MILBURN, NJ, March 22, 2005 -- Hatch Mott MacDonald is a member of a consortium selected to provide integrated water and coastal management services to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through a five-year Indefinite Quantity Contract. Led by Development Alternatives International (DAI), the consortium is among five groups awarded similar contracts by USAID.
USAID uses Indefinite Quantity Contracts to provide rapid services to USAID field missions and to staff offices for short, medium and long-term activities. These services include support for program development, problem analysis and implementation of activities. The $2 billion ceiling for this contract reflects the increased demand of water needs around the globe and demonstrates USAID's preparation to be quick and responsive when a request is made.
The IQC contract will support USAID's strategic goal of increasing and improving the protection and sustainable use of natural resources, with emphasis on freshwater and coastal water resources. Components of integrated water and coastal resources management include:
-- Managing water resources at the basin or watershed scale. This includes integrating land and water, upstream and downstream, groundwater, surface water and coastal resources.
-- Optimizing supply. This involves conducting assessments of surface and groundwater supplies, analyzing water balances, adopting wastewater reuse and evaluating the environmental impacts of distribution and use options.
-- Managing demand. This includes adopting cost-recovery policies, utilizing water-efficient technologies and establishing decentralized water management authorities.
-- Providing equitable access to water resources through participatory and transparent governance and management. This may include support for effective water users' associations, involvement of marginalized groups and consideration of gender issues.
-- Establishing improved and integrated policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks.
For more on USAID's water resources programs and services, see: www.usaid.gov/our_work/environment/water/.
Information on Development Alternatives Inc. projects can be found at www.dai.com.
Hatch Mott MacDonald (www.hatchmott.com), together with the worldwide resources and skills of the Mott MacDonald Group, will be providing services in irrigation, watershed and river basin management and planning, urban stormwater management, groundwater aquifer management, water quality management and regulation, hydropower, meteorology, hydrology, industrial pollution prevention and control. The contract period will end in September 2009. The Milburn, N.J.-based company is jointly owned by Mott MacDonald and Hatch Associates.
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