Ep 26: USAID Contracting: What’s Next?

The Aid Market Podcast

Jami Rodgers, Senior Procurement Executive, Chief Acquisition Officer, and Director for USAID Management Bureau’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance joins Mike Shanley to discuss his new role with USAID. Jami talks about the incredible work that his team has done and how they are adapting to change. Jami discusses the strategies and ideas that he plans to implement with his team that he gained from working with other parts of the government such as NASA. Jami explains how AI can benefit the work that his team does, as well as what they need to lookout for. Jami then describes what the localization initiative looks like with the office of Acquisition and Assistance. Tune in to learn more about why partnership is key to the success of this team.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [1:46] What does Jami see as the current state of contracting Acquisition and Assistance at USAID?

• [6:25] What is feasible for the team to accomplish over the next couple of years?

• [8:47] Which strategies and ideas is Jami bringing back to USAID from other experiences working in the government fields?

• [15:35] What were the 5 steps that NASA used when looking into an acquisition challenge?

• [18:24] How can innovation and rethinking the relationship with risk tolerance be implemented?

• [20:38] Where does Jami look outside of the government for inspiration or innovation for the procurement process?

• [23:03] How does Jami see AI affecting procurement?

• [31:27] What does the localization initiative look like with the Office of Acquisition and Assistance?

• [35:05] Jami shares about a co-creation workshop that was used to implement a successful localization.

• [36:54] How does Jami look at the new partnerships initiative?

• [39:01] What’s the best way to share ideas with Jami’s team?

• [42:52] What is Jami prioritizing through the end of this fiscal year?

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• One way to reduce risk is by not being overly reliant on the same partners over and over and diversifying the partner base.

• AI can be useful to free up employees from routine and route tasks to higher value work where they can focus on contract administration challenges or getting more partner or site visits, tasks that have more meaning.

• USAID doesn’t do the work alone. They need players from all over to make an impact. The global challenges are going to require diversity of humanity to solve them.

QUOTES:

• [14:02] “The whole purpose of the NAIL was to empower that culture of innovation and reinforce the idea that anyone, anywhere, can be an innovation champion to promote an idea that will propel us forward.” - Jami J. Rodgers, CPCM

• [27:34] “We need to think about how not only does AI improve our execution of our current processes, but how can AI change our processes so that we’re more efficient and effective. This is going to take some time, it won’t be done tomorrow. Good things usually take time and thoughtful implementation.” - Jami J. Rodgers, CPCM

• [33:02] “The big exciting news we mentioned is translation, the whole platform is now available in Arabic, French and Spanish. So we vastly increased outreach to local partners. I believe we had close to 1,500 new users on Arabic websites in the last couple of weeks, so we’re hoping that by using the language where we operate, we’re bringing critical material to new partners.” - Jami J. Rodgers, CPCM

RESOURCES:

Jami J. Rodgers, CPCM LinkedIn

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Aid Market Podcast YouTube

BIOGRAPHIES:

Jami J. Rodgers serves as Senior Procurement Executive, Chief Acquisition Officer, and Director for USAID Management Bureau’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance (M/OAA). He provides senior executive leadership and oversight of USAID's procurement and financial assistance functions, policies, and initiatives to empower over 600 acquisition and assistance professionals to deliver on U.S. foreign assistance development goals worldwide.

Mr. Rodgers first served at USAID as M/OAA Special Initiatives and Development Partners Division Chief supporting the Administrator's Grand Challenges for Development, the Bureau for Africa, the Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning, and the USAID Global Development Lab. He also served as Acting Deputy Director of M/OAA Washington Operations. He most recently served as the Director of NASA Headquarters Procurement Strategic Operations Division and as Head of the Contracting Activity for the Exploration Systems Development and Space Operations Mission Directorates. He co-sponsored the NASA Acquisition Innovation Launchpad to improve operations and reduce barriers to achieve a more diverse and equitable partner base for mission success.

Mr. Rodgers previously served at the Department of Energy (DOE) as Director of the Office of Contract Management, where he oversaw nationwide procurement management reviews, category management efforts, and served as Competition Advocate. He also served as Director of the Office of Headquarters Procurement Services managing $15B in active awards. He began his federal career at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Contract Specialist. He is a Certified Professional Contract Manager (CPCM) with the National Contract Management Association and holds a Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C Professional). He has held unlimited contracting officer warrants at EPA, USAID, and DOE. Mr. Rodgers has been recognized twice with the Secretary of Energy Achievement Award, the USAID Mary A. Reynolds Memorial Award for high-impact innovations, and several Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards.

Mr. Rodgers earned a B.S. in Spanish with a business and international studies minor from Penn State University and an MBA with a focus on strategic management and public policy from the George Washington University School of Business. Mr. Rodgers has served in various volunteer leadership positions with a nationally recognized LGBTQIA+ choral arts organization and is a volunteer citizenship instructor for Arlington County, VA to enrich and celebrate his local community.