Position Title: Senior Acquisition and Assistance Specialist
Requesting Office: USAID/Morocco
Position Type: Onsite, Rabat, Morocco
Clearance: Facility Access
Level of Effort: 10 hours per week for 6 months
Position Duration: 6 months starting in September
TDYs: 1 trip to Frankfurt, Germany for 6 days
Morocco and ME Senior A&A Specialist / Program Management Specialist
Position Description: Senior Specialist capabilities and roles The Senior Specialist is fully capable of providing professional level A&A support to Mission Technical Offices, DO Teams, and any designated regional clients. The Senior Specialist is fully capable of providing Program Management, and Program and Activity Design Support functions for Mission and regional tasks, activities, and awards. The Senior Specialist coordinates the development of A&A objectives for assigned portfolios, taking primary responsibility for all phases of the A&A process for complex actions. The Senior Specialist performs complete A&A transactions for complex activities. The Senior Specialist provides guidance and mentoring to junior level staff, trainees, procurement technicians, and assistants on basic principles of USG and USAID acquisition, assistance, general A&A management, A&A policy direction, new/changed procurement policies, etc., as required. The Senior Specialist is available for temporary duty (TDY) travel to the US, or to other Missions in the region. The Senior Specialist fully understands USG laws, regulations, policies and procedures governing each type of A&A mechanism, and is able to apply these requirements to make recommendations regarding the appropriate instrument type for the situation. The Senior Specialist is able to work independently in the selection of the appropriate A&A instrument types to meet the Mission’s needs, and accurately applies United States Government (USG) A&A laws, regulations, policies, and procedures governing each type of instrument. The Senior Specialist has an advanced knowledge of the procedures for acquisition of goods, for managing non-personal services contracting actions, and managing and awarding assistance agreements. The Senior Specialist is fully capable of performing his/her assignments independently, seeking the guidance of the Contracting/Agreement Officer (CO/AO) for the most complex issues. The Senior Specialist works directly with technical specialists/activity managers in DO Teams throughout the Mission and/or the Region, assisting in the preparation of annual A&A plans, clear and concise statements of work/statements of objectives/program descriptions, etc., and supporting documentation. The Senior Specialist provides well supported guidance to technical specialists/activity managers pertaining to their A&A-related responsibilities and procedures.
A. A&A Specialist functions
1. Senior A&A Specialist functions:

• Responsible for providing and advising on all acquisition and assistance to Missions to ensure successful obtainment of the Mission's strategic objectives;
• Supports as the Mission’s A&A advisor on cradle to grave including requests for proposal/application, negotiation, award and administration of a large variety of acquisition and assistance instruments;
• Serves as an integral and active member of the Mission's Strategic Objective (SO) and/or Development Objective (DO) Teams, assists in on-site training sessions of Mission's technical personnel and advise/mentor grantees and contractors regarding contract/grant administration and implementation issues;
• Supports the lead Specialist resolving complex acquisition and assistance issues;
• Advises on the most advantageous and appropriate method and instruments for acquisition and assistance requirements;
• Disseminates acquisition and assistance policy changes to technical personnel;
• Advises host country on procurement policy and providing ad hoc training to host country contracting personnel;
• Reviews host country contracts to determine conformance with acceptable procurement standards and applicable ADS requirements;
• Participates in technical office's discussions during the development stages of new activities;
• Advises technical offices and other support staff on the phases of acquisition and assistance.

2. Pre-Award

• Assists the Technical/DO Teams with A&A planning and advises on the selection of the appropriate A&A mechanisms to achieve program objectives;
• Collects and analyzes data, and prepares and updates tracking tools in order to monitor pending actions; works with clients to assist in the preparation of justifications, waivers, deviations, and other necessary approvals, as needed; and, reviews GLAAS Requisitions (REQs) for completeness and clarity before endorsing them to the CO/AO;
• Conducts pre-award activities for highly complex competitive solicitations, assisting technical personnel in the preparation of required descriptions of proposed activities, including SOWs, specifications, and program descriptions;
• Applies a high degree of judgment and analysis when deciding among and between competing and often conflicting regulations and objectives, where the activities involved include multi-million dollar issues, often with significant political and/or legal implications;
• Works with the requiring office to develop evaluation criteria and determine the extent of advertising required;
• Prepares Requests for Proposal and Notices of Funding Opportunities for review by the CO/AO, ensuring compliance with FAR and AIDAR advertisement requirements, including publication of synopses and solicitations. The Specialist responds to offeror/applicant questions during the proposal submission phase; and, determines the need for, and prepares, clarifying amendments as required for solicitation documents. As necessary, the Specialist holds pre-bid or consultative meetings with potential partners to fully explain the Agency’s needs, and discusses solicitation documents;
• Evaluates applications and offers for responsiveness to particular solicitations, guides DO Teams in the review of the applications or proposals, and obtains reports and references, ensuring that any past performance of the offeror is relevant and of a high quality;
• Develops pre-negotiation cost objectives for approval by the CO/AO; performs analysis of cost issues, considering economic conditions and factors of material, labor, and transportation costs; examines cost and pricing data submitted by offerors, to substantiate direct and indirect costs and profit; determines reasonableness of costs submitted; ensures data provided is consistent with USAID requirements on eligible geographic sources, and that salary structures are consistent with Agency policy; and, identifies circumstances that may require a waiver/deviation;
• Analyzes cost proposals and technical scores from technical evaluation committees; and, based on the analysis, makes a recommendation to the Contracting Officer to establish the competitive range;
• Negotiates with potential awardees; documents negotiations in writing; recommends the selected contractor/recipient; and, prepares contract files to include making required certifications and determinations necessary for each A&A action;
• Leads pre-award assessment surveys of potential contractors or recipients, ensuring that offerors have adequate management, accounting, personnel, and procurement systems, and appropriate corporate leadership, resources, and quality control systems to satisfactorily carry out contracts, in order to ensure eligibility prior to an award being made;
• Prepares award documents that accurately reflect all discussions and provisions relevant to the type of award mechanism to be implemented;
• Organizes and conducts orientation meetings with selected contractors, to ensure that mobilization efforts will be conducted efficiently, and that all terms and conditions of A&A instruments are clear and well-understood by all parties;
• Provides support in debriefings to unsuccessful offerors.

3. Post-Award:

• Monitors performance as required by the terms and conditions of the award, through reviews of performance and reviews of financial reports;
• Administers the awards in his/her assigned developmental portfolio, monitoring funding levels and preparing incremental funding modifications; works with CO/AO and CORs/AORs to assure targets/milestones are set and being met (or that remedial action is taken), and that the overall goals of the activity are met;
• Ensures timely submission of technical progress reports, and works with the COR to develop Contractor Performance Assessment Reports (CPARs) that are consistent with implementation progress and performance; makes periodic visits to contractor work sites, and represents the Office at performance-related meetings; assists any client Missions to develop appropriate indicators for work plans and contract documents; ensures contractors are fully compliant with performance standards contained in the Contract, and seeks corrective action in cases of noncompliance; expedites Change Orders or revisions when circumstances require it; and, issues ‘show cause' or ‘cure notices,’ and/or recommends termination of contracts for default or for convenience, and negotiates termination settlements;
• Analyzes and takes action to resolve procurement system review and audit findings, such as cost items questioned or unresolved; supports recommendations with detailed analysis of each cost, category, or element as necessary; prepares necessary documents to resolve all aspects of audits, questioned or ineligible costs, and accounting issues; and, presents documentation to the CO/AO for signature.

4. Award Closeout:

• Reviews completed (after physical completion) contract files to determine that all contractual actions are satisfied, and that there are no pending administrative actions to be resolved; ensures that all file documents are signed, that there are no litigation actions pending, and that the contract is complete in every respect and ready to be closed; and, ensures that contracts nearing anniversaries or completion have a completed performance report from the COR/AOR, and submits reports to the Contractor for comment;
• Conducts closeout of acquisition and assistance awards (i.e., contracts, task orders, grants, cooperative agreements) after completion. This includes ensuring contract audits are conducted in a timely manner, preparing performance documentation, and resolving outstanding issues noted in audits.

B. Program Management functions
Program Management
The Senior Specialist’s major project development and management responsibilities
include:

• Drafts Scopes of Work and Program Descriptions;
• Consults with other technical offices on ways to expand use of local partners;
• Communicates with implementing partners, relevant technical teams, the Office of Acquisition and Assistance, and Mission management to ensure that all stakeholders are well informed of activity implementation progress, as well as challenges and opportunities for advocacy to promote locally led solutions;
• Oversees activity close-outs;
• Reviews vouchers and track expenditures against the approved budget;
• Provides coaching, mentoring and training to development partners in locally led development approaches.

2. Program and Activity Design

• Serves as a Program Design Advisor, including working with each technical team to ensure the Mission context is sufficiently understood and taken into account in activity design in sectors such as health, education, peacebuilding, democracy and governance, economic growth, water and sanitation, and other areas;
• Ensures that Mission activity designs support the goals and objectives of the Mission Programming Approach and are compliant with ADS 201;
• Serves as a member of activity design teams;
• Provides support to the Contracting/Agreement Officer’s Representative (C/AOR), to
• ensure effective activity implementation;
• Supports the development and implementation of appropriate program interventions.
• Works with other technical offices and Front Office within the USAID mission on local development activities;
• Provides advanced advice to the Mission, Embassy, USAID, implementers, government counterparts, and other donors on a wide host of issues related to locally led development goals.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, International Development, or a related field is required. A Master's degree in a relevant field is preferred.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of relevant experience in acquisition and assistance (A&A) within the context of USAID or other US Government agencies.
• Extensive experience in managing complex A&A processes, including pre-award, award, and post-award activities.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and make informed decisions regarding A&A processes.

Skills:

• Advanced knowledge of USG laws, regulations, policies, and procedures governing acquisition and assistance mechanisms.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex information to a variety of stakeholders.
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Power Point, Word) and familiarity with database applications and presentation software.
• Ability to provide high-level guidance and support to technical teams and program managers.

Certifications:

• Certification in FAC-C is required.

Clearance:

• Ability to obtain and maintain Facility Access clearance is required.

Legal Disclaimers
Applicants selected may be subject to a background investigation and must meet suitability requirements for eligibility.
Telework/Remote Work policies are contingent upon client needs and staffing requirements and are subject to change.
Applicants with disabilities may contact the Human Capital Team via telephone, e-mail, and other means to request and arrange accommodation. If you need assistance to accommodate a disability, you may request accommodation at any time. Please contact the Human Capital Team at HC@vistantco.com or (301) 719-2381.
Please note: Updates on applications or the general Recruiting process should reach out to recruiting@vistantco.com.