In a written response to questions from a U.S. lawmaker, the U.S. Agency for International Development downplayed the findings of a recent investigation by Devex and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism into problems with the $9.5 billion project led by U.S. contractor Chemonics International to strengthen global health supply chains.
“Most of the issues raised in the referenced Devex article refer to the performance during the start-up period of the Global Health Supply Chain-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) contract from 2016 to 2018—not corruption, overbilling, fraud, waste, and abuse,” wrote USAID Assistant Administrator Atul Gawande, who leads the agency’s Bureau for Global Health, which oversees the project.
The article by Devex and TBIJ, published in November, uncovered significant concerns within USAID about the project’s design and implementation, changes to reporting requirements that make its performance difficult to assess, and doubts about its efforts to improve supply chains in the countries where it operates. While the project’s most severe performance challenges occurred during its first years of implementation, the investigation uncovered additional concerns about effectiveness and oversight that have persisted.