James Cerwinski

James Cerwinski serves as a key procurement professional within USAID/Ethiopia, supporting the agency’s mission to advance sustainable development and humanitarian outcomes through strategic contracting. He manages acquisitions aligned with technical assistance, institutional capacity building, and program implementation support, with a primary focus on personal services that enable on-the-ground program delivery. His work directly facilitates USAID’s priorities in public health, education, governance, and resilience, ensuring that contracted expertise meets the nuanced needs of local stakeholders. Cerwinski routinely handles task orders and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts for specialized consultants, subject matter experts, and implementation support personnel. Cerwinski’s contracting patterns reflect a strong emphasis on partnerships with small, locally embedded service providers, particularly those certified under the 8(a) Business Development Program. While no specific prime contractors are publicly identified, his procurement approach consistently prioritizes firms with demonstrated experience in international development, health systems strengthening, and psychosocial service delivery. His working relationships are characterized by collaborative engagement, performance-based oversight, and a focus on adaptive, context-sensitive service delivery models. Cerwinski demonstrates an unwavering commitment to socioeconomic inclusion, with 100% of his acquisitions structured as 8(a) competed contracts. This pattern underscores a deliberate strategy to empower disadvantaged businesses, particularly those owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals with relevant development expertise. His contracting practices align with federal mandates to maximize small business participation and foster equitable access to U.S. government-funded development opportunities in Ethiopia. His primary NAICS classification—812990, All Other Personal Services—reflects a specialization in procuring highly customized, non-commodity professional services. These include technical advisors, training facilitators, monitoring and evaluation specialists, and community engagement consultants supporting USAID’s health, education, and governance initiatives. Cerwinski’s domain expertise lies in securing human capital solutions that are culturally competent, locally responsive, and operationally agile in complex, resource-constrained environments.