Mark Poubelle

Mark Poubelle serves as a key procurement lead within USAID/Senegal, supporting the agency’s mission to advance sustainable development across West Africa through strategic contracting for technical assistance and institutional capacity building. He manages a diverse portfolio of acquisitions centered on professional, scientific, and educational services, ensuring alignment with U.S. foreign assistance priorities in governance, public health, climate resilience, and education. His role involves executing full lifecycle contracting actions—from market research and solicitation to award and performance monitoring—while adhering to FAR and USAID’s Acquisition and Assistance Policy. He frequently interfaces with implementing partners, local institutions, and international consultants to secure high-impact, mission-critical expertise. Poubelle collaborates with a broad spectrum of contractors, including U.S.-based technical service firms, regional academic institutions, and local Senegalese organizations providing advisory, training, and research services. His procurement approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes and local engagement, fostering partnerships with both international experts and homegrown capacity builders. He maintains a balanced vendor ecosystem that integrates global best practices with contextual expertise, ensuring program sustainability and ownership by Senegalese stakeholders. His contracting patterns reflect a strong commitment to socioeconomic inclusion, with equal weighting between open competitions and Local Area Set-Asides under FAR 26.2. This reflects a deliberate strategy to empower regional businesses and community-based organizations, prioritizing economic localization without compromising technical rigor. While no formal small business set-asides like 8(a) or HUBZone are dominant, his consistent use of Local Area Set-Asides demonstrates a targeted focus on building domestic procurement capacity and fostering inclusive economic growth. Poubelle’s primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 541990 (All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services) and 611310 (Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools). He routinely awards contracts for technical advisory services, curriculum development, policy analysis, and institutional training programs, often requiring advanced subject matter expertise in public administration, health systems strengthening, and climate adaptation. His domain expertise ensures that acquisitions directly support USAID’s long-term development objectives through evidence-based, locally grounded interventions.