On Tuesday, Chuck Pope — a former contracting officer with a 20-year career at the U.S. Agency for International Development — was asked what’s needed to win a grant from USAID.
His answer? Partner, partner, partner, Pope said — and compliance, compliance, compliance.
“If you look at what the big players are doing, they’re all JVing up, joint venturing up,” said Pope, who retired from USAID in April 2022 and now runs his own consulting company, Pope International. “Everybody is teaming up, and everybody is acquiring somebody. There’s a reason why that is being done.”