USAID announces $5.5B increase in spending in latest business forecast

The U.S. Agency for International Development spent $26.9 billion in the fiscal year up until September 2021, an increase of almost $5.5 billion from the previous year, senior officials said in a conference call last week. Mark Walther, director of the bureau for management’s office of acquisition and assistance at USAID, said during the quarterly business forecast call that the main reason for the rise was the agency’s role in responding to COVID-19, particularly an interagency agreement with the Department of Defense to purchase and distribute vaccines. The agency awarded 14.6% of prime contracts to small businesses — exceeding its 12.5% target. But awards to small businesses have declined over the last ten years. This year, the agency spent over $120 million less on small businesses compared to 2020. The call also pointed out that a recent survey of private contractors, which had received 707 responses, yielded mixed results. Only 41% of contractors said USAID’s processes were easy to understand, and only 38% said decisions were made in a timely fashion. Walther said USAID had been “actively recruiting” and would place a “heavy emphasis on adequately staffing our team” in the new year. He also said that USAID will launch a new acquisition and assistance strategy. According to a transcript of the call, Walther said the new strategy has three purposes: • Enabling, equipping, and empowering the A&A workforce to advance USAID’s development mission. • Advancing effective and efficient implementation. • Supporting numerous Agency priorities through continuous process improvements that create capacity to expand the way we partner and with whom we partner. Sara Walter, acting senior deputy assistant administrator at the bureau for policy, planning and learning, said during the call that a draft local capacity strategy was now open for consultation until Jan. 31, 2022.