USAID Acquisition and Assistance: Challenges Remain in Developing and Implementing a Strategic Workforce Plan

Agency for International Development (USAID) has shifted from conducting its own activities to managing acquisition and assistance (A&A) instruments, which are contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements awarded to implementing organizations. From fiscal years 2002 through 2008, USAID's A&A obligations increased from about $5 billion to about $11 billion. A&A staff, including contracting officers (COs) and A&A specialists, are primarily responsible for managing A&A instruments. USAID lacks the capacity to develop and implement a strategic A&A workforce plan due to missing two essential elements: sufficiently reliable and up-to-date data on its overseas A&A staff levels and comprehensive information on the competencies of its overseas A&A staff. Data on the numbers of overseas A&A specialists collected by two USAID offices were unreliable or out of date. USAID has not collected comprehensive competency information on its overseas A&A specialists. This lack of data hinders the agency's ability to match staff levels to changing workloads, resulting in imbalances at some missions. The numbers and competencies of A&A staff do not match A&A workloads at some missions. For example, officials at the mission in Mali reported delayed time-sensitive projects due to the unavailability of key A&A staff, while officials at the mission in Peru stated that the current number of A&A staff may be more than adequate. In a survey administered to USAID A&A staff, most respondents overseas reported difficulty in altering staffing patterns to meet A&A workloads. USAID has not implemented an evaluation mechanism to provide oversight of its A&A function. The Evaluation Division in the Office of Acquisition and Assistance is responsible for providing this oversight, but it lacks the staff level needed to fully implement the evaluation mechanism. The division has increased its staff levels from 4 staff in fiscal year 2008 to 9 staff as of April 2009, but USAID officials stated that the division has not implemented the evaluation mechanism due to other priorities. USAID's efforts to address its A&A workforce issues do not constitute a strategic A&A workforce plan that takes into account the entire A&A workforce. Without accurate and reliable A&A staff data, USAID does not have adequate information to address current workload imbalances. The agency's inability to develop and implement a strategic A&A workforce plan hinders its ability to manage its A&A function effectively, which is critical to providing reasonable assurance that funds provided are used in accordance with applicable regulations and policies and sound business practices.