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.
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: