Calendar of Events | PSC Website

CIDC Now

February 8, 2024

USAID’s new Procurement Executive Jami Rodgers brings decades of federal contracting experience with him as he assumes his new role – in an agency where he worked from 2012-18. Coming most recently from NASA, he also has years of experience at the Department of Energy and the EPA. Jami will be our speaker on February 15 at our monthly CIDC meeting.

Thanks to all who participated in our Doing Business with the Asian Development Bank event earlier this week. The ADB’s North American Deputy Director, Alain Borghijs, presented us with an excellent overview of the bank’s funding structure, business forecast and application process. You can find his slides here and a recording of the presentation here.

As noted last month, PSC responds to a lot of Federal Regulations, and 2023 was no different. Thanks to member input and hard work in-house, we submitted 34 sets of written comments in 2023. Be sure you’re signed up for the PSC Daily e-newsletter, where our Annual Report will be released soon! You’ll get an inside glimpse of our activities and a reminder of how we serve our members and the role our members play in guiding and engaging with PSC. 

Speaking of looking back, a picture from our February 2020 CIDC on the Hill – just weeks before COVID hit – popped up on my phone (see below). This year we will be returning to the Rayburn Foyer for our annual event, on Wednesday, April 17. We are working busily with members and staff from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance to make this another successful endeavor. Please click here to reserve your table now. We will also be releasing our CIDC Compendium that same day – be sure to get your company’s story included in “American Development Companies: Addressing the Needs of a World in Crisis” which we will highlight on DEVEX and via microtargeting around Capitol Hill that week as well. Please have your Comms Team join PSC’s VP of Marketing, Cassie Katz, and me on the heels of our monthly meeting at 1pm on Thursday, February 15 to discuss marketing details of the Compendium and layout for our Hill event. Register for the meeting here.

Our “From the Field” stories this month highlight the impact of Q2Impact (formerly QED) and their work in Turkmenistan supporting women community leaders and how URC successfully works in Mali improving child and maternal health through better nutrition access.

Please contact me to help us get the word out about the great work CIDC members are doing to make the world a better place.

Paul Foldi
Vice President, International Development Affairs

Next Up 

When:

Thursday, Friday 15; from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

Speaker:

Jami Rodgers

USAID

Senior Procurement Executive, Chief Acquisition Officer, and Director for the Office of Acquisition and Assistance

Where:

Hybrid – In Person at the PSC Offices in Arlington, VA or Virtual 

Click here to register

From the Field

USAID and Q2 Impact Governance Support Program and Women’s Union of Turkmenistan convene.

Q2 Impact – Empowering Women in Turkmenistan

By Governance Support Program

In countries like Turkmenistan, empowering women decision makers and leadership is a key change factor for enriching society through enhanced governance innovation and solutions. The support Q2 Impact provides to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Governance Support Program (GSP) is a prime example of influencing better leadership. Especially for women. 

Members of the nutrition support group of Kafela village conduct a nutritional demonstration session. 
Photo credit: USAID Keneya Nieta Activity/URC

URC: Reducing Malnutrition and Increasing Access to Health Care in Mali

Acute malnutrition in children under five years was a significant issue in the Sikasso region in southern Mali in 2018.   In response, the technical director of the Mamissa Health Center – a facility created through the support of 14 villages in the Bougouni health district – partnered with Community Health Association executives to help the villages set up their nutrition support groups. These groups screen children for acute malnutrition, facilitate community treatment of moderate cases, and refer serious cases to a community health center.

PSC Matters

David Berteau: White House Bypasses the Rules on Rulemaking

On Tuesday, February 6, PSC President & CEO spoke with Federal News Radio’s Tom Temin, host of FNR’s long-running Federal Drive program. He noted that contractors are questioning how the White House (as part of OFPP’s January 25 guidance memo Increasing Small Business Participation on Multiple-Award Contracts) could ask for compliance with a procurement rule that is not even formally proposed yet.

Member Data Call: Comments on Pay Equity and Transparency

PSC's HR and Labor Policy Committee will host a meeting to collect member input and inform its comments on the Office of Federal Procurement Policy's Proposed Rule: Pay Equity and Transparency in Federal Contracting, a rule that would prohibit contractors and subcontractors from seeking and considering information about job applicants' compensation history when making employment decisions for certain positions. 

February 21, 2024 | 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Virtual | Register 

PSC Submits Comments on Cyber Threat and Incident Reporting and Information Sharing

On February 2, 2024, PSC submitted comments to the FAR Council regarding “Cyber Threat and Incident Reporting and Information Sharing” (FAR Case 2021-017). Comments included the application of this rule to cloud service providers, definitional revisions / changes within the proposed rule, security incident reporting and harmonization, and feedback and industry recommendations on Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) requirements. You can access PSC’s comments here.  

PSC Comments on Standardizing Cybersecurity Requirements for Unclassified Federal Information Systems

On February 2, 2024, PSC submitted comments to the FAR Council regarding “Standardizing Cybersecurity Requirements for Unclassified Federal Information Systems” (FAR Case 2021-019). Comments included changes / revisions to several definitions and references, including Federal Information Systems; member feedback on indemnification and liabilities; and multi-factor authentication. You can access PSC’s comments here. 

USAID Matters

Happy Birthday Water for the World

Nearly 100 partners attended USAID’s Town Hall event to kick off the 10th anniversary of the 2014 Water for the World Act. The event featured Nancy Eslick, USAID Global Water Coordinator and Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security; Sangita Patel, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Global Health; Jamille Bigio, Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment; Katie Donohoe, Acting-Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Africa. You can see a video of their conversation here.

Member News

Appointments

Anna Slother has been promoted to President of Chemonics U.S. Government Operations.

DAI has appointed Tine Knott to the newly created position of EVP for Strategy and Global Operations; she previously served as SVP, U.S. Government Business, succeeding her in that role is Sarah Helmstadter.

ECS appointed Ryan Garner as their new CFO.

Udunopa Abalu has recently joined the Executive Committee of the International Development Group, LLC (IDG), as the Director of New Business. 

Publications

Chemonics published a report, How Local Partners are “Meeting the Moment”.

DAI recently published the following report, Localizing Digital Public Goods.

Lisa Viscidi of Deloitte co-authored a report with the Department of State 'Advancing Prosperity and Tackling Climate Change in Central America.’

USAID recently published a Case Study on ECODIT environment work in Cambodia.

Encompass CEO Tessie Catsambas co-authored a book, Evaluation Management: How to Commission and Conduct Evaluations That Matter.