This move at USAID is part of an overall effort via OMB’s Acquisition and Contracting Improvement Plan and Pilotsthat seeks to cut costs, reduce high risk contracts and identify government agencies that may be over-reliant on contractors. It also follows a GAO report that focuses on DoD, State and USAID use of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. OMB Watch has a good summary of that report here.
I have written before (see post here) about USAID’s over-reliance on contractors and Allison Stanger’s excellent book, “One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy.” Not all contracts or contractors are bad – but finding the right mix of public and private is an ongoing challenge for the Obama Administration. These moves at USAID are a step in the right direction.
Author
James Ketterer
James Ketterer is Dean of International Studies at Bard College and Director of the Bard Globalization and International Affairs program. He previously served as Egypt Country Director for AMIDEAST, based in Cairo and before that as Vice Chancellor for Policy & Planning and Deputy Provost at the State University of New York (SUNY). In 2007-2008 he served on the staff of the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education. He previously served as Director of the SUNY Center for International Development.
Ketterer has extensive experience in technical assistance for democratization projects, international education, legislative development, elections, and policy analysis – with a focus on Africa and the Middle East. He has won and overseen projects funded by USAID, the Department for International Development (UK), the World Bank and the US State Department. He served on the National Security Council staff at the White House, as a policy analyst at the New York State Senate, a project officer with the Center for Legislative Development at the University at Albany, and as an international election specialist for the United Nations, the African-American Institute, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is currently a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Association and has also held teaching positions in international politics at the New School for Social Research, Bard College, State University of New York at New Paltz, the University at Albany, Russell Sage College, and the College of Saint Rose.
Ketterer has lectured and written extensively on various issues for publications including the Washington Post, Middle East Report, the Washington Times, the Albany Times Union, and the Journal of Legislative Studies. He was a Boren National Security Educational Program Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and in Morocco, an International Graduate Rotary Scholar at the Bourguiba School of Languages in Tunisia, and studied Arabic at the King Fahd Advanced School of Translation in Morocco. He received his education at Johns Hopkins University, New York University and Fordham University.
Areas of focus: Public Diplomacy; Middle East; Africa; US Foreign Policy
