USAID/Philippines APO San Francisco 96440, or USAID/Philippines, 1680 Roxas Boulevard, Manila, Philippines 1000

R -- TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MICROFINANCE POLICY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM COMPONENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM SUPPORT (PAPS) SOL USAID/Philippines, RFP No. 492-96-01 DUE 022896 Contact Person, Thea R. Pura, Acquisition Specialist (Neil C.Edin is the Contracting Officer) USAID/Philippines Tel No. (0632) 522-4411 (Ext. 3403) Fax No. (0632) 522-4337. USAID/Philippines is solicitating proposals from qualified firms/institutions, or groups of firms/institutions to assist the Philippine government in implementing the activities under the Microfinance Policy Improvement Program Component of the Philippines Assistance Program Support (PAPS) Project. While the situation with respect to the financial sector in the Philippines has improved markedly over the past several years, thus far the benefits from this improvement have not ''trickled down'' to any substantial extent to the poorer people of the country. For the most part, microenterprenuers and small producers still do not have access to the financial services (deposit services or credit services) offered by the formal financial sector to the better off people of the country. The government of the Philippines has attempted, for decades, to change this situation. For the most part, its efforts have involved establishing and financing various programs aimed at providing credit to various groups for various purposes. At this point, the best estimate is that different Philippine Government Agencies are financing and/or implementing some 111 different credit programs, and more that 20 loan guarantee programs. The different programs are being administered in widely divergent fashion, with different interest rate policies, and different approaches. In an attempt, initially, to bring some order and rationality to the various goverment sponsored programs, and, ultimately, to increase the availability of microfinance services to poores people, the GOP established the National Credit Council (NCC) in late 1993. For a number of organizational and political reasons, the NCC has not yet been effective in carrying out its mandates. Recently, however, the government has moved to correct the underlying problems, and it now appears that good prospects exist foraddressing some of the factors that have been inhibiting both the more effective functioning of the government programs and, more importantly, the availability of microfinance services in general to poorer people. Under this contract, the consultant will be assisting the NCC to identify and facilitate the adoption of a set of more rational and effective microfinance policies. A two-year contract involving approximately 75 person-months of professional services is anticipated. U.S.A.I.D. encourages the participation to the maximum extent possible of U.S. entities that are small xocially and economically disadvantaged business concerns, including women-owned concerns, Historically Black College and Universities, colleges and universities having a student Hispanic American, and private voluntary organziations which are controlled by individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged in accordance with Part 19 of the FAR and Part 726 of of the AIDAR. Detailed information about this solicitation is contained in the RFP documents which will be available on or about December 15, 1995. To obtain the RFP, send your request to the Office of Regional Procurement, USAID/Philippines, APO AP 96440, or Office of Regional Procurement, USAID/Philippines, RMC Building, 1680 Roxas Boulevard, Manila, Philippines 1000. Our telephone and fax numbers are (632) 522-4411 (ext. 3402) and (632) 522-4337, respectively. The estimated deadline for submission of proposal is February 28, 1996. This CBD notice can be viewed and downloaded using the agency gopher. The RFP, once issued, can be downloaded from the agency gopher. The gopher address is GOPHER.INFO.USAID.GOV. Select USAID procurement and business opportunities from the gopher menu. The RFP text can be downloaded via anonymous file transfer protocol (FTP). The FTP address is FTP.INFO.USAID.GOV. Logon using the user identification of ''anonymous'' and the password is your e-mail address. Look under the following directory for the RFP: pub/OP/RFP/4929601/4929601.rfp. Receipt of this RFP through INTERNET must be confirmed by written notification to the contact person noted above. It is the responsibility of the recipient of this solicitation document to ensure that it has been received from INTERNET in its entirety and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes.(0347)

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