Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog

 

Posts Tagged: GAO

 

New GAO Report on U.S. Food Aid and Monetization: Reforms Needed

June 24, 2011

Posted by in Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Tags: , ,

Connie Veillette

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) just issued a new report critical of how the United States manages some aspects of its international food assistance.  That U.S. food aid is not managed as efficiently as it could be will come as no surprise to anyone who has braved the world of U.S. agriculture and Farm Bill politics.  But the GAO has produced a well-researched and convincing report that should help to clarify the tradeoffs involved when policy makers subjugate an international humanitarian program to serve domestic politics purposes.

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USAID Enables Results-Based Programming by Reforming (Ho Hum) Procurement Processes

December 9, 2010

Posted by in Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Tags: , ,

Mead Over

The eyes of even the most passionate foreign aid advocate are likely to glaze if you raise the subject of “procurement reform.” But in the just-released transcript of remarks made November 12 to an audience of USAID contractors, Maura O’Neill, Chief Innovation Officer to USAID Administrator Shah, and Ari Alexander, a member of USAID’s procurement reform team, admit that USAID procurement practices have been so dysfunctional as to have caused “great difficulty” for in-country local partners.  According to Mr. Alexander:

“Historically, local partners have had great difficulty working with USAID. Our larger multimillion dollar projects exceeded their capabilities and our burden of paperwork and red tape exceeded their patience.”

Well, yes.  But then in the past this has not been viewed as a big problem, because USAID awarded multi-year, multi-million dollar “Indefinite Quantity Contracts” (IQCs) to large U.S.-based contractors and delegated to these large, competent, sophisticated enterprises the task of working with local partners.  The assumption was that the big US-based contractor would be able to fulfill all those onerous red-tape requirements and then implement programs in recipient countries through a combination of expensive itinerant international consulting teams, palatial country-based offices and sub-contracts with local partners. Read More…

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