Small Businesses Receive Yet Another Boost from WashingtonBy Steve Peacock,
U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor (June 2, 2011)
Another small-business support project is about to be unveiled by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—this time in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in southeastern Europe.
While the endeavor is significantly smaller than other overseas small-business programs financed by U.S. taxpayers, it comes at a time when USAID is embarking upon other—and bigger—related initiatives. As the Monitor recently reported, for instance, the agency increased to $73 million the Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality (SABEQ) project in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. (Monitor, May 16, 2011:
Small-Business Initiative Gains Momentum, More Money)
Macedonia Regional Small Business Development, or MRSBD, as the new project is known, involves the anticipated awarding of a $5 million contract to a U.S. firm. According to a Request for Proposals (#SOL-165-11-000004), the selected contractor will provide:
[T]echnical assistance and/or services contributing toward local economic development and job creation through strengthening the micro, small and medium enterprises with growth potential. The proposed project will build upon USAID‘s prior activities related to private sector growth, competitiveness, microenterprise support and microfinance provided over the past fifteen years.
Search of a federal procurement database show that USAID has led numerous prior small business initiatives in Macedonia, including a $9.2 million contract (Award #165-C-00-07-00101-00) in 2007 to CARANA Corporation—an Arlington, Va., firm whose management team is composed largely of former USAID officials and staffers. CARANA was tasked with carrying out the Macedonia Competitiveness for the 21st Century project, or MacComp-21, to “help Macedonia improve its competitive position within the global market place.â€
The stated reasons for U.S. support to Macedonia are many, several of which are represented in the following excerpt from a FY 2009 U.S. State Dept. foreign aid statement:
The U.S. Government (USG)’s overarching foreign assistance goal is to build and sustain a more democratic Macedonia that is more fully integrated into European and Euro-Atlantic structures, and able to contribute to the stability of the western Balkans. Sector-specific foreign assistance goals include strengthening Macedonian law enforcement and military organizations; addressing corruption and improving the performance of the judiciary; increasing the ability of the Macedonian educational system to produce a workforce for today’s economy; and increasing business growth, investment, and exports.
The previously mentioned small business-related procurements represent just a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the U.S. government has provided to or “invested†into Macedonia over the past decade and half, a review of contracting documents and awards indicate.
Likewise, the bulk of this aid—which has come from USAID as well as multiple U.S. defense, trade, education, and law enforcement entities—has flowed particularly since Macedonia began hosting U.S. and NATO troops that support operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region.
