SOLICITATION NUMBER: 720BHA23R00055

ISSUANCE DATE: November 21, 2023

CLOSING DATE AND TIME: January 5, 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,

Joy Burriss

Contracting Officer

Office of Acquisition & Assistance

 

ATTACHMENT 1 

I. GENERAL INFORMATION 

1. SOLICITATION NO.: 720BHA23R00055

2. ISSUANCE DATE: November 21, 2023

3. CLOSING DATE AND TIME FOR RECEIPT OF OFFERS: January 5, 2024, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time

4. POINT OF CONTACT: Africa Recruitment Team, BHA.AfricaRecruitment@usaid.gov

5. POSITION TITLE: Senior Regional Advisor

6. MARKET VALUE: $117,518 - $152,771 equivalent to GS-15 (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.

7. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Pretoria, South Africa

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 Senior Regional 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.

8. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: Five (5) years, tentatively 145 day estimated start date from closing date.

9. ELIGIBLE OFFERORS: U.S. Citizens Only

10. SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: Secret

(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.)

11. STATEMENT OF DUTIES 

GENERAL STATEMENT OF PURPOSE OF THE CONTRACT 

The Senior Regional Advisor (SRA) is responsible for the overall leadership in South Africa for humanitarian and resilience issues such as monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning, disaster risk reduction (DRR), and innovation in humanitarian response. The duties include regional program analysis and strategy development. The SRA maintains coordination and collaboration with USAID offices, U.S. Embassy staff, other U.S. Government (USG) agencies, host country governments, U.S. military representatives, relief agencies, donors, and USG interagency partners across the affected region. This position is based in Pretoria, South Africa.

Your Uniqueness is Welcome Here!

It takes talented people with unique experiences to carry out BHA’s mission. We are committed to having a workforce that reflects the global communities we serve. We strive to create an inclusive workplace, where everyone brings their authentic selves to work. We invite you to join us in providing humanitarian assistance to save lives and alleviate the suffering around the world.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) is the USG lead for international disaster assistance, reaching tens of millions of people around the world each year with life-saving aid. BHA is responsible for planning, coordinating, monitoring, and evaluating international humanitarian assistance in two conceptual areas: 1) Humanitarian Response during emergencies and 2) Early Recovery, Risk Reduction, and Resilience activities to address longer-term recovery after emergencies. You can learn more about BHA on our website.

The Office of Africa (OA) designs, provides, and assesses humanitarian assistance, 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. To achieve these objectives, humanitarian experts based overseas coordinate with local authorities and USAID Missions, while humanitarian experts based in Washington D.C. coordinate with USAID Regional and Pillar Bureaus. OA in Washington DC, consists of five (5) geographic divisions: East Africa; Central Africa; Sudans; West Africa; and Southern Africa. At field level, OA has three (3) regional offices: the Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA) based in Pretoria, South Africa; the Sudans, East, and Central Africa Regional Office (SECARO) based in Nairobi, Kenya; and the West Africa Regional Office (WARO) based in Dakar, Senegal. These regional offices support our BHA field offices located within individual USAID Missions across the continent and ensure that BHA’s objectives for disaster assistance, DRR, resilience programming, strategic planning, and interagency coordination for the region are met. These divisions and regional offices are responsible for the provision of emergency humanitarian assistance through grants and cooperative agreements to non-governmental organizations (NGOs); international organizations (IOs) including United Nations (UN) agencies; and to other partners to ensure the implementation and delivery of this assistance. These divisions and regional offices also oversee BHA OA’s nonresponse efforts in DRR, resilience, and humanitarian transition.

STATEMENT OF DUTIES TO BE PERFORMED

The SRA position requires substantial coordination with representatives from other USAID offices, the U.S. Embassy, other USG agencies, host country governments, U.S. military representatives, as well as with relevant donor representatives, UN agencies and NGOs, therefore requiring a highly collaborative work style. The SRA must be prepared to function effectively in a challenging and restrictive work environment and to strictly adhere to U.S. Embassy security guidelines.

Working directly under the guidance and supervision of the USAID/South Africa Mission Director or his/her delegate, the SRA will work in close collaboration with a team that may include Regional Advisors (RAs), Senior Humanitarian Advisors (SHAs), Program Officers, Field Monitors, Regional Team Leaders, Humanitarian Assistance Officers, and/or Program Assistants. The SRA must remain flexible and be able to serve in multiple senior leadership roles depending on prevailing staffing needs for priority responses within BHA/Washington, BHA/Regional Office, the USAID/Mission, and/or Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) and Response Management Teams (RMTs). As such, the SRA will be expected to serve in various senior leadership roles including but not limited to Regional Director (RD) or Deputy Regional Director (DRD) and DART Team Leader or Deputy Team Leader.

Additionally, the SRA may be expected to serve in short-term acting leadership roles in the USAID/Mission at the request of the USAID/Mission Director. As RD or DRD, the SRA will directly supervise SRAs, Senior Regional Humanitarian Program Officers (SRHPO)s, and/or various administrative and technical staff in the regional office. For countries where BHA staff are based, the BHA/Regional Office maintains dual-reporting and supervision of BHA country teams in coordination with USAID Mission Directors and USAID Country Representatives and BHA Country Leads. Therefore, the SRA will be expected to supervise, mentor, coach, and train BHA SHAs and BHA Office Directors in these BHA field offices in close collaboration with Mission Directors and Country Managers.

Specifically, the SRA 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 humanitarian issues.

● Provide expert guidance on political, humanitarian, organizational, structural, and stakeholder interests specific to the region.

● Identify opportunities for humanitarian, resilience, and recovery programming support across the region utilizing humanitarian structures.

● Prepare and provide strategic and analytical reports on current or anticipated emergencies with comprehensive preparedness documentation on assigned countries.

Portfolio Management:

● Oversee and implement grants and contracts in accordance with BHA programming strategy. ● Guide regional team to develop 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/conduct initial assessments to identify humanitarian needs and/or DRR opportunities in current disaster contexts or locations with high vulnerability.

● Support the development of more holistic DRR and resilience strategies across the region, working with teams to identify opportunities for integration of this programming.

● Monitor ongoing humanitarian response and DRR activities to validate that objectives are met and beneficiaries are served.

● Lead and re-assess the development and implementation of a regional strategy to address key issues such as emergency response, DRR, and/or resilience, resource allocation, and update these strategies as necessary.

● Support knowledge sharing and the maximization of technical expertise across the region, including monitoring, evaluation, and learning support to portfolios.

● 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, IOs, 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/or resilience strategies and intervention with local governments, donor, partner, 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/public sector organizations to incorporate DRR into appropriate programs.

Leadership:

● Support regional team efforts to develop 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/or administrative staff.

General Duties:

● The SRA must be prepared to function effectively in a country context prone to violence and insecurity, conflict, or natural disasters with limited mobility outside of U.S. Government facilities and be willing to strictly adhere to U.S. Embassy security guidelines.

● This position requires travel, and the willingness to deploy within the region for one month or more annually on sudden-onset emergency responses.

● The PSC may be expected to obtain an Agreement Officer's Representative (AOR) or Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) certification. The AOR/COR oversees agreements and/or contracts. This includes but is not limited to reviewing invoices, approvals, program/project deliverables (i.e. work plans, annual reports, month status reports), travel requests, key personnel requests, financial/budget reports, contractor performance evaluations, and compliance. More information about the AOR/COR responsibilities and related requirements can be found in the COR designation letter and the AOR designation letter. In the event that this role requires an AOR/COR certification, mandatory training will be provided.

● This position may be expected to be able to qualify, train for and routinely serve on disaster/humanitarian responses in Washington DC or in the disaster area for 2 to 6 weeks (or more) intervals. These can either be DARTs and/or RMTs. DARTs are deployed to the field in response to disasters and operate in the field, providing staff an opportunity to deploy overseas for an extended period of time (e.g., 6-8 weeks). RMTs are based in Washington, DC and provide services to support DARTs, such as coordination and external engagement, communications, planning, logistics, travel coordination, or other similar duties (depending on the RMT role).

● In times of emergency humanitarian assistance, the PSC will serve on temporary details within the bureau. Duties performed while on detail will correspond to the level and market value for the position and the work specified to be performed in the Statement of Duties.

● As needed, staff is expected to support BHA’s hiring efforts and serve on PSC hiring committees. Training will be provided.

● Consistently model behaviors that demonstrate a commitment to fostering a non-hostile, inclusive work environment that values diversity, equity and is free of discrimination, bias, unfairness, bullying, offensive behaviors, and harassment of any kind.

● Lead/foster a collaborative, respectful, and professional work environment by demonstrating partnership and teamwork to accomplish team, office, and bureau objectives.

● The Senior Regional Advisor 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.

SUPERVISORY RELATIONSHIP:

The SRA position has dual reporting lines to BHA South Africa Regional Office in Pretoria, South Africa and to the Deputy Directors in BHA/OA/Washington D.C. They will coordinate regularly with the BHA country teams throughout the region and directly with personnel within the Regional Office of the USAID/Kenya mission, and collaborate and consult with other USAID and U.S. Embassy staff.

SUPERVISORY CONTROLS:

The supervisor provides administrative direction in terms of broadly defined missions or functions. USPSC independently plans, designs and carries out projects, studies, and programs. Results of the work are considered technically authoritative. There is no higher level official technically responsible for administering the program/project.

12. PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The work requested does not involve undue physical demands.

Qualifications

II. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION 

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION 

(Determines basic eligibility for the position. Offerors who do not meet all of the education and experience factors are considered NOT qualified for the position.)

Offerors must demonstrate the factors outlined below within their resume, as they are evaluated solely by the information provided there. In addition, Offerors are required to submit the Specialized Experience Requirement Form in order to be considered. Please download, complete, and submit with the application package.

At least eleven (11) years of experience in humanitarian assistance, emergency management or relief, disaster risk reduction, post-emergency rehabilitation or recovery, or resilience, with a high school diploma.

A Bachelor’s degree in any discipline can be substituted for four (4) years of experience. A Master's in any discipline can be substituted for six (6) years of experience.

Specialized Experience required:

1. Working in communities with limited public infrastructure

2. Experience working with host or local governments on the planning and implementation of activities.

3. Experience with program management.

4. Experience with managing team performance, development, and staffing.

Application instructions

SUBMITTING AN OFFER

Eligible Offerors are required to complete and submit the offer form AID 309-2, “Offeror Information for Personal Services Contracts with Individuals,” available at http://www.usaid.gov/forms.

1. Offers must be received by the closing date and time specified in Section I, item 3, and submitted to the Point of Contact in Section I.
2. Offeror submissions must clearly reference the Solicitation number on all offeror submitted documents.
3. Complete resume. In order to fully evaluate your offer, your resume must include:

(a) Paid and non-paid experience, job title, location(s), dates held (month/year), and hours worked per week for each position. Dates (month/year) and locations for all field experience must also be detailed. Any experience that does not include dates (month/year), locations, and hours per week will not be counted towards meeting the solicitation requirements.

(b) Specific duties performed that fully detail the level and complexity of the work.

(c) Education and any other qualifications including job-related training courses, job-related skills, or job-related honors, awards, or accomplishments. Failure to identify an academic discipline will result in disqualification.

(d) U.S. Citizenship

(e) Optional:  How did you hear about this opportunity? (SAM.gov, BHA Jobs, Career Fair, etc.).

Your resume must contain sufficient information to make a valid determination that you fully meet the experience requirements as stated in this solicitation for which you are applying. This information must be clearly identified in your resume.  Failure to provide information sufficient to determine your qualifications for the position will result in loss of full consideration.

Additional documents submitted will not be accepted.

By submitting your offer materials, you certify that all of the information on and attached to the offer is true, correct, complete, and made in good faith. You agree to allow all information on and attached to the offer to be investigated. False or fraudulent information on or attached to your offer may result in you being eliminated from consideration for this position, or being terminated after award, and may be punishable by fine or imprisonment.

To ensure consideration of offers for the intended position, please reference the solicitation number on your offer, and as the subject line in any email.

NOTE:  If the full security application package is not submitted within 30 days after the Office of Security determines eligibility, the offer may be rescinded. If a Secret security clearance is not obtained within nine months after offer acceptance, the offer may be rescinded. If Top Secret is required, and clearance is not obtained within nine months after award, USAID may terminate the contract at the convenience of the government. If Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) access is not obtained within nine months after Top Secret clearance is granted, USAID may terminate the contract at the convenience of the government.

NOTE: If the full medical clearance package is not submitted within two months after offer acceptance, the offer may be rescinded. If a Department of State medical clearance is not obtained; the offer may be rescinded.

NOTE REGARDING GOVERNMENT OBLIGATIONS FOR THIS 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.