Faced with the “massive endeavor” of replacing its global health supply chain project with a new collection of contracts, USAID has decided to extend the current portion of the project that handles HIV commodities for an additional two years and roughly $2 billion more in funding.
USAID’s Bureau of Global Health proposed the extension late last year, requesting approval of a contract modification that will keep Chemonics International at the helm of the HIV supply chain until November 2026. Chemonics has led USAID’s global health supply chain efforts since 2016 after it was awarded a $9.5 billion contract whose design and implementation later faced criticism from Congress, independent watchdogs, and some U.S. global health officials.
The request to extend one of the largest pieces of that contract was approved in January, and the document outlining USAID’s justification for extending the contract without an open competition was published online last week.