Amendment_1_72044018R00005_USPSC_Senior_HIV_AIDS_Technical_Advisor.pdf

SOLICITATION NUMBER: 72044018R00005 Amendment 1

ISSUANCE DATE: January 23, 2019

CLOSING DATE/TIME: February 25, 2019 at 1000 Hanoi Local Time

SUBJECT: Solicitation for U.S. Personal Service Contractor (USPSC) - Senior HIV/AIDS

Technical Advisor

To All Interested Applicants:

The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International

Development (USAID), is seeking applications from qualified persons to provide personal services under contract as described in this solicitation.

Submissions must be in accordance with Attachment 1, Sections I through V of this solicitation. Incomplete or unsigned applications will not be considered. Applicants 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 application.

Any questions must be directed in writing to the Point of Contact specified in the attached information.

Sincerely, /s/

Michael Capobianco

Contracting Officer

USAID/Vietnam

ATTACHMENT 1 72044018R00005 Amendment 1

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

1. SOLICITATION NO.: 72044018R00005 Amendment 1

2. ISSUANCE DATE: January 23, 2019

3. CLOSING DATE/TIME FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS: February 25, 2019 at 1000 Hanoi time

4. POSITION TITLE: Senior HIV/AIDS Technical Advisor

5. MARKET VALUE: Position is classified at GS-15 with annual salary range of

$105,123 - $136,659 per annum.

Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value.

6. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: two (2) years with three (3) one-year option periods.

7. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Hanoi, Vietnam

The contractor will work from USAID offices in Hanoi, and will be provided with the support services, equipment, and supplies necessary to perform the work.

Quarterly trips within country of 3-5 days are expected.

8. SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: Facility Access

9. STATEMENT OF DUTIES

A. Position Title: Senior HIV/AIDS Technical Advisor

B. Organizational unit within the Agency: USAID/ Vietnam Office of Health (OH)

C. Supervision:

The position is directly supervised by the OH Deputy Director and works under the general direction of the OH Director. The position will provide technical direction and mentorship to four Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs) HIV Team Leads in Hanoi.

D. Background:

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is at the forefront of the U.S.

government (USG) response in the fight against HIV and AIDS. USAID is a key partner in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and works closely with other USG agencies on this initiative in more than 90 countries. Vietnam’s PEPFAR program, an innovative portfolio focused on key populations in a concentrated epidemic, is set to achieve the dual objectives of epidemic control, and reducing donor dependence by transitioning the responsibility of the HIV epidemic to a sustainably financed national

HIV/AIDS program. USAID/Vietnam‘s OH is the technical office responsible for the implementation of the bilateral PEPFAR portfolio. OH leads the PEPFAR team in innovative case finding solutions such as lay and self-testing, diversifying sustainability of the response through civil society and the private sector, ensuring a client-centered-design of HIV care and treatment programs, and in implementing the transition of the

HIV response to the government of Vietnam through the Social Health Insurance platform.

E. Major Roles and Responsibilities:

The Senior HIV/AIDS Technical Advisor (Senior Advisor) position is located in

USAID/Vietnam’s OH in Hanoi. The Senior Advisor serves as the Mission’s

HIV/AIDS Subject Matter Expert and will play a leadership role for comprehensive and strategic program planning across the 90-90-95 cascade, budget development, policy planning, and research/monitoring and evaluation.

The successful candidate must have significant experience in and knowledge of the interventions required to address the drivers of the concentrated HIV epidemic in

Vietnam. The incumbent will represent USAID within multiple internal USG and multi-stakeholder Government of Vietnam (GVN) led technical working groups

(TWGs), and play a lead role in program coordination, analysis of progress and activity design for inclusion in the annual Country Operational Plan (COP). S/he facilitates communication and maintains highly collaborative working relationships with mid to senior level government officials in the GVN, other donors and USG agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

S/he is responsible for keeping the OH Director and Deputy Director regularly informed of program implementation progress, results, and issues/problems on a timely basis.

Finally, the incumbent spends a significant amount of his/her time ensuring skills transfer and mentoring USAID and GVN staff and community groups on effective methodologies and strengthening Vietnam’s overall HIV/AIDS system.

F. Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

Specific activities of the Senior Advisor will include but are not limited to the following:

Set the strategic direction for USAID/Vietnam’s HIV prevention, clinical care and treatment cascade. Provide USAID expert technical and programmatic guidance on the planning, design and implementation of HIV programs. Ensure program investments are consistent with international norms and standards and are synergistic with other investments made by the USG and partnering agencies.

Analyze, synthesize and disseminate key research findings and best practices to the

Mission and its partners; Coordinate dissemination of lessons learned among all

HIV/AIDS stakeholders, including the USG, other development partners and the

GVN at national and sub-national levels.

Play a leadership role in the interagency PEPFAR TWGs and the national HIV TWGs to ensure technical and programmatic synergy; Strengthen collaboration within the

USG interagency, with the GVN, and other key stakeholders, especially Global Fund and UNAIDS, especially at the national and sub-national levels to ensure greater country ownership and technical capacity.

Provide technical leadership for development of annual work plans of existing activities and innovative scopes of work/project design for new HIV care and treatment activities in order to reach 90-90-95 goals, including developing targets, and technical and programmatic guidance for USAID HIV care and treatment IPs;

Conduct regular site visits to review program implementation and meet with beneficiaries.

Participate, and lead as designated, in the development of key USG planning documents, such as PEPFAR Country Operational Plan, quarterly reporting to Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) through PEPFAR Oversight and

Accountability Review Team calls, and as necessary HIV related presentations/briefing materials, The incumbent will also assists the HIV team with related ad hoc requests from USAID/Vietnam front office, USAID/W or other external clients.

Mentor FSN staff to support professional development, including technical expertise and leadership skills.

As requested, serve as OH Director or Deputy Director when needed and the USAID

Health Office representative at meetings when needed. This may include USAID

Senior Staff meetings, Embassy Health Cluster, special limited country teams for

Congressional Delegations, Development Partner meetings and others.

G. Available Guidelines:

The successful candidate will be expected to be aware of Mission, PEPFAR and

Agency-specific policies, guidelines and procedures, OH established administrative operating procedures, policies and formats. Oral guidance from the immediate supervisor and specific detailed instructions will be given (when necessary) for carrying out unique assignments. S/he will stay abreast of guidance issued by OGAC and

Vietnam’s PEPFAR Coordinator. S/he will be required to be proactive in keeping abreast of evolving guidelines and policies which affect all USAID activities, including but not limited to the Automated Directives System (ADS), Mission Orders, Mission Notices, USG Procurement regulations, and USAID Program Strategy and Policy Documents.

H. Exercise of Judgment:

The successful candidate will be required to exercise independent, balanced judgment, initiative and ingenuity in setting priorities, devising innovative approaches to resolving technical, administrative, managerial and/or policy problems. The incumbent receives minimal day-to day supervision and general technical direction. S/he is expected to carry out all duties in an independent manner, calling on the supervisor for policy and decision-making matters.

I. Authority to Make Commitments:

The successful candidate will have no independent authority to commit funds on behalf of the USG.

J. Nature, Level and Purpose of Contacts:

As a lead USAID representative on HIV/AIDS, the successful candidate will be in frequent contact with multiple ministries within the GVN, other donors, UN agencies, NGOs and other key stakeholders and will be required to maintain effective working relationships within the HIV ecosystem in Vietnam to ensure enhanced coordination and technical and programmatic synergy. S/he will represent the USG on relevant GVN and various ministry working groups and technical discussions on issues related to HIV/AIDS activities.

10. AREA OF CONSIDERATION: United States Citizens

11. PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The work requested does not involve undue physical demands.

12. POINT OF CONTACT: Michael Capobianco at mcapobianco@usaid.gov and Huyen

Dang at hdang@usaid.gov.

II. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION

A. Requirements

1. US citizenship;

2. In possession of, or able to obtain, facility access authorization in order to perform under the contract.

3. In possession of, or able to obtain, a medical clearance. The successful applicant must receive medical clearance for serving in Hanoi, Vietnam. Details of how to obtain US

Department of State Medical Unit medical clearance will be provided once a job offer is made and accepted.

B. Qualifications

1. Education

Minimum Education Required: Medical degree or doctorate in clinical services, mailto:mcapobianco@usaid.gov mailto:hdang@usaid.gov public health, epidemiology or related field.

2. Relevant Experience

Minimum Experience Required: Eight years of progressively responsible experience in HIV/AIDS strategy development, program development and implementation is required.

Experience in HIV programming for key populations and experience working in a concentrated epidemic is preferred. Experience in the Asia Region is highly desirable.

Experience working with PEPFAR and USG operations, policies, regulations, procedures, and programs is highly desirable

3. Technical Knowledge

Demonstrated, comprehensive knowledge and experience in HIV/AIDS programming in both facility and community settings is required. Specialized knowledge and experience working with key populations in a concentrated epidemic is preferred.

Strong technical and analytical skills in providing technical support and capacity building for host-country governments (national and sub-national level) and civil society on HIV is required. This includes demonstrated experience in technical skills transfer or mentoring.

Understanding and knowledge of USG regulations, procedures and systems to include knowledge and experience working with PEPFAR and USAID are highly desired.

Strong financial and performance management skills to track the performance of implementing partners.

4. Abilities and Skills

Demonstrated leadership skills, and high degree of judgement, maturity, ingenuity in order to negotiate, facilitate and manage USAID HIV programming.

Strong quantitative and analytical skills to interpret data/trends and demonstrated mastery of writing/speaking/presentation skills to communicate technical information clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical colleagues.

Excellent interpersonal skills, tact and diplomacy to collaborate in a multi-agency setting, often under pressure of short deadlines and multiple demands in a cross-cultural environment; and to establish and maintain a wide range of senior-level and working-level contacts within the USG and key stakeholders in governmental, non-governmental, and private-sector circles.

Excellent communication skills in English (written/verbal) and diplomacy. Level

IV (fluent) English is required.

Sound judgment combined with a mature and professional demeanor is a necessary trait.

III. EVALUATION AND SELECTION FACTORS

1. Selection Process

After the closing date for receipt of applications, a committee will be convened to review applications and evaluate them in accordance with the evaluation factors. Applications from candidates which do not meet the minimum requirements will not be scored. As part of the selection process, finalist candidates may be interviewed either in person or by telephone at USAID’s discretion. Reference checks will be made only for applicants considered as finalists.

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, and USAID will delay such reference check pending communication with the applicant. Only finalists will be contacted by

USAID with respect to their applications. The final selected candidates must obtain requisite access and medical clearance within a reasonable period of time (USAID will provide details to the selected candidates). A substantial delay in obtaining either access authorization or medical clearance will make the applicant ineligible for selection.

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 the applicant’s writing, presentation, and communication skills. To be considered for this position, as part of their applications, applicants are required to submit supplemental documentation, addressing each of the Evaluation Factors on a separate sheet, describing specifically and accurately what experience, training, education and/or awards or recognition they have received relevant to each factor described below. Responses are limited to 300 words per factor.

Applicants will be evaluated against the following criteria, listed in order of descending importance:

1. Relevant Experience

2. Technical Knowledge

3. Abilities and Skills

The factors will be the basis for scoring the applications and creating an initial ranking of candidates. Only the highest-ranked applicants (finalists) will be interviewed. Those finalists will also be evaluated on their interview performance, and, finally, satisfactory professional reference checks.

In summary, the steps in the applicant rating system are as follows:

1. Meet education/experience requirements: pass/fail

2. Evaluation Factors (Relevant Experience, Technical Knowledge, Abilities and

Skills) – combined, are of equal importance to Interview Performance

3. Interview Performance – of equal importance to Evaluation Factors

4. Reference Checks: Pass/Fail

IV. APPLYING

1. Applications should include the following, with the applicant’s name clearly marked on every page:

i. Cover letter (no more than one page);

ii. Most current curriculum vitae (CV) or resume (no more than 2 pages);

iii. Supplemental information addressing each of the Evaluation Factors (a separate sheet for each), limited to 300 words per factor, as described in Section III above;

iv. Salary history for the prior three years captured in a Contractor Employee

Biographical Data Sheet (AID 1420-17 form available at https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-1420-17);

v. Contact information (telephone numbers and email addresses) for at least three references with knowledge of the applicant's prior work skills; and,

vi. 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.

2. Applications 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, item 12. Late, incomplete or unsigned applications will NOT be considered.

3. To ensure consideration of applications for the intended position, Applicants must prominently reference the Solicitation number in the application submission.

V. LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS FOR PSC HIRES

Once the CO informs the successful Applicant about being selected for a contract award, the CO will provide the successful Applicant instructions about how to complete and submit the following forms:

1. Medical History and Examination Form (Department of State Forms)

2. Questionnaire for Sensitive Positions for National Security (SF-86), or

3. Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions (SF-85)

4. Finger Print Card (FD-258)

VI. BENEFITS/ALLOWANCES

As a matter of policy, and as appropriate, a PSC is normally authorized the following benefits and allowances:

1. BENEFITS:

(a) Employer's FICA Contribution

(b) Contribution toward Health & Life Insurance

(c) Pay Comparability Adjustment https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-1420-17 http://www.usaid.gov/forms

(d) Annual Increase (pending a satisfactory performance evaluation)

(e) Eligibility for Worker's Compensation

(f) Annual and Sick Leave

2. ALLOWANCES:

Section numbers refer to rules from the Department of State Standardized Regulations

(Government Civilians Foreign Areas)

(a) Temporary Quarter Subsistence Allowance (Section 120)

(b) Living Quarters Allowance (Section 130)

(c) Cost-of-Living Allowance (Chapter 210)

(d) Post Allowance (Section 220)

(e) Separate Maintenance Allowance (Section 260)

(f) Education Allowance (Section 270)

(g) Education Travel (Section 280)

(h) Post Differential (Chapter 500)

(i) Payments during Evacuation/Authorized Departure (Section 600), and

(j) Danger Pay Allowance (Section 650)

VII. TAXES

USPSCs 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 .

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 .

http://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=231&menu_id=92 http://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=231&menu_id=92 http://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=231&menu_id=92 https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aidar_0.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/forms http://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/aapds-cibs https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/OGE%20Regulations

___End of Solicitation___