Top USAID awardees in 2018

Although 2019 got off to a slow start for the U.S. Agency for International Development due to the U.S. government shutdown, organizations have to date largely been unaffected from a funding perspective, continuing to work using prior year funds. Devex took a look at the 2018 segment of these funds by analyzing data extracted from USAspending. In total, USAID awarded $16.7 billion in funding in the 2018 fiscal year, which is a 0.4 percent increase from fiscal year 2017. This increase is primarily evident in the assistance awards spending which totaled $11.9 billion, up 2.9 percent from the previous year. Contract award funding dropped to $4.8 billion from $5.1 billion in 2017. We have analyzed both contract and assistance awards and, as was the case in our 2017 analysis, figures are based on federal action obligations, the U.S. federal government’s obligations (or sometimes de-obligations) for award transactions. This is the most conservative quantification of an award’s value, as it does not include the values of any additional options attached to it. Combining contract and assistance spending, U.S. implementers won 4.3 percent less funding proportionally than in 2017, with those outside of the U.S. winning a total of 19.5 percent of funding in 2018. This difference can be seen in the assistance awards where U.S. recipients won 74 percent of funding, down from 81 percent last year. Although less funding went to contract awards overall this year, U.S. contractors won a larger proportion of the contract award spending than last year — receiving 97 percent of the total amount. The assistance funding channeled to multilateral and United Nations-affiliated organizations saw a 19 percent decrease in funding from 2017, coming in at $4.9 billion in 2018. Of these, UNICEF ($305 million), United Nations Development Programme ($213.7 million), International Organization for Migration ($181 million) and the World Health Organization ($167 million) are within the top 10 awardees as was the case last year, but received a combined amount that was 43 percent less than in 2017. In contrast, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria ($925 million) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance ($275 million) saw an exponential increase in funding up from $277.9 million and $20 million respectively. Outside of the U.N. and its affiliates, these two organizations along with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ($585.8 million) received the largest single awards and the most assistance funding. These supranational organizations don’t typically compete with contractors or grantees seeking USAID funding. By removing their awards from the data, we get a better view of the funding landscape for private contractors, NGOs, and national institutions. Below, you can see the country of origin by implementer. Of the U.S. implementers, Chemonics was awarded the largest awards, the majority of which were awarded under the global health supply chain procurement and supply management IDIQ, known as an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, for the HIV/AIDS and malaria task orders. Next, on the list of largest awards is Abt Associates winning a task order under the IDIQ on malaria vector control in Tanzania, followed by FHI 360 with an assistance award under the Clinical HIV/AIDS Services Strengthening project. Setting the U.S. and European implementers to the side, it seems that local organizations tend to win more in countries where health is a key focus. South African implementers received a larger share than last year at 69 percent, with Wits Health Consortium winning $93 million in total funding — more than double the other top awardees there, having won two large awards worth $47 million overall under the “accelerating program achievements to control the epidemic (APACE)” program. Right to Care, Broadreach Healthcare, Kheth'Impilo Aids Free Living, and Anova Health Institute also feature in the top awardees. As has been the case for numerous years, the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority received the largest proportion of funding in Kenya at 39 percent in total. India is a new entrant to the top 25 with health implementers — IPE Global Limited, World Health Partners, and the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Institute — receiving a combined total of $13.02 million. While Integrated Research and Action for Development won the second largest award ($3.3 million), followed by the Dalberg Advisors Mumbai office, which was the only organization among the top 10 to win a contract ($2.4 million) as opposed to an assistance award, this to lead the Food Security and Ag-Tech Market Access and Analytics Platform project. As many U.K. organizations remain uncertain about future EU funding streams due to Brexit, USAID presents itself as an attractive alternative. In total, 47 organizations located in the U.K. benefited from the $89.7 million in funding in 2018. The chart below shows the top 15 U.K.-based awardees, excluding multilateral organizations and U.N.-affiliates. Top 10 2018 awardees In total, the top 10 awardees won $3.7 billion in funding, down from $4.1 billion in 2017. The top 10 awardees remain the same bar University Research Co. which replaces John Snow. The “place of performance” field in the data gives an idea of the geographical spread of this large proportion of funding, which can be of interest to subcontracting organizations. This list shows the top 10, based on the total value of contract and assistance awards won by each implementer. 1. Chemonics International Founded: 1975 Headquarters: Washington, D.C., U.S. Total awarded funding: $1,227.3 million 2. FHI 360 Founded: 1971 Headquarters: Durham, North Carolina, U.S. Total awarded funding: $460.3 million 3. DAI Founded: 1970 Headquarters: Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. Total awarded funding: $417.1 million 4. Catholic Relief Services Founded: 1943 Headquarters: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. Total awarded funding: $320 million 5. Abt Associates Founded: 1965 Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. Total awarded funding: $311.8 million 6. RTI International Founded: 1958 Headquarters: Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, U.S. Total awarded funding: $262.4 million 7. Tetra Tech Founded: 1966 Headquarters: Pasadena, California, U.S. Total awarded funding: $254.9 million 8. Jhpiego Corporation Founded: 1973 Headquarters: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. Total awarded funding: $200.4 million 9. Save the Children USA Founded: 1919 Headquarters: Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S. Total awarded funding: $199.4 million 10. University Research Co. Founded: 1965 Headquarters: Chevy Chase, Maryland, U.S. Total awarded funding: $131.1 million