Why We Did This Audit
On January 20, 2025, Executive Order 14169 directed a government-wide pause and review of all U.S. foreign assistance. Since then, USAID has terminated over $76.5 billion out of a total of $159 billion (almost 50 percent) in foreign assistance awards. As a result, implementers began disposing of government-funded assets. In response to the award terminations, we initiated a series of audits examining asset disposition processes for eight USAID missions around the world. The objective of this audit was to determine the status of the disposition of USAID-funded physical assets procured under selected terminated awards in El Salvador. We identified 18 programmatic awards that the USAID Mission for El Salvador (USAID/El Salvador) managed that were terminated between January 20 and March 11, 2025, as a result of the foreign assistance review. The selected awards had 40 priority assets purchased for approximately $1.1 million with an estimated fair market value of over $780,000 at the time of our audit.
What We Found
USAID/El Salvador Approved Implementers’ Expedited Disposition Plans for Selected Awards, and Implementers Donated or Retained Priority Assets in Accordance with the Plans. The mission implemented expedited procedures to dispose of priority assets for terminated awards consistent with USAID guidance. As of May 28, 2025, USAID/El Salvador had approved all disposition plans for selected assets all nine selected awards, despite some challenges with information consistency. Although, we did not identify any discrepancies between the implementers’ asset lists and disposition plans, and USAID/El Salvador approved all the plans, additional guidance for managing asset disposition for the terminated awards may have helped the mission collect and analyze information in a more uniform manner. In some cases, USAID/El Salvador relied on implementers to safeguard assets using interim measures, such as by renting commercial space. Ultimately, implementers disposed of the 40 priority assets for the selected awards by donating them to local entities or retaining them in accordance with the approved disposition plans.