Steven T. Cowper

Steven T. Cowper serves as Supervisory Regional Executive Officer for USAID/Guinea/Sierra Leone, overseeing the strategic planning and execution of procurement activities that align with the agency’s mission to strengthen democratic governance, public health resilience, and conflict prevention in West Africa. In this leadership role, he directs the acquisition of technical assistance and institutional capacity-building services, ensuring compliance with federal procurement regulations and USAID’s development objectives. His portfolio primarily encompasses professional, scientific, and technical services critical to supporting electoral integrity, gender-based violence prevention, and health security initiatives through local institutional strengthening. Mr. Cowper’s contractor relationships are centered on high-caliber professional service providers with deep expertise in governance reform, public health systems, and civil society engagement. He collaborates with a diverse array of international and local consulting firms, research institutions, and technical assistance providers, fostering long-term partnerships grounded in performance-based outcomes and adaptive management principles. While no single contractor dominates his portfolio, his approach prioritizes organizations with proven experience in complex, context-sensitive environments across Francophone and Anglophone West Africa. Mr. Cowper’s contracting patterns reflect a strong preference for open, non-set-aside competitions, with 100% of acquisitions conducted under unrestricted procurement authority. This reflects a strategic emphasis on maximizing technical competitiveness and access to global expertise rather than socioeconomic set-asides, consistent with USAID’s international development mandate and the limited availability of certified small businesses in the region. His primary procurement focus lies within NAICS 541990—All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services—encompassing contract vehicles for policy analysis, institutional assessments, training programs, data collection systems, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks. He specializes in procuring services that build local capacity in governance, human rights, and health security, ensuring that technical interventions are locally owned, sustainable, and aligned with national priorities.