by other USAID Bureaus or independent offices.

Specific deliverables and tasks under this activity will include providing direct professional support services to USAID for designing and conducting evaluations, monitoring performance of MEB activities in Syria, and applying learning and adaptive management. The activity will also tailor and implement specific actions to strengthen the capacity of USAID and implementing partners' (IPs') staff, as well as that of local stakeholders in the areas of MEL.

The proposed activity will include rendering the services under the following five components, as may be directed and instructed by USAID:

Component 1: Syria Program Support Services1. Support the development and annual review of performance monitoring plan(s) (PMPs), indicators, targets, evaluation questions, and other tasks. 2. Support the development of a system for collecting, analyzing and reporting activity-level data from multiple IPs.Component 2: Third Party Monitoring of USAID MEB Activities1. Establish a third party monitoring system capable of regularly and accurately gathering verifiable primary data on MEB projects in Syria. 2. Provide MEB with timely, independent, and impartial primary data on the location, progress, outputs, outcomes, quality, timeliness, challenges, and successes of USAID programming in Syria, allowing USAID to quickly understand the status of its programs. Component 3: Research and Analysis1. Provide high-quality analysis and research services to the MEB and its Syria programs.2. Produce geographic analysis and data visualizations in the form of maps, graphics/interactive media, and other geospatial analytic products.Component 4: Evaluations1. Conduct evaluations of MEB Syria programs to determine their development effects.2. Support planning and implementation for utilization of evaluation recommendations.Component 5: Strengthening the Capacity of USAID and IPs 1. Train and/or advise the MEB, IPs' staff and local partners on M&E topics.

The program will initially implement in northeast Syria and must be able to cover the whole of Syria, including the ability to conduct work in newly liberated areas, as the legal and policy parameters permit.

Please continue to monitor www.fbo.gov for the release of the solicitation. All necessary information will be supplied at the time the RFP is posted on www.fbo.gov. The RFP, once issued, will have a closing date of one month thereafter.

Except for the information provided herein, no additional information regarding this planned RFP is available at this time. 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, and committed, and until internal USAID procedures have been completed.