The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), under President Joe Biden, awarded an $800 million contract to a joint venture that included a firm deeply implicated in a decade-long bribery scheme — even after federal investigators formally determined that its key executive lacked the “honesty or integrity” required to do business with the government.
Walter Barnes III, founder of Vistant (formerly PM Consulting Group or PMCG), and USAID contracting official Roderick Watson pleaded guilty to orchestrating a bribery scheme that spanned nearly 10 years. Barnes and his co-conspirators paid Watson approximately $1 million in bribes — including cash, wedding expenses, and real estate support — in exchange for $544 million in contracts. According to court documents, the corruption was known to USAID’s Inspector General by 2023.
Despite that, the agency awarded an even larger contract — up to $800 million — in August 2024 to a joint venture between Barnes’ Vistant and CollaborateUp, a small consultancy operating out of a Virginia home. This contract, part of the Biden administration’s effort to address the “root causes of migration” from Central America, was assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris but never publicly followed through.
On November 9, 2023, the federal government formally disbarred Barnes and Vistant from federal contracting due to their role in the bribery scandal. Yet on the same day, the Vistant-CollaborateUp joint venture, PMCG CollaborateUp JV LLC, was notified it had been selected for the massive USAID migration contract.
Though a USAID contracting officer flagged the award as “legally questionable” — noting that CollaborateUp owned the majority stake but was doing almost none of the actual work — the contractors sued to force the government to finalize the award. On August 22, 2024, USAID proceeded to award the joint venture the full contract, issuing an initial $10,000 payment.
Barnes exploited the 8(a) minority contracting program, using his status as a Black business owner to win no-bid or limited-competition contracts. Vistant often acted as a front, forming joint ventures with larger companies that actually performed the work. CollaborateUp reversed this tactic — using its small business status to secure contracts while relying on Vistant and others behind the scenes.
The same firm that co-developed USAID’s procurement reform policy, CollaborateUp, later benefited directly from the corrupted contracting process it helped shape, even hiring former USAID Administrator Mark A. Green as a “senior advisor.”
Beyond the USAID deal, the Biden administration’s General Services Administration (GSA) awarded PMCG CollaborateUp JV two massive federal contracts after the 2024 election:
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November 6, 2024: A contract with a maximum value of $999,999,999,999.00, issued the day after the presidential election.
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December 19, 2024: A similar “indefinite delivery” contract, allowing the firm to be called upon for projects through 2029.
Even as USAID was aware of Barnes’ involvement in fraudulent contracts, GSA permitted new work under his former firm’s joint venture. According to its rate card, CollaborateUp bills the government $93.68 per hour for administrative assistants.
The controversial $800 million migration contract was ultimately terminated in February 2025, not because of the bribery — but due to President Trump’s return to office and subsequent move to dismantle USAID over its embedded corruption. Liberal outlets dismissed the reform efforts as “conspiracy theories,” but the timeline and court records point to an agency plagued by insider deals and minimal accountability.
Further charges have continued:
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June 10, 2024: Paul Young, a go-between who routed bribes on behalf of Barnes, was indicted for his role in the scheme.
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May 19, 2024: British contractor Stephen Paul Edmund Sutton pleaded guilty to defrauding USAID in Pakistan.
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November 4, 2024: USAID finally moved to obtain a search warrant for Matthieu Zahui, another contracting official accused of steering money to a friend in exchange for kickbacks.
Despite long-standing knowledge of corruption, most prosecutions did not occur until after the 2024 election and the return of a Trump-led Justice Department — indicating political reluctance to act during Biden’s term.
