Advancing the Agenda of Gender Equality

USAID's Bureau for Management Office of the Assistant Administrator established the Advancing the Agenda of Gender Equality (ADVANTAGE) Master IDIQ on June 6, 2014, to provide specialized expertise in gender integration across USAID initiatives, programs, projects, monitoring and evaluation efforts, and procurements. Ordering under the vehicle closed on June 5, 2019, seven years ago, making this vehicle inactive for pursuit.

The IDIQ carried a $74 million shared ceiling and was set aside for Total Small Business at the vehicle level. Task orders issued under ADVANTAGE contracted specialized international and local advisory services, gender analysis, training curriculum development, knowledge management, and gender-based violence assessments. Awarded task orders emphasized training delivery (operationalizing USAID gender policy, facilitator guides, training of trainers programs), discrete gender analyses for country and regional development cooperation strategies, and resource guides for integration of gender considerations into education, infrastructure, and other development sectors. The most recent and largest order, awarded June 5, 2019, funded comprehensive gender training, learning, and knowledge management services valued at $6.3 million (Woman-Owned Small Business set-aside).

Eighteen task orders totaling $18.8 million in combined potential value were issued between September 2014 and June 2019. Two prime contractors shared the awards evenly: Banyan Global Inc. held nine orders valued at $5 million combined potential, while a domestic awardee (undisclosed in the source) held nine orders valued at $13.9 million. Most orders drew obligated funding across 2015 and 2016 (eleven orders total), with sharply declining activity thereafter—two orders in 2017, one in 2018, and one in 2019. $15.4 million (82% of combined potential value) had been obligated by the vehicle's final ordering date. USAID's Bureau for Management Office of the Assistant Administrator placed ten orders valued at $10.2 million; broader USAID placed four orders valued at $8.1 million, with the remainder distributed across regional missions. The set-aside mix skewed unrestricted: ten orders carried no set-aside, seven were Total Small Business, and one was Woman-Owned Small Business.

The purpose of the Advancing the Agenda of Gender Equality (ADVANTAGE) IDIQ is to strengthen USAID's capacity to integrate gender equality and women's empowerment systematically across USAID's new and ongoing Initiatives; programs and projects; performance monitoring and evaluation efforts; and procurements by providing specialized international and local expertise for discrete gender integration tasks. Addressing gender equality and women's empowerment is central to achieving the goals put forth in the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.