Solicitation_for_GDO_-_72038319R00004.doc

Solicitation No. 72038319R00004

SOLICITATION NUMBER: 72038319R00004

ISSUANCE DATE: September 23, 2019 CLOSING DATE AND TIME: October 21, 2019/11.59 p.m. Sri Lanka Time

SUBJECT:

Solicitation for U.S. Personal Service Contractor (USPSC) General Development Specialist

Dear Prospective Offerors:

The United States Government, 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.

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, Christopher Daly

Contracting Officer

USAID/Sri Lanka and Maldives

ATTACHMENT 1

I. GENERAL INFORMATION:

1.

SOLICITATION NO: 72038319R00004

2.

ISSUANCE DATE: September 23, 2019 3.

CLOSING DATE AND TIME FOR RECEIPT OF OFFERS: October 21, 2019 (11.59 p.m. Sri Lanka Time) 4.

POINT OF CONTACT: Chris Daly at, cdaly@usaid.gov 5.

POSITION TITLE: General Development Specialist 6.

MARKET VALUE: $90,621- $117,810 equivalent to GS-14.

Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value.

7.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: One year with the possibility of extensions.

8.

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Colombo, USAID/Sri Lanka and Maldives with travel as stated in the Statement of Duties.

9.

ELIGIBLE OFFERORS: United States Citizens (including United States Permanent Residents) 10.

SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: As an employment pre-condition, the successful applicant is required to obtain a Secret clearance (if U.S. Citizen) 11.

STATEMENT OF DUTIES:

1. General Statement of Purpose of the Contract The USAID Mission to Sri Lanka and Maldives supports a growing and diverse development portfolio in Maldives. The program is currently managed remotely from the USAID Mission based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The election of reform-minded President, Ibrahim Solih in September 2018, has opened a window for democratic renewal and the creation of a rules-based economy. This follows years of systematic deconstruction and state capture of institutions. In April 2019, President’s Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won a super-majority in the national legislative body, on the similar manifesto: to end corruption, improve public services, and review prior deals with China. The new government has demonstrated a commitment to a more transparent and efficient system of governance. Through USAID, the U.S. government is supporting efforts to assist Maldives in this transition. In order to manage this emerging partnership, USAID is increasing its operations rapidly to provide support in several technical sectors.

USAID is currently implementing a variety of public financial management, natural resource management, and governance activities in the Maldives. USAID anticipates the award of several new, long-term activities that will increase support to the Government of Maldives (GOM) in governance, justice reform, and budgeting and investment of public resources. USAID will work with the government, civil society, and private sector to address youth unemployment, improve public services and administration of local governance.

The expanding portfolio requires a General Development Specialist who will oversee ongoing and planned projects, monitor conditions on the ground, and provide strategic observations and advice to USAID technical personnel in Colombo who are responsible for award management.

In the role of General Development Specialist, the incumbent is also responsible for coordinating with the Embassy, including an interagency team based in Colombo, as well as other international donors and key Maldivian interlocutors from the government, civil society, the donor community, and the private sector.

USAID does not currently have an office in Maldives. The General Development Specialist will travel frequently to Maldives to provide oversight of the activities, and coordinate with stakeholders. In conjunction with the U.S. Embassy, USAID plans to establish a permanent presence in the capital city, Male. When it is possible to set up a USAID office in Maldives, the General Development Specialist will play a key role in establishing the office, and recruiting, training, and supervising newly employed in-country staff. The incumbent will be required to collaborate closely with Embassy and USAID staff to establish the USAID presence when that happens.

2. Statement of Duties to be Performed

I. Program Management and Portfolio Oversight:

· Coordinate across technical and support offices to ensure direct monitoring of all USAID activities are planned, implemented, and documented as required. This includes semi-annual portfolio reviews and coordinate with Controller on pipeline reviews.

· Attend events and take meetings in the Maldives on behalf of Mission staff with partners, donors, counterparts, and other stakeholders, as needed. Report back the substance of those meetings.

· Support AORs/CORs/AMs as needed in direct monitoring of awards across all program areas.

· Serve as AOR/COR/AM or alternate, as needed.

· Lead or substantially contribute to the design of new activities, including conducting research, drafting scopes of work, leading activity reviews, and drafting supporting documentation to ensure approval of overall design.

· Draft planning and strategy documents related to the Maldives, including preparing documents to meet reporting requirements.

· Maintain awareness with implementing partners and stakeholders on USAID’s Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) principles.

· Work closely with implementing partners and AORs/CORs/AMs to monitor activity implementation and guide adaptive management when indicated.

· Verify quality data collection, including supporting CORs/AORs/AMs on data quality assessments as required.

· Identify and share lessons across sectors with implementing partners and local stakeholders.

II. Coordinator for USAID’s Maldives Program:

· Coordinate USAID’s inter-office, cross-sector Maldives Program. This includes USAID’s Colombo-based staff who are responsible for Maldives program actions. For example, there are technical office staff who are designated AORs/CORs as well as staff on support teams who are designated as the team’s points of contact for any Maldives program issues.

· Establish and manage the office in Male, Maldives when conditions permit.

· Coordinate with the Mission’s support offices (Executive Office, Controller, Acquisitions and Assistance, Program and Policy Support) to ensure that all processes are established and functioning appropriately.

· Supervise up to three Maldivian staff, when conditions permit the establishment of these positions. As USAID establishes members who provide project management, monitoring, and reporting;

· Train and mentor new staff in various roles, including M&E, and Agency policy compliance.

III. Representation and Stakeholder Coordination:

· Represent USAID to senior members of the GOM, up to the level of State Minister. This includes collaborative planning and periodic reporting on portfolio achievements.

· Coordinate with international donors, including representatives of donor organizations and embassies. As possible, collaborate with bilateral and multilateral donor community in coordination of design and implementations of development efforts, to enhance complementarity and reduce overlap and duplication. This might include leading and/or participating in donor working groups, or engaging with other stakeholders in developing technical papers, studies and strategies.

· Work closely with Maldivian private sector and civil society. This might include participating in local technical working groups

· Serve as an active member of the U.S. Embassy’s interagency country strategy (ICS) team for Maldives

· Monitor and share with USAID and the ICS team about news and events in Maldives. This includes pertinent information that might affect USAID’s programming approach, such as political developments, security concerns, and economic trends.

3. USAID Consultation or Orientation (if applicable):

The selected applicant may be asked to travel to the Washington, DC area for two weeks that include consultations and orientation, and mandatory training to complete the Foreign Affairs Counter Threat CT-650 (FACT) prior to proceeding to USAID/Sri Lanka to commence duties as outlined in the statement of work. FACT is a mandatory course.

4. Supervisory Relationship:

The incumbent is based at the USAID office in Colombo, in the Office of the Mission Director, and reports to the Deputy Mission Director. The incumbent is a development specialist specifically focused on USAID’s portfolio in Maldives.

5. Supervisory Controls:

Incumbent is supervised by the Deputy Mission Director. The incumbent will spend up to 50% of his/her time in Maldives. Consequently, this position requires significant independent initiative and has significant autonomy, within the scope of delegated authorities. The incumbent, as representative of USAID, will need to work independently in making decisions within the scope of delegated authority of the position. The Mission Director’s Office will provide overall strategic guidance for this position, with additional direction to the incumbent provided as needed and requested. The Deputy Mission Director will review performance through observation, consultation, and feedback from technical and support offices, and the Embassy interagency Maldives team.

12.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The work is mainly based in an office setting and does not require any unusual physical demands beyond flexibility in travel. Travel internal to Maldives will require transport in ocean going speed boats and seaplanes. This requires an ability to enter and exit unstable forms of transportation while carrying luggage without assistance. The work requested does not involve undue physical demands.

II.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION:

In order to be considered for the position, a candidate must meet the Minimum Qualifications. Applications will be pre-screened and only those that meet the Minimum Qualifications will be considered. These are the minimum qualifications necessary to be considered for the position:

a) Education: (must be met at the time of application for the subject position).

A Master’s degree in Public Administration; Public Health; Public Policy or International Policy; Development Anthropology; Sociology; International Affairs; International Development; Strategic Management; or Business Administration is required.

b) Work Experience: (must be met at the time of application for the subject position).

A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible, professional level experience with international development in planning, designing, managing and implementing projects is required.

The position requires managerial, technical and analytical abilities; along with the ability to manage resources, programs and teams in a complex, cross-cultural environment. Previous experience managing contracts is required. Five years of experience in international development based in a developing country is required.

The applicant should be familiar with working and managing activities in a religiously conservative environment where strict limits on behavior, dress, and some forms of expression are enforced. The applicant should have experience working as a donor and representing activities, explaining objectives, and monitoring performance to the inter-agency and government counterparts.

III.

EVALUATION AND SELECTION FACTORS:

The Government may award a contract without discussions with offerors in accordance with FAR 52.215-1. The CO reserves the right at any point in the evaluation process to establish a competitive range of offerors with whom negotiations will be conducted pursuant to FAR 15.306(c). In accordance with FAR 52.215-1, if the CO determines that the number of offers that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the CO may limit the number of offerors in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated offers. FAR provisions of this solicitation are available at https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far.

The Evaluation Factors listed will be the basis for evaluating and ranking applicants for the position. Applicants will be scored based on the documentation submitted within the application. Applicants must submit a supplemental document outlining their responses to the evaluation factors in order to be considered. Only the highest-ranked applicants will be interviewed.

1. SELECTION PROCESS

After the closing date for receipt of applications, the committee will convene to review applications that meet the minimum requirements and evaluate them in accordance with the evaluation criteria. Applications from candidates who do not meet the minimum requirements will not be scored. As part of the selection process, finalist candidates will be interviewed. Reference checks will be made only for applicants considered as finalists. The applicant’s references must be able to provide substantive information about his/her past performance and abilities. If an applicant does not wish USAID to contact a current employer for a reference check, this should be stated in the applicant’s cover letter; USAID will delay such reference check pending the applicant’s concurrence.

2. EVALUATION FACTORS

Those applicants who meet the minimum education and experience qualifications will be evaluated based on the content of their application as well as on the applicant’s writing, presentation, and communication skills. On a supplemental document included with the application package, applicants should cite specific, illustrative examples to address each factor. Responses are limited to 500 words (approx. 1/2 typewritten page) per factor. Applicants should describe specifically and accurately the experience, training, education and/or awards they have received that are relevant to the factor. Applicants should include their name and the announcement number at the top of each additional page. Failure to specifically address the Evaluation Factors will result in the applicant not receiving full credit for pertinent experience.

FACTOR #1:

Describe your demonstrated experience in working with high-level stakeholders.

Describe professional interactions with government and non-government (private or civil society) stakeholders, noting the different management levels (e.g. Director General, Member of Parliament, local council member, CSO Executive Director; Corporate CEO)

FACTOR #2:

Outline your project management experience.

Highlight how you exercised professional judgment in the organization, including prioritizing and managing demanding tasks; performance monitoring; and financial management.

FACTOR #3:

Describe your ability to work collaboratively in a multicultural setting.

Provide examples from your experiences building consensus, mentoring staff, and effectively coordinating with technical/ professional staff and implementing partners.

Note that the Evaluation Factors listed will be the basis for evaluating and ranking applicants for the position. Applicants will be scored based on the documentation submitted within the application. Applicants must submit a supplemental document outlining their responses to the above evaluation factors in order to be considered. Only the highest-ranked applicants will be interviewed.

3. BASIS OF RATING

Applicants who clearly meet the Education/Experience requirements and basic eligibility requirements will be further evaluated based on scoring of their Evaluation Factor responses. Those applicants determined to be competitively ranked will also be evaluated on their interview performance and satisfactory professional reference checks. The Applicant Rating System is as follows:

· Evaluation Factors:

Factor #1 -15 points

Factor #2 -10 points

Factor #3 -05 points

· Interview Performance: 70 points

Interview questions will revolve around the following areas:

· Work with multi-cultural professional teams to complete deliverables

· Manage and produce high quality performance monitoring, third-party monitoring, and/or evaluation deliverables.

· Communicate how principles of M&E based on USAID policies are applied in practice to support quality in analysis, reporting, and learning.

· Deliver complex products that use data for analysis using through presentations, training, and reporting.

Satisfactory Professional Reference Checks – Pass/Fail (no points assigned)

Total Possible Points: 100

IV.

SUBMITTING AN OFFER:

All applications must be submitted electronically by email to: hrcolombo@usaid.gov with the subject line SOL: 72038319R00004 General Development Specialist Attention:

Executive Officer

USAID/Sri Lanka and Maldives

Applicants may submit an application against this solicitation prior to the closing date and time specified in Section I, item 3 mentioned above unless revised. The highest-ranking applications may be selected for an interview.

Qualified applicants must submit the following documents, or their applications will not be considered for this position:

1. U.S. Government AID 309-2 (signed) form which is available at the following website: https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-2

2. A current curriculum vitae (CV) or resumé.

3. A minimum of three (3) professional references with telephone and e-mail contacts, who are not family members or relatives, with working telephone and email contacts. The applicant's references must be able to provide substantive information about his/her past performance and abilities. At least one reference provided should be a current or former supervisor.

4. A supplemental document with written responses to the Evaluation Factors.

Candidates who are applying for this position must fully meet the education requirement (graduated and degree and/or diploma already received) as specified. At the time of applications, candidates must also meet in full the work experience requirement. There is no exception for these requirements.

Short-listed candidates will be requested to provide educational documents such as degrees, diplomas, certificates and other pertinent documents as needed. Failure to provide the required documentation will result in the rejection of their application from further consideration.

Please cite the solicitation number and position title within the subject line of your email application. Any attachments provided via email must be compatible with Microsoft Word 2003 or PDF and not zipped. Note that attachments to email must not exceed 3 MB. Application letters and forms must be signed. Incomplete and unsigned applications/forms will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

The Agency retains the right to cancel or amend the solicitation and associated actions at any stage of the recruitment process.

V. LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS FOR PSC HIRES:

The Contracting Officer will notify the selected applicant and provide instructions regarding how to complete and submit the following forms:

1. Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306)

2. Medical History and Examination Form (DS-6561)

3. Pre-Deployment Physical Exam Acknowledgement Form (DS-6570)

4. Questionnaire for Sensitive Positions for National Security (SF-86), or Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions (SF-85)

5. Finger-Print Card (FD-258)

VI. BENEFITS/ALLOWANCES:

As a matter of policy, and as appropriate, a PSC is normally authorized to the benefits and allowances listed in this section.

1. BENEFITS:

1) Contribution toward Health & life insurance

2) Pay Comparability Adjustment

3) Eligibility for Worker's Compensation

4) Annual & Sick Leave

5) Access to Embassy medical facilities, commissary and pouch mail service as per post policy

2. ALLOWANCES (If Applicable)*:

1) Temporary Lodging Allowance (Section 120)

2) Living Quarters Allowance (Section 130)

3) Post Allowance (Section 220)

4) Supplemental Post Allowance (Section 230)

5) Post Differential (Chapter 500)

6) Payments during Evacuation/Authorized Departure (Section 600)

7) Danger Pay (Section 650)

8) Education Allowance (Section 270)

9) Separate Maintenance Allowance (Section 260)

10) Education Travel (Section 280)

* Standardized Regulations (Government Civilians Foreign Areas).

* Eligibilities for allowances are in accordance with Standardized Regulations (Government Civilians Foreign Areas) based on the type of appointment and Mission Policy.

VII. TAXES:

USPSC’s are required to pay Federal income taxes, FICA, Medicare and applicable State income taxes.

VIII. USAID REGULATIONS, POLICIES AND CONTRACT CLAUSES PERTAINING TO PSCs USAID regulations and policies governing USPSC awards are available at these sources:

1. USAID Acquisition Regulation (AIDAR), Appendix D, “Direct USAID Contracts with a U.S. Citizen or a U.S. Resident Alien for Personal Services Abroad,” including contract clause “General Provisions,” available at https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aidar_0.pdf.

2. Contract Cover Page form AID 309-1 available at https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-1.

3. Acquisition and Assistance Policy Directives/Contract Information Bulletins (AAPDs/CIBs) for Personal Services Contracts with Individuals available at http://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/aapds-cibs.

4. Ethical Conduct. By the acceptance of a USAID personal services contract as an individual, the contractor will be acknowledging receipt of the “Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch,” available from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, in accordance with General Provision 2 and 5 CFR 2635. See https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/OGE%20Regulations.

“END OF SOLICITATION”

Clearance:

(1) WIlangasinghe/DEXO

Date:

(2) DFoote/PPS

Date:

(3) RAeschliman/DIR

Date: