Michelle Shirley

Michelle Shirley serves as a Contracting Officer for USAID/Zimbabwe, where she manages the acquisition of professional and technical services critical to advancing the agency’s mission of sustainable development and public health resilience. In this role, she oversees the full lifecycle of contracts—from solicitation and evaluation to award and closeout—ensuring compliance with federal procurement regulations and USAID’s development objectives. Her portfolio primarily supports institutional capacity building, health system strengthening, and community-based programming, with a focus on technical consulting services that enhance local governance and service delivery. While specific contractor names are not disclosed in available records, Shirley engages with a diverse pool of professional service providers, including international consultants, local Zimbabwean firms, and U.S.-based technical assistance organizations. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, clear statement of work development, and rigorous contractor accountability to ensure alignment with USAID’s strategic goals. She fosters collaborative relationships with vendors who demonstrate deep subject-matter expertise in public health, data systems, and program evaluation. Shirley’s procurement pattern reflects a strong preference for open competition, with 100% of her acquisitions issued without set-aside designations. This indicates a deliberate focus on selecting the most qualified providers regardless of socioeconomic status, prioritizing technical merit and program impact over targeted socioeconomic categories. While she does not routinely utilize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, her process remains transparent and inclusive, allowing all eligible firms to compete on an equal footing. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 541690 (Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services) and 541990 (All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services), reflecting her specialization in securing expert advisory services for HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition, and health systems strengthening initiatives. She routinely procures services such as monitoring and evaluation, policy analysis, training design, and data management—domains requiring high levels of technical proficiency and contextual understanding of Zimbabwe’s development landscape.