SOLICITATION NUMBER:          720BHA23R00014

 

ISSUANCE DATE:                           January 31, 2023                 

CLOSING DATE AND TIME:       March 25, 2024 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time                              

 

SUBJECT: Solicitation for U.S. Personal Service Contractor (USPSC)

 

Dear Prospective Offerors:

 

The United States Government (USG), represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking offers from qualified persons to provide personal services under contract as described in this solicitation.

 

Offers must be in accordance with Attachment 1 of this solicitation.  Incomplete or unsigned offers will not be considered.  Offerors should retain copies of all offer materials for their records.

 

USAID will evaluate all offerors based on stated evaluation criteria. USAID encourages all individuals, including those from disadvantaged and under-represented groups, to respond to the solicitation.

 

This solicitation in no way obligates USAID to award a PSC contract, nor does it commit USAID to pay any cost incurred in the preparation and submission of the offer.

 

Any questions must be directed in writing to the Point of Contact specified in Attachment 1.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Christie Savage

Contracting Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

 

1. SOLICITATION NO.: 720BHA23R00014

 

1. ISSUANCE DATE: January 31, 2023

 

1. CLOSING DATE AND TIME FOR RECEIPT OF OFFERS: March 25, 2024, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time

 

This solicitation is open and continuous until March 25, 2024. The following are the closing dates for each review period:

 

 

September 26, 2023, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time

March 25, 2024, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time

 

Offerors not selected during a previous review period must reapply in order to be considered for positions available in subsequent review periods. A review period may be canceled at the Contracting Officer’s discretion.

 

1. POINT OF CONTACT: MENAE Recruitment Team, BHA.MENAERecruitment@usaid.gov

 

1. POSITION TITLE: Regional Humanitarian Advisor

 

1. MARKET VALUE: $99,908 - $129,878 equivalent to GS-14 (not eligible for locality pay)

 

Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value and will include Locality Pay for domestic USPSCs based on the location of the Official USAID Worksite, or the approved alternative worksite if approved for remote work. USPSCs performing overseas are not entitled to Locality Pay.

 

Salaries over and above the top of the pay range will not be entertained or negotiated.

 

1. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Budapest, Hungary

 

There may be an initial training program in Washington, D.C. for three months, which will include formal classroom training and on-the-job training; and may include security training. After completion of initial training, the Regional Humanitarian Advisor will be assigned to the place of performance.

 

Overseas USPSCs may be authorized to telework or remote work only from a location within the country of performance, in accordance with Mission policy. Telework or remote work from outside the country of performance may only be authorized in certain situations in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract.

 

1. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: Five (5) years, tentatively 145 days after closing before start date.

 

1. ELIGIBLE OFFERORS: U.S. Citizens Only

 

1. SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: Secret clearance level.

If there is a change in circumstances requiring access to National Security information classified at the Top-Secret level, the offeror may be asked to obtain and maintain a Secret up to Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information level clearance as provided by USAID.

 

1. STATEMENT OF DUTIES

 

GENERAL STATEMENT OF PURPOSE OF THE CONTRACT

 

The Office of Middle East, North Africa, and Europe (MENAE) assesses, designs, and provides humanitarian assistance with our partners, including assistance related to responding to, recovering from, and reducing the risk of man-made and natural disasters, while linking with other USAID investments that build resilience. MENAE retains humanitarian experts based overseas, who coordinate with local authorities, USAID Missions, US Embassies, humanitarian donor groups, and regional and country level humanitarian architectures. Field experts also provide oversight of the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) humanitarian partners and programs and monitor contextual developments to inform BHA country strategies. MENAE humanitarian experts in Washington coordinate with USAID Regional and Pillar Bureaus, as well as manage funding and programmatic activities implemented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs); international organizations, including the United Nations (UN) agencies; and other partners in the region for natural disasters and complex emergencies. The MENAE Office represents humanitarian programs and interests within the U.S. Government (USG) interagency, as well as in interactions with beneficiary populations, host governments, implementing partners, UN agencies, and other donors.

 

MENAE consists of three (3) geographic divisions: Europe, Middle East and Levant, and North Africa and Arabian Peninsula. These divisions are responsible for the provision of emergency humanitarian assistance through grants and cooperative agreements to NGOs, international organizations including UN agencies, and other partners to ensure the implementation and delivery of this assistance. These divisions oversee BHA’s nonresponse efforts in disaster risk reduction (DRR), resilience, and early recovery. These divisions are responsible for representing BHA within the agency and interagency on country or region-specific issues in Washington. They are also responsible for liaising on a regular basis with BHA offices in the field.

 

The MENAE Field structure comprises two Regional Offices based in Amman, Jordan (Middle East) and Budapest, Hungary (Europe and North Africa). MENAE also maintains a staff presence in bilateral Missions and other platforms throughout the region. Within these regional offices, Regional Humanitarian Advisors (RHA) play a central role in the USG disaster response, humanitarian assistance, and DRR programs. Their core function is to lead, manage, and support BHA portfolios that require significant USG policy engagement and humanitarian program management. The RHAs report to the Regional Director who works closely with Division Chiefs in Washington, D.C. and reports to the appropriate Washington Office Director. MENAE’s Europe and North Africa (ENA) Regional Office in Budapest, Hungary requires services of RHAs in order to meet its objective of disaster assistance, risk reduction, and resilience programming as well as strategic reporting and analysis.

 

MENAE’s ENA Regional Office requires services of a RHA in Budapest, Hungary in order to meet its objective of disaster assistance, risk reduction, and resilience programming as well as strategic reporting and analysis.

 

STATEMENT OF DUTIES TO BE PERFORMED

Working directly under the guidance and supervision of the Regional Director or his/her/their designee, the RHA will work in close collaboration with a team that may include other RHAs, Senior Humanitarian Advisors, Humanitarian Program Officers, Humanitarian Assistance Officers, Program Assistants, Foreign Service Nationals, and others depending on the work assigned. This position requires an individual who is able to travel outside of the country where he/she is based, on short notice for two to three weeks at a time, or longer, on occasion.

Specifically, the RHA will be responsible for the following:

Contextual Specialty:

 

• Serve as an expert on humanitarian and resilience issues, priorities, lessons learned, and opportunities in the region of responsibility related to DRR, innovation, private sector engagement, and other cross-cutting humanitarian issues.
• Provide expert guidance on political, humanitarian, organizational, structural, and stakeholder interests specific to the region of responsibility.
• Identify opportunities to expand support across the region to cross cutting issues that bring together humanitarian, resilience, and recovery programming, while working closely with humanitarian structures to support opportunities for cooperation between humanitarian and development portfolios.
• Prepare and/or provide substantive guidance in the preparation of regular strategic and analytical reports on current or anticipated emergencies, as well as comprehensive preparedness documentation on assigned countries.

Portfolio Management:

 

• Develop and maintain a detailed understanding of BHA’s program strategy and the implementation of the resulting grants and contracts in geographic or thematic areas of responsibility.
• Guide regional team efforts to develop appropriate programmatic strategies for disaster responses and DRR efforts in the area of responsibility.
• Support growth opportunities across the geographic areas of responsibility in areas such as innovation and private sector engagement, and regularly identify linkages within USAID Missions for this work.
• Review grant applications for conceptual soundness, technical feasibility, and alignment with budget constraints for disaster assistance/emergency activities, resilience programming, and recovery.
• Identify opportunities for multi-year programs to respond to Agency priorities across the humanitarian to development spectrum, including supporting the design and review of applications for this kind of programming.
• Lead and conduct initial assessments to identify humanitarian needs and/or DRR opportunities in current disaster contexts or locations with high vulnerability.
• Monitor ongoing humanitarian response and DRR activities to validate that program objectives are met and beneficiaries are served.
• Lead the development of country-, issue-, or DRR- and/or resilience specific strategies across the region of responsibility, as well as timely revision of these strategies as contextual realities shift.
• Support knowledge sharing and the maximization of technical expertise across the region, including Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning support to portfolios.
• Re-assess implementation approaches and strategies on an ongoing basis and make recommendations for appropriate shifts in approach or resource allocation.
• Participate in the development of field-based recommendations on difficult resource and programmatic trade-offs within the region.

Representation:

 

• Develop and maintain relationships with representatives of host governments, donor governments, international organizations, NGOs, U.S. Embassies, and USAID missions to ensure efficient and coordinated humanitarian response and DRR activities.
• Represent USAID in joint efforts to design, develop, and implement humanitarian, DRR, and resilience strategies and intervention with local governments, donors, partners, and UN organizations, as appropriate.
• Advise regional officials, including host country authorities and other USAID officials on disaster response, mitigation, and risk reduction efforts, including the review of sector disaster response and DRR plans.
• Work with local and regional institutions and private and public sector organizations to incorporate DRR into appropriate programs.

 

Leadership:

• Support regional team efforts to develop current and future strategic direction for the regional office to include programmatic, liaison and representational prioritization, and human and financial resource requirements.
• Participate in a leadership role in office-wide policy initiatives to ensure field perspectives are well-represented.
• Serve as a peer-mentor for program staff working to increase exposure and experience in field-based humanitarian, DRR, and resilience operations.
• Lead an ethnically and culturally diverse team of program, technical and administrative staff.

 

General Duties:

• Become certified and serve as an Agreement Officer’s Representative/Contracting Officer’s Representative (AOR/COR), as assigned. The AOR/COR provides financial and programmatic oversight of all aspects of managing the agreement or contract; this includes but is not limited to reviewing invoices, requests for approvals, program/project deliverables (such as work plans, annual reports, month status reports), travel requests, key personnel requests, and financial/budget reports. They are responsible for drafting and submitting the annual contractor performance evaluation in Contract/Assistance Performance Assessment Review System (CPARS/APARS). They prepare and review contract and assistance modifications documentation and assist the Contracting/Agreement Officer to ensure performance is compliant with the terms and conditions of the contract/agreement, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and USAID policy. AOR/CORs are responsible for all related requirements in the COR designation letter and the AOR designation letter.
• The RHA does not have supervisory responsibilities; however, the PSC may serve in an acting leadership role within the bureau in order to meet short-term staffing needs, not to exceed 120 days in a 12-month contract year.
• Become certified for programmatic response positions by utilizing Position Task Book guidelines, including completing all required and recommended training, to ensure readiness to serve on responses across the geographic offices in BHA.
• May be requested to be on-call/sign up for and serve as needed on Washington-based Response Management Teams (RMTs), which provide services and support to Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) deployed in response to disasters. The duties on RMTs will vary.
• As needed, serve on DARTs which may require immediate (within 24 hours) deployment overseas for an extended period of time. During deployment on DARTs (if required), and during site visits, there may be some additional physical exertion including long periods of standing, walking over rough terrain, or carrying of moderately heavy items (less than 50 pounds). Work is primarily performed in an office setting. During deployment on DARTs (if required), and during site visits, the work may additionally involve special safety and/or security precautions, wearing of protective equipment, and exposure to severe weather conditions.
• As needed, may serve on temporary details within the region to meet operational needs during staff shortages. Duties performed while on detail will be aligned with the Team’s existing duties and responsibilities and will be directly related to the scope of work provided. Will be expected to travel for extended periods of time.
• Consistently model behaviors that demonstrate a commitment to fostering a non-hostile work environment free of discrimination, bias, unfairness, exclusion, offensive behaviors, and harassment of any kind.
• Engage in at least one workforce diversity initiative or activity focused on helping to improve the organizational culture.
• Lead and foster a collaborative, respectful, and professional work environment by demonstrating partnership and teamwork to accomplish team, office, and bureau objectives.

 

SUPERVISORY RELATIONSHIP:

The USPSC will take direction from and will report to the ENA Regional Director or designee.

 

SUPERVISORY CONTROLS:

 

Supervisor provides administrative directions in terms of broadly defined missions or functions. The USPSC independently plans, designs, and carries out programs, projects, studies or other work. Results are considered authoritative and are normally accepted without significant change.

 

1. PHYSICAL DEMANDS

 

The work requested does not involve undue physical demands.

 

 

There should be 45 days from the issuance date to the first close date, this is to make up for the 15 Day Notice of Intent that we currently do not file with sam.gov

 

Ok. The POC wants to post the first round for 30 days.