Chemonics International, Inc. is a private
international development firm based in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
It was established in 1975 by Thurston F. (Tony) Teele as a subsidiary of Erly Industries. The
employee-owned
Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Emp ...
company offers a variety of services globally and with more than $1.5 billion in
USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
contracts in 2019 is the largest for-profit recipient of U.S.
government foreign aid.
the company has approximately 5,000 employees in 100 countries.
Overview
Chemonics, established in 1975 as a subsidiary of Erly Industries,
is an
employee-owned
Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Emp ...
,
for-profit corporation A for-profit corporation is an organization which aims to earn profit through its operations and is concerned with its own interests, unlike those of the public (non-profit corporation).
Structure
A for-profit corporation is usually an organization ...
based in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The
international development and
consulting firm
A consulting firm or simply consultancy is a professional service firm that provides expertise and specialised labour for a fee, through the use of consultants. Consulting firms may have one employee or thousands; they may consult in a broad rang ...
has received some of the U.S. government's largest aid contracts supporting agriculture,
conflict
Conflict may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton
* ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne
* ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
and
crisis
A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...
, democracy,
economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...
, education, energy, governance,
health care and
supply chain,
international trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy)
In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...
,
microfinance, sustainability, water,
welfare reform, and
youth program
Youth programs are particular activities designed to involve people between the ages of 10 and 25. Activities included are generally oriented towards youth development through recreation, social life, prevention, intervention, or education. During ...
s.
It has received some of the U.S. government's largest aid contracts and has been labeled a Beltway Bandit.
According to Devex
Devex is a social enterprise and media platform for the global development community. Devex aims to connect and inform development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, funding and career ...
, the firm offers capacity building
Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...
, communications, corporate social responsibility, knowledge management
Knowledge management (KM) is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making ...
, performance management
Performance management (PM) is the process of ensuring that a set of activities and outputs meets an organization's goals in an effective and efficient manner. Performance management can focus on the performance of a whole organization, a ...
and appraisal, and program design services, and has worked on projects in more than 150 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East.[ Funders have included the ]Overseas Private Investment Corporation
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) was the United States Government's Development finance institution until it merged with the Development Credit Authority (DCA) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID ...
, United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
, U.S. Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 ...
(USAID), U.S. Trade and Development Agency, U.K. Department for International Development and World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
.
As of December 2018, the firm has offices in downtown Washington, D.C. and Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...
, and plans to relocate headquarters to a building under construction in Navy Yard. Chemonics employs approximately 1,200 people in Washington, D.C. and Crystal City, as of December 2018. In 2019, Chemonics established an office in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, to increase its aid work with the UK's Department for International Development and Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As of 2019, there were approximately 5,000 employees in 100 countries. Susanna Mudge chairs the board of directors. Jamey Butcher serves as president and chief executive officer (CEO). The company has said 63 percent of its employees in Washington, D.C., are women, and 39 percent are racial minorities.[
]
History
1970s–2000s
Chemonics was established as a subsidiary of Erly Industries in 1975 by Thurston Teele, with support from Gerald D. Murphy, the parent company's CEO and largest shareholder.[ According to Murphy, he started Chemonics because "I've always wanted a way to do two things: one, have my own ]C.I.A.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
, and two, be helpful to people."[ Teele served as the first president of Chemonics until 2002, when he became chairman of the board of directors.
In 1993, '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' said the company received 98 percent of its revenue in the form of agency contracts and increased revenues four-fold over the past decade.[ Chemonics was awarded a $5 million, three-year contract in 1995 to manage the creation of Ukraine's Agricultural Commodity Exchange. In 1997, the company received funding to continue co-managing a privatization project for non-farm land in Ukraine. Chemonics reportedly earned contracts valued at $97 million in 1997 and $58 million in 1998.][ The company received US$15 million from the USAID between 1996 and 2003.
In mid-2002, the company was awarded a $2.9 million contract to hire 3,000 locals to repair ]acequia
An acequia () or séquia () is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest particularly n ...
and roads in Afghanistan's Shomali Plain.[ In Haiti, during the 2000s, Chemonics worked on agriculture programs, the ]Famine Early Warning Systems Network
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...
, and the "WINNER" project, which promotes the farming of ''Jatropha curcas
''Jatropha curcas'' is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, that is native to the American tropics, most likely Mexico and Central America. It is originally native to the tropical areas of the Americas from Mexico t ...
'' to serve as biofuel. In 2008, an audit by USAID's Office of Inspector General
In the United States, Office of Inspector General (OIG) is a generic term for the oversight division of a federal or state agency aimed at preventing inefficient or unlawful operations within their parent agency. Such offices are attached to ma ...
(OIG) found that the results of Chemonics' $62 million contract in Afghanistan "fell considerably short" of the intended impact,[ and buildings constructed by subcontractors had significant construction defects. Chemonics said the audit "provided an incomplete picture".][
During the 2000s, Ashraf Rizk was president and CEO prior to Richard Dreiman.] Chemonics ranked number 70 in ''Washington Technology
''Washington Technology'' is a United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consist ...
'' 2009 list of the "top 100" largest government contractors based on revenue for the 2008 fiscal year and had approximately 3,200 employees at the time.[
]
2010s
Chemonics ranked number 51 in ''Washington Technology'' "top 100" list in 2010. The following year, Chemonics became 100 percent employee-owned through its employee stock ownership program.
The U.S. Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
charged the company with discrimination against qualified African-American job candidates. As part of the settlement, Chemonics agreed to pay nearly $500,000 in damages to 124 job applicants,[ hired eight of the candidates,][ corrected hiring software problems, and implemented a diversity program.][ The company also agreed to sponsor four or more diversity events organized by nonprofit groups and create a training program for local high school students as part of the Summer Youth Employment Program.][ Chemonics managed to deny liability as part of the settlement and attributed the pattern of discrimination to a manual application system.]
In 2012, Chemonics came under scrutiny by USAID's OIG for their work in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Chemonics was the largest single recipient of post-earthquake funds from USAID, receiving over $196 million in contracts, many of which were "no-bid".[ Audits specifically cited Chemonics lack of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan and that "some of the performance indicators Chemonics developed were not well-defined."] Chemonics also spent more than 75 percent of program budgets on material and equipment when an expenditure of only 30 percent was planned. Chemonics responded, saying that reports, assessments, and the final third-party evaluation of USAID's earthquake recovery program revealed that claims of failure in Haiti were exaggerated.
An Inspector General's report also found that local communities were not sufficiently involved with Chemonics' work, and stated "Chemonics used contractors from Port-au-Prince to implement a number of activities in Cap-Haitien and Saint-Marc
Saint-Marc ( ht, Sen Mak) is a commune in western Haiti in Artibonite departement. Its geographic coordinates are . At the 2003 Census the commune had 160,181 inhabitants. It is one of the biggest cities, second to Gonaïves, between Port-au-P ...
; these contractors brought their own people to do the jobs instead of hiring locals." When locals were required by USAID, Chemonics' policies "limited the transparency of the selection process and increase the risk of corruption or favoritism by granting decision-making authority to a few individuals." Chemonics responded, stating that more than 90 percent of the staff on USAID's two largest Chemonics-implemented programs were Haitian and that the company had awarded $96.3 million in grants and subcontracts directly to Haitian organizations over a five-year period.
Chemonics received USAID funding in early 2014 to operate the Sindh Reading Programme to improve literacy in Sindh, Pakistan. The company had received $501.7 million from USAID by November 2014.[ Chemonics worked with USAID to help three coastal cities in ]Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
adapt to climate change. As part of the work, Chemonics and USAID constructed model homes to teach residents about low-cost solutions to protect homes during storms.[
Through USAID, Chemonics has supported the White Helmets, a volunteer organization formed during the Syrian Civil War and operating in parts of ]rebel
A rebel is a participant in a rebellion.
Rebel or rebels may also refer to:
People
* Rebel (given name)
* Rebel (surname)
* Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution
* American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...
-controlled Syria and in Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
.[ Funding from USAID and the Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta allowed Chemonics to operate the Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement governance project in Nigeria from 2014 to 2018.] In 2015, USAID awarded Chemonics a $9.5 billion, eight-year IDIQ In U.S. Federal government contracting, IDIQ is an abbreviation of the term indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity. This is a type of contract that provides for an indefinite quantity of supplies or services during a fixed period of time. The legal ...
contract, the agency's largest award to date.[ The contract funds health supply chain programs to prevent and treat ]HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
, malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
, and tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
.[ In 2017, Devex reported that only 7 percent of the health commodity shipments delivered through the program arrived "on time and in full".] Chemonics acknowledged the challenges, saying it undertook a "foundational change," by restructuring "how the project itself functioned from a management perspective". In Year 4, October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019, 85 percent of health commodity shipments were delivered on time and in full. During that same period the project procured nearly $544 million and delivered almost $699 million in drugs, diagnostics, and other health commodities.
USAID also awarded a $37 million contract for Chemonics to operate the "Promote" program in Afghanistan, which seeks to help women find employment in the civil society, private, and public sectors; in 2018, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is the U.S. government's leading oversight authority on Afghanistan reconstruction. Congress created the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction to p ...
criticized USAID for results achieved to date. Expending nearly $90 million in taxpayer funding over three years, the program placed just 55 women in Afghan government jobs.
In 2016, Chemonics launched the Blockchain for Development Solutions Lab, becoming the first U.S. international development company to develop blockchain technology. The lab aims to support financial inclusion
Financial inclusion is defined as the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. It refers to a process by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable, and timely financial products and service ...
and make business processes more efficient. Chemonics was the leading contractor for USAID in 2016. The firm ranked number 44 and number 28 in ''Washington Technology'' 2016 and 2017 lists of "Top 100 Contractors". The company ranked number 19 on ''Washington Technology'' "top 100" list in 2018 and reportedly earned contracts valued at $1.613 billion. It was awarded a 2018 Industry Innovator award for its Blockchain for Development Solutions Lab. Chemonics partnered with Arizona State University to incorporate minimasters programming into staff training and development.
In 2018, the Council of the District of Columbia approved a $5.2 million property tax break
Tax break also known as tax preferences, tax concession, and tax relief, are a method of reduction to the tax liability of taxpayers. Government usually applies them to stimulate the economy and increase the solvency of the population. By this fi ...
for Chemonics' headquarters relocation, despite opposition by member Elissa Silverman
Elissa Silverman is an American politician and reporter from Washington, D.C., the United States capital. She has served as an independent at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia since January 2, 2015. Before 2014, she was a ...
who objected to the company's troubled history of discriminatory hiring. Two years later, construction began.
2020s
In June 2020, Chemonics was added to the defendant's list of a lawsuit that was previously filed in December 2019 against six other companies, including DAI, Louis Berger, among others, for allegedly paying bribes, or protection money, to the Taliban in a lawsuit brought by families of American victims. This claim relates to whether Chemonics may have violated the Anti-Terrorism Act which makes it illegal for any individual or entity to provide material support to terrorist groups like the Taliban.
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.chemonics.com
United States Agency for International Development
International development agencies
Consulting firms of the United States
Economic growth