Assistance to Basic Education Learn to Read Now (ABE LEARN)

The US Agency for International Development Bureau for Management Office of the Assistant Administrator awarded this Master IDIQ on June 30, 2014, with a shared ceiling of $500 million and a final ordering date of July 10, 2019—the vehicle is no longer open to new orders. The scope encompasses technical assistance and implementation support to improve early-grade reading outcomes in primary grades 1–3, including reading instruction delivery systems, teacher effectiveness, quality reading materials, classroom management, monitoring and evaluation, and applied research, typically through cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery orders placed by USAID missions and bureaus worldwide.

Ordering activity peaked in 2015–2016 with 14 orders across two years, then declined sharply to one order in 2017 and two each in 2018 and 2019; the most recent order was issued July 5, 2019. Nineteen task orders have been awarded against the vehicle, with combined potential value of $491.1 million and $474.6 million obligated (97% utilization). The vehicle succeeded an earlier Assistance to Basic Education contract awarded in 2005.

Competition is concentrated among a narrow set of large implementers. Research Triangle Institute and Domestic Awardees (Undisclosed) lead by order count with five orders each; Research Triangle Institute holds $166.4 million in combined potential value, while Domestic Awardees holds $170.8 million. Creative Associates International commands $73.5 million from a single order. Education Development Center, Inc. rounds the top tier with three orders and $64.3 million. The remaining two primes—Family Health International and Juarez & Associates, Inc.—together hold $16 million. Work is distributed across 17 USAID customer entities, primarily individual missions in Malawi, Macedonia, Senegal, Rwanda, Cambodia, Honduras, Haiti, Madagascar, and Nepal, with smaller allocations to USAID headquarters bureaus. Eighty-nine percent of orders carry no set-aside designation; the remainder are small-business awards.

Task-order values range from $457 thousand to $73.5 million, with most in the $3–$14 million band. Nearly all orders employ cost-plus-fixed-fee pricing, with one firm-fixed-price exception. Completion dates cluster between 2015 and 2025, indicating a mix of short-term assessment activities and multi-year implementations.

In support of Goal One of USAID's Education Strategy 2011-2015. Services include technical assistance and services to improve student reading in the primary grades, particularly grades 1-3, by improving reading instruction, improving delivery systems for reading instruction, and assisting to achieve greater engagement, accountability, and transparency by national leaders, service providers, and stakeholders.