CANBERRA — The U.S. government shutdown earlier this year impacted timelines and schedules of business opportunities, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development in its second quarter business forecast call on March 21. In building back to business as usual, it is prioritizing “the most immediate needs.”
“There is clearly robust activities going forward since that time, and we expect continual increases to workload and updating opportunities,” USAID explained in its Q&A document. “In addition to prioritizing immediate funding needs and administrative approvals, there has been a good number of upcoming competitive actions moving through the SOAR [“Senior Obligation Alignment Review”] review process over the last several weeks,” the Q&A document continued. Formerly known as the “Acquisition and Assistance, Review and Approval Document,” SOAR provides the guidelines and approval process for planned awards at or above $25 million in total estimated cost.
The impact of the activity has seen an increase in business opportunities forecast this quarter. A total of 89 opportunities are listed as new opportunities not previously forecast, up from 68 last quarter and 83 in Q2 2018.