USAID OIG has created a new office focused solely on ensuring transparency, oversight, and accountability over U.S. foreign assistance dollars implemented through United Nations (UN) agencies. Our prior, longstanding work in this space has led to new statutory language, creative solutions for obtaining information from UN agencies related to U.S. funding, partnerships with UN inspectors general, and precedent-setting investigations of UN officials involved in fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, and diversion of aid to terrorist organizations.

USAID OIG’s FY 2026 Oversight Plan describes our ongoing and planned oversight activities in the coming fiscal year, maintaining aggressive oversight and accountability of billions of dollars in overseas assistance, including USAID-funded-awards transferred to the Department of State.

Our planned work includes audits, inspections, evaluations, and investigative efforts, as well as ongoing outreach and coordination to ensure robust independent oversight, accountability, and transparency over taxpayer-funded foreign assistance.

For over 4 decades, USAID OIG has provided independent oversight of USAID’s personnel, programs, and activities. As certain USAID functions transfer to the Department of State, our goal is to ensure the challenges, risks, and vulnerabilities that have led to instances of fraud, corruption, and diversion in the past are addressed.

Our May 13 memorandum identified a number of challenges to oversight and accountability of foreign assistance, including: resistance from UN agencies and foreign-based NGOs to sharing information about potential misconduct with OIG; challenges with monitoring aid in nonpermissive environments; limitations in vetting of aid organizations for ties to designated terrorist organizations and known corrupt actors; and improving transparency in funding to subrecipients.

We also outlined risks and challenges in the transfer of USAID functions to State in our recent written statement for the May 20 hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

Additionally, we identified key questions, policies, procedures, and statutes implicated by the March 28 congressional notification issued by the Department of State in our May 13 letter to the Senate Appropriation’s Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs.

We continue to investigate UNRWA staff who participated in the terrorist attacks that took place across Israel on October 7, 2023, to ensure they do not recirculate across U.S.-funded aid organizations. We have assigned investigative personnel to the Attorney General’s Joint Task Force October 7, an initiative that will seek justice for the victims of the terrorist attack and disrupt Hamas financing.

Our investigation led to a government contracting officer for USAID and three owners and presidents of contractors pleading guilty for their roles in a decade-long bribery scheme involving at least 14 prime contracts worth over $550 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars.

“USAID-OIG is firmly committed to rooting out fraud and corruption within U.S. foreign assistance programs. Today’s announcement underscores our unwavering focus on exposing criminal activity, including bribery schemes by those entrusted to faithfully award government contracts. We appreciate our longstanding partnership with the Department of Justice in holding accountable those who defraud American taxpayers.” – USAID OIG Acting Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Sean Bottary.

USAID OIG’s investigation into a fraud scheme perpetrated by an employee of a USAID awardee resulted in his extradition from the United Kington to the United States, a conviction, and a guilty plea for conspiracy to commit theft from a USAID power distribution program in Pakistan receiving federal funds.

USAID OIG’s investigation resulted in a contract termination of a USAID personal services contractor at a U.S. Embassy in Africa for giving his Department of State issued identification card to two local women and using his government-issued mobile phone to send local women sexually explicit material. The contract termination led to cost savings of approximately $317, 374.

A USAID OIG investigation resulted in a federal jury convicting a Virginia man and Maryland woman for conspiracy to defraud a non-profit corporation dedicated to global public health through payments for work that wasn’t performed.

USAID OIG Special Agents arrested a former project director of a North Carolina based non- profit organization, that regularly implements projects funded by USAID, on a federal indictment alleging she defrauded a U.S.-funded organization of approximately $240,000.

USAID OIG’s investigation, in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for DC, resulted in Stax Inc. paying $1 million following allegations it inflated $850,000 in employee salary costs, thus overbilling USAID on a contract for a development project in Sri Lanka.

A USAID OIG investigation into a COVID relief scheme, in partnership with the Department of Justice, led to a guilty plea and sentencing of 1 year and 6 months in federal prison and forfeiture of $370,000 for defrauding the United States.

USAID OIG initiated an investigation into an allegation that a USAID subawardee submitted false claims for reimbursement of tax payments to a foreign government. The investigation found evidence that the subawardee overcharged the USAID award $89,000.

We are performing a series of inspections of USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs (BHA) warehouses that preposition food aid. As of May, BHA warehouses in Djibouti, Djibouti; Durban, South Africa; and Houston, Texas stored a reported nearly $100 million in prepositioned food aid for use in humanitarian responses worldwide. Ensuring that these goods do not spoil or are otherwise damaged and that plans are in place for their storage and disposition are critical to preventing waste and enabling the U.S. government to continue to be ready to respond to emergency situations.

USAID/Somalia’s Democracy, Stabilization, and Governance (DSG) Office was tasked with overseeing a portfolio of five programs, totaling over $120 million, spanning from March 2022 to July 2028. The goal of these programs was to reduce the influence of al-Shabaab, a U.S.- designated terrorist organization, and support areas newly liberated from the group.

For over two decades, Colombia has been a top recipient of U.S. foreign assistance in the Western Hemisphere.U.S.-Colombia relations have centered around counternarcotics and counterterrorism efforts to advance mutual security interests. U.S. appropriations laws dating back to the signing of the 2016 Peace Accord have included limitations for how foreign assistance funds could be used in Colombia. Congress expressed interest in OIG oversight of the funding limitations in an early version of the fiscal year 2024 appropriations law. Accordingly, OIG initiated this audit to determine the extent to which USAID complied with specific statutory limitations for assistance to Colombia.

To assess the government’s ability to manage foreign assistance in such a hostile, nonpermissive environment, we initiated this audit of USAID’s efforts in Afghanistan to safeguard implementers and activities by (1) mitigating security and safety risks and (2) managing the impact of Taliban interference.

• USAID and implementers took effective steps to manage the impact of Taliban interference, but the Agency did not provide clear guidance for implementer engagements with Taliban representatives.

We made four recommendations to better safeguard USAID’s implementers and Agency- funded activities in Afghanistan. The Agency agreed with three recommendations and disagreed with one recommendation.

Consistent with their award agreements, all nongovernmental organizations, contractors, subawardees, and United Nations agencies implementing awards initially funded by USAID must continue to report allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, corruption, diversion, trafficking, and sexual exploitation and abuse to USAID OIG’s hotline.