Humanitarian & Aid
MONROVIA, LIBERIA—The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Ebola Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) airlifted more than 135 tons of medical equipment and supplies to Liberia as part of the Agency’s efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The cargo contained 107,000 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE)—face masks, medical gloves, protective goggles, boots, and aprons—to be distributed to healthcare workers providing care to Ebola patients.
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After numerous scandals involving its attempts to undermine governments, especially in Latin America, the self-declared “aid” organization is set to roll back its involvement in certain programs, but such roles look set to be continued by other State Department agencies.
Self-proclaimed “pro-democracy” organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development, claims it will no longer undertake covert operations in hostile countries, according to a statement by the body.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah recently traveled to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Senegal, to meet with national and local officials, aid organizations, and staff coordinating the international response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
USAID is helping to coordinate an aggressive U.S. Government response to the Ebola outbreak that leverages broad expertise and personnel from several federal departments and agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, and State, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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More than 6,000 miles from Colorado, Ebola is raging in several countries in Africa. More than 2,600 people have died and another 5,000 have been infected in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia -- countries that are ill-equipped to deal with the virus.
"This is ground zero, if you will, the country where most of the deaths have occurred," said Tim Callaghan, who is heading up the Ebola Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) with USAID, the government agency which handles international disasters.
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MONROVIA, Liberia — U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah announced nearly $142 million in humanitarian projects and grants to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Shah made the announcement after meeting with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia in the capital city of Monrovia. It was the first stop in a week-long trip for Shah to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Senegal to meet with national and local officials, aid organizations, and staff involved in the international response to the Ebola outbreak. The announcement brings total U.S. humanitarian assistance for the Ebola crisis to more than $258 million.
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West Africa faces the largest Ebola epidemic in history. Every day, in extreme heat and humidity, health care workers are performing life-saving tasks to stop the spread of the virus. They face many obstacles in providing timely care to patients—heat stress caused by Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), lengthy infection control measures that leave no room for error, and communities reluctant to seek care are just a few.
President Obama has declared it a top national security priority,
“Faced with this outbreak, the world is looking to us, the United States, and it’s a responsibility that we embrace. We’re prepared to take leadership on this to provide the kinds of capabilities that only America has, and to mobilize the world in ways that only America can do. That’s what we’re doing as we speak.”
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Host Nation Perspectives (HNP) awarded two (2) year contract for $2,863,344.59 to provide warehouse and open-air staging and property management services for the purpose of supporting USAID Afghanistan's efforts to reutilize/distribute Foreign Excess Personal Properity (FEPP) in Afghanistan.
This contract was solicited by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in May of 2014 and expected to be completed by 2016.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working to provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to the tens of thousands of innocent children, women, and men displaced by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) assault on Sinjar and surrounding areas of northern Iraq.
USAID is deploying humanitarian response experts to key locations in the region to help manage and coordinate U.S. Government support of the Government of Iraq’s humanitarian aid effort for those displaced by ISIL. On August 4, USAID authorized the UN World Food Program (WFP) to utilize for the Iraq Emergency Operation approximately 15 metric tons of USAID A-29 meal replacement bars already in country, which can meet the daily caloric requirements of 31,000 people.
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The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) just released a top-level analysis of State Department reconstruction funding in Afghanistan. SIGAR found that State has obligated nearly $4 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction between the beginning of fiscal year 2002 and March 2013, more than two-thirds of which ($2.8 billion, or 69 percent) will go to just one company—DynCorp International.
The State Department’s reconstruction effort relies extensively on contractors. Nearly 90 percent of State’s reconstruction funding—$3.5 billion—was obligated in 55 contracts awarded to 19 recipients, the largest of which is DynCorp. Readers of this blog are probably familiar with DynCorp’s colorful history in Afghanistan, which includes instances of labor smuggling, weak performance and overpayments on a base support services contract, botched construction work on an Afghan Army garrison, and lawsuits filed by disgruntled subcontractors.
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KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Afghan police working with American agents arrested an Afghan man on charges of stealing more than a half million dollars from an agricultural development fund supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The money was insured, and there was no actual loss of U.S. taxpayer funds.
Afghan National Police made the arrest on April 2 in the northern city Mazar-e-Sharif, along with agents from the USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG). The arrest followed a long-running joint investigation by Afghan law enforcement agencies, USAID OIG and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
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Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before Congress on the status of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) development assistance and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. According to the GAO, USAID has invested more than $15 billion in Afghanistan since 2002, but continues to face major oversight challenges. As an example, the GAO cited a recent Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction finding that billions of dollars in USAID direct assistance is at high risk of misuse and corruption.
“USAID continued to inconsistently apply performance management procedures, falls short in maintaining institutional knowledge, and needs to improve oversight of contractors,” the GAO testified. That last finding is of particular concern, as you’ll soon see.
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A controversial dam project in Afghanistan is now so over budget that even by the estimates of the U.S. government aid agency that continues to fund it, the cost has far surpassed its potential benefits, the top U.S. watchdog in Afghanistan said.
“This cost increase indicates that the (project) may no longer be economically viable,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko wrote in an inquiry letter to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) requesting an explanation of the causes and rationale for what he says are major cost increases in the project.
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Casals & Associates, a DynCorp International company, today announced that it has been awarded a position on a multiple award, indefinite quantity contract (IQC) to support U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) transition initiatives in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean as part of the Support Which Implements Fast Transition IV (SWIFT IV) program.
“Casals has successfully supported previous iterations of the SWIFT program over the last decade,” said George Krivo, senior vice president, DynLogistics. “We are excited to continue this important work as an implementing partner of USAID.”
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Help is on the way to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development and humanitarian relief groups. USAID provides support for natural disaster preparedness and relief by working in close partnership with the Government of the Philippines, the Red Cross, NGOs, the private sector, and the U.S. military.
The U.S. Government (USG) is providing $20 million in immediate humanitarian assistance to benefit typhoon-affected populations, including the provision of emergency shelter, food assistance, relief commodities, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) support.
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AECOM Technology Corp. has won a $110 million contract to provide the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with conflict mitigation support services for their work in South Sudan. The South Sudan Viable Support to Transition and Stability program builds on a previous initiative that AECOM launched in 2009 in aid of political and peace processes before and after South Sudan’s independence from the Republic of Sudan in 2011, AECOM.
"AECOM’s previous conflict-mitigation experience on various USAID-funded programs in the area since 2007 positions us well to make the VISTAS program a success,” said AECOM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John M. Dionisio. “We are excited by the opportunity to help create further stability for the people of South Sudan.”
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The U.S. foreign aid agency spent nearly one-quarter of its $203 million budget for promoting stability in Afghanistan without issuing a single community grant as the program was designed to do, according to a watchdog report released on Monday. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko found that the U.S. Agency for International Development spent almost $50 million of its Stability in Key Areas (SIKA) funding on workshops and training sessions instead of projects that would directly address instability in the region.
“It’s troubling that after 16 months, this program has not issued its first community grant,” Sopko said in a statement. “This looks like bad value for U.S. taxpayers and the Afghan people.”
Sarah Wines, who is USAID’s acting mission director for Afghanistan, said in a response to the report that the findings showed a “fundamental misunderstanding of SIKA’s purpose” and that the awarding of grants in and of itself is not the most important element of the program.
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Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) response to information that DOD, USAID, and the State Department supplied in response to SIGAR’s request for their 10 most- and least- successful programs and projects in Afghanistan. The letter noted difficulties in each agency’s responsiveness. SIGAR addresses DOD, DOS, and USAID:
Dear Secretary Kerry, Secretary Hagel, and Administrator Shah: On March 25, 2013, I wrote to you asking that your agencies provide SIGAR with information on what each of you considers to be the 10 most successful and 10 least successful projects or programs within your agency in the U.S. effort for reconstruction of Afghanistan, supplemented with explanations of selection and evaluation criteria for your choices. A copy of that letter is attached.
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