ࡱ> +-*a fjbjbtt "fxxxxxxx 2NPPPPPP, R[\|x|p xxp p p RxxNp $xxxxNp p :,xxN c)N " N0Rp Np xLLFor 17 years, Abt Associates has been working with USAID at the forefront of important and challenging development work around the world. We have worked in partnership with USAID in more than 100 countries to tackle some of the most pressing health, environmental, agricultural and trade issues. We are currently working in more than 40 countries around the world on projects for the Agency. Our extensive experience in health systems strengthening in developing countries and our experience working with USAID missions around the world, made Abt Associates a strong candidate to assist in the strengthening of the post-conflict Iraq health system. The scope of work for the contract Abt Associates signed with USAID was, by necessity, was completed prior to our being on the ground in Iraq. When we began our work in Iraq in the spring of 2003, we found a health environment among the worst in the world (See N.Y. Times article 2/22/04). The health care system had completely deteriorated following the Iraq-Iran war in 1980, the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and the subsequent UN sanctions on Iraq. Abt Associates was tasked with making improvements in 4 major areas in Iraq: Assessment of the health sector Improving health care delivery Strengthening the overall health system Administering a small grants program As noted in our final summary report we made significant achievements in all of these areas. Including: Completion of the most comprehensive assessment ever of the Iraqi health care system and the creation of a model and strategy for the Ministry of Health going forward; Training of 700 clinicians in the major cities across Iraq on quality assurance, basic contemporary medical practices, and clinical management; Determination of the primary healthcare equipment needs for 600 healthcare clinics, and specification and development of equipment packages. Worked with the Ministry of Health and a sub contractor tasked to deliver the packages to the clinics. At the end of Abt Associates contract 80% of the clinics had been supplied. Administration of 30 grants to organizations to support the strengthening of health care delivery, education and training, and health sector reform. The USAID staff, Abt Associates staff and others who worked with us on the ground in Iraq put their lives on the line every day during the completion of this work. Our people traveled in armored cars, contracted private security consultants, and operated out of an office that was down the street from a police station that was a target of insurgents. Kidnappings, assassinations and frequent lock-downs that restricted movement due to security concerns, made work difficult to say the least. Despite these extremely difficult and dangerous conditions, we are proud of our accomplishments in Iraq. We believe our work and that of USAID contributed significantly to the Iraqi health care system and the development of meaningful reform strategies. We appreciate the confidence that USAID has placed in Abt Associates by awarding us the Iraq contract as well as others since the completion of our work in Iraq. We support the only recommendation of the audit in question that the USAID Mission improve its process for reviewing and approving requests for modification to future contracts. We undertook the work in Iraq knowing that it would be extremely difficult and potentially dangerous. We knew it would not be easy, but felt that we could make a difference for our client, USAID, and the people of Iraq. We are confident that we have done that and we stand by our work, which is accurately characterized in our summary report that has been accepted by USAID. BO + f h^JhCJaJ hCJh haJ P Q  + , = Z 78 & F & Fffgdd. 1h/ =!"#$%@@@ NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DA@D Default Paragraph FontZiZ  Table Normal :V 4 l4a _H(k(No List <B@< Body Text B*aJphf  z z fPQ+,=Z  7 8 h0p0p0p0p0p0p0p0p 0p 0p 0p 0p0p0p0p 0p 0p 0p 0p 0p0p0p0p0p0p0p0p0pPQ+,=Z  7 8 hp0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0op0of f f !$QT hh:14:z@dh^`OJQJo(hHh^`OJQJ^Jo(hHohpp^p`OJQJo(hHh@ @ ^@ `OJQJo(hHh^`OJQJ^Jo(hHoh^`OJQJo(hHh^`OJQJo(hHh^`OJQJ^Jo(hHohPP^P`OJQJo(hHh ^`OJQJo(h ^`OJQJo(oh pp^p`OJQJo(h @ @ ^@ `OJQJo(h ^`OJQJo(oh ^`OJQJo(h ^`OJQJo(h ^`OJQJo(oh PP^P`OJQJo(1:                  @`uf @UnknownGTimes New Roman5Symbol3 Arial? Courier New;Wingdings"qhFFFF [!>4 73QHX Statement Sakura Saunders   Oh+'0  4 @ L Xdlt|' Statement2; NormalSakura Saunders2Microsoft Word 11.2@@r@vH2?@vH2?  ՜.+,0 hp|  'SMC  Statement Title  !#$%&'(),Root Entry FS>.1TableWordDocument"SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8"CompObjXObjectPoolS>S> FMicrosoft Word DocumentNB6WWord.Document.8