Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition under the Expedited Procedures Package (EPP) for Responding to Outbreaks of Contagious Infectious Diseases

Nepal's national lockdown in response to COVID-19 has already negatively impacted the economy and food security, exarcerbated by up to 1,000,000 migrant workers recently returned from countries with large outbreaks.  the lockdown, loss of remittances, dependence on imports that could cease due to potential border closings with India, and the steady increase in the number of COVID-19 cases are creating a multitute of second-order impacts that will erode stability, economic well-being, and hard earned development gains.  USAID/Nepal will use $2.5 million in Economic Support Funds to support local governments, private sector and actors, and disaster management structures in municipalities that are most vulnerable to the economic, social, and health impacts of the crisis through multi-sector actions to prevent and mitigate second-order threats. USAID/Nepal will:

• Provide immediate assistance by mobilizing emergency municipal support teams to enable local governments and disaster management committees in vulnerable communities to understand, plan for, and respond to the economic and social impacts of the crisis
• Utilize a small grant rapid response mechanism to partner with the private sector and civil society to addresss urgent gaps in vulnerable municipalities.
• Support the GON to reopen key sectors of the economy to recover and meet urgent supply-cain needs, especially related to food security. This includes addressing needs of the most vulnerable through a variety of methods.

Awarded contract 72036719C00004 to unknown vendor for unknown amount on 2019-08-01.