How USAID employees were blocked from making payments

Large swaths of workers at USAID have been blocked from implementing payments by being shut out of a pair of web platforms used to assist in agency procurement, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Blocking access to the Global Acquisition and Assistance System (GLAAS) and the related Phoenix system constitutes one of the ways that the agency’s activities have largely been put on hold. Those actions, experts have warned, could be illegal. Contractors are now suing the Trump administration for its approach to winding down the agency, while a federal judge also temporarily blocked an effort to put longtime USAID employees on leave. 

Without access to these tools, payments to myriad USAID programs cannot go through, sources said. 

GLAAS is an adapted version of PRISM, a procurement tool that’s used throughout the federal government. The platform is connected to Phoenix, the agency’s financial management system, and highlights how much an agency’s operations depend on accessing just a handful of information technology systems. 

“GLAAS supports USAID’s mission by tracking development resources more accurately to ensure effective management of programs and budgets,” per a Data.gov page describing the system. “As part of the U.S. Government’s E-Gov initiative and business modernization efforts, USAID has deployed GLAAS across USAID/Washington and globally to all USAID Missions.”

A privacy impact assessment for the GLAAS system is no longer available because the USAID website has been taken offline.

The GLAAS system is hosted by USAID and is used for invoices and making awards and adjustments, while the Phoenix system handles procurement and payments. 

The Professional Services Council, a trade organization that represents federal contractors, said in a press release this month that the U.S. government owes organizations it represents around $500 million, pointing specifically to Department of State and USAID contractor invoices. 

Information technology issues have been at the center of USAID’s collapse. Email accounts and phones at the agency have been disconnected, sources have told FedScoop, and the main website for the agency remains offline.