Report Contents
Overview
The Department of State (State) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) annually manage implementation of tens of billions of dollars in U.S. foreign assistance across the world. USAID, on average, responds to 75 crises in more than 70 countries each year, providing food, water, shelter, health care, and other critical aid to people who need it most. U.S.-funded nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and contractors (jointly known as implementers) play an important role helping implement this foreign assistance, frequently carrying out programming in some of the most challenging political, economic, and security landscapes across the globe.
But rigorous oversight of these implementers by the State and USAID Offices of Inspector Generals’ (OIG) independent oversight over the years has resulted in significant consequences for implementers found to have defrauded or abused programming involving U.S. funds. For example:
- A USAID OIG investigation of an international NGO led to a $6.9 million civil settlement under the False Claims Act involving allegations the NGO’s staff had engaged in a collusion and kickback scheme in which they submitted inflated invoices to USAID. The scheme occurred while the NGO was implementing humanitarian assistance awards to deliver aid to refugees and displaced persons affected by the conflict in Syria.
- A multiyear USAID OIG investigation led to the extradition of and 40-month U.S. prison sentence for an NGO procurement official who coordinated a collusive bidding scheme for the procurement of food and supplies intended for those displaced by the conflict in Syria. The investigation found that the procurement official provided confidential procurement information to his preferred companies in exchange for kickbacks, ensuring that they had an advantage over other bidders.
- A joint investigation by State OIG and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) led to a sentence of 1 year imprisonment, 2 years’ supervised release, and restitution of $775,000 for an NGO official convicted of submitting false invoices associated with 3 grants for construction of media centers in Afghanistan.
- Another USAID OIG investigation led to the suspension and debarment of World Health Organization staffers found to have sexually exploited patients and job applicants involved in the USAID-funded Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
These outcomes serve as deterrents that keep organizations and aid workers from engaging in misconduct in the performance of U.S.-funded awards. In turn. initiation of these investigations can be traced to long-established best practices that USAID OIG and State OIGs developed to provide independent oversight of implementers who deliver U.S.-funded foreign assistance in austere and nonpermissive environments.