II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2509 

To authorize the New Partnerships Initiative to expand and diversify the 

partner base of the United States Agency for International Development 

and to provide more entry points for organizations to work with USAID. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2021 

Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To authorize the New Partnerships Initiative to expand and 

diversify the partner base of the United States Agency 

for International Development and to provide more entry 

points for organizations to work with USAID. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘New Partnerships Ini5 tiative Authorization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) LOCAL PARTNER.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘local part2 ner’’ refers to a local entity or a locally estab3 lished partner of a United States-based non4 profit organization. 

5 (B) LOCAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘local enti6 ty’’ means a corporation, nonprofit organiza7 tion, or other body of persons that— 

8 (i) is legally organized under the laws 

9 of a country receiving assistance from 

10 USAID; 

11 (ii) has its principal place of business 

12 or operations in such country; 

13 (iii) is majority-controlled by individ14 uals who are citizens or lawful permanent 

15 residents of such country; and 

16 (iv) is managed by a governing body, 

17 the majority of whom are citizens or lawful 

18 permanent residents of such country. 

19 (C) LOCALLY ESTABLISHED PARTNER.— 

20 The term ‘‘locally established partner’’ means a 

21 United States or international nonprofit organi22 zation that— 

23 (i) works through locally led oper24 ations and programmatic models that have 

25 maintained continuous operations in a 


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1 country receiving assistance from USAID 

2 for at least 5 years; and 

3 (ii) has materially demonstrated a lo4 cally led long-term presence in such coun5 try by— 

6 (I) registering with the appro7 priate local authorities; 

8 (II) maintaining a dedicated local 

9 office; 

10 (III) maintaining personnel in 

11 such office that consists of at least 50 

12 percent local staff; 

13 (IV) maintaining a local bank ac14 count; and 

15 (V) maintaining a portfolio of lo16 cally implemented programs. 

17 (D) MAJORITY-CONTROLLED.—The terms 

18 ‘‘majority-controlled’’, ‘‘managed by’’, and ‘‘lo19 cally led’’ include beneficiary interests and the 

20 power (either directly or indirectly and whether 

21 exercised or exercisable) to control, by any 

22 means, the election, appointment, or tenure of 

23 the organization’s managers or a majority of 

24 the organization’s governing body. 


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1 (2) NEW PARTNER.—The term ‘‘new partner’’ 

2 means a nonprofit organization that has not received 

3 funding from USAID as a prime partner during the 

4 most recently completed 5-year period. 

5 (3) NONPROFIT.—The term ‘‘nonprofit’’ means 

6 any organization that is exempt from the payment 

7 of Federal income taxes, including research insti8 tutes, faith-based charities, and private nongovern9 mental groups. 

10 (4) UNDERUTILIZED PARTNER.—The term 

11 ‘‘underutilized partner’’ means an organization 

12 that— 

13 (A) is a nonprofit entity, such as a re14 search institute, a faith-based charity, a non15 governmental group, or a government entity; 

16 and 

17 (B) has received less than $25,000,000 in 

18 direct or indirect awards from USAID during 

19 the most recently completed 5-year period. 

20 (5) USAID.—The term ‘‘USAID’’ means the 

21 United States Agency for International Develop22 ment. 

23 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

24 The purpose of this Act is to authorize and encourage 

25 USAID to use the New Partnerships Initiative to diversify 


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1 its partner base by reducing barriers to entry for new 

2 partners and underutilized partners. 

3 SEC. 4. NEW PARTNERSHIPS INITIATIVE. 

4 The USAID Administrator shall implement the New 

5 Partnerships Initiative by— 

6 (1) simplifying access to USAID resources to 

7 make it easier for new, underutilized, and local part8 ners to share their ideas and innovations by diversi9 fying solicitation and award approaches, including— 

10 (A) increasing the number of awards to 

11 new partners and underutilized partners in all 

12 program sectors; 

13 (B) using solicitations that lower barriers 

14 to entry, including two-step approaches such as 

15 first-round expressions of interest under assist16 ance and phased acquisition; 

17 (C) using co-creation and other collabo18 rative techniques to design prime and sub19 awards; 

20 (D) encouraging the strategic use of sub21 awards, mentoring awards, and facilitative part22 nerships, grants under contract, and other in23 struments that develop local capacity, and pro24 mote tools and approaches to enable implemen25 tation led by local entities and local partners; 


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1 (E) diversifying award types to be fit for 

2 purpose, such as fixed amount awards and fixed 

3 amount subawards, and eliminating threshold 

4 limitations on fixed amount subawards; 

5 (F) measuring progress in achieving the 

6 principles and approaches described in this sec7 tion; 

8 (G) simplifying reporting; 

9 (H) identifying new sources of funding to 

10 sustain partnerships and scale impact; 

11 (I) mobilizing partner resources equal to 

12 not less than 50 percent of the proposed value 

13 of the award, which may include resources from 

14 nongovernmental organizations, other donor 

15 governments, or individuals; and 

16 (J) prioritizing solicitations and awards 

17 that contribute matching or leveraged funds; 

18 (2) promoting local leadership; and 

19 (3) strengthening local capacity so that partner 

20 countries gain new knowledge and skills to lead and 

21 sustain their own development. 

22 SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT. 

23 The USAID Administrator shall submit an annual 

24 report to Congress that identifies the funding for grants 


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1 to new, underutilized, and local partners in accordance 

2 with the principles set forth in section 4. 

3 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro5 priated for USAID, for each of the fiscal years 2022 

6 through 2026, $250,000,000, which shall be expended 

7 through the New Partnerships Initiative for grants to new, 

8 underutilized, and local partners in accordance with the 

9 principles set forth in section 4. 

10 (b) IMPLEMENTATION COSTS.—In addition to 

11 amounts otherwise available for such purposes, not more 

12 than 15 percent of the amounts appropriated pursuant to 

13 subsection (a) in any fiscal year may be used for USAID 

14 administrative expenses related to the program manage15 ment, implementation, and oversight of the New Partner16 ships Initiative. 

Æ 


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