RTI International

RTI International is a large, North Carolina-based, non-profit research corporation. According to its 2004 annual report, RTI's largest source of income is U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contracts. More than one-third of its $509.5 million in 2004 income came from USAID. [1]

In addition to its main office in North Carolina's Research Triange, RTI has eight U.S. regional offices, five international offices (in the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Britain, South Africa and El Salvador), and one international subsidiary, RTI Polska LLC in Warsaw. [2] RTI's "worldwide staff of more than 2,500 individuals" is divided into four research teams - Social and Statistical Sciences, Science and Engineering, International Development, and RTI Health Solutions - and administrative support. [3]

Research

As RTI's 2004 annual report illustrates, its research is remarkably wide-ranging. The report includes sections describing its work: [4]

• "helping China prepare for the 2008 Olympics"
• "bringing local governance to Iraq"
• "rebuilding South Africa's education system"
• "addressing HIV/AIDS among high-risk populations," including sex workers and homeless people
• "developing a new [male] contraceptive"
• "ensuring a future for nature-based research," by identifying "life-saving drugs from natural sources"
• "focusing on clean fuel and U.S. energy independence," including biomass, hydrogen fuel, and reduced-sulfur coal, diesel and gasoline
• "preserving our homeland security," by managing PREDICT (Protected Repository for the Defense of Infrastructure Against Cyber Threats), a "secure data repository intended to support the development of research and products that will protect our nation’s cyber infrastructure," for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

International Work

Iraq

From 2003 to 2004, RTI won an up to $167 million contract to "foster democratic local government in Iraq"; it spent some $156 million. In April 2004, it was reported that RTI won a one-year extension for the contract "worth up to $154 million." A North Carolina paper reported that RTI was "helping provincial, town and neighborhood councils learn to govern democratically" and also "helping workers learn how to provide services such as water and sewer and garbage collection." In Iraq, RTI works with "more than 300 local councils and all 18 provincial governments," with its staff of "about 2,200 Iraqis and 220 foreign workers." [5]

Indonesia

RTI heads the "Managing Basic Education" program for USAID, part of the agency's $157 million "Indonesia Education Initiative." [6] [7]

Clients

RTI's website includes a long list of private sector, non-profit, U.S. government and international clients, including: [8]

• the United Nations
• the World Bank
• the InterAmerican Development Bank
• the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• the World Health Organization
• the People's Republic of China
• the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• the Rockefeller Foundation
• the Ford Foundation
• the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy
• the U.S. Agency for International Development
• the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Bayer CropScience
• E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co., Inc.
• Eli Lilly and Company
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Merck & Co., Inc.
• The National Pharmaceutical Council
• Nielsen Media Research
• Novartis AG
• The Society of the Plastics Industry
• Underwriters Laboratories

Contact Info

Main Office:
RTI International
3040 Cornwallis Road
Post Office Box 12194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194

Website: http://www.rti.org

SourceWatch Resources

• U.S. Agency for International Development

External Links

• Jay Price, "IRAQ: RTI International's Multi-Million Contract to Foster Local Government Remains on Track," The News & Observer, November 13, 2004.
• Pratap Chatterjee, "Selections, Not Elections," CorpWatch, July 1, 2004.
• Pratap Chatterjee, "Inventing Iraqi Democracy in North Carolina," CorpWatch, July 1, 2004.
• Pratap Chatterjee, "Teaching Democracy, Texas Style," CorpWatch, July 1, 2004.
• Jay Price, "Iraq: RTI Wins Another Contract for Government Creation," The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), April 1, 2004.