Kara Dixon

Kara Dixon serves as a Senior Acquisition and Assistance Specialist at USAID/Nigeria, where she plays a pivotal role in designing and managing complex procurement and assistance instruments aligned with U.S. foreign assistance priorities. Her work centers on advancing governance, public health systems, and sustainable development outcomes through strategic contracting and cooperative agreements. She specializes in performance-driven acquisitions that emphasize monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks, often supporting data science initiatives, institutional capacity building, and subnational governance programs. Her portfolio includes both competitive and non-competitive instruments, with a strong focus on technical assistance, research, and digital service delivery to ensure programmatic impact and local ownership. Kara collaborates with a diverse range of contractors and implementing partners, including international research institutions, data analytics firms, and aviation service providers supporting field operations. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages firms with demonstrated expertise in social science research, health systems strengthening, and digital infrastructure. Her procurement approach prioritizes technical competence, adaptive management capabilities, and local partnership alignment, fostering long-term vendor relationships built on performance accountability and innovation. Kara’s contracting activity reflects a uniform preference for open, non-set-aside competitions, with 100% of her acquisitions conducted without socioeconomic set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB. This reflects USAID/Nigeria’s operational model, which prioritizes technical merit and programmatic fit over socioeconomic preferences, though small business participation remains possible through competitive open bidding. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 541720 (social science and humanities research), 541519 (other computer-related services), and 481111 (scheduled passenger air transportation). These reflect her domain expertise in data-driven program design, digital monitoring tools, and logistical support for remote program implementation. She routinely procures research services, data analytics platforms, and air transport for field assessments, underscoring her technical acumen in integrating evidence-based approaches into development programming.