James Berscheit

James Berscheit, as Acting Executive Officer for USAID/Indonesia, provides strategic leadership over the agency’s procurement operations, ensuring alignment with U.S. foreign assistance objectives and Indonesia’s development priorities. He oversees the acquisition of technical services that support governance strengthening, health system resilience, and environmental sustainability initiatives. His role involves guiding the planning, solicitation, and award of contracts for expert consulting, institutional capacity building, and cross-sectoral program implementation, with a focus on performance-based outcomes and local partner engagement. Berscheit ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while advancing USAID’s mission of fostering self-reliance through evidence-based, locally led development. While no specific contractor relationships are currently identifiable in the procurement record, Berscheit’s office routinely engages with a broad spectrum of international and local service providers, including technical consultants, research institutions, and implementation partners with deep regional expertise. His procurement patterns reflect a preference for flexible, performance-driven contracts that enable rapid adaptation to evolving program needs, often involving long-term, task-order-based arrangements with firms possessing proven experience in complex, multi-donor environments. Berscheit’s office maintains a 100% non-set-aside contracting approach, indicating a focus on open competition rather than socioeconomic preference programs. This reflects a strategic decision to prioritize technical merit, local capacity, and value for money over set-aside categories such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB, aligning with USAID’s global procurement policies that emphasize merit-based selection in international contexts. The agency’s procurement activity is exclusively concentrated under NAICS 812990, All Other Personal Services, underscoring a heavy reliance on expert consulting, technical assistance, and capacity-building services. These acquisitions support high-skill domains including public health policy, disease surveillance, governance reform, and climate resilience planning, requiring contractors with specialized knowledge in Indonesia’s institutional landscape and development challenges.