USAID Administrator Samantha Power told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that the agency will not meet the 25% local funding target she announced in 2021, and added that “bulk procurement” is an area where the localization agenda is falling short.
“Where we are lagging … is in bulk procurement. I think we have a long way to go there,” Power said, referring to the relatively large contracts that the agency often defaults to due to staffing constraints and the administrative burden that would come with breaking them up into smaller pieces.
She noted that the U.S. Agency for International Development is working with “more local partners than we ever have in our history,” while acknowledging that it only amounts to about 10% of the agency’s funding.