WH reverses plans to reduce contractor spending in Pakistan.

[dixiegrrrrl]

The Obama administration has reversed plans to redirect more than $200 million in aid money for Pakistan away from American contractors and nongovernmental organizations, documents obtained by ProPublica suggest. The move signals that the administration's broader plan for Pakistani assistance, which calls for relying more heavily on local organizations to run the growing U.S. aid programs there, may be harder to achieve than officials had first hoped.

snip....
On Dec. 7, USAID's Pakistan office sent a letter to U.S. contractors and NGOs running programs in the agency's Pakistani Economic Growth portfolio, a collection of seven programs worth a total of $237 million. The letter said USAID was "curtailing current activities that are longer-term and are not targeting local level capacity building."
It instructed them to refocus their projects for "quick impact (within a 3 to 6 month horizon)," and in a way that "can be replicated by local implementers."
"Plans must recognize that a transition to local organizations is imminent for most activities," the letter added.

But just five days after the report to Congress, USAID sent those same contractors and NGOs a second letter , which began: "This letter replaces the letter dated December 7, 2009."
It said that none of the programs in the Economic Growth portfolio were being terminated
and encouraged them "to proceed with the hiring of permanent personnel." No reason was given for the apparent reversal.

More details from the Pro Publica article, here:
http://www.propublica.org/article/obama-administration-slows-its-plan-to-redirect-pakistan-aid-120

[lib2DaBone]

1. How about $237 million spent on a JOBS program at home?

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Unless you got a pipeline running thru your yard,forget about it.