USAID Science and Engineering Fellowship Grant

Program summary

USAID seeks to continue its Science and Engineering Fellowship Program that selects and places scientists, medical doctors, and engineers in Agency Washington bureaus and oversea Missions. The Fellowship Program will help USAID obtain technical expertise to contribute to the more effective application of science and technology in the international development and foreign affairs activities of the U.S. government. For Fellows, the program is an opportunity to engage in international science policy and to contribute to addressing important societal problems. This program is currently administered under a cooperative agreement with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Background

The Science, Engineering and Diplomacy, Security & Development ¬Fellowship program was initiated at USAID in 1982. In the 28 year history of the program, nearly 400 fellows have been placed at USAID, in Washington or field missions. The Fellows Program has been a very successful mechanism for USAID offices to access scientists and engineers with up-to-date and diverse technical expertise to meet the Agency’s strategic objectives in areas such as climate change, biotechnology, infectious diseases, and energy. In addition, the Fellows bring with them connections to a broad scientific community, expanding USAID’s collaborations and partnerships.

Program Components

The design of this activity is based on the Agency’s past experience with science and engineering fellowships. The recipient organization needs to have the capacity to select outstanding postdoctoral-level to senior level scientists, medical doctors, political scientists, and engineers to serve for one to two years in USAID/Washington or an overseas USAID Mission. The placement of Fellows at USAID traditionally has been in offices that carry out the Agency’s long-standing programmatic emphasis: agriculture, food security, energy, climate change forestry, disaster assistance, health/population, the environment, education, S&T policy, and democracy/governance. The Fellowship Program helps USAID obtain technical expertise to contribute to the more effective application of science and technology in the international development and foreign affairs activities of the U.S. government. For Fellows, the program is an opportunity to engage in international science policy and to contribute to addressing important societal problems.

The recipient organization will be responsible for the recruitment, primary selection and placement, and administration of Fellows in USAID/Washington offices and overseas USAID Missions through an open and competitive process. The recipient organization should have the capacity to place and provide oversight of up to 60 Fellows, annually, to include new incoming fellows, renewing second year fellows and overseas fellows, during the life of the award, which is expected to be 5 years. Fellowships will last up to 4 years.

The recipient will be responsible for advertising and soliciting candidates from a broad range of scientific, social science, and engineering backgrounds that match the areas in which USAID works and therefore should have expertise in working with the scientific, technical, and engineering communities. The recruitment should also emphasize diversity in geographic location, types of technical institutions (e.g., universities, industry, nongovernmental organizations, etc.), gender, and cultural perspectives. Candidates should be highly competitive in their technical areas and bring to the Fellowship Program an understanding of the latest developments in their technical field and the ability to leverage the broader scientific community in their field in support of USAID’s Mission.

Other capabilities that the recipient organization should be able to demonstrate include the ability to organize an orientation program for new Fellows to USAID, provide mentoring opportunities to ensure a productive relationship, offer formal and structured networking and professional career development building opportunities that provide Fellows with exposure to a broad range of national and international issues, especially as they relate to science and technology, implement an effective evaluation program to strengthen the program in out years, and collaborate with USAID to support Fellows. Additionally, the recipient organization will be required to maintain or obtain a valid facility security clearance and to facilitate the federal security clearance process for each potential candidate.
The purpose of this sources sought notice is to gain knowledge of interest, capabilities and qualification of various organizations, institutions and businesses. Therefore, the notice is being posted on both grants.gov and FedBizOpps in order to reach the broadest number of interested concerns. The applicable NAICS Code is 561110, Management Services.
It is USAID’S intention to find qualified sources that possess the capability to perform this type of requirement. It is envisioned that the final award will be a new cooperative agreement and no fee or profit will be paid to the awardee.
Interested concerns are requested to submit (1) an expression of interest and (2) a statement of capabilities (SOC), no later than Monday, March 21, 2011 by 9:00 am EDST. The expression of interest shall state the following:
• Name of Concern
• Type of Concern (e.g. 8(a), Small/large Business, educational institution, non-profit, etc.)
• Year of Incorporation
• Contact Person and Title
• Mailing Address
• Telephone No.
• Fax Number
• E-Mail Address
• Web page – if available
The SOC shall not exceed ten (10) pages and shall include a brief narrative that demonstrates the concern’s capability to carry out the program summary discussed above. Capability statements must reference work of similar size and scope that has been performed by the concern and the dollar value of that work. Respondents should specifically address their abilities to manage and administer professional educational programs or fellowship programs.
Only electronic copies of the expression of interest and the SOC will be accepted. All responses to this notice must be e-mailed to Jeanette Lee at jlee@usaid.gov. Telephone inquiries and hard responses will not be accepted.