Access

Streamlined Procurement

Pact's Global Civil Society Strengthening Leader with Associates Award (CSL) is an assistance mechanism that provides a full spectrum of civil society services. As a pre-competed instrument, the CSL offers ready assistance to missions and bureaus in meeting requirements for assessments, strategy formulations, activity design, and program implementation without further competition or justification. This page details the types of awards that can be issued under the mechanism and step-by-step guidance for how to access them.

For an overview of the kinds of activities the award can support, please click here.

Award Types

• Associate Awards
  Missions and bureaus may use the CSL to issue a separate agreement or "associate award" directly with the prime partner, Pact, for work by Pact and its consortium. The benefits of this approach are retention of substantial involvement, grantee assistance in program design, and use of a Mission-designated CTO. There are no ceilings on associate awards. They may be issued at any time during the term of the leader award and may last up to an additional five years beyond the leader award's expiration.

  For more information about developing an Associate Award, please see the "How to Access this Instrument" section below.

• Leader Award Buy-In
  Missions and bureaus may participate directly in the leader award through a transfer of funds to the leader for work undertaken by Pact and its consortium. The benefits of this approach are ease of obligation and administration, since leader projects are managed centrally by DCHA/DG.

  For more information about buying into the leader award, please see the "How to Access This Instrument" section below.

• Rapid Response
  USAID developed the Rapid Response feature of this award to support D/G officers during the labor-intensive design process. Core funds have been obligated to the leader portion of this award to provide design support to missions on a reimbursable basis. Regardless of whether a mission has received its current year allocations, and with no contracting action required, the CSL CTO can authorize use of this "working capital" to provide technical expertise from across the full spectrum of civil society sectors. Payment for these services can be included under any subsequent agreement issued under the award for implementation or, in the absence of such an award, through a fund cite.

  For more information about the possibility of accessing this fund, please contact Pact's Senior D/G Technical Advisor, Dan Spealman, or the CSL CTO, Christine Adamczyk

How to Access This Instrument

Missions may request the services of Pact and/or one or more of its consortium members. As prime grantee, Pact handles the administrative and management functions for both the leader and associate awards. As such, all negotiations for leader and associate activities are conducted through Pact headquarters in Washington D.C.

The procedure for issuing a Leader or Associate Award under the CSL involves the following four steps:

• The Mission or Bureau contacts the CSL Cognizant Technical Officer, Christine Adamczyk, requesting written concurrence to participate directly in the Leader or to enter into an Associate Award with Pact, under Cooperative Agreement Number GEG-A-00-01-00005-00. The Mission sends Ms. Adamczyk a copy of the program description. Ms. Adamczyk reviews the available documentation to insure that the proposed program objectives are consistent with the objectives outlined in the leader award, and advises the Mission accordingly.
• The Mission/Bureau (i.e., Mission's/Bureau's agreements officer) sends the program description to Pact and solicits a work plan, staffing pattern, and budget. The primary contact person at Pact is: Dan Spealman, Senior Technical Advisor.
• For an Associate Award, the Mission/Bureau contracting or agreement officer and technical personnel review Pact's submission and negotiate directly with Pact to issue the final award. Missions or Bureaus that want to participate in the Leader should send a fund cite to cover program costs to AID/W/DCHA. The Leader award will be issued by Joseph Lentini at USAID/M/OAA/DCHA.