Sherman Sends Letter to USAID to Urge Procurement Reforms that Support Credit Unions

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), joined by nine of his colleagues, sent a letter to the Honorable Mark Green, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The letter urges the Agency to complete its procurement reform process in a manner that ensures a fair and substantial proportion of awards and contracts made by USAID are awarded to small, U.S.-based, not-for-profit, and civil-society based organizations, including credit unions.

"The international credit union network is uniquely able to assist USAID in addressing U.S. foreign policy concerns and the needs of aid recipients," said Sherman. "Despite this, in recent years, credit unions have seen their share of awards and contracts from USAID shrink. That is why I wrote a letter to Ambassador Green asking USAID to grant a greater proportion of awards to these organizations."

The World Council of Credit Unions and the Credit Union National Association voiced support for this letter. "By reforming the USAID procurement process to ensure that smaller U.S.-based not-for-profit institutions have an opportunity to bid competitively, locally-based organizations like cooperative financial institutions--who have existing infrastructure and formal knowledge of local systems and processes--can ensure the long-term success of the agency's development programs."

The global network of 89,000 credit unions, which serves 260 million members in 117 countries, many of which are prioritized by USAID, already supports communities affected by instability through its citizen-based, community-rooted framework. USAID should partner with credit union organizations that play this vital role to further advance its goals and capitalize on its results.