USAID Partner Vetting System

Partner Vetting System (PVS) Overview

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December 12, 2011
The Partner Vetting System (PVS) would require USAID grant applicants to submit detailed personal information on “key individuals” to be shared with the intelligence agencies. Despite widespread criticism that PVS would create unnecessary and potentially dangerous barriers for humanitarian groups working in global hot spots, officials from the State Department and USAID presented its pilot program at a briefing held on Sept. 8, 2011.

CSN's PVS Issue Brief provides background information on PVS (UPDATED Feb 2012)

PVS News & Opinion

PVS Resources

Reports Critical of PVS

PVS: Flawed Assumptions about Effective Vetting of Humanitarian Activity

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February 1, 2012

The purpose of the Partner Vetting System (PVS) is to vet individuals in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who apply for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or State Department contracts and grants, in order to ensure that USAID-funded activities are not inadvertently providing support to entities associated with terrorism.  Under the proposed PVS pilot program, the U.S. government will collect personal data, including name, government identification number, date of birth, country of citizenship, home address, email address, employer information, and job title, from applicants who wish to use federal money for humanitarian purposes overseas. The certification on the form also states that the NGO official signing the form must take “reasonable steps in accordance with sound business practices” to verify the information without defining what those practices are.  Numerous NGOs oppose its implementation.

How to File Comments to the OMB on the Partner Vetting System

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January 25, 2012

On the Jan. 18, 2012 Federal Register, the State Department announced that it is seeking regulatory approval for its proposed Partner Vetting System.  (Vol. 77  Fed.  Reg. No. 11, page 2601) The Federal Register announcement is available here. Instructions for submitting comments to the Office of Management and Budget are below.

Department of State Responds to Comments on Partner Vetting System

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January 23, 2012

On Jan. 18, 2012, State responded to the comments submitted in December by NGOs critical of the proposed Partner Vetting System (PVS). The PVS  would require State Department (State) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant applicants to submit detailed personal information on foreign partners for screening against secret government databases. Complete comments, news and background on the PVS is available here.

Federal Register Notice Seeks Comments about Partner Vetting System to OMB by Feb. 17, 2012

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January 19, 2012

On Feb.18, 2012 the Department of State posted a new Federal Register Notice on the Partner Vetting System (PVS).  It seeks the Office of Management and Budget's approval for the State Department to collect personal information about its grantees' "key personnel" to be screened against government intelligence databases. The notice is the next step in State's process for launching a pilot PVS this year. 

NGOs Explain How USAID’s Partner Vetting System Hurts Humanitarian Action & Is Contrary to U.S. Interests

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January 14, 2012

Below are excerpts from comments written by a diverse range of nonprofits and experts in response to two Federal Register announcements inviting comment on the burdens USAID’s Partner Vetting System (PVS) would impose on its grant applicants; one from the Department of State (Oct. 2011) and USAID (Dec. 2011). PVS would require NGOs receiving USAID funds to collect personal information on local partners for submission to the U.S. government. If implemented, the proposed PVS pilot would create hazards for aid workers and undermine program effectiveness. It will prevent some potential grantees from applying for funds, and will hamper the efforts of others to deliver services and programs that serve the best interests of the United States.

Nonprofits Tell State Dept., USAID Proposed Vetting System Harmful

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January 14, 2012

Ineffective and problematic is how several nonprofits and experts describe USAID’s proposed Partner Vetting System (PVS) in comments filed at the Department of State in December 2011 and at USAID in January 2012. Nonprofits are actively objecting this burdensome and unwarranted program in which thousands of nonprofit workers and local partners would have to be screened against secret government databases. In September 2011, the agencies presented parts of a proposed pilot program for NGOs in five countries, but has not yet announced further details. If implemented, the pilot would create hazards for aid workers, prevent some potential grantees from applying for funds, and will hamper the efforts of others to deliver services and programs that serve the interests of the United States.

USAID Requests Comments on Partner Vetting System (PVS)

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December 20, 2011

In the Dec. 7, 2011 Federal Register USAID announced a proposed information collection burden for its grantees that will apply to a pilot Partner Vetting System. It gave the public 30 days to submit comments.  

The notice says, “USAID intends to collect information from approximately 10,000 individuals and/or officers of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who apply for USAID contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, other funding from USAID, or who apply for registration with USAID as Private and Voluntary Organizations (PVO). Collection of personally identifiable information from these individuals is specifically used to conduct screening to ensure that neither USAID funds nor USAID-funded activities inadvertently provide support to entities or individuals associated with terrorism.” 

This notice comes just weeks after a similar notice from the State Dept.  Comments on the USAID notice are due no later than Jan. 5, 2012.

Click here for instructions on how to file comments, talking points, sample comments and more.

How Misguided Counterterrorism Strategies Lead to Misguided Programs

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December 20, 2011
Author: 
By John Filson, Program Manager, 3P Human Security

Terrorism is powerful because it makes people afraid. But on a macro political scale fear has not guided the U,S, to the best objective strategy for stopping the threat. It is natural after the trauma of violence to conclude that the perpetrators are inherently evil and therefore cannot--and should not--be reasoned with. The policy result of this collective reaction is to take extraordinarily extensive and expensive measures to avoid having any contact with designated terrorist groups, and to make sure not a single penny ends up in terrorist hands. Public support for severed diplomacy, "material support" prohibitions on conflict resolution, and full-scale preemptive war is a manifestation of natural fears, misdirected. While defining and alienating enemy groups may help our brains cope with the confusion of trauma, it makes the task of solving the actual problem more difficult.

UPDATED: State Dept. Seeks Comment on Partner Vetting Pilot

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November 10, 2011

UPDATE: The Charity and Security Network contacted the State Department for additional information about the pilot program and was sent the form titled, Risk Analysis Information. Please note that the form is a draft tailored for operations in Afghanistan and not one of the five countries selected to be in the pilot program (Guatemala, Kenya, Lebanon, Philippines, and Ukraine).

The Department of State (State) announced a proposed pilot Partner Vetting System in the Federal Register on Oct. 20, 2011, giving the public 60 days to submit comments.  The notice says “the Department envisions collecting information from contractors, sub-contractors, grantees and sub-grantees regarding their directors, officers or key employees.”  The data collected will be “compared to information gathered from commercial, public, and U.S. government databases to determine the risk that the applying organization might use Department funds or programs to benefit terrorist entities.”   USAID is expected to publish a similar Federal Register announcement soon. 
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