Does it pay to visit USAID missions?

U.S. Agency for International Development missions have a lot of say in awarding contracts and grants. So, should visiting missions be a part of your business development approach? Devex spoke with three business development professionals at USAID contractors and here is what they had to say: Philip J. DeCosse, growth lead, Engility Corporation: Visits to USAID missions have helped us understand their priorities, the market that we are bidding in and the Office of Acquisition and Assistance priorities in particular. The OAA office point of contact is open to dialogue with partners like us. There are critical questions to pose to contract officers and other members of USAID team about overall mission funding, political context, and priorities with respect to USAID, local contracting, or local staffing. When planning a visit, prepare ahead of time and discuss with USAID staff as appropriate. John Nittler, vice president of operations, Tetra Tech: USAID is not willing to discuss procurement during visits. You cannot get them to talk about it because it is a very touchy subject and you don’t want to put them on the spot. The only thing you can talk about is their broader development philosophies, past projects or ongoing projects. I think NGOs considering using USAID mission visits as a business approach should be sensitive about when they can talk about procurement and when they cannot. Ayeke Messam, senior business development officer for the West Africa region, World Vision: Opening up and going to the missions definitely increases your visibility as an organization. My experience is that I’ve found that the missions are generally open to meeting with PVOs [private voluntary organizations] in the field. They want to do so for a number of reasons. First, they want to hear about the work that we are doing, whether it is the work that is funded by USAID or not. And in learning about that work, they want to learn about our successes and our challenges. They also want to hear about what innovative project or aspects of projects we are putting together and sometimes they want to visit us in the field and see some of our programs. On the possibility of discussing procurement, they will probably give you information that you could already find online or in the business forecast … because they don’t want to give unfair advantage to one organization over the other. Check out more insights and analysis for global development leaders like you, and sign up as an Executive Member to receive the information you need for your organization to thrive.