USAID Grant: Improving Agricultural Practices for Dominican Republic Watershed Protection

Purpose/Objective
The Dominican Republic depends greatly on its water resources. Rainfall in the three mountain ranges of the island is abundant and country’s densely populated urban areas and semi-arid agricultural zones depend on the regular supply of high quality water from these upper watersheds. The main uses of these waters are for domestic and industrial consumption, for agriculture irrigation systems and hydroelectric energy production through various systems of dams in the Central Cordillera of the country. In recent years there has been a growing concern about the future availability of high quality water resources in the country and a greater awareness that the supply and quality of water depends on the ecological stability of the country’s upper basins and its natural resources. Therefore, it is a general country objective to reduce degradation of natural resources, improve the living conditions of the population in or near the watersheds and ensure the natural balance of water resources through measures promoting sustainable management of forest resources, agroforestry, and agricultural productivity.

USAID has been supporting the Dominican Republic’s agriculture sector since the 1960s and most recently through the USAID Rural Economic Diversification Project (USAID/RED) that ended in January 2013. USAID is now looking to identify potential partners to implement the “Improving agricultural practices to protect Dominican Republic watersheds” project. The goal of the project will be to improve agricultural productivity and more efficient and conscientious water use for permanent crops like cacao and coffee, as well as fruits & vegetables, while at the same time improving watershed health and sustainability of water supply for downstream urban residents. The target sites for the project are the watersheds linked to the provision of potable water to Santo Domingo and Santiago. This project will link with USAID/DR’s Global Climate Change project, which includes a focus on reducing flooding and improving stability of water supply for downstream urban users through an integrated approach to upper watershed management that increases production but also enhances ecosystem services and resources. Linked to a cross-sectorial suite of strategies, such as reforestation and infrastructure improvements, this project will specifically focus on improving small farmers’ agricultural practices (i.e. climate smart agriculture or sustainable intensification), such as, but not limited to increased productivity, improved environmental outcomes, increased resilience, reducing soil erosion, sedimentation of rivers, the use of pesticide and chemical fertilizers, as well as maintaining soil fertility and preventing its loss or reduction.

Project Requirements
There are two main areas for the “Improving agricultural practices to protect Dominican Republic watersheds” project:

1. Provide the following services for the communities:
• Identification of most vulnerable regions (related to agricultural and environmental aspects) in targeted watersheds to enable priority to implement the project;
• Provide recommendations on appropriate change in agricultural practices and crops that boost the climate resilience and production of not only farmers, but also downstream users who depend on the environmental services delivered by the upper watershed;
• Provide technical assistance to promote an increase in crop productivity;
• Provide awareness generation about the impact of climate change on agriculture;
• Highlighting the climate change adaptation (CCA) benefits and physically showing methods of integrated watershed management;
• Promote and develop suitable mechanisms to assure community and beneficiaries participation leading to project sustainability.
• In partnership with water users associations and the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos (INDRHI), provide technical assistance for improved water use efficiency in the irrigation systems and encourage them to contribute X % of the irrigation water use revenues to protect the upper water source of watershed (i.e. through ongoing Payment for Ecosystem Services initiative in the Yaque del Norte river);
• In partnership with one municipality, partner with the local government to update and implement existing land use plan in a selected micro watershed.

2. Project Sustainability:
• Monitoring and evaluation of the project;
• Collaborate and build sustainable capacity among communities, private sector and the Government of the Dominican Republic (GoDR) (e.g. Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, as well as the Corporación del Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Santo Domingo (CAASD), the Corporación del Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Santiago (CORAASAN), the Instituto Nacional de Aguas Potables y Alcantarillado (INAPA) and INDRHI);
• Leverage ongoing watershed protection initiatives, for example, water fund activities being implemented by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in the two target watersheds and Plan Yaque’s Payment for Ecosystem Services in the Yaque del Norte River Watershed; and private sector contributions a/o participation;
• Collaborate with current USG/USAID programs;
• Conducting studies as necessary.

Anticipated Period and Place of Performance
The anticipated period of performance is from 2014 to 2016 for a total estimated amount of US$1.5 million subject to funds availability. The project will be implemented in at least 2 key watersheds that provide potable water to the Santo Domingo and Santiago cities, Dominican Republic.

Submission Guidelines
Interested organizations should submit a statement describing the capabilities of the organization as they relate to the purpose and requirements outlined above and respond to all of the following questions:

• What successful programs in the Dominican Republic can be scaled up to support agricultural productivity, food security, watershed sustainability and climate change adaptation?
• What are the critical elements that the DR needs to strengthen or develop an integrated focus to promote agriculture productivity gains, sound watershed management, and climate change adaptation measures (such as policy, programs, and institutional capacity)?
• What partnerships (government, civil society, and private sector) are working well and have the potential to positively impact Dominican agriculture, sound natural resources management (NRM) and CCA over the long-term?

Statements sent in response to this Sources Sought notice should not exceed 4 single- sided pages (including attachments and charts) using an 11-point font size minimum, Arial or Times New Roman. The statements may be sent electronically to:

Claudia Molina
Acquisition and Assistance Specialist USAID/Dominican Republic

cmolina@usaid.gov in Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) by COB September 30, 2013. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time.

Disclaimer and Important Notes
This notice does not obligate USAID to award a contract or grant or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. USAID reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Respondents are advised that USAID is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published on the Federal Business Opportunities website www.fedbizopps.gov or Grants.gov website www.grants.gov. Responses to this notice will not be considered responses to a solicitation.

Confidentiality
No proprietary, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. USAID reserves the right to use any non-proprietary information in any resulting solicitation(s).