USAID cancels stop-work Q&A with partners, citing stop-work order

The Trump administration’s order to stop the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development has sown widespread confusion across the sector on what partner organizations globally should do with their staff, their programming, and whether expenses incurred by their organization may or may not be considered legitimate according to opaque standards that the U.S. government is in the process of defining. Receiving these orders — and awaiting receipt of them — has left many organizations who receive funding from USAID stunned and frantic, unsure about the fate of their programs and the staff that have worked to execute them. According to documentation obtained by Devex, in at least one case, implementing partners in an African country were offered a follow-up call by USAID so that they could ask questions about what this order would mean for their work and staff, and how they could move forward. The call was set up for this week. However, USAID told the partner organizations that the meeting had been canceled because of the stop-work order and that it would be rescheduled once the order has been lifted. It’s assumed that a meeting about how organizations should navigate the stop-work order will be much less relevant to these organizations after the order has been lifted. All of this confusion comes following a 90-day pause in disbursements of foreign aid that Trump issued on his first day in office on Jan. 20. This was followed by the U.S. State Department issuing the stop-work order on Friday for existing grants and contracts and an immediate pause on new foreign aid spending. As part of the scrutiny, the State Department will develop review standards within 30 days to ensure foreign assistance is aligned with Trump’s “America First” foreign policy agenda. This will then lead to decisions on whether to continue, modify, or terminate USAID programs. Some implementing partners globally have already received orders to immediately “stop, cease, and/or suspend any work” performed under the USAID funding agreement. This includes, but is not limited to, “a contract, task order, grant, cooperative agreement, or other acquisition or assistance instrument.” They were told that “legitimate expenses” incurred before Jan. 24 under existing awards and those associated with stop-work orders, suspensions, and pauses could be waived. They were also told that the director of foreign assistance at the State Department can approve other exceptions. In fiscal year 2023, USAID’s budget was over $40 billion, with a workforce of more than 10,000 — with about two-thirds working overseas. It works with more than 4,000 organizations in over 100 countries.