A partnership of government contractors including John Snow, Inc. is protesting the U.S. Agency for International Development’s decision to award its largest-ever contract to a group led by development consulting firm Chemonics International.
The Global Health Supply Chain — Procurement and Supply Management project is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, by far the largest in a suite of contracts worth up to $10.5 billion over the next eight years — and USAID’s largest-ever single award, according to an agency representative. The program is meant to support the delivery and distribution of a range of global health commodities used to prevent and to treat illnesses, including HIV and AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
USAID announced its award decision April 17, effectively unseating JSI, one of the agency’s largest implementing partners, from its leadership of USAID’s health supply chain programs.
“We think this was a wrong decision that could cost the taxpayers a great deal of money and perhaps put people's lives at risk,” Joel Lamstein, co-founder and president of JSI, told Devex in an email.
Devex has learned from sources familiar with the award — and JSI has confirmed — that the partnership of incumbents who bid unsuccessfully have submitted a protest to the Government Accountability Office.
Devex spoke with representatives from USAID’s global health bureau about the Global Health Supply Chain program prior to learning the award was under protest.
“We ran a competitive process and our priority was on getting the most value for the taxpayer’s money and choosing the best awardee based on the proposals that were submitted,” Wade Warren, senior deputy assistant administrator in the Bureau for Global Health, told Devex.
The GAO will have 100 days from the date the protest is filed to issue a decision, and that will likely necessitate a freeze on any startup activities under the new contract, according to a source familiar with the award.
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About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
