Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Senior Program Officer (SPO) Intermittent Personal Services Contractor (PSC)
***See attachments for the complete detail.*** Request for Quotes Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Senior Program Officer (SPO) Intermittent PSC 95332418Q0124 Announcement Number: 95332418Q0124 Title: Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Senior Program Officer (SPO) Intermittent Personal Services Contractor (PSC) Position Information: One Intermittent (80%), Personal Services Contractors (PSCs) One Base year (1,664 hours per year), renewable for up to 4 Option years at the sole discretion of the government (a total up to 8,320 hours over five years). Pay Band: Senior Program Office Pay Band 4A ($39.77 - $60.54 per hour) https://www.mcc.gov/careers/pay-bands The PSCs may receive a pay supplement of up to 30% of the employee's direct labor cost in lieu of fringe benefits. Closing Date for Questions: 2:00PM ET on 10 July 2018 (Tuesday) Questions must be submitted via email to leeae@mcc.gov Submission Deadline: 5:00PM ET on 13 July 2018 (Friday) Quotes must be submitted via email to leeae@mcc.gov Who May Be Considered: U.S. citizens or legal, permanent residents with a minimum of 2 years residency history, preferably 3 years. Duty Location: Performance in Washington, DC USA. Set Aside: This requirement is set-aside for individuals (small business concerns) under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 541990 All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services with a size standard of $15,000,000 in revenue. The award will be considered for individuals that satisfy this set-aside, not for firms. Type of Contract: Time-and-material (T & M) with 1 Base Year and 4 Option Year Periods. Multiple awards may result from this solicitation. 1. Introduction and Background MCC's mission is to provide grant assistance to support economic growth and poverty reduction in select developing countries with a demonstrated commitment to just and democratic governance, economic freedom, and investments in their citizenry. MCC's partner countries enter into a five-year agreement (Compact) with MCC that includes a plan for achieving shared development objectives and the responsibilities of each country in achieving those objectives. Our model is defined by core principles, of selectivity, country ownership, transparency, and a focus on results. Our values identify who we are and what is important to us. Our Values are CLEAR: Embrace Collaboration, Always Learn, Practice Excellence, Be Accountable and Respect individuals and ideas. MCC's values define how we behave on a daily basis, both as individuals and as an institution, in pursuit of our mission. They guide how we make decisions, set priorities, address challenges, manage tradeoffs, recruit and develop staff, and work together with our country partners and stakeholders. 2. Scope of Position The Department of Compact Operations (DCO), Sector Operations Division (SO) is seeking a Personal Services Contractor (PSC) to serve as a Senior Program Officer (SPO) in the Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Practice Group. The PSC reports to the Practice Lead/Senior Director (PLSC) for GSI, and will be supervised by GSI Directors or Associate Directors. He/she works as part of the GSI practice group to strengthen MCC's ability to apply current thinking, approaches, strategies, tools and practices related to gender integration and social inclusion in large-scale international development programs. This position is not authorized to supervise any Federal employees. 3. Personal Services Contract MCC is authorized to enter into a contract with an individual as a Personal Services Contractor (PSCs) under the authority of Section 614(a) (8) of the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003. A personal services contract is different from non-personal services Government contract, which establishes an independent contract relationship. Under a non-personal services contract, the contractor or employees of the contractor are subject to the technical direction but not the supervision of the MCC. As defined by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 37.104, a personal services contract is characterized by the employer-employee relationship it creates between the Government and the contractor personnel. Thus, the PSCs is subject to the relatively continuous technical direction, supervision, and control of the MCC. PSCs may be assigned inherently governmental duties (see FAR 7.502). By law and by the contract's terms, the PSCs is subject to most of the laws, rules and regulations applicable to the direct hire employee such as MCC regulations, conflict of interest, under some circumstances MCC authorized employment security clearances and financial disclosure. However, under the MCC personal services contract authority, PSCs are not employees for purposes of laws administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The following elements apply to this contract: (1) Performance in Washington, DC USA, MCC eligible countries, other US and foreign cities (as required for outreach purposes), and/or at the PSC's home of record. (2) Principal tools and equipment may be furnished by the Government. (3) Services are applied directly to the integral effort of agencies or an organizational subpart in furtherance of assigned function or mission. (4) Comparable services, meeting comparable needs, are performed in the same or similar agencies using civil service personnel. (5) The need for the type of service provided can reasonably be expected to last beyond 1 year. (6) The inherent nature of the service, or the manner in which it is provided, reasonably requires directly or indirectly, Government direction or supervision of contractor employees in order to- (i) Adequately protect the Government's interest; (ii) Retain control of the function involved; or (iii) Retain full personal responsibility for the function supported in a duly authorized Federal officer or employee. 4. Key Requirements Awardee must satisfy the following key requirements: U.S. citizenship or legal, permanent resident with at least 2 years of residency history, preferably 3 years. Must be able to obtain and maintain a federal security clearance. Performance in Washington, DC USA, MCC eligible countries, other US and foreign cities (as required for outreach purposes), and/or at the PSC's home of record. Domestic and international travel will be required. Statement of Employment & Financial Interest (e.g., Office of Government Ethics "OGE Form-450" or similar statement) may be required. Active System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) registration (this is a free, Government website) and be listed as sole-proprietor. Designated and/or random drug testing required. 5. Duties a) Major Duties and Responsibilities 1. Works with other GSI team members, other MCC staff and country counterparts to contribute to social and gender analysis including the identification of socially excluded or disadvantaged groups within the countries selected for Teshold or Compact programs. This would include but not be limited to the following: Reviewing documents produced by various sources, i.e., government, donors, NGOs, private sector, academia, etc., on social inclusion and gender equality issues within a country. Analyzing qualitative and quantitative data to understand economic and social inequalities, and how they impact poverty reduction and economic growth. Conducting stakeholder interviews and consultations in country to gather relevant information on trends, issues, perceptions in the country. Develop terms of reference and provide oversight for consultants to undertake GSI analytic work. 2. Working closely with other members of the GSI team, other MCC colleagues and country counterparts, make recommendations on strategies and approaches to further the inclusion of disadvantaged groups (including those based on gender) in compact/teshold program and project design. This would include, but not be limited to, the following: Design activities to promote gender and social inclusion within select sectors of MCC work (including infrastructure, energy, land, education) to promote women's economic empowerment and/or expand the ability of poorer segments of the populations to access the benefits of MCC programs. Integrate social inclusion and gender objectives in Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) documents, including program and project logics. Drafts GSI sections/inputs into MCC compact development documents. Drafts Terms of References (TORs) and deliverables for feasibility and design studies and contracts, and oversee contractors selected for those studies. Review other sector procurement and add necessary language to ensure that gender and social inclusion issues are addressed as mandated by MCC's Gender Policy. 3. Advise and support GSI staff and work closely with country counterparts and other MCC colleagues during compact implementation tough closeout in assigned MCC partner countries. This would include, but not be limited to: Provide technical support and assistance to build capacity of in-country counterpart, including assisting in the development of the Social and Gender Integration Plan. Draft and review documents related to compact implementation, such as Terms of Reference, bidding documents, RFPs, work plans, budgets, reports, deliverables for sectoral work as well as Monitoring and Evaluation Plans, surveys, indicators and reports. 4. Supports MCC's GSI practice group tough drafting and review of technical papers, guidelines, and participating in meetings and workshops across MCC as requested. This would include, but not be limited to: Undertaking literature reviews to augment GSI knowledge base of how to effectively integrate gender and social inclusion issues into MCC sectors (transport, water, energy, land and education sectors). Identify ways to strengthen the collection, analysis and use of sex-disaggregated data to inform MCC project design, monitoring and evaluation. Assists with organizing events such as seminars and conferences. b) Travel MCC estimates that the incumbent will be required to undertake 4-8 international trips annually (2-4 trips per country). c) Supervisory Controls As a recognized authority in the development and implementation of GSI programs and operations, the employee is subject only to administrative and policy direction concerning overall project priorities and objectives. The employee is typically delegated complete responsibility and authority to plan, schedule, and carry out major projects concerned with the analysis and evaluation of programs or organizational effectiveness. Analyses, evaluations, and recommendations developed by the employee are normally reviewed by management officials only for potential influence on broad agency policy objectives and program goals. Findings and recommendations are normally accepted without significant change. d) Guidelines Guidelines consist of general administrative policies, and program, management and organizational theories which require considerable adaptation and/or interpretation for application to issues and problems studied. Policies and precedent studies provide a basic outline of results desired, but do not go into detail as to the methods used to accomplish the project. Within the context of broad regulatory and procedural guidelines, the employee refines or develops more specific guidelines, such as implementing new or revised processes, methods and procedures. e) Complexity The employee plans, organizes, and completes analytical studies involving substantial aspects of key agency programs. As study coordinator, the employee assigns segments of the studies to various participants who are subject-matter specialists in fields appropriate to the study, coordinates the efforts of the group, and consolidates findings into a completed project. There is extreme complexity and difficulty in identifying the nature of the issues or problems to be studied and in planning, organizing, and determining the scope and depth of the studies. The nature and scope of the issues are largely undefined. Difficulty is also encountered in separating the substantive nature of the programs or issues into their administrative, technical, political, economic, fiscal, and other components, determining the nature and magnitude of the interactions, discerning the intent of legislation and broad agency policies, and determining how to translate the intent into recommended program actions. The work involves efforts to develop and implement programs based upon new or revised legislation requiring consideration of the immediate sequential, and long-range effects, both direct and indirect, of proposed actins on the public, other government programs, and/or private industry. f) Scope and Effect The purpose of the work is to perform very broad and extensive studies related to MCC programs which are of significant interest to the public, Congress, and MCC Compact country governments. Studies frequently involve extensive problems of coordination in fact-finding and in reviewing and evaluating recommendations in interested agencies or with outside groups. Recommendations involve highly significant programs or policy matters, and result in substantial redirection of federal efforts or policy related to major national issues. Results of work are critical to the mission of the agency or affect large numbers of people on a long-term, continuing basis. g) Personal Contacts/Purpose of Contacts Personal contacts are with high-ranking officials from outside the agency at national or international levels in highly unstructured settings. Examples include other agency heads, top congressional staff officials, or executives of comparable private sector organizations. Personal contacts include individuals and groups at all levels of the Corporation, representatives from other Federal agencies/organizations, MCAs, contractors, and the general public. The purpose of contacts is to influence, motivate, persuade or negotiate with others who may hold different points of views in order to influence managers or other officials to accept recommendations or to obtain the desired effect. h) Physical Demands The work is primarily sedentary, although some walking, bending, or carrying of light items may be involved. Travel may be required. i) Work Environment Work is performed in an office setting, although there is an expectation of work in the field. 6. Deliverables Deliverables are associated with the tasks identified in Section 5. Duties to include reports as required by the Contracting Officer Representative (COR). The PSC will provide a monthly progress report as a regular deliverable. Monthly progress reports will consist of the following format to measure the progress of each task: Task: XXXXXX Status: XXXXXXXX Recommendations: XXXXXXX Monthly reports are due the first workday of each month. The PSC also will produce other reports and analyses as requested by MCC. Deliverables will be considered "draft" upon initial receipt. Drafts will be reviewed and accepted or concerns raised/comments provided within two weeks of receipt. The PSC shall appropriately address MCC's concerns and provide final deliverables within one week of receiving the MCC response. The PSCs will submit biweekly timesheets on a schedule and format determined by MCC. Timesheets will include a list of hours worked per compact or country program, along with a brief description of the tasks undertaken for each program during the pay period. The PSCs also will produce other reports and analyses as requested by MCC. 7. Qualifications Offerors must meet all the required qualifications described below by the closing date of this announcement. Desired qualifications will only be considered once all required qualifications are met. Offerors must demonstrate that they possess the following: a) Required Qualifications 7.a.1) Advanced degree (PhD or Master's Degree) in sociology, international development, economics or other relevant area. 7.a.2) Master's Degree in sociology, antopology, international development/affairs, economics, public policy or relevant field required. 7.a.3) Demonstrated ability to analyze qualitative and quantitative data to understand economic and social inequalities, including those based on gender and knowledge of how such inequalities impact poverty reduction and economic growth. 7.a.4) Working knowledge of the literature on poverty reduction, gender equality and its relationship to economic development. 7.a.5) Demonstrated work experience in analyzing social inclusion and gender equality issues and their application to project design in the sectors in which MCC works, including in infrastructure, land, and/or human capital. 7.a.6) Work experience in the countries in which MCC works. 7.a.7) Ability to work collaboratively and effectively in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, staff of other US Government agencies, foreign governments, civil society organizations, and private sector firms. 7.a.8) Demonstrated skill in MS applications (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint). 7.a.9) Working proficiency in French (both oral and written communications). Applicants must meet all the qualification requirements, including education and all qualifying specialized experience described below by the closing date of this announcement. Desired qualifications will be considered only once all education and qualifying specialized experience requirements are met. Please clearly demonstrate that you possess the following: b) Desired Qualifications: 7.b.1) Working proficiency in another MCC country language, e.g., Spanish, Portuguese, French, and/or Arabic. 7.b.2) Experience working with MCC or with an MCA. 7.b.3) Familiarity with SharePoint software and MS Project a plus. 7.b.4) Experience with analyzing gender and social inclusion in the information technology sector. 8. Required Documentation Interested offerors must submit following required documents, including but not limited to: 1. A completed and signed Bio-Data Form (Addendum 3)* with proposed salary (see Subsection 12(c). Quote Submission Instructions to PSCs Candidates (Offerors) in regards to permissible signature types); 2. A curriculum vitae or resume (limit 10 pages); 3. A written narrative clearly describing relevant experience and knowledge of each of the qualification requirements (limit 5 pages); and 4. At least 3 and no more than 5 professional references with current contact information. Desired Documentation: 1. A cover letter, not to exceed one page, to highlight your suitability for this position. The cover letter is not considered as the required written narrative (bullet no. 4 above); and 2. A copy of Transcript(s). Transcript(s) may be requested by MCC before award to validate the offeror's successful education history. 9. Compensation PSCs for the services of individual experts or consultants are limited by the Classification Act. In addition, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has established requirements which apply in acquiring the personal services of experts or consultants in this manner (e.g., benefits, taxes, conflicts of interest). This is an intermittent position for the Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) SPO PSC and the maximum number of hours allowed is 1,664 hours per year for each position. Each contract will include four one-year option periods that may be exercised at the sole discretion of MCC. Overtime and credit hours are not authorized on this contract. The pay range for this position is $39.77 - $60.54 per hour at the MCC Pay Band 4A (https://www.mcc.gov/careers/pay-bands), inclusive of Washington, DC locality pay. Final compensation will be negotiated within this pay range based upon the successful offeror's salary history, work experience and educational background. A salary above this pay range will not be entertained or negotiated. MCC issues W-2s to the PSCs. For U.S. citizens and legal resident aliens, MCC makes the employer contribution to FICA and Medicare for the PSCs. MCC withholds FICA, Medicare, federal tax and state tax on behalf of the PSCs. The PSCs is not eligible for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. 10. Benefits Under the MCC personal services contracting authority, PSCs are not employees for purposes of laws administered by OPM, such as Federal Retirement Benefits and health and life insurance. As such, the PSCs is not eligible for participation in the Civil Service Retirement System or the Federal Employees Retirement System. Moreover, the PSCs is ineligible to receive Federal Health and Life Insurance or participate in the Federal Tift Savings Plan. Notwithstanding the above, and if agreed upon by the Government and the PSCs before the award of a contract, the PSCs may receive a pay supplement of up to 30% (for intermittent PSCs) of the employee's direct labor cost in lieu of fringe benefits. 11. Travel The PSCs is subject to the Federal Travel Regulations and MCC travel policies and procedures to the same extent as MCC direct-hire employees. 12. Quote Submission Instructions to PSCs Candidates (Offerors) In accordance with FAR 52.214-34 & 52.214-35, all submissions are to be in the English language and US Dollars. Submissions in other languages or monetary denominations shall not be considered. This section is the basis for evaluating all Submissions. Offerors must separately address each listed qualification requirement and demonstrate how s/he meets each. Unless stated otherwise, all qualification elements will be weighted equally. (a) Qualified individuals must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) before submission, either in "Active" or "Submitted" status. Award of a contract cannot occur until the registration is in "Active" status. The approval of your record in SAM may take a few weeks. Therefore, you must be registered in SAM before submission. Offerors without a SAM registration (neither "Active" nor "Submitted") may be rejected. MCC will extract pertinent representations and certifications from the offeror's SAM account. (b) Submissions shall be formatted to fit on 8 x 11" paper. Suggested margins are 1" all around and the font should be Calibri or Times New Roman, no larger than 12-point. Hourly rates shall not be mentioned anywhere in your submission other than on the Bio-Data Form (Addendum 3). It is the responsibility of the offeror to ensure that all pages are properly formatted to fit and that all information properly fits within the margins of each page. (c) Qualified individuals must submit a completed and formally signed Bio-Data Form (Addendum 3). Typed signatures are not acceptable. Either physically sign or save the Bio-Data Form as a PDF and electronically sign it. Please ensure that you provide a current, valid e-mail address and telephone number for notification purposes. The Bio-Data Form must be fully completed including a proposed hourly rate & signed for the submission to be considered. A Bio-Data Form without a proposed hourly rate and/or signature may cause you to not be considered. (d) Qualified individuals must submit a curriculum vitae or a resume, which clearly demonstrates their education, experience, knowledge, and skills and abilities as they relate to the qualification elements. Resume must indicate: the earliest possible start date for the offeror; as well as formal title, and duration (start date / end date) for each listed position. Resume is limited to 10 pages and must not contain a photo or any salary information. (e) Describe your experience and knowledge in regards to the qualification requirements in no more than five pages. Clearly demonstrate how your prior experience is either relevant or directly related to the duties of this position as listed under Section 5. Duties. The responses should describe specifically and accurately what experience, training, education and/or awards you have received that are relevant to each factor. Cite specific examples where appropriate. (f) Qualified individuals must submit at least tee but no more than five professional references, who are not relatives or family members. Submitted references must include current information, as follows: 1. Name of reference 2. Offeror's relationship to reference 3. Title of reference at current job 4. Reference current telephone number (work or personal) 5. Reference e-mail address (work) At least two references must be from direct supervisors (current or prior) who can provide information regarding the applicant's knowledge and experience in the field of Environment and Social Performance. Preferably, the references should be from within the last 5 years of the applicant's professional employment history. (g) Submissions must be signed and received prior to the closing date and time specified above to be considered for this position. Only physically signed or electronic signature are permitted; typed signatures are not acceptable, e.g. "/s" or "[typed name of the offeror]." (h) To ensure consideration of submissions for the intended position, please reference the position title and announcement number on the subject line of your submission email and on supporting documentation and any cover letter. 13. Response Deadline Electronic submission is required. Mailed copies of any submission shall not be accepted. Electronic packages shall be submitted by e-mail to leeae@mcc.gov before the deadline stated on page 1 of this Combined Synopsis Solicitation. Submission shall reference the position title and the announcement number on the subject line of the e-mail. MCC does not accept responsibility for delays in transmission or receipt of any submission. Offerors are responsible for submitting their package so as to reach the designated Government office by the closing date and time specified on page 1 of this Combined Synopsis Solicitation. Submissions received after the closing date and time will not be considered, unless there is acceptable evidence to establish that it was indeed received by the Government installation prior to the time and date specified in this announcement. Receipt of submissions in response to this announcement does not constitute an award commitment. The U.S. Government will not reimburse any costs incurred in the preparation of a submission. Any submission is at the sole risk of the offeror. 14. Question Deadline Any questions regarding this announcement must be submitted in writing via email to MCCPSC@mcc.gov and leeae@mcc.gov before the deadline as given on page 1 of this Combined Synopsis Solicitation. 15. Selection Process a) Selection Process In order to be considered for the requirement, an offeror must at a minimum meet the Required Qualifications listed above in Section 7. Qualifications. Consideration and selection will be based on a panel evaluation of the offeror's qualifications. In addition to the materials listed above, offerors are strongly encouraged to write a cover letter, not to exceed one page, to highlight their suitability for this position. The cover letter is not required and is not accepted as the required written narrative. All Submissions will be evaluated based on the documentation submitted, the offeror's evidence of the above qualification requirements, performance in a potential discussion/negotiation session, if conducted, and information provided by references, if contacted. Please note that for evaluation purposes, MCC will take into consideration your proposed labor rate and any requested pay supplement in lieu of fringe benefits. All submissions will receive one of tee scores for each of the required and desired qualifications: Does Not Meet, Meets, or Exceeds. MCC reserves the right to conduct interviews with the most qualified offerors and/or conduct a reference check on those individuals. Offerors are strongly encouraged to ensure the work history portion thoroughly documents the duties, responsibilities and accomplishments that are directly related to this requirement in order to verify specialized experience. Errors or omissions may affect your evaluation. The U.S. Government and MCC are not obligated to make any award or pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of a proposal in response to this announcement. Award of this contract is contingent on availability of funds. MCC reserves the right to not award any contract as a result of this announcement. b) Evaluation Criteria All quotes will be evaluated based on the evaluation factors listed below. The following evaluation factors and sub-factors are listed in descending order of importance, starting with the most important: 1. Technical Capability: Offerors must clearly demonstrate on the submitted CV or resume that she/he would satisfy the qualifications in accordance with Section 7. Qualifications to perform the duties in accordance with Section 5. Duties. Only those quotes that meet the required technical qualifications per Section 7. Qualifications will be considered. Candidates with desired qualifications will be given additional consideration. 2. Past Performance: Offerors will be evaluated on 3 to 5 professional references for relevant work performed during the past tee years. The Government will evaluate relevant work with successful performance. The Government reserves the right to consider information from any other sources when evaluating the offeror's past performance. 3. Price: The Government will examine price quotes for reasonableness and completeness. Offerors are requested and encouraged to provide any discounted pricing. The Bio-Data Form must be completed for the Price evaluation factor. Except when it is determined in accordance with FAR 17.206(b) not to be in the Government's best interests, the Government will evaluate Quotes for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. This includes options under FAR clause 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services, which applies to this solicitation. Evaluation of options under FAR 52.217-8 will be accomplished by using the prices offered for the last option period to determine the price for a 6-month option period, which will be added to the base and other option years to arrive at the total price. Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s). c) Contract Award This contract shall be awarded directly by MCC to an individual, not to a firm. The individual must have an active DUNS No. and "Active" status in the System for Award Management (SAM) for award. d) Contract and Period of Performance The successful offeror(s) may be offered an intermittent, personal services type contract for a one-year base period plus 4 one-year option periods, based upon performance, agency requirements, and available funding. The base period of performance shall be from date of award for 12 months. All option periods are exercised at the sole discretion of MCC. The contract will be for an intermittent PSCs position with 8,320 total hours over the duration of the contract. e) Place of Performance Performance in Washington, DC USA. 16. Addenda See attachments for: 1. Provisions and Clauses 2. Position Description 3. Bio-Data Form (End of Solicitation)
95332418Q0124 Millennium Challenge Corporation
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