USAID says solving 'staffing crisis' key to implementing new strategy

Now that USAID has launched its new acquisition and assistance strategy, the agency’s leaders are focused on the next challenge — how to implement it. A key element will involve addressing a shortage of contracting officers that officials say has reached crisis levels. The focus on the new strategy was evident during the agency’s latest business forecast gathering. USAID had already released funding data for the coming year announcing opportunities worth $29 billion — slightly more than was in the previous year’s pipeline. So, officials spent a considerable amount of time focused on what the A&A strategy plans to do and how they will execute on its promises. The strategy — which governs about 85% of how the agency spends its funding — has been received well in development circles. But the aid community has also made it clear that the hard part comes next — how the strategy is implemented. During the forecast call, officials talked about how the agency plans to go on a listening tour to get feedback from the development community and pledged to incorporate their feedback into the implementation plan that the agency released alongside the new A&A strategy. “This implementation plan is evolving,” Deputy Assistant Administrator Mark Walther said during the call. “We are accepting input and feedback from colleagues across the agency and in the partner community on a rolling basis.” The agency laid out a list of questions around localization, how it can work to remove barriers for new partners, and whether there were any areas that the new plan may create unintended consequences that it said it will focus on during its feedback tour. “This is just the beginning of implementation,” Walther said. Walther also discussed the key component of the new A&A strategy — USAID’s workforce. The agency has taken steps to deal with the issue by launching a study that will help it better understand how its missions and divisions are working, he said. “If we want to achieve the agency’s localization goals, goals around diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, we have to deal with our staffing crisis,” he said. More private sector USAID has made it clear that it wants to make its work with the private sector be more than just “one-offs.” Businesses and investors bring resources, technology, and expertise to drive long-term economic growth in emerging markets and are a key partner in helping USAID deliver on its development agenda, said Mandeep Jangi, the agency’s managing director for its private sector engagement team. Jangi stressed that the businesses he was referring to are not private sector implementing partners of USAID. He was referring “to the private sector in terms of businesses, investors and business networks, who are engaging with USAID to address commercial opportunities in our partner nations. Opportunities such as improving market access, product service innovation, supply chain resiliency, workforce development.” USAID is actively working with more than 700 private sector entities across its missions around the world. But Jangi acknowledged that it has not been easy for the private sector to work with the agency. “There are institutional, operational and cultural barriers that prevent our USAID staff in our missions from engaging the private sector at scale. And this needs to be addressed,” he said. One way the agency will look to address this challenge, Jangi said, is by creating a workforce that sees the value of incorporating the private sector as a core way the agency does business. “Our partners will be able to influence how development programs are created and how they evolve over time,” he said. The agency is engaged in systemic reforms that he said will make it easier for the private sector to work with USAID. “These systems and processes will help partners get to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ without the additional wasted time and effort,” he said. Small business funding The agency had set a goal to unlock 13.25% of its funding obligations for 2023 to small businesses in the financial year to September 2023. On Thursday, Kimberly Ball, the director of the office of small and disadvantaged businesses, said that thus far the agency has obligated nearly 9%, about $192 million, to American small businesses. “This is consistent with our accomplishments in the second quarter in previous years — although slightly lower than last year,” she said. The agency said it has continued to take steps to encourage new partners through its WorkwithUSAID.org. Since the platform went live in November 2021, almost 4,000 entities have registered with 80% new to USAID while 60% are local partners. “Our team will be working on additional new tools and features for the platform, including the translation of the pages into multiple languages to increase accessibility for non-English speakers,” said Matthew Johnson, the agency’s industry liaison.