USG Contracts Guru

One of the first acts by the second Trump administration was the complete gutting of the US Agency for International Development, a workforce of more than 10,000 people that had administered humanitarian aid and public health support to nations around the world since 1961. Thousands of jobs were immediately slashed by Elon Musk’s para-governmental Department … [Read more…]

Depositions offer insight into what Elon Musk’s group was up to. Members describe a club-like atmosphere in which they pushed for grant and contract cancellations across the government with little oversight. Members of the U.S. DOGE Service spoke regularly over Signal, the encrypted chat service that can auto-delete messages. They were informally recruited by people … [Read more…]

Zimbabwe and Zambia have pushed back against ‘lopsided’ agreements after US asks for health data and minerals. In late 2025 after the United States shocked the world by suspending global health aid and experts said it would lead to 700,000 more deaths, mostly of children, each year, Washington began proposing unusual bilateral health agreements to … [Read more…]

(Bloomberg) — The Pentagon intends to accelerate AI-enabled decision-making and put it at the heart of its ambition to link up sensors and shooters for combat operations, according to a policy memo seen by Bloomberg. Establishing Palantir Technologies Inc.’s Maven Smart System as a so-called program of record “will provide the stable funding and resourcing … [Read more…]

GSA has retired eSRS.gov and moved subcontracting plan reporting to SAM.gov as part of its ongoing modernization effort. The new capability incorporates statutory and regulatory requirements, including the Small Business Act and the upcoming FAR overhaul, while leveraging SAM.gov entity and contract data to streamline reporting. Active eSRS users were transitioned to SAM.gov. For guidance … [Read more…]

Feb 26 – Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States have agreed a $1.2 billion strategic health partnership, the two governments said in a joint statement on Thursday. The partnership covers the period of 2026-2031, the statement said. It includes $900 million in targeted U.S. government assistance and $300 million in “progressively increased domestic … [Read more…]

The cuts in US foreign aid have probably caused hundreds of thousands of people to die. My colleagues Justin Sandefur and Charles Kenny estimated between 500,000 and 1,000,000 in 2025 alone. But so far these estimates have been projections based on logic and historical patterns. Real-time data on what is actually going on has been … [Read more…]

Chrystina Russell flew from Burundi to tell us what nonprofit leaders need to hear right now: how Village Health Works absorbed a $1.4 million USAID funding gap — and didn’t blink. MORE

The State Department will let lifesaving projects expire because “there is no strong nexus between the humanitarian response and U.S. national interests,” according to an internal email. A year after the Trump administration began the dismantlement of USAID, it is initiating a new round of significant cuts to foreign assistance. This time, programs that survived … [Read more…]

Zimbabwe has rejected a R5.8 billion US health funding agreement, a decision that could impact HIV programmes. Zimbabwe has turned down a proposed United States health funding agreement worth $367 million (R5.8 billion) over five years. Details of the decision emerged after a government memo from December was leaked. The document revealed that President Emmerson … [Read more…]