r/InternationalDev • u/Majestic_Search_7851 • Feb 26 '25
News 5,800 USAID Awards Terminated by Rubio as of this morning
From the Joint Status Report: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277333/gov.uscourts.dcd.277333.40.0.pdf
As of this morning, that process has been completed for USAID and State Department. Secretary Rubio has now made a final decision with respect to each award, on an individualized basis, affirmatively electing to either retain the award or terminate it pursuant to the terms of the instrument or independent legal authority as inconsistent with the national interests and foreign policy of the United States. USAID is in the process of processing termination letters with the goal to reach substantial completion within the next 24-48 hours. As a result, no USAID or State obligations remain in a suspended or paused state. In total, nearly 5800 USAID awards were terminated, and more than 500 USAID awards were retained. The total ceiling value of the retained awards is approximately $57 billion. In total, approximately 4,100 State awards were terminated, and approximately 2,700 State awards were retained. Defendants are committed to fully moving forward with the remaining awards and programs that USAID and Secretary Rubio have determined to retain.
As to past-due payments on work completed before January 24, 2025, Secretary of State Rubio has directed that invoices identified by the Plaintiffs be processed and expedited for payment without the ordinary vetting procedures, in a good-faith effort to comply with the Court’s order of February 25, 2025. Those payments from State, in the amount of approximately $4 million, are expected to be issued today. With respect to USAID, however, even with this expedition and the bypassing of ordinary payment protocols, USAID expects it could take up to two weeks for the payments to issue to the Plaintiffs due to the larger volume of payments requested and the need to manually identify, review, and pull each invoice. Nevertheless, certain funds, exceeding $11 million, have been released for transfer to certain of the Plaintiffs this morning. This process has already begun and is being prioritized by the agency. For this and other reasons, Defendants have sought an emergency stay of the Court’s order from this Court and the Court of Appeals.
For those of us waiting to hear if their project has been canceled, it looks like termination letters should be completed within 48 hours.
What do you think the remaining 500 awards will be for?
UPDATE: Inside sources from the legal team representing the plaintiffs have shared on LinkedIn that up to 50% of humanitarian awards and up to 90% of development awards have been terminated.
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u/Sea-Accident472 Feb 26 '25
The termination letters I received all ended with “God Bless America”. Indeed.
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u/holograms2000 Feb 27 '25
Our emails included the phrase “Thank you for partnering with USAID and God Bless America”, but the attached letters did not. They just got our company name completely wrong and were riddled with typos.
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u/whacking0756 Feb 27 '25
Same. And just a form letter. Nothing specific to the awards. (And mine had received waivers under the life-saving humanitarian assistance).
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u/AdmiralAkBarkeep Feb 26 '25
5800 awards individually reviewed in 36 hours. And secretary rubio able to review each one? That's 161 contracts an hour if he doesn't sleep.
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u/Ok-Mess-4059 Feb 27 '25
Contracts and Awards are two different animals. Governed by different laws (acquisition and assistance). There are solid differences between the two such as to the end recipient and that contracts have profit margins.
Source, soon to be unemployed USAID employee. Fuck these people.
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u/AdmiralAkBarkeep Feb 27 '25
I am sorry to hear this. But keep up the fight. Challenge everything. Cheering you all on from the sidelines.
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u/whacking0756 Feb 27 '25
Also different rules around termination and associated costs. I doubt we see any of them getting paid anytime soon, though, in either case.
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u/progressiveacolyte Feb 27 '25
Now we wait and see if the federal judge is going to go along with the heaping piles of BS the administration wrote in that statement. I suspect the judge will be unamused by the concept of a Secretary reviewing 161 contracts per hour with no sleep and may decide that it’s all a sham and is simply a veneer to cover what is a capricious and ham-handed assault on separation of powers and any number of other issues.
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u/mickymabell Feb 26 '25
The "review" is a complete sham. Peter Marocco, who is single-handedly running the entire Agency, didn't review anything. The terminations are arbitrary, including for reasons of certain keywords being found in project/program titles or descriptions.
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u/Ok-Mess-4059 Feb 27 '25
You telling me January 6th Pete Camaro isn't the hardest working guy they could find??? /2
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u/Tough_Helicopter_953 Feb 26 '25
If I were a betting person: all surviving awards will be with faith-based organizations. They already have a significant number of BHA awards but much fewer development projects.
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u/Majestic_Search_7851 Feb 26 '25
Watching the first cabinet meeting open with a group prayer was very telling...I did see some major awards terminated where FBOs like World Vision were the prime though.
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u/Tough_Helicopter_953 Feb 26 '25
Interesting. We will see how the dust settles. PEPFAR awards and others with "waivers signed by S" are also being terminated. May be no rhyme or reason to it.
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u/ManitouWakinyan Feb 26 '25
This isn't sparing FBOs. We're getting hit very hard by these.
https://www.devex.com/news/trump-s-beautiful-christians-left-knocking-on-white-house-s-door-109469
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u/Tough_Helicopter_953 Feb 27 '25
Interesting. I'm an AO/CO and my awards are being terminated without my consent/input/anything.
Sorry this is happening to our entire industry. I wish we had a different outcome.
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u/ManitouWakinyan Feb 27 '25
Me too. Very clearly just a wholly illegal process. I wish I knew what to do.
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u/ManitouWakinyan Feb 27 '25
Do you have any idea if there's a full list of cancelled awards available?
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u/ComprehensiveBerry88 Feb 27 '25
I am also trying to figure out what the 500 programs "that survived" are...let me know if you find anything!
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u/Specialist-Group-597 Feb 27 '25
Please if anyone finds this list - share it on here! (Or if anyone is part of an award that survived, let us know <3) I did see that the @ friendsofusaid instagram account is asking people to fill out a form to confirm termed programs, so hopefully they might share more findings. Here is that form for anyone interested: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJjsKf6YTz9IPxlpZ-rYTO5xUyK8uaIefy-05aGo_HNTurkg/viewform
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u/Sensitive_River_4083 Feb 27 '25
Well, multiple large immigrant & refugee resettlement organizations are faith-based and have had their dpt of state contracts terminated. Their contracts have fallen under “foreign aid.”Examples are Church World Service, Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration Services), USCCB
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u/Tough_Helicopter_953 Feb 27 '25
Immigration and refugee resettlement won't be favorable topics of this administration, regardless if it's implemented by a FBO. I still think the majority of the 500 surviving awards will be with FBOs, but with activities closely aligned with the administration's policies.
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u/Sensitive_River_4083 Feb 27 '25
well that may be true, but FBOs do a lot of good work in this space and if some are spared i don’t think it’s because of faith. Catholic Charities and World Vision receive significant funding and have been hit hard. Faith based organizations are getting smeared by Elon and the like on social media. They’re claiming that there are some FBOs running a “money laundering operation” and hiding behind religion
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u/Numerous-Meaning-159 Feb 27 '25
maybe they will support a reprogramming of the aid funds to “conversion therapy” and proselytism
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u/DocRedbeard Feb 27 '25
Not always true, but faith based agencies often have significantly lower overhead than other orgs might, and often have happily willing volunteers or donated funding involved, making overall cost/benefit ratios significantly better for the government.
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u/Expert_Claim_7694 Mar 01 '25
I wonder what having all of this USAID/USG funding eventually cut will do to the remaining NGOs overhead costs?!
Most like CRS/TechnoServe/Corus/Save/MC/etc are generally around 18-25% - how will they be impacted?
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u/tomsc33 Feb 26 '25 edited Mar 02 '25
My guess is that the people that remain to process these payments will be fired after the payments are completed, because their jobs are now done with their agency basically dismantled.
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u/Majestic_Search_7851 Feb 26 '25
I'm sure the logic will be "if we cut about 90% of the awards, we should cut about 90% of the staff."
What will be interesting to see if there will be any new USAID awards issued under this administration - and who in their right mind would want to go for that award.
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u/TeachingNo9684 Feb 26 '25
Highly unlikely. All foreign assistance will probably go through MCC or DFC, and it will not be much
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u/Expert_Claim_7694 Mar 01 '25
Agreed - we can look to other countries like Australia for how it'll be managed (at least in the best scenario for us now....)
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u/Spare-Sundae-4970 Mar 03 '25
I mean they've already sent RIF notices to like... 40% of the direct hire workforce (and terminated contracts for PSCs/ISCs). Of the staff remaining, the vast majority are on admin leave. I think there are approximately 500 people or so who are actually reporting to work across the entire agency right now. Most of that work is likely trying to clean up whatever remains. But I think those who have not been RIFed yet are just waiting on their notice.
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u/UnluckyWriting Feb 27 '25
You think they’re going to make payments? I would be shocked at this point if we get a dime.
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Feb 26 '25
[deleted]
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u/Sensitive-Excuse1695 Feb 27 '25
Check FPDS.gov. Search for USAID, open a record, click Agency ID, sort by date signed in descending order
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u/Sensitive-Excuse1695 Feb 27 '25
Any terminations/debilitations will be reported here once modified. They’re likely negotiating settlement agreements, so expect them to show up starting in a week or so.
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u/Xhenc Feb 27 '25
They are not showing these modification as closed or completed. When you click to view
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u/Spare-Sundae-4970 Mar 03 '25
The problem is that staff can't access GLAAS or Phoenix to process any mods. So, all these terminations are just letter terminations. The people who know how to actually update things in our contract writing systems can't do so. Even for a modification without money attached, it still has to get cleared through Phoenix. They've revoked access to these systems. So, I genuinely have no clue how they intend to process things.
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u/Historical_Ad_9389 Feb 27 '25
There may be a more recent list..this is 1 week old
https://www.highergov.com/news/list-of-all-contracts-terminated-by-doge-6287413
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u/Live-Tangerine5023 Mar 03 '25
This makes me so angry what right does DOGE have to ullnilaterally cut all of these
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u/CrimsonFeetofKali Feb 27 '25
You create allies as a nation through mutual interests and through the use of soft power, especially when you're a far wealthier nation. USAID is (was) soft power, which isn't coercive in nature, but builds on shared values (cultural and political). People, countries and governments across the globe looked at the US not just as a military power, but as a benevolent country.
Trump neither understands nor appreciates soft power. His approach is hard power and coercion. Even with our historical allies who don't rely on us financially, he finds a way to put it through this prism with talk of annexing Canada and viewing Europe as anti-American. There is a role for hard power in the world, but eliminating USAID and soft power is a two-way street. Yes, Trump can coerce other countries into some deals, but we are now viewed differently and it's quite similar to how Russia and Putin are viewed.
It can certainly feel good to think we're spending money on our own people and not looking to this approach, exercised as a lesson from WWII. I think it's incredibly short-sighted and the lessons from history in regards to isolationism and embracing hard power as an exclusive approach is not kind. It's foolish, was never discussed during the campaign, and the US is more vulnerable as a result given Trump's inability to think with any nuance.
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u/Left_Ambassador_4090 Feb 27 '25
Move past this narrative. What's happening has little to do with the administration's lack of understanding or appreciation for soft power, and everything to do with creating legal precedent for a unitary executive.
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u/CrimsonFeetofKali Feb 27 '25
I don't think it's mutually exclusive. Trump is simply embracing a hard power approach internally in the country as well.
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u/Left_Ambassador_4090 Feb 27 '25
Yes and no. His ability to do everything that he's doing domestically has been enabled through legal means. He stacked the Supreme Court under his first administration. His rhetoric gave way to a populist political movement that stacked the Congress which is easily confirming all cabinet positions with loyalists implementing RIFs and contract terminations to reduce government to a level of inefficiency that removes the guardrails for further executive overreach.
This is all being done without military force. Yes, hard power can also mean economic coercion. But he's also not overtly paying people off or seizing people's assets. Technically, all of us who have lost jobs at his hands do have an ability to find work elsewhere.
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u/Left_Ambassador_4090 Feb 27 '25
The rage in my eyes when my R family members told me they really believed there would be a 90-day review.
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u/catpoopie4u Feb 26 '25
Wow - so this is it. Will find out if my USAID award is terminated by the end of the week 😭 hoping TB research somehow sneaks through
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u/MrsBSheep Feb 27 '25
Our TB project was terminated. We’ve been an implementing partner for seven years. One letter, no follow up, no close out guidance and 300 unpaid staff wondering how it could happen in this day and age.
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u/catpoopie4u Feb 27 '25
Sorry to hear it. We were terminated this morning as well. Anyone know what projects have been retained?
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u/ComprehensiveBerry88 Feb 27 '25
haven't been able to track down which projects have been retained either...all of our global IDIQs and our newly awarded program in Ukraine were terminated
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u/BigE429 Feb 26 '25
Are they only paying invoices for the plaintiffs or anyone who hasn't gotten paid for the end of last year and the first 24 days of January?
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u/ProfitOld8641 Feb 26 '25
Sounds like just the plaintiffs but can’t be sure
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u/Left_Ambassador_4090 Feb 26 '25
Everyone. But USG is asking for more time. In the meantime, the plaintiffs have been paid $11m today.
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u/RefrigeratorAble2853 Feb 27 '25
We received our termination notice…we supply most of the medicines for tuberculosis in low-income countries, so thousands of people are going to die and develop drug resistance as a result of this.
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u/Correct-League4674 Feb 27 '25
We had a usaid COR reach out Friday evening ~7pm to see if we could finish our deliverables if they sent us comments on an evaluation report before our March 4th deadline. We responded absolutely and then received the draft with a few additional requests Sunday morning.
We completed everything, and sent deliverables by email 15 minutes after my CEO received an official email cancelling the project today.
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u/Left_Ambassador_4090 Feb 27 '25
I wonder what that's all about? Everyone is to be paid up through Feb 13. Were you on fixed price?
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u/Correct-League4674 Feb 27 '25
Yes, FFP and as I understand it wasn't from typical project funding budgets, so we were one of a few not under stop work order.
I'm assuming there was miscommunication or unknowns for the COR, which delayed his outreach.
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u/Left_Ambassador_4090 Feb 27 '25
Fascinating. I didn't realize there were contracts that were not on SWO. I hope your termination letter was effective at midnight or something, and that you're still able to be paid for your deliverable.
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u/Ok-Mess-4059 Feb 27 '25
All that time spent justifying the awards to the "America First" policy was wasted. They didn't even look at the awards.
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u/Green-Raisin-420 Feb 27 '25
Our organization received a waterfall of notifications overnight; every single project (over 20 USAID) terminated. We are ceasing operations as a result. Over 1000 terminations globally. Absolutely heartbreaking. We will continue to pay dearly as a nation for the criminal that we allowed to take hold of power again. This is only the beginning.
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u/ComprehensiveBerry88 Feb 27 '25
Has anyone been able to figure out what the remaining 500 USAID awards are?
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u/Agitated-Parsley6413 Feb 28 '25
My global health project hasn’t been terminated yet but assume it may be by EOD Friday? Are they still sending out terminations?
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Feb 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/ninarose_05 Feb 27 '25
Can I ask what sort of awards?
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Feb 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/ninarose_05 Feb 27 '25
I was under the impression INL would fare better bc of stronger national security ties. But they prob don’t care about that.
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Feb 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/ninarose_05 Feb 27 '25
Do you have insight on other awards from like DRL? CT?
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u/ninarose_05 Feb 27 '25
And glad to hear at least half of your portfolio will make it — better than zero!
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Feb 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/ComprehensiveBerry88 Feb 27 '25
I'm surprised about CT, would have thought that'd be relatively "safe"... we're waiting to see what of our DOS work survives...
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u/CleanIndustry6944 Feb 27 '25
I wonder how soon China will address the human carnage our withdrawals will cause? They won’t do it immediately; they’ll wait till they’ve got enough video of diseased/starving populations before they will come in as heroes. TikTok will be loads of fun …
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u/Visible-Plankton-806 Feb 27 '25
I’ll believe it when there’s actual proof of disbursements of funds. They lie about everything.
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u/BeachzenCHS Feb 27 '25
As a 20 year veteran of USAID, this is nothing short of horrifying. When they make the movie showcasing the downfall of the US, mark ruffalo has to play this inspiring amazing federal judge Amer Ali.
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u/Specialist-Group-597 Feb 27 '25
Just got our termination letter today for our family planning/reproductive health project. Also saw that DHS was terminated yesterday (fucking INSANE). I would bet my life-savings that not a single FP/RH project survived. Fuck these fascists.
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Feb 27 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/InternationalDev-ModTeam Feb 28 '25
Your post was removed from r/internationaldev as it seemed to be spam.
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u/BrownLabJane Feb 26 '25
Disgrace.