Frozen funding, USAID contractor has released 76 employees left with over $ 3 million unpaid invoices – the Boston Globe

But later that week the Schmida team heard from a source inside the USAID that the agency’s accounting system was excluded. On the same day, the State Department issued an extensive order to suspend projects for assistance.

“In principle, this gave the whole industry a collective heart attack,” he said in a recent interview. “We have never predicted that the Federal Government will not systematically pay us.”

The Trump Administration’s decision to dismantle an independent agency, which provides billions of dollars for more than 100 countries, has caused a massive protest over humanitarian consequences.

He has also devastated companies such as resonance, which rely to a large extent on USAID support. After a few days, the company reduced its staff from 90 people to 14 to two rounds, Schmida said.

In addition, Schmida said Resonance has over $ 3 million unpaid USAID invoices for the expenses that the company has accumulated since November while working on federal contracts, money it does not expect to receive at any time, given the circumstances.

The management of the company has reduced the pay and Schmida said that he was not currently accepting salary and submerged in his personal savings to keep the company in sailing.

“I don’t know what else to do,” he said. “No bank will touch us with a 10-foot pillar.”

Resonance experience illustrates previous foreign assistance companies. Because freezing, thousands of USAID workers have been put on vacation and employees abroad have been given 30 days to move their families back to the United States for the government.

On Friday, appointed by Trump Federal Judge stopped the 30-day period and ordered the USAID staff who were released on vacation to be restored.

Schmida’s company runs and partnered with other USAID -funded project groups around the world, including fishing in Indonesia and the Philippines, education and detention of schools in Uganda and expanding access to clean water in Tanzania.

Last week, the company announced the second round of cuts when calling staff. Schmida said the call was “heartbreaking”, but that the employees “all are supportive”.

“They know what is happening and they know the wider problems,” he said.

Schmida described staff as “incredible, wonderful people who really devote their lives to the advancement of American values ​​and American interests.”

“It’s just so difficult to see people who …” he said, after I became emotional. “Everyone is super smart. They could get finances or degrees of computer science … but they didn’t. They decided that they wanted to work with farmers in Uganda and were trying to help raise their incomes. “

Resonance is one of the many USAID performers forced to quit and fire employees. DAI, a large USAID artist based in Bethesda, Md., Completed 450 of its workers in the United States, according to Stephen O’Conner, a spokesman for the company.

Alison Basson, who lives in Menon, said she was full of work in Dai, where he began as a project coordinator in 2008 after graduating from the higher education institution. She left the company in 2016 to take work with ABT Global in Cambridge, but returned three years later to work as a business director for the development of the environmental company.

“I really had the feeling that I had my dream work,” she said in an interview. “I loved my colleagues, we had such a good and united group of people. I wish I had appreciated it more because I never thought it would happen. ”

She said her team had her latest video call on January 31st.

“Nobody wanted to close,” she said. “We knew we were very likely to never be together again.”

She said it is difficult to see the criticism imposed on USAID and his contracts in recent weeks, some of which have been fed by false and misleading information on social media.

“It’s really sad to hear part of the propaganda that is spreading to be deceptive and criminals,” she said.

“I’m not saying the USAID is perfect. I know they are not and none of us say that. It’s just like, is it necessary to blow the whole industry for efficiency? Isn’t there a better way to do this? “

This report used material from the Associated Press.

Nick Stoiko can be found at [email protected].