USAID awards contracts for 750 million for the development of Palestinian infrastructure

From US trade and Aid monitor

The first round of Palestinian infrastructure contracts worth upwards of $750 million was awarded this week by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Infrastructure Needs Project Phase II (Solicitation #RFP294-2010-108), as the USAID endeavor is known, will help the Palestinians build or improve public works initially in the West Bank and, "if conditions permit, in Gaza" at a later time.

Task orders could be awarded under this indefinite quantity contract (IQC) for initiatives including:

• Transportation networks such as primary and secondary roads, bridges and/or other transportation infrastructure;

• Water systems including the supply, storage, treatment, transmission and/or distribution of water;

• Sanitation infrastructure including solid waste management and disposal, wastewater treatment and reuse, pollution control, and/or ecological sanitation;

• Vertical infrastructure including schools, clinics, health facilities, public buildings, government buildings and facilities, sports facilities, warehouses, food storage facilities, youth and sports centers, and/or other vertical infrastructure designed to benefit the public interest;

• Electrical Power sector infrastructure to include alternative, sustainable and/or traditional forms of power generation (such as wind turbines, photovoltaic, solar thermal, geothermal, and/or fossil-fuel-fired thermal power plants), and/or electricity transmission and distribution systems in the West Bank;

• Other critical infrastructure that USAID may decide to support subject to USAID development objectives and/or the availability of funds;

• Operations and Management of Water Facilities;

• Design/Build contracts are anticipated under this solicitation;

• Procurement, transport, shipment, storage of equipment and materials;

• Drilling and Equipping of Deep Water Production and Monitoring Wells and Facilities

• Construction and Rehabilitation of Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution systems.