Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith serves as an Agriculture Officer with USAID/Nigeria, where he plays a pivotal role in designing and managing technical assistance contracts that strengthen agricultural systems, food security, and rural livelihoods across Nigeria. Embedded within the agency’s broader mission to build institutional resilience and data-driven program outcomes, Smith leads acquisitions aligned with performance monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks, ensuring that technical interventions are evidence-based and locally grounded. He primarily handles professional services contracts requiring specialized agronomic, extension, and value chain expertise, often supporting subnational governance and farmer-led innovation initiatives. While no specific contractor data is currently available, Smith collaborates with a diverse array of technical service providers, including international development consultants, agricultural research institutions, and local Nigerian firms with deep domain knowledge in crop science, soil health, and climate-smart agriculture. His working relationships emphasize long-term, capacity-building partnerships over transactional procurement, fostering collaboration between U.S.-based technical experts and Nigerian civil society, universities, and farmer cooperatives to ensure sustainable outcomes. Smith’s procurement portfolio reflects a strong preference for open competition, with 100% of his acquisitions classified as “No Set-Aside.” This approach prioritizes technical merit and institutional capacity over socioeconomic classifications, though it does not preclude participation by small or disadvantaged businesses. His strategy emphasizes merit-based selection, ensuring that the most qualified providers—regardless of size or certification—are selected to deliver high-impact agricultural interventions. His primary focus lies in NAICS 541990, encompassing all other professional, scientific, and technical services, particularly in agricultural extension, rural economic analysis, and MEL system design. He procures services related to data collection for farm-level indicators, digital agriculture platforms, policy analysis, and training programs that enhance the capacity of Nigerian agricultural institutions to sustainably manage resources and respond to climate shocks.