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Angelique CrumblyAssistant Administrator for Management/Performance Improvement OfficerBureau for Management, USAID
Goal Overview
As a cornerstone of its USAID Forward reform agenda, USAID has begun a critical shift in the way we administer our assistance, placing a greater emphasis on public-private partnerships, channeling funding to local governments and organizations that have the in-country knowledge and expertise to create sustainable positive change, and expanding our partner base. USAID is also focused on streamlining the procurement process, building new partnerships, and institutionalizing our reforms.
USAID is committed to work in full partnership with local governments and organizations and tailoring its approaches accordingly. The Agency’s Local Solutions initiative will focus on the following:
- Convening partners from across local organizations with which USAID has partnered – whether these are governments, civil society, the private sector, donors, or implementing resource partners to identify development challenges;
- Connecting these stakeholders with innovative products, processes, or policies to address these challenges; and
- Contextualizing and scaling up these solutions within local systems.
In so doing, the Agency will support sustainable development results and allow cooperative and mutually accountable relationships to grow. These relationships – between USAID and partner country stakeholders, as well as among these stakeholders are critical to the development of resilient societies that can deliver results to their citizens.
The Agency collaborates with these stakeholders by investing in projects and programs in these countries through its procurement process. In 2012, USAID obligated $13.9 billion through acquisition and assistance mechanisms. Given the important role that procurement plays in enabling USAID to carry out its mission around the world, it is critical that the Agency’s acquisition and assistance processes operate efficiently and effectively to achieve our development objectives. In 2009, the average time for USAID to award a contract in originating in Washington was 513 calendar days. This delay in lead time for awarding contracts resulted in a delay in program implementation. Therefore, reducing the time it takes to make an award is a critical priority for the Agency.
Small businesses are vital to the U.S. economy and provide critical resources that contribute to the mission of USAID. By expanding opportunities for U.S. small businesses, we energize the U.S. economy and leverage a greater diversity of experience and expertise in our development objectives. U.S. small businesses make up a majority of U.S. businesses, and USAID partners with these businesses to increase innovation and provide new approaches to our programs.
Strategies
- Institutionalize procurement reforms: Institutionalize a series of procurement reforms to facilitate streamlined acquisition and assistance processes. Reducing the time to award is a shared responsibility with all technical and program offices across the Agency. Institutionalizing the reforms will help ensure that USAID will continue to utilize the streamlined processes in the future.
- Procurement metrics and standards: Implement new procurement performance standards and metrics, including reducing the time it takes to award a contract, in order to enable the organization to track performance more effectively and establish benchmarks.
- Human resource development:
- Hiring key vacancies, including enough contracting positions to effectively manage the workload.
- Establishing a mentoring program so senior contracting officers can teach and mentor junior and mid-level contracting officers. Less experienced contracting officers will learn their contracting duties more quickly and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their work, thus reducing mistakes and the time to award a contract.
- Deliver professional development and training to contracting personnel. This will equip contracting personnel with skills and understanding to more effectively meet the changing needs of the Agency and other stakeholders.
- Improve on challenges from an employee satisfaction survey to increase morale, job satisfaction, and performance.
- Local solutions/local systems: Develop new policies, training, templates, and implementation guidelines, and disseminate best practices and lessons learned to operating units around the world. USAID will deepen and broaden its partnerships with local institutions, and be more effective in tailoring efforts to specific needs of each country.
- Small business:
- Provide guidance and information to small businesses looking to work with the Agency.
- Engage a new Mission Small Business Specialist to provide guidance and serve as a liaison between USAID's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization and the missions.
- Continue to provide USAID’s “Small Business Training Program” course to contracting and technical staff in Washington and in the missions.
- Revise agency policies to clarify the use of U.S. small businesses in the field.
- Disseminate procurement best practices and lessons learned to USAID staff worldwide.
Progress Update
Overview
As part of the USAID Forward agenda and in order to achieve long-term, sustainable development, USAID collaborates with and supports government institutions, private sector partners, and civil society organizations that serve as engines of growth and progress for their own nations. USAID is also focused on streamlining the procurement process, building new partnerships, and institutionalizing the Agency’s reforms.
The Procurement Reform Agency Priority Goal (APG) supports USAID’s strategic objective to enable diplomats and development professionals to influence and operate more efficiently, effectively, and collaboratively by:
- reducing Procurement Action Lead Time (PALT),
- increasing program funding directly to local partners, and
- increasing prime contract acquisition dollars to U.S. small businesses worldwide.
Since the beginning of USAID Forward, the Agency has been actively supporting and engaging missions and regional bureaus in increasing partnerships with U.S.-based small businesses. As the majority of businesses in this country, U.S. small businesses contribute significantly to the mission of the Agency. In FY 2014 quarter four, the percent of prime contract acquisitions dollars obligated to U.S. small businesses worldwide increased to 12.2 percent, surpassing the target of 6.5 percent. Due to this success, the Agency recommended USAID increase its FY 2015 target to 10 percent from 9 percent. However, in FY 2015 quarter four, the Agency narrowly missed its FY 2015 target of 10 percent, achieving 9.3 percent of prime contract acquisition dollars obligated to U.S. small businesses worldwide. This is up from 5.9 percent from the first quarter of FY 2015. The Small Business Administration awarded USAID a grade of “A” on the Fiscal Year 2015 Small Business Procurement Scorecard. This grade is reflective of USAID’s multi-faceted strategy to promote the utilization of small businesses in USAID’s procurements. The Agency continues to focus on increasing competition and expanding the use of small business.
The availability of contractor performance assessment reports system (CPARS) allows USAID to assess contractor performance more efficiently thus helping to reduce PALT. USAID has made tremendous progress completing its CPARS, increasing from 7.8 percent in FY 2012 to 60 percent in FY 2014, to 82 percent by the end of FY 2015. However, USAID did not achieve the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) ambitious goal of 100 percent. The Agency continues to improve throughout FY 2016.
Hiring a sufficient number of contracting officers (CO) helps move awards through the procurement process more efficiently and effectively, thus reducing the number of days required to complete the awards. In FY 2015 quarter four, USAID achieved a contracting officer CO fill rate of 84.6 percent, falling short of its target of 94 percent. This is up significantly from the FY 2014 quarter four result of 79 percent.
As expected, PALT for Washington Acquisitions decreased to 456 calendar days for the FY 2015 three-year average from 517 in FY 2014. This is also an 11 percent reduction from the FY 2009 baseline of 513 calendar days.
USAID continues to support country ownership and sustainability through Local Solutions, measured in part by the percentage of program funds obligated to local entities. For this indicator, USAID increased by 1.7 percentage points from FY 2014 to FY 2015 (16.9 percent to 18.6 percent) excluding cash transfers and qualifying trust funds and by 4.7 percent (22.2 percent to 26.9 percent) including cash transfers and qualifying trust funds.
USAID was largely successful in completing its milestones in FYs 2014 and 2015: 1) Integrated data collection for the percent of mission program funds implemented through local systems with core reporting tools; 2) Further enhanced efficiency and effectiveness for the Office of Acquisition and Assistance (M/OAA); 3) Facilitated specific days for contracting staff to bring past performance reports current; 4) Streamlined the number of PALT milestones in the Agency procurement system to fewer than 20; 5) Programmed a “hard stop” in the Global Acquisition and Assistance System (GLAAS) for PALT milestones; 6) Provided 80 percent of M/OAA staff with updated procurement training; 7) Revised the acquisition and assistance templates; and 8) Established a mentoring program for M/OAA contracting professionals.
Explanation of Results
USAID continues to make significant efforts to reduce PALT. The Agency has been working to process the backlogged procurement actions that have been in the system since before USAID initiated its reforms. These efforts are beginning to pay off as the Agency reduced PALT to 456 calendar days in FY 2015. In addition to the milestones listed above, USAID has taken the following steps to promote procurement efficiency and effectiveness, helping to ensure this decrease occurs and reach its goal of the 40 percent reduction by FY 2017 (a change from the original APG), from the FY 2009 baseline of 513 calendar days:
• Developing additional procurement trainings and standard templates;
• Instituting an accountability review for complex awards;
• Hiring additional contracting personnel to effectively manage the procurement workload;
• Instituting mandatory scanning and storage of all award documentation in the Agency Secure Image and Storage Tracking system for immediate, worldwide access;
• Requiring milestone plans as part of the submissions to the Contract Review Board for awards $25 million and above; and
• Streamlining procurement planning.
Over the past three fiscal years, USAID has made substantial efforts to improve its CPARS compliance. While the Agency did not meet OMB’s ambitious target of 100 percent by the end of FY 2015, it has increased from 7.8 percent in FY 2012 to 82 percent by the last quarter of FY 2015, and continues to increase. The Agency considers past performance reporting a top priority and works closely with Agency bureaus, missions, and independent offices to achieve this goal.
In addition to promoting “Focused Engagement” days where global staff devote all of their attention to bringing their past performance reports current, and provide one-on-one technical support, the Agency took the following steps to further improve its compliance rate: 1) Provided CPARS online training, educating employees on policies and regulations, past performance reporting workflow, and system navigation; 2) Provided a CPARS workshop on writing contractor performance narratives; 3) Updated CPARS guidance; 4) Instructed Contracting Officer Representatives to keep a log of contractor performance for when an official assessment report is required, and enter these notes into CPARS on a quarterly basis; and 5) Provided monthly reports to USAID leadership to enable them to better hold staff accountable for compliance with this important mandate. The Agency continues striving to reach 100 percent compliance.
In FY 2014, USAID surpassed its target for its small business indicator, percent of prime contract acquisition dollars to small businesses, and increased its target for FY 2015 from 9 percent to 10 percent. In FY 2015, USAID's obligations to small businesses saw a two percent decrease in total dollars; however, total obligations increased by 27 percent. Due to this, in FY 2015 quarter four, USAID missed its target of obligating 10 percent of prime contract acquisition dollars to small businesses.
The Agency did not achieve its target for the CO fill rate of 94 percent by the end of FY 2015. The fill rate did, however, increase 8 percentage points from the previous quarter of 76.4 percent, the lowest rate in the cycle. This fill rate tends to fluctuate throughout the fiscal year due Foreign Service Officers transferring missions or attending language training.
Under USAID Forward, USAID set an Agency-wide target of 30 percent of program funds obligated through local systems by FY 2015. Since FY 2014, USAID has viewed this indicator as aspirational. The purpose of this revised stance was to highlight the discipline of development in determining the who, how, and why, to achieve locally owned, sustained results. This allows operating units to make their own determinations in how to best achieve sustainable results given their particular country context, resources, staffing, etc., while still focusing on working with local partners. Since 2010, USAID has increased the amount of funding to local entities from $381 million to $1.35 billion in FY 2015.
Challenges and Opportunities
Increasing the CO fill rate continues to be a challenge for USAID. The Agency continues to hire more COs to more effectively manage the workload and help reduce the amount of time it takes to make an award.
USAID is well aware of the challenges to improving its CPARS compliance, and has already enacted solutions to address them, as mentioned above. In FY 2015, USAID also provided contracting personnel with best practices to improve the compliance rate. The Agency recognizes contracting professionals that are on top of completing their CPARS. In FY 2016, USAID is focusing on increasing staff training across the Agency and institutionalizing habits that have allowed USAID a good measure of success. The Agency continues its success in increasing compliance rates.
Small business training and outreach events (both domestic and overseas) correlate to stronger performance. USAID continues to hold these events through FY 2016 such as Partner’s Day and small business conferences.
USAID continues to work to decrease PALT. In addition to the efforts mentioned above, it has created a community of practice and a PALT Management Working Group to address the challenges and opportunities. The PALT working group is producing a best practices guide to have a permanent resource of various practices that have contributed to reduction of lead times when a number of them have been adapted. The PALT working group is also working towards system enhancements to improve tracking and management of lead times.
Milestones
- FY 2014 Q1: Integrate data collection for indicator (Percent of mission program funds implemented through local systems) with Agency core reporting tools: Integrating the data collection for this indicator with the Agency core reporting tools ensures that this is a priority and that USAID will capture the data on a regular basis. USAID operating units began reporting on this indicator in Fall 2013 during its annual performance data collection exercise.
- FY 2014 Q2: Complete efficiency and effectiveness metrics for the Bureau for Management's Office of Acquisition and Assistance (M/OAA): Metrics are designed to lower PALT and increase efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement process. USAID finalized the metrics and reporting systems for M/OAA to ensure that it can accomplish its reporting now.
- FY 2014 Q3: Facilitate specific day for contracting staff to bring past performance reports current: Bringing performance reports current makes the vendor selection process more efficient, thus reducing the time to make an award. It also allows USAID to choose the top-performing contractors for future awards. USAID provided two days in May for contracting personnel to devote all of their attention to bringing past reports current.
- FY 2014 Q4: Streamline the number of PALT milestones in Agency procurement system (GLAAS) to less than 20: Reducing the number of steps required in GLAAS makes the Milestone Plan easier to complete. This will help reduce PALT, which is a top priority for the Agency. USAID streamlined the number of milestones in GLAAS for three types of awards. All have fewer than 20 milestones when PALT begins.
- FY 2014 Q4: Program a “Hard stop” in the Global Acquisition and Assistance System (GLAAS) for PALT milestones. Contracting personnel will be unable to move forward with the procurement process unless they enter PALT information in GLAAS: A "hard stop" forces contracting officers to input milestone information in GLAAS. Having this information in GLAAS for each award allows the system to be automated, increases accuracy of PALT, and reduces the need to access each memoranda of negotiation for PALT data. USAID programmed a hard stop in GLAAS that requires all awards, except for Purchase Card Orders, to have a Milestone Plan associated to them.
- FY 2015 Q1: 80 percent of M/OAA staff receive updated procurement training: Procurement continues to change and evolve. M/OAA staff must continually update their training in order to adapt to these changes. M/OAA is constantly providing and requiring updated procurement training for its staff. For example, every contracting officer and contracting officer representative are required to take 80 and 40 hours, of training in their respective procurement duty areas every two years.
- FY 2015 Q2: Revise Acquisition and Assistance templates: Similar to updating the procurement training, the Agency is updating and streamlining the acquisitions and assistance templates to adapt to procurement change. As of the end of quarter two of FY 2015, the Agency is 80 percent complete with the template revisions. Several of the templates are being reviewed by the "Tiger Team". USAID anticipates completion by the middle of quarter three.
- FY 2015 Q3: Facilitate specific day for contracting staff to bring past performance reports current: Bringing performance reports current makes the vendor selection process more efficient, thus reducing the time to make an award. It also allows USAID to choose the top-performing contractors for future awards. USAID provided a day in April for contracting personnel to devote all of their attention to bringing past reports current.
- FY 2015 Q4: Establish a mentoring program for M/OAA contracting professionals: USAID created the Acquisition and Assistance Professional Pilot Mentoring Program. It provides an opportunity of situational mentoring relationships (senior mentors advising on a specific issue, best practice, or skill) regarding matters central to the BS93 and 1102 backstops as well as, a forum for informal peer-to-peer mentoring relationships. More experienced contracting officers teach and mentor junior officers. This helps junior officers improve and refine their procurement skills, while reducing errors, and improving efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement process.
Next Steps
No Data Available
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Performance Indicators
Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT)
Mission Program Funds
Contractor Performance Assessments
U.S. Small Business
Procurement Staffing
Contributing Programs & Other Factors
Contributing programs/partners within the agency: As part of USAID’s procurement reform efforts such as USAID Forward, the Office of Acquisitions and Assistance, and the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization are engaged in making the Agency’s procurement efforts more efficient and effective. In support of this Agency Priority Goal (APG), USAID Forward aims to strengthen the Agency by embracing new partnerships, investing in the catalytic role of innovation, and demanding a relentless focus on results. One area of focus for USAID Forward is promoting sustainable development through high-impact partnerships and local solutions. USAID strives to do this through new models for public-private partnerships and increased investment directly to partner governments and local organizations.
Contributing U.S. Government programs/partners outside the agency: USAID works directly with local governments, private sector, civil society, and academia to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity. In addition to working with local partners, USAID works with U.S. small and large businesses to provide maximum practicable small business participation in USAID procurements. USAID makes the USAID Forward data publically available to promote sustainability, encouraging potential partners to use the data and assist in future efforts.
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Strategic Goals
Strategic Goal:
Modernize the Way We Do Diplomacy and Development
Statement:
Modernize the Way We Do Diplomacy and Development
Strategic Objectives
Statement:
Enable Diplomats and Development Professionals to Influence and Operate More Efficiently, Effectively, and Collaboratively
Description:
Twenty-first century diplomatic and development challenges demand innovative approaches to create transformational solutions. In an era when information is disseminated instantaneously worldwide, our ability to engage quickly and effectively with the multitude of stakeholders, customers, and audiences is a core competency for our high-performing, motivated professionals. To meet these challenges also requires a flexible, nimble and efficient support platform for our professionals who are representing the United States around the world.
President Obama announced his commitment to attaining an unprecedented level of transparency and excellence in government, which is reflected in his second-term Management Agenda. The State Department and USAID, in support of this Agenda, are spearheading new efforts to engage with the public, modernize information systems, streamline administrative processes, and ensure the prompt release of information to the public, while remaining cognizant of protecting our partners working in closed societies and other sensitive environments. Several of our initiatives involve management innovations in an environment that encourages us to continuously improve our processes and procedures. These apply evidenced-based planning; acquisition and assistance reform; enhanced information technology platforms; and procedures for the strategic allocation, alignment, and assessment of our resources. Other initiatives involve creating new approaches to diplomacy and development that embrace the power and role of individual citizens and publics as critical to achieving shared goals or for countering the influence of extremist and violent individuals and groups. In meeting all of these challenges, State and USAID are committed to ensuring that we use our resources in the most effective and focused ways possible while also adhering to U.S. government statutes and regulations and embracing the highest ethical and professional standards.
Reflecting a new model, we seek to apply the transformative power of science, technology, innovation, and partnerships to deliver more cost-effective, sustainable results. Applying technological advances is a common element of the activities directed at achieving this goal’s objective. Improving customer service and coping with a projected 40 percent increase in passport applications through a new electronic application process; furthering sustainability of USAID development investments through a diversified partner base of local organizations, U.S. small businesses, and other high-impact partnerships; introducing interactive communications platforms for engagement beyond the state and to share more information with the public through innovative technologies, and creating training opportunities to keep our professionals and their families safe and secure. These exemplify efforts where State and USAID are changing the ways that we do business.
At a time when changes in technology, demography, and political discourse are giving citizens around the world unmatched power to affect their societies and U.S. interests, the President has called upon the Department and USAID to understand and forge stronger relationships with foreign publics and emerging leaders. Modernizing diplomacy and development requires the Department and USAID’s commitment to becoming more efficient, effective, transparent, and flexible organizations and to finding innovative approaches to advance U.S. interests and enhance our national security.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
The Department of State and USAID are pursuing several courses of action to achieve this objective. They will continue to explore balanced, smart, and lean approaches to addressing joint management issues. The Joint Management Board, which was a direct result of Government Accountability Office recommendations, will continue to find ways to drive efficiency into our overseas operations and reduce operating costs. The Department and USAID will continue to adopt balanced, smart, and lean methodologies for continuously improving core business processes, including the completion of joint vouchering efficiencies by September 30, 2014. The Department and USAID will also leverage learning from each other to advance efficiency and effectiveness in their contributions to the achievement of Federal Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals.
USAID and the Department will enhance their effectiveness by implementing new technology solutions. These are geared to improving the provision of American citizens services, streamlining and simultaneously enhancing the scrutiny given visa applicants, reducing operating costs, boosting collaboration, improving security and countering extremist threats, and broadening engagement opportunities. By applying existing and new analytical tools and data sources, USAID and the Department are aiming to strengthen their staffing and operations through identifying opportunities for more cost-effective procurement processes and foreign assistance management.
Another focus of the Department’s efforts involves transitioning its engagement activities from ones which tended toward engagements that involved limited, exclusive, and direct contacts to an approach based on a culture of openness. This has resulted in the expanded use of digital communications platforms such as social media, digital video conferencing, smart phone applications, and similar means that allow the Department to reach directly to people and that open up its public engagement to all who are interested, not just the limited audience that can be invited to attend our events in person.
Innovations at USAID make it possible to deliver results on a larger scale while simultaneously pursuing more strategic, focused, sustainable, and results-oriented approaches that maximize the impact of our development dollars. Evidence-based planning and increased operational efficiency and effectiveness are among the factors accounting for the impressive improvements in performance and results.
USAID is also promoting sustainable development through building high-impact partnerships. USAID is collaborating with and directly supporting host governments, the private sector, civil society, and academia, all of which serve as engines of growth and progress for their own nations. USAID is using, strengthening, and rendering accountable local partners so they can sustain their own development. These and other efforts have made it possible to identify and scale up innovative, breakthrough solutions to hitherto intractable development challenges. For USAID, the power of science, technology, innovation, and partnerships are all being applied to the goal of delivering more effective, cost-efficient results for sustainable global development.
Agency Priority Goals
Statement:
Through September 30, 2015, maintain a 99% rate of all passport applications processed within the targeted timeframe and ensure 80% of nonimmigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of the date of application.
Description:
The mission of the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is to provide consular operations that most efficiently and effectively protect U.S. citizens, ensure U.S. security, facilitate the entry of legitimate travelers, and foster economic growth. Two core functions of this mission are the provision of passports and visas. Demand for passport and visa documents is inherently unpredictable in the long term, and this variability can greatly affect workload planning efforts. This is true especially with regard to the current Congressional discussion surrounding comprehensive immigration reform and the potential challenges the Department would face in implementing any reform legislation. While the proposed reforms would have a major impact on consular operations and workload, CA will work closely with Congress, the Administration, and its interagency partners to be sure it has the human and financial resources to implement any changes to U.S. law efficiently and effectively.
Domestically, the Department supports a significant presence across the country to respond to the consular service needs of the U.S. public. Most notably, this presence consists of 28 passport agencies and centers and a network of more than 8,441 public offices managed by other federal, state, and local government agencies/offices that are designated to accept passport applications. The number of valid passports in circulation has doubled in the past decade. Approximately 114 million U.S. citizens, or 37 percent of the population, have valid passports. In FY 2013, CA issued 13.5 million passport book and card products, a 3.1 percent increase over FY 2012. A potential impending surge in passport renewal applications represents a rising challenge to the achievement of this performance goal. Based on analysis of renewal application trends, passport renewal rates are expected to increase significantly from previous years, beginning in FY 2017.
With Executive Order 13597 issued in January 2012, CA needed to increase its visa processing capacity in Brazil and China by 40 percent and ensure that 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa (NIV) applicants worldwide are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of an application. In FY 2013, CA processed 10.7 million nonimmigrant visa applications and issued 9.2 million nonimmigrant visas, a 3.6 percent increase over the previous year, while working through extraordinary increases in visa demand in key markets such as a nearly 38 percent increase in Colombia. Currently, more than 80 percent of applicants worldwide, on average, are interviewed within three weeks of submitting their applications, a significant change over the 70% in early FY 2012.
Providing Excellence in Consular Service Delivery provides additional benefits toward the achievement of the Department’s goals. The Department’s efforts facilitate the travel of 67 million visitors to the United States each year, who, according to the Department of Commerce’s 2012 United States Travel and Tourism Statistics, spent $166 billion, an average of $2,478 per visitor. An estimated 1.2 million jobs in the United States are supported annually by international travel. In addition to the economic benefits, the visa issuance process is the front-line of ensuring U.S. security through the visa interview process, which can eliminate applicants desiring to travel to the U.S. for illegitimate purposes.
Statement:
By September 30, 2015, USAID will reduce procurement administrative lead time (PALT) by 40 percent from the 2009 baseline of 513 calendar days, increase percentage of program funding going directly to local partners to 30 percent, and meet or exceed the prime contract acquisition dollars obligated to U.S. small businesses worldwide by 10 percent from the FY 2013 baseline of 8.2 percent.
Description:
As a cornerstone of its USAID Forward reform agenda, USAID has begun a critical shift in the way we administer our assistance, placing a greater emphasis on public-private partnerships, channeling funding to local governments and organizations that have the in-country knowledge and expertise to create sustainable positive change, and expanding our partner base. USAID is also focused on streamlining the procurement process, building new partnerships, and institutionalizing our reforms.
USAID is committed to work in full partnership with local governments and organizations and tailoring its approaches accordingly. The Agency’s Local Solutions initiative will focus on the following:
- Convening partners from across local organizations with which USAID has partnered – whether these are governments, civil society, the private sector, donors, or implementing resource partners to identify development challenges;
- Connecting these stakeholders with innovative products, processes, or policies to address these challenges; and
- Contextualizing and scaling up these solutions within local systems.
In so doing, the Agency will support sustainable development results and allow cooperative and mutually accountable relationships to grow. These relationships – between USAID and partner country stakeholders, as well as among these stakeholders are critical to the development of resilient societies that can deliver results to their citizens.
The Agency collaborates with these stakeholders by investing in projects and programs in these countries through its procurement process. In 2012, USAID obligated $13.9 billion through acquisition and assistance mechanisms. Given the important role that procurement plays in enabling USAID to carry out its mission around the world, it is critical that the Agency’s acquisition and assistance processes operate efficiently and effectively to achieve our development objectives. In 2009, the average time for USAID to award a contract in originating in Washington was 513 calendar days. This delay in lead time for awarding contracts resulted in a delay in program implementation. Therefore, reducing the time it takes to make an award is a critical priority for the Agency.
Small businesses are vital to the U.S. economy and provide critical resources that contribute to the mission of USAID. By expanding opportunities for U.S. small businesses, we energize the U.S. economy and leverage a greater diversity of experience and expertise in our development objectives. U.S. small businesses make up a majority of U.S. businesses, and USAID partners with these businesses to increase innovation and provide new approaches to our programs.
Strategic Objectives
Strategic Objective:
Statement:
Enable Diplomats and Development Professionals to Influence and Operate More Efficiently, Effectively, and Collaboratively
Description:
Twenty-first century diplomatic and development challenges demand innovative approaches to create transformational solutions. In an era when information is disseminated instantaneously worldwide, our ability to engage quickly and effectively with the multitude of stakeholders, customers, and audiences is a core competency for our high-performing, motivated professionals. To meet these challenges also requires a flexible, nimble and efficient support platform for our professionals who are representing the United States around the world.
President Obama announced his commitment to attaining an unprecedented level of transparency and excellence in government, which is reflected in his second-term Management Agenda. The State Department and USAID, in support of this Agenda, are spearheading new efforts to engage with the public, modernize information systems, streamline administrative processes, and ensure the prompt release of information to the public, while remaining cognizant of protecting our partners working in closed societies and other sensitive environments. Several of our initiatives involve management innovations in an environment that encourages us to continuously improve our processes and procedures. These apply evidenced-based planning; acquisition and assistance reform; enhanced information technology platforms; and procedures for the strategic allocation, alignment, and assessment of our resources. Other initiatives involve creating new approaches to diplomacy and development that embrace the power and role of individual citizens and publics as critical to achieving shared goals or for countering the influence of extremist and violent individuals and groups. In meeting all of these challenges, State and USAID are committed to ensuring that we use our resources in the most effective and focused ways possible while also adhering to U.S. government statutes and regulations and embracing the highest ethical and professional standards.
Reflecting a new model, we seek to apply the transformative power of science, technology, innovation, and partnerships to deliver more cost-effective, sustainable results. Applying technological advances is a common element of the activities directed at achieving this goal’s objective. Improving customer service and coping with a projected 40 percent increase in passport applications through a new electronic application process; furthering sustainability of USAID development investments through a diversified partner base of local organizations, U.S. small businesses, and other high-impact partnerships; introducing interactive communications platforms for engagement beyond the state and to share more information with the public through innovative technologies, and creating training opportunities to keep our professionals and their families safe and secure. These exemplify efforts where State and USAID are changing the ways that we do business.
At a time when changes in technology, demography, and political discourse are giving citizens around the world unmatched power to affect their societies and U.S. interests, the President has called upon the Department and USAID to understand and forge stronger relationships with foreign publics and emerging leaders. Modernizing diplomacy and development requires the Department and USAID’s commitment to becoming more efficient, effective, transparent, and flexible organizations and to finding innovative approaches to advance U.S. interests and enhance our national security.
Strategies for Achieving the Objective
The Department of State and USAID are pursuing several courses of action to achieve this objective. They will continue to explore balanced, smart, and lean approaches to addressing joint management issues. The Joint Management Board, which was a direct result of Government Accountability Office recommendations, will continue to find ways to drive efficiency into our overseas operations and reduce operating costs. The Department and USAID will continue to adopt balanced, smart, and lean methodologies for continuously improving core business processes, including the completion of joint vouchering efficiencies by September 30, 2014. The Department and USAID will also leverage learning from each other to advance efficiency and effectiveness in their contributions to the achievement of Federal Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals.
USAID and the Department will enhance their effectiveness by implementing new technology solutions. These are geared to improving the provision of American citizens services, streamlining and simultaneously enhancing the scrutiny given visa applicants, reducing operating costs, boosting collaboration, improving security and countering extremist threats, and broadening engagement opportunities. By applying existing and new analytical tools and data sources, USAID and the Department are aiming to strengthen their staffing and operations through identifying opportunities for more cost-effective procurement processes and foreign assistance management.
Another focus of the Department’s efforts involves transitioning its engagement activities from ones which tended toward engagements that involved limited, exclusive, and direct contacts to an approach based on a culture of openness. This has resulted in the expanded use of digital communications platforms such as social media, digital video conferencing, smart phone applications, and similar means that allow the Department to reach directly to people and that open up its public engagement to all who are interested, not just the limited audience that can be invited to attend our events in person.
Innovations at USAID make it possible to deliver results on a larger scale while simultaneously pursuing more strategic, focused, sustainable, and results-oriented approaches that maximize the impact of our development dollars. Evidence-based planning and increased operational efficiency and effectiveness are among the factors accounting for the impressive improvements in performance and results.
USAID is also promoting sustainable development through building high-impact partnerships. USAID is collaborating with and directly supporting host governments, the private sector, civil society, and academia, all of which serve as engines of growth and progress for their own nations. USAID is using, strengthening, and rendering accountable local partners so they can sustain their own development. These and other efforts have made it possible to identify and scale up innovative, breakthrough solutions to hitherto intractable development challenges. For USAID, the power of science, technology, innovation, and partnerships are all being applied to the goal of delivering more effective, cost-efficient results for sustainable global development.
Agency Priority Goals
Statement: Through September 30, 2015, maintain a 99% rate of all passport applications processed within the targeted timeframe and ensure 80% of nonimmigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of the date of application.
Description: The mission of the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is to provide consular operations that most efficiently and effectively protect U.S. citizens, ensure U.S. security, facilitate the entry of legitimate travelers, and foster economic growth. Two core functions of this mission are the provision of passports and visas. Demand for passport and visa documents is inherently unpredictable in the long term, and this variability can greatly affect workload planning efforts. This is true especially with regard to the current Congressional discussion surrounding comprehensive immigration reform and the potential challenges the Department would face in implementing any reform legislation. While the proposed reforms would have a major impact on consular operations and workload, CA will work closely with Congress, the Administration, and its interagency partners to be sure it has the human and financial resources to implement any changes to U.S. law efficiently and effectively. Domestically, the Department supports a significant presence across the country to respond to the consular service needs of the U.S. public. Most notably, this presence consists of 28 passport agencies and centers and a network of more than 8,441 public offices managed by other federal, state, and local government agencies/offices that are designated to accept passport applications. The number of valid passports in circulation has doubled in the past decade. Approximately 114 million U.S. citizens, or 37 percent of the population, have valid passports. In FY 2013, CA issued 13.5 million passport book and card products, a 3.1 percent increase over FY 2012. A potential impending surge in passport renewal applications represents a rising challenge to the achievement of this performance goal. Based on analysis of renewal application trends, passport renewal rates are expected to increase significantly from previous years, beginning in FY 2017. With Executive Order 13597 issued in January 2012, CA needed to increase its visa processing capacity in Brazil and China by 40 percent and ensure that 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa (NIV) applicants worldwide are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of an application. In FY 2013, CA processed 10.7 million nonimmigrant visa applications and issued 9.2 million nonimmigrant visas, a 3.6 percent increase over the previous year, while working through extraordinary increases in visa demand in key markets such as a nearly 38 percent increase in Colombia. Currently, more than 80 percent of applicants worldwide, on average, are interviewed within three weeks of submitting their applications, a significant change over the 70% in early FY 2012. Providing Excellence in Consular Service Delivery provides additional benefits toward the achievement of the Department’s goals. The Department’s efforts facilitate the travel of 67 million visitors to the United States each year, who, according to the Department of Commerce’s 2012 United States Travel and Tourism Statistics, spent $166 billion, an average of $2,478 per visitor. An estimated 1.2 million jobs in the United States are supported annually by international travel. In addition to the economic benefits, the visa issuance process is the front-line of ensuring U.S. security through the visa interview process, which can eliminate applicants desiring to travel to the U.S. for illegitimate purposes.
Statement: By September 30, 2015, USAID will reduce procurement administrative lead time (PALT) by 40 percent from the 2009 baseline of 513 calendar days, increase percentage of program funding going directly to local partners to 30 percent, and meet or exceed the prime contract acquisition dollars obligated to U.S. small businesses worldwide by 10 percent from the FY 2013 baseline of 8.2 percent.
Description: As a cornerstone of its USAID Forward reform agenda, USAID has begun a critical shift in the way we administer our assistance, placing a greater emphasis on public-private partnerships, channeling funding to local governments and organizations that have the in-country knowledge and expertise to create sustainable positive change, and expanding our partner base. USAID is also focused on streamlining the procurement process, building new partnerships, and institutionalizing our reforms. USAID is committed to work in full partnership with local governments and organizations and tailoring its approaches accordingly. The Agency’s Local Solutions initiative will focus on the following: In so doing, the Agency will support sustainable development results and allow cooperative and mutually accountable relationships to grow. These relationships – between USAID and partner country stakeholders, as well as among these stakeholders are critical to the development of resilient societies that can deliver results to their citizens. The Agency collaborates with these stakeholders by investing in projects and programs in these countries through its procurement process. In 2012, USAID obligated $13.9 billion through acquisition and assistance mechanisms. Given the important role that procurement plays in enabling USAID to carry out its mission around the world, it is critical that the Agency’s acquisition and assistance processes operate efficiently and effectively to achieve our development objectives. In 2009, the average time for USAID to award a contract in originating in Washington was 513 calendar days. This delay in lead time for awarding contracts resulted in a delay in program implementation. Therefore, reducing the time it takes to make an award is a critical priority for the Agency. Small businesses are vital to the U.S. economy and provide critical resources that contribute to the mission of USAID. By expanding opportunities for U.S. small businesses, we energize the U.S. economy and leverage a greater diversity of experience and expertise in our development objectives. U.S. small businesses make up a majority of U.S. businesses, and USAID partners with these businesses to increase innovation and provide new approaches to our programs.
