USAID Washington's E&E Bureau has established the "Infrastructure Reform & Finance" project, as a Task Order under the SEGURA IP3 SEGIR Privatization II IQC contract.

It is the primary responsibility of USAID’s Missions to deliver technical assistance in the field with the support of the three functional ("pillar") bureaus, while USAID’s regional bureaus’ primary responsibilities focus on providing strategic support to USAID Missions, on articulating and representing the agency's programs to the US Congress, the State Department and other government agencies, and on providing policy guidance on the strategic direction of the regional bureaus’ programs in the context of US foreign policy interests.  The IRF project is undertaken to provide support to the Europe & Eurasia Bureau regional staff and USAID Missions in meeting these responsibilities infrastructure reform and finance and related matters. 

The IRF project therefore provides the necessary data, information and analysis to support the bureau's strategy development and to provide strategy assistance, plus analytical and implementation services to E&E Missions, linking strategy development with program design, as well as initial implementation assistance and periodic activity refinement.

With this project, we have built a strategic support team for infrastructure to inventory the policy, physical and institutional environment in the E&E countries available to suggest strategic interventions for USAID Missions.  The contract includes:

• Where requested by Missions the team has developed Infrastructure Country Reports.  These recommendations to Missions focus on drawing out solutions to relieving the bottlenecks presented by infrastructure to social and economic development.  Most of these solutions build on USAID comparative strengths and the ongoing activities of our development Partner (donors, banks, NGOs, and the private sector.  Recognizing the existing program, Strategic Objectives (SOs) and political imperatives, the advice provided by the IRF Team seeks to find practical cost-effective ways to leverage investments by others in the energy, water, transport and information/telecommunications sectors, even where USAID is unlikely to begin new programs .
• Tracking and benchmarking the sector and its impact on social well-being and economic performance and reform is a second key element of the IRF Project.  A broad indicator analysis of the eight sectors and sub-sectors seek to provide sufficient data to permit an understanding of broad trends as well as specific national movement in various key performance (operational, service and financial) areas.
• In certain selected sectors, beginning with Water and Sanitation, the IRF Project has undertaken a broad Sector Analysis to provide information to the Bureau and others for broader policy formulation; and
• as directed by the CTO and the Missions, the consultants will be available to undertake Project Design support services and other relevant assistance.