THE PEACOCK REPORT (TPR)

Washington Finally Takes Action on High Gas Prices

Rising fuel prices and truck-based shipping expenses are spelling trouble for U.S. policymakers, who now are exploring ways to strengthen, as an alternative, new highways, commercial railways and ports. Specifically, the federal government is taking action through an endeavor known as... the Sub-Saharan Africa Trade Corridor Transportation Initiative.

Yes, you read correctly. The Washington, D.C.-sponsored Sub-Saharan Africa initiative.

Conflict stemming from elections in Kenya -- and the increased time its takes to transport goods in and out of neighboring countries -- purportedly has caused the governments of nearby Uganda and Rwanda to begin rationing fuel, according to a federal planning document that The Peacock Report has located. Consequently, for [Kenyan, Rwandan, and Ugandan] national security reasons, the U.S. must take action. 

"[T]he cost of shipping to the Port of Mombasa has increased 25% since the political stalemate," according to the original solicitation document. "Costs are expected to continue to rise until the power sharing accord has been reached. The cost implications for Uganda and Rwanda are tremendous and will constrain these fragile economies even more [emphasis added]. Therefore, alternative transport corridors are a necessary investment for the region."

In order to alleviate these fuel shortages while addressing the concomitant impact on the [Sub Saharan African] economy, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently awarded a $94,000 contract to a private firm to assess the situation -- and to report back to USAID on whether U.S. taxpayers should bear the brunt of more significant "investments" into that region.

Interdisciplinary Research Consultants (IdRC), an international consulting firm with offices in Jordan and the U.S., will develop a preliminary plan to help modernize, among other possibilities, the East African Central Corridor. The original plan for the corridor, which links Tanzania and Rwanda, was to facilitate the transport of gold and nickel from inland mining operations to main ports. The corridor still may be expanded to Burundi, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the document says.

US-Funded Kenyan AIDS Project Could Be Cash Cow for Multinational High Tech Firms

Though the U.S. may consider suspending some financial assistance that it sends to Kenya, such a freeze is not slated to affect a large-scale HIV/AIDS initiative that the U.S. plans to embark upon in that embattled African nation, a State Department spokesman said today. Consequently, multinational corporations such as Lockheed Martin, MAERSK Line, Bearing Point, and Chemonics likely are breathing a sigh of relief, as the technology divisions of those companies are seeking a piece of the $500,000,000 "Pharma Project" pie.

Dozens of representatives from these and other government contractors in Nov. 2007 attended a State Dept. conference in Nairobi to discuss potential contracting opportunities related to the endeavor, according to documents that The Peacock Report located through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. However, this half-billion-dollar segment of the Pharma Project "will not entail actually procuring laboratory materials and equipment such as rapid test kits, reagents or machines," a presolicitation document shows. On the contrary, the document notes that funds instead will be used "to establish and operate a safe, secure, reliable, and sustainable supply-chain management system [emphasis added] to forecast, procure, store, and distribute the drugs, supplies, and equipment needed to provide care and treatment of persons with HIV/AIDS in Kenya."

No Book Left Behind

The "timely delivery" of "high quality books" to schools and libraries is the aim of an expanded Bush Administration education program. Will institutions in your neighborhood be the recipient of such benevolence? Check out political humor sister-site Exhortations to the Oblivious to find out.

Legislative Branch to Bolster Oversight of Executive Power

The legislative branch is embarking upon a bold plan that would heighten its oversight of the executive branch, thereby enabling lawmakers to reign in abuses of presidential power, according to federal contracting documents released this week. However, this U.S.-funded endeavor will not target such power grabbing between branches of the U.S. government; on the contrary, the African nation of Tanzania will directly benefit from such efforts, courtesy of the American taxpayer via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The documents, dated July 15 and located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, reveal that the purpose of this project is to:

[D]efine the range of programmatic activities that will comprise an approximately two-year, $310,000/year, program to provide technical support to the National Assembly of Tanzania (Parliament). This support will enable the legislative branch of Tanzania government to provide focused oversight on the actions of the executive branch, and will promote a transparent and accountable system of key public institutions.

This solicitation, which seeks the help of a private contractor to provide related advisory services, is a follow-on to existing USAID anticorruption programs in Tanzania, as previously reported via TPR sister-site Exhortations to the Oblivious.

Gold-Digging Multinationals Get USAID Financial Support in Africa

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is helping to finance a "responsible mining" initiative in Africa, where it purportedly seeks to improve relations between multinational mining companies and local communities in Ghana where the companies conduct gold-extraction operations. USAID intends to award a sole-source contract to Research Triangle Institute (RTI), a North Carolina-based firm, to consult the Ghana Responsible Mining Alliance while providing "technical guidance" to villages in Ghana's Asutifi and Wassa West districts.

According to a Special Notice that The Peacock Report located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, USAID/Ghana last year created this "global development alliance" with international mining behemoths GoldFields and Newmont. GoldFields, a South African company, describes itself as "one of the world's largest unhedged pure gold producers." It claims to have an "annual gold production of approximately 4.1 million ounces" and has "ore reserves of 65 million ounces and mineral resources of 179 million ounces." Colorado-based Newmont reported gold reserves of 93.9 million ounces as of year-end 2006.

USAID selected RTI for this noncompetitive contract because of its previous experience in Ghana with the agency, with industry, and with the people of Ghana. RTI from 1994-1996, for instance, participated in USAID's Government Accountability Improves Trust (GAIT II) initiative, in which it consulted local governments in the two districts on economic growth issues.

RTI under the new contract will manage day-to-day Alliance operations. According to the Special Notice, which is dated July 10, the firm also will:

Lead efforts to engage local government, civil society and other critical stakeholders to ensure broad buy-in to Alliance activities [emphasis added]. This would include helping to engage and seek avenues for resolution of issues that would come up as the Alliance moves forward.

RTI will help accomplish these tasks via:

Development and technical assistance to support implementation of an Alliance communication strategy for internal and external communication, considering at minimum news media relations, print publications, use of the web.

Additionally, USAID expects the contractor to identify additional "opportunities for technical collaboration" as well as pursue potential joint efforts with entities such as the World Bank. RTI's initial contract for this  endeavor is valued at $450,000.

U.S., a Beacon of Light, Part IV

The Bush Administration now is taking its War Against Governmental Corruption to... Nigeria! For more details, check out political-humor sister-site Exhortations to the Oblivious.

State Dept. Outsourcing Intel Analysis of 'Negative Forces' In Africa

An affiliate of behemoth defense contractor L-3 is reaping the benefits of U.S.-led intelligence-gathering operations Africa, where the State Dept. is outsourcing segments of a multinational data-collection, analysis and dissemination operation. State intends to award a sole-source contract to Alexandria, Va.-based MPRI (formerly known as Military Professional Resources, Inc.) to train several African governments and the United Nations in the use of the Tripartite Fusion Cell (TFC) system. Based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC), the purpose of TFC is to connect DROC, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the U.N. Mission in DROC via a satellite-linked communications network, thereby enabling participants to jointly obtain, share, analysis and distribute intelligence data used to combat rebel forces operating in the region.

According to a State planning document that The Peacock Report has obtained, the sole-source contract calls for MPRI to "mentor" officials from the U.N. and the above-mentioned nations on how to "fuse raw information into usable intelligence products to combat the Negative Forces operating in eastern DR[O]C with the intent of bring peace and stability to the region." MPRI under the arrangement will report to the U.S. MIssions in each of the four countries on the progress of the program. The value of the contract is undisclosed.

MPRI already has profited handsomely from the so-called "War on Terror" and from the invasion and occupation of Iraq, as a review of contracting documents since 2003 has shown. Previous and recently planned federal-contracting actions include:

The deployment of 98 "law enforcement personnel (LEP) to serve as investigators, planners, and analysts in support of designated US Army and Marine Corps units deploying to and operating in Iraq and Afghanistan," according to a U.S. Army Special Notice dated June 6. The Army anticipates releasing a more detailed synopsis of this endeavor Aug. 15, followed by a formal solicitation on or around Oct. 26.

A potential $200 million ceiling on a contract that DoD jointly awarded to MPR, Blackwater Lodge & Training, and Northrup Grumman for the Bush Administration's "Global Peace Operation Initiative," for which these companies would help train U.N. and other troops in peacekeeping operations.

A $5 million contract to provide soldier training at the Counterinsurgency Center for Excellence, Camp Taji, Iraq;

Another contract ceiling raise from $50-$75 million for the African Contingency Operations and Assistance (ACOTA) program;

A $41.8 million language translation and interpretation services contract;

A $2.6 million Iraqi Ministry of Defense training contract;

A $120 million, U.S. Dept. of Justice "worldwide support services contract to support the Criminal Division's International Criminal Investigations Training Assistance Program (ICITAP)";

A $48 million contract to provide basic training to the then-new Iraqi Army (June 2003).

Anticorruption Initiative Gains Steam

The U.S. Congress has been unable -- or unwilling -- to sufficiently tackle the issue of governmental corruption, but TPR sister site Exhortations to the Oblivious is poised to solve this problem. Check out U.S. Needs Uganda's Help -- Write Now, Before It's Too Late! for more on this initiative.

Beacon of Light Continues to Shine

The White House, shining as a beacon of light for all the world to see, has set its sites on yet another target in the Global War on Government Corruption. Check out political-humor sister-site Exhortations to the Oblivious to find out more.

U.S. Pledges To Deliver 'Blue Revolution' to Middle East and North Africa

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) intends to start a revolution in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) -- a revolution purportedly to improve management of increasingly scarce water resources in the troubled region. According to an Aug. 27 contracting notice, the agency has created a Regional Water Advisor position whose stated goal is to encourage "collaborative problem solving of water disputes, more efficient and productive use of water, and development of alternative sources of water." The document, however, which The Peacock Report obtained via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, claims that a World Bank-estimated infusion of $5 billion annually into water and sewage infrastructure can only take place with the help of private sector investment.

"Avoiding conflict and meeting basic human needs for water will require bold, concerted action by governments, water users, donors, and the private sector working in partnership to transform water management," the USAID personnel services contracting notice says.

Hence, the agency's latest effort to carry out what it calls the Blue Revolution Initiative (BRI) in MENA.

The latest phase of the initiative comes at a time when Oxfam, an international relief group, released a report condemning such reliance on private sector involvement. While Oxfam acknowledged that commercial entities can be key partners in solving the crisis over the lack of sufficient water and sewage in developing countries, it warned that the forced privatization of municipal utilities has been -- and will continue to be -- disastrous. 

USAID is emphasizing that the new advisor slot will pursue the lofty goals of promoting "regional communication and cooperation in water resources development and management" and encouraging "good practices and successes in sustainable water development and management across the region."

The overarching policy goals of this endeavor are clear, evidenced by the Blue Revolution objective to "Establish a foundation for attracting other donor, private sector, or foundation support and increase opportunities for U.S. private investment. [emphasis added] USAID believes that regional solutions will play an important role in promoting water security and resolving the serious water shortages in the ANE region. USAID will work closely with the U.S. State Department and the National Security Council to ensure the success of this regional water initiative."