TDFP EXCLUSIVE: USAID's Biggest Contractor Hires a New Washington Lobbyist on 'Foreign Assistance' After the Agency's Shutdown, Filings Show
Chemonics International, the Washington-based company that was long the biggest for-profit contractor of the U.S. Agency for International Development, has hired a new lobbying firm to press its case on foreign aid, according to federal lobbying disclosures reviewed by The Digital Free Press.
The firm, Hudgins Strategic Partners, LLC of Alexandria, Va., registered to lobby for Chemonics in a filing posted on Thursday, Oct. 22. The registration lists an effective date of Aug. 1, 2026, and describes the work as "Foreign support and investment opportunities."
On the same day, Hudgins filed its first quarterly report, which shows Chemonics paid the firm $60,000 for the July-September quarter. The report says the firm lobbied the State Department and the Office of Management and Budget on "Foreign Assistance and International Development." The filings name one lobbyist, Jennifer Hudgins.
Chemonics Changes Lobbyists
The new contract replaces an earlier one. Chemonics' previous lobbying firm, ACG Advocacy, ended its work for the company effective Aug. 31, 2026, according to a termination report posted Oct. 10. ACG reported $130,000 in lobbying income from Chemonics this year, on "Appropriations" and "International issues. Middle East issues.," with contacts at the Senate and the State Department. Its listed lobbyists included Shawn Smeallie, who the filings say was a special assistant to President George W. Bush for legislative affairs.
A third firm, BGR Government Affairs, filed reports showing no lobbying activity for Chemonics in 2026 and ended its registration effective April 1, 2026.
In all, firms working for Chemonics reported $190,000 in lobbying income from the company in the first nine months of 2026, according to the filings.
Billions in Taxpayer-Funded Contracts
Chemonics has been one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign-aid money. In 2015, USAID gave Chemonics a $9.5 billion award to run the Global Health Supply Chain Program's procurement and supply management project, according to USAID's Office of Inspector General. In a 2021 audit of that project, the inspector general found that "weaknesses in planning and evaluation processes" hindered USAID's ability to support key decisions in the design and award of the contract, and that "more oversight is needed to improve timeliness and contractor performance."
Devex, a publication that covers the aid industry, has reported that Chemonics led all USAID contractors from 2016 onward with $11.1 billion in contracts.
The administration moved USAID's remaining foreign-aid programs under the State Department in 2025, and terminated many of the agency's awards. USAID's inspector general announced on Feb. 5, 2026, that it was auditing the "termination settlement proposals" Chemonics submitted for its cancelled awards. The announcement said Chemonics had submitted such proposals for 88 terminated awards since March 2025, and that "it is critical to ensure that all costs the contractor has claimed are supported with adequate documentation and comply with Federal regulations." The audit will test whether the costs claimed are allowable and reasonable.
Reuters reported in April that the State Department said the big supply-chain contract with Chemonics was ending on Sept. 30, in line with other USAID awards.
The lobbying filings do not say what Chemonics is asking the State Department or the budget office to do. Lobbying disclosures are not required to list specific requests.
Hudgins Strategic Partners registered its first two lobbying clients on Oct. 22: Chemonics and the American Cement Association, according to the federal lobbying database.
A one-line listing of the registration appeared in a lobbying-industry newsletter on Oct. 23. The Digital Free Press found no news coverage of the new contract or the $60,000 payment before publication.
The Digital Free Press reached out to Chemonics International and Hudgins Strategic Partners for comment on Oct. 26; no response was received by publication.
Images: Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, by Beyond My Ken, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; former USAID entrance, Washington, by G. Edward Johnson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Yossi Schmidt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Free Press
Hold Everyone Accountable.
Sources: Lobbying registration (LD-1), Hudgins Strategic Partners for Chemonics International, posted Oct. 22, 2026: https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/5f01abb6-df5f-4b4e-976e-53e0327880e0/print/ ; Third-quarter 2026 lobbying report (LD-2), Hudgins Strategic Partners for Chemonics, $60,000, posted Oct. 22, 2026: https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/3174d47d-c0cc-4e03-ab09-142b2d10c1c0/print/ ; ACG Advocacy termination report for Chemonics (termination date Aug. 31, 2026), posted Oct. 10, 2026: https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/ffbe1047-bdfe-4242-b09c-b8f9bede5356/print/ ; ACG Advocacy Q1 and Q2 2026 reports for Chemonics: https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/333144a7-84d7-4099-a85e-a409001a53cd/print/ and https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/6419efcf-9ac0-47b2-846b-bdab32c2b3b4/print/ ; BGR Government Affairs termination report for Chemonics (effective April 1, 2026): https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/41e75b59-bec0-434d-afae-c4941eaeb032/print/ ; Federal lobbying database, client "Chemonics": https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=Chemonics ; USAID OIG, audit announcement, Chemonics' termination settlement proposals, Feb. 5, 2026: http://oig.usaid.gov/node/8051 ; USAID OIG, audit report 9-000-21-004-P on the GHSC-PSM project, March 25, 2021: http://oig.usaid.gov/node/4667 ; Devex, "'Too big to fail': How USAID's $9.5B supply chain vision unraveled": https://www.devex.com/news/too-big-to-fail-how-usaid-s-9-5b-supply-chain-vision-unraveled-105141 ; Reuters, April 3, 2026: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-upends-global-supply-program-malaria-hiv-amid-warnings-gaps-2026-04-03/
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