Regulatory Consulting at DAI Global

Overview

DAI Global is a major international-development firm — an integrated professional-services and advisory company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, with offices in more than a dozen countries — that historically applied data, digital technology, and increasingly AI to development programming in governance, health, and economic growth. Its ‘Digital @ DAI’ practice has assessed digital ecosystems, advised on AI readiness, and worked on cybersecurity for civil-society organizations across the developing world. But DAI’s story in 2025–26 is dominated by crisis and pivot: as USAID’s second-largest contract recipient, DAI was hit devastatingly by the dismantling of USAID in early 2025, receiving termination notices for 85 of its 91 prime contracts, losing an estimated 88% of its projected 2025 revenue, and suing USAID and other government entities over roughly $115 million it claimed was owed. For an AI-policy directory, DAI is best understood as a firm with real digital-and-AI-for-development capability whose business model has been upended — and which is actively re-tooling to survive beyond its former dependence on U.S. foreign aid.

AI-Focused Regulatory Work

DAI illustrates, more starkly than almost any firm on this list, how AI-for-development depends on the data and funding systems now in collapse. Sector analysts have documented that the abrupt termination of USAID funding triggered ‘twin crises’ — a halt to data collection and the undermining of the digital systems that underpin service delivery — with more than two-thirds of national statistical offices reporting funding cuts and 73% reporting negative impacts on the data used to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals. Because AI-for-development runs on exactly that data, the crisis threatens the ‘AI readiness’ agenda that firms like DAI had been advancing: without investment in country data systems, there is little data to power AI solutions or drive digital transformation of public services. DAI’s own response has been a scramble to diversify. It filed suit over unpaid USAID invoices, and it secured a place on the U.S. General Services Administration’s OASIS+ multi-agency contract — qualifying it to compete for federal work well beyond the collapsed USAID portfolio — while continuing UK-government and other non-USAID work (for example, critical-mineral supply-chain resilience and climate-finance acceleration). Its ‘Digital @ DAI’ arm continues to publish on digital-ecosystem assessments, AI, and cybersecurity in developing contexts. The honest characterization for a directory is that DAI’s AI-and-data-for-development expertise is genuine but its institutional footing is in the middle of a forced reinvention; any engagement should account for the ongoing restructuring, litigation, and pivot away from U.S. foreign-aid dependence, much as with Chemonics.

Notable AI Policy Work

• Operated ‘Digital @ DAI’ — assessing developing-country digital ecosystems (e.g., a USAID-funded assessment of Cambodia’s digital ecosystem and CSO digitalization), advising on AI readiness, and working on cybersecurity for civil-society organizations.
• As USAID’s second-largest contract recipient, was hit by the 2025 USAID dismantling — 85 of 91 prime contracts terminated, ~88% of projected 2025 revenue lost — and sued USAID, State, and OMB over roughly $115 million allegedly owed.
• Pivoted to diversify beyond USAID: won a place on the GSA’s OASIS+ multi-agency contract, qualifying to compete for a broad range of U.S. federal work.
• Continued non-USAID engagements, including UK-government-funded work on critical-mineral supply-chain resilience and a Climate Finance Accelerator technical-assistance program.
• Supported entrepreneurship and innovation programs (e.g., the DAI-implemented Kosmos Innovation Center) applying data and digital tools in developing markets.

Thought Leadership

1. Digital @ DAI
   DAI’s digital-development practice — digital-ecosystem assessments, AI readiness, and cybersecurity for civil society in developing contexts.
2. DAI — News & insights
   DAI’s ongoing work across governance, economic growth, and digital development, including its post-USAID diversification (e.g., the OASIS+ award).

Clients

Historically USAID (its dominant former client, now sharply reduced), plus the UK government (formerly DFID/FCDO) and other international donors; now diversifying into broader U.S. federal work via OASIS+. Handle outreach with awareness of the ongoing USAID-related restructuring and litigation.