Sec. 4. Working with local partners
561 words·~3 min read·
/bill/119/hr/6196/ih/section-4A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
To the extent feasible and appropriate, the head of the relevant foreign assistance agency should localize the development and humanitarian assistance partner base by considering— supporting and funding existing effective local projects and initiatives; simplifying and increasing access to United States foreign assistance resources for local partners in humanitarian and development sectors, including local partners who have relations, agency, or power structures in place that have produced, or can produce, strong trust, accountability, and legitimacy in the communities or networks such partners work in; setting realistic goals and timelines for sunsetting assistance and adhering to existing agreement totals and timelines to incentivize self-reliance and encourage exit plans with appropriate notice; exploring offering matching grants and in-kind contributions to ensure that United States Government investments in local partners are helping generate new resources of their own from other donors; exploring government-to-government partnerships with adequate guardrails and oversight, in consultation with local civil society, with select countries where feasible and practical to enhance foreign governments’ ability to deliver good governance, service delivery, and public goods that benefit local communities; exploring other types of funding modalities and types of partnerships with local and national actors, including support for pooled funding mechanisms and unsolicited projects; diversifying award types to streamline performance requirements and working with the Office of Management and Budget to address threshold constraints that pose a barrier to effectively supporting local partners; ensuring staff of the relevant foreign assistance agency is able and encouraged to conduct regular consultation with local partners in local languages of the host countries relating to policies and programs, including making available solicitations for acquisitions and assistance and accepting submissions in local languages, video format, or verbal presentations, including by— investing in translation services; hosting workshop-based engagements; and advertising solicitations in local trade publications, local media including newspapers and radio, local community centers, and local online forums; allowing and promoting multi-year, flexible, tiered and milestone-based funding for new programs and to bring successful programs to scale; utilizing other transaction authority through innovation incentive awards for local and national actors; supporting consistent and unimpeded access to full cost recovery for local partners implementing United States foreign assistance activities; undertaking outreach campaigns and engaging with local actors, formally and informally, to raise awareness about opportunities, as well as how to apply for and manage awards in compliance with applicable Federal regulations and the relevant foreign assistance agency policies, and ensuring such engagement is accessible to all entities, including unregistered and informal organizations; strengthening oversight of capacity strengthening components of awards to ensure United States and international awardees are making good-faith efforts to strengthen local organizations’ capacities, including independent and external evaluations to evaluate the mentorship process and regular feedback loops; ensuring there are sufficient acquisition and assistance personnel; soliciting feedback on and updating, as necessary, performance evaluation criteria to create greater workforce incentives for the relevant foreign assistance agency personnel to champion locally led development; addressing internal delays and recipient organization issues that result in the required extension of provisional Negotiated Indirect Cost Rates (NICRAs); conducting seminars and providing documentation in local languages on NICRA, the de minimis indirect cost rate, and other options for indirect cost recovery relevant to the award type; and ensuring that acquisition and assistance personnel communicate to awardees who do not submit for a NICRA that they are eligible for the de minimis indirect cost rate.