3 biggest UK development contracts in 2020

The politics and policies around U.K. aid topped the headlines in 2020 with the merger of the Department for International Development with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the loss of the 0.7% aid spending target — but amid the turmoil, business and contracting processes continued. The U.K. spent £1.25 billion on commercial aid contracts in fiscal year 2019/20. Commercial contracts are open tenders to which any organization, including NGOs and local organizations, can apply — though you might have better chances of winning if you are part of a consortium with one of the department’s biggest contractors. While further data may yet be published on last year’s contracts, Devex dug through the available data from both DFID and the new Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to identify the biggest procurement contracts awarded in 2020. 1. Lafiya Contract (UK Support for Health in Nigeria) Awarded value: £100,000,000. Awarded to: The Palladium Group U.K. branch, with headquarters in London. Consortium Partners: Options Consultancy Services Ltd, Society for Family Health, Centre for Health Economics and Development, PharmAccess, Solina Center for International Development and Research, and Chatham House. The contract is part of the U.K.’s new flagship health portfolio for Nigeria — Lafiya: UK Support for Health In Nigeria — which plans to invest a total of £235 million over eight years. This amounts to an investment of £29 million per year, a reduction of about 20% on what DFID was spending on health in Nigeria over the past five years, as other programs have come to an end. According to the program business case, “in order to maximise the weight of the UK’s voice and impact in the health sector in Nigeria, it is better to group the UK’s investments within one portfolio (rather than several smaller programmes)”. This contract with Palladium is just one part of the program, which also includes an accountable grant with the International Rescue Committee and funding through the World Bank. The contract is for seven years but it may be extended for an additional two years with a maximum added value of £40 million. Targeting five key states (Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, and Yobe), the health program aims to address the challenge of “working flexibly and adaptively while still delivering value for public money.” It identifies an outcome but does not specify the outputs that will achieve this. Instead, it tests pilots, scales up, or closes down activities in a feedback loop — the idea is that leaders can learn from experience what works best. According to the latest review of the program in October, this flexibility has been useful in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria. A related contract awarded in 2020 was the £8.8 million Human Development Evaluation, Learning and Verification Services contract awarded to Ecorys UK Ltd in consortium with Preston Associates for International Development and ITAD Ltd. They will provide monitoring, evaluation, and learning for the Lafiya program and two additional programs. 2. Good Governance Fund Awarded value: £63.5 million for three contracts. Awarded to: Alinea International Limited, ABT Associates, and Tetra Tech. The U.K. Good Governance Fund is a multiyear program portfolio from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund with the objective to build resilience in four Eastern Partnership countries — Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine — and three Western Balkan countries — Bosnia, Serbia, and North Macedonia. The implementation of the new phase of this program required the procurement of three different services: a program management unit, and two regional technical assistance facilities to support domestic reform efforts on reducing corruption and promoting transparent and accountable institutions. A. Program Management Unit Award value: £7,528,229. Awarded to: Alinea International with headquarters in Calgary, Canada. B. Technical Assistance Facility: Eastern Partnership Lot 2A Award value: £28,000,000. Awarded to: Abt Associates’ U.K. branch headquartered in London, also known as ABT Britain Ltd. C. Technical Assistance Facility: Western Balkans Lot 2B Award value: £28,000,000. Awarded to: Tetra Tech International Development Limited, the U.K. branch of Tetra Tech headquartered in Reading, England. Each contract is for a period of 42 months, including a four-month inception phase. FCDO may extend the contract up to an additional 24 months with an additional £4,500,000 budget. 3. African Cities Research Programme contract award Award value: £32,101,144. Awarded to: the Global Development Institute of The University of Manchester. Consortium partners: In the U.K., the International Institute for Environment and Development, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and the Overseas Development Institute; in Africa, ICLEI Africa – Local Governments for Sustainability, the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research, and Slum/Shack Dwellers International; and internationally, IRC and the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research. According to FCDO, research on cities has often not paid enough attention to cross-cutting political factors and has usually taken a sectoral approach. The problems identified in large cities persist — housing shortages, inadequate services, unsafe physical environments, and more. The aid budget to fund new, operationally relevant research on tackling multisectoral problems in African cities was set aside in 2018. The contract was procured in 2019 and awarded last year. With an initial time frame of six years, the goal of the program is to understand how the city works as a system, including the links between different sectors, actors, and interests, and to research specific blockages to development in African cities that can be translated into potential interventions and reforms. Through the program, The University of Manchester will run competitions to award research funding to other organizations. Other major development contracts awarded in 2020 Beyond the top three, several major contracts were awarded in the range of £15 million to £20 million. In the education sector, the fund management of phase 2b of the Girls’ Education Challenge — the largest global fund dedicated to girls’ education, currently present in 17 countries — was awarded to PwC UK for £19 million. This contract will run till the end of the program’s second phase in 2025. In Malawi, FCDO set up a program to improve the quality of early grade mathematics teaching to ensure all children are supported to learn and master the basics. The technical assistance contract to review the mathematics curriculum for lower primary, develop corresponding teaching and learning materials, design and pilot teacher training strategies, and oversee the national scale-up was awarded to Mott MacDonald for £17 million. And with the objective to improve provincial economic planning and increase the efficiency of public investments in economic and urban development, Adam Smith International was awarded just under £15 million under the DFID General Economic Development Framework. The contract is the technical assistance component of FCDO’s £37.5 million Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Programme in Pakistan from 2019 to 2025. For access to in-depth analysis, insights, and funding opportunities from over 850+ sources — combined with Devex Pro news content — sign up to a Pro Funding subscription online today or get in touch to learn about our Pro Funding group options.