The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)

The US Agency for International Development awarded the Famine Early Warning Systems Network Master IDIQ on September 29, 2005, with a shared ceiling of $100 million and ordering authority closing on December 28, 2016; this vehicle is no longer active. The vehicle established food security monitoring and assessment services spanning drought response, socioeconomic hazard tracking, and vulnerability analysis in food-insecure regions. Successor vehicle Famine Early Warning Systems Network 7 was awarded April 8, 2019.

Twelve task orders were issued under the vehicle between July 2006 and December 2016. Combined potential value across all task orders reached $788.9 million, with $255.5 million obligated (32% of potential value). A single domestic awardee (name undisclosed in source) received all 12 orders, indicating no competitive activity under this vehicle. Recent ordering momentum was modest—one task order per year in 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2016.

The US Agency for International Development Bureau for Management Office of the Assistant Administrator led customer activity with five orders totaling $674.7 million in combined potential value (85% of portfolio), followed by the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance with four orders totaling $112.6 million and USAID Kenya with one $999 thousand order. All 12 task orders carried no set-aside designation.

Task-order values ranged widely. The largest order, awarded December 5, 2016, obligated $76.2 million (ceiling $76.2 million) for FY17 FEWS NET activities and a bridge to the successor vehicle, with completion January 1, 2020. Earlier orders ranged from under $200 thousand to over $560 million in potential ceiling value, though typical obligations fell between $2 million and $103 million. Pricing was predominantly Cost Plus Fixed Fee with one Firm Fixed Price order. All task orders supported worldwide FEWS NET services, with specific work documented in Kenya, Mozambique, West Africa, and regional offices.

This vehicle is closed to new task orders and superseded; pursuit is not viable.

The goal of the FEWS NET activity is to help prevent food insecurity and famine. FEWS NET is an integrated set of activities intended to accomplish regular monitoring and assessment of environmental (e.g.drought) and socio-economic hazards (e.g. rising prices), current food security conditions, and a population's current or future vulnerability to food insecurity.