Sol_72061519R00011.pdf

Postal Address:

U.S. Agency for International Development

USAID Kenya

P.O. Box 629

Village Market 00621

Nairobi, Kenya

Courier Address:

USAID/Kenya c/o American Embassy

United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya

Pouch Address:

American Embassy

8900 Nairobi Place

Department Of State

Washington D.C. 20521-8900

Tel: 254-20-862 2000

Fax: 254-20-862 2680 / 2682 http://kenya.usaid.gov/

SOLICITATION NUMBER: 72061519R000011

ISSUANCE DATE: August 28, 2019

CLOSING DATE/TIME: September 27, 2019 04:30 p.m. GMT+3

SUBJECT: Solicitation for Offshore Hire U.S. Personal Service Contractor (U.S. PSC)

Humanitarian Assistance Nutrition Specialist

Dear Prospective Offerors:

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 the attached solicitation.

Submissions must be in accordance with the solicitation instructions. Applicants should retain copies of all offer materials, for their records.

Applications must be submitted electronically via email to nairobipscjobs@usaid.gov by the closing date and time indicated above. Late, incomplete, or unsigned applications will not be considered. Scanned copies are accepted by email. Applicants must prominently reference the solicitation number in the application submission.

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 email addresses specified above.

Sincerely, -s-

Natalya Komarova

Executive Officer http://kenya.usaid.gov/ mailto:nairobipscjobs@usaid.gov

Solicitation: 72061519R00011

Attachment 1:

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

1. SOLICITATION NO.: 72061519R000011

2. ISSUANCE DATE: 08/28/2019

3. CLOSING DATE/TIME: 09/27/2019 at 04:30 p.m. (Nairobi Time)

4. POINT OF CONTACT: Executive Office/Human Resources, Patrick Bii, HR Assistant, email at pbii@usaid.gov

5. POSITION TITLE: Offshore Hire U.S. Personal Service Contractor (U.S. PSC)

Humanitarian Assistance Nutrition Specialist

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

Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value.

7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: One (1) year base period with four one-year options based on funding and satisfactory performance. Prior to exercising any annual options/extensions, the Mission will undertake a subsequent review based on personnel support, budget, and any additional hiring freeze guidance or approval requirements that may be issued in the future.

8. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Nairobi, Kenya

9. ELIGIBLE OFFERORS: U.S Citizens. Citizenship, if dual, must be clearly stated.

10. SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: Secret

11. STATEMENT OF DUTIES/POSITION DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND:

The East and Central Africa regions have consistently been the epicenter of some of the world’s most protracted complex emergencies and at the end of 2018 hosted an estimated 5.6 million refugees and more than 14 million internally displaced persons. In addition, cyclical natural disasters throughout the region require a sustained, robust humanitarian platform for the USG in order to increase accountability and improve the efficiency and effective delivery of emergency assistance. USAID’s regional Office of Food for Peace (FFP) and Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster

Assistance (OFDA) in Nairobi supported approximately $2 billion of food and non-food humanitarian assistance to more than 36 million people in Fiscal Year 2018, partnering with public international organizations and non-governmental organizations on relief, nutrition, livelihoods and resilience-oriented activities. The surge support and technical assistance provided by these regional offices is critical to USAID’s ability to monitor life-saving and resilience-building mailto:pbii@usaid.gov activities in the region, where limited staffing in eight of the 15 countries requires direct oversight from Nairobi. The unitary team coming together under the new Bureau for Humanitarian

Assistance (BHA) through the merger of FFP and OFDA will require a senior- level Nutrition

Specialist to lead regional efforts to strengthen the quality and accountability of nutrition programming targeting the needs of the most vulnerable, utilizing learning to adapt activities and inform opportunities for integration with more sustainable USAID investments in support of the journey to self-reliance.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Based in Nairobi, the HA Nutrition Specialist supports the effective management of BHA resources and will report to FFP Regional Office Chief or designee until the senior management of USAID’s regional humanitarian assistance platform in Nairobi is established. S/he will collaborate and coordinate closely with technical colleagues in BHA/Washington. S/he is expected to spend approximately 75 percent of his/her time supporting staff and implementing partners responsible for the design, implementation and oversight of nutrition activities - and the systems and processes to monitor and evaluate these - in Kenya and Somalia. The remaining 25 percent of his/her time will be spent supporting countries other than Kenya and Somalia in the

East and Central Africa region, in coordination with the broader global nutrition technical team.

Specific Duties: The contractor serving in this position will have the following specific duties:

1. Provide technical guidance in the review, design and implementation of humanitarian assistance and multi-year development assistance activities to ensure programs are appropriately designed to reach successful nutrition outcomes;

2. Represent BHA within nutrition leadership across the USAID/Kenya and East Africa

Mission, in coordination with the Offices of Health, Population and Nutrition, and Office of

Economic Growth and Integration to promote an aligned nutrition agenda and collectively elevate nutrition and strengthen nutrition results across USAID’s multi-sectoral nutrition programming;

3. Analyze regional nutrition issues and lead the identification and dissemination of state-of-the-art food and nutrition approaches for implementation within BHA programs in the East and Central Africa (ECA) regions;

4. Oversee nutrition-related research undertaken by BHA partners in ECA in technical focus areas (nutrition in emergencies, public health nutrition, M&E or nutrition sensitive agriculture);

5. In coordination with BHA/HQ, contribute to the review and coordination of updates of programming guidance in technical focus areas (nutrition in emergencies, public health nutrition, M&E or nutrition sensitive agriculture), and support dissemination to BHA field staff;

6. Provide technical assistance to BHA field missions, implementing partners, and others on the nutritionally sound and cost-effective selection of Title II food aid commodities and complementary nutrition activities for emergency food and non-food assistance programs;

7. Assess and monitor programs through field visits, reporting by field staff and implementing partners. Assess technical data reviews to maximize program effectiveness and ensure efforts are being implemented in a manner consistent with policy and legislative guidelines;

8. Represent BHA in meetings and/or nutrition technical working groups with other USAID colleagues and representatives from other agencies; and

9. As needed, serve on short-term assignments, performing duties directly related to duties identified in contract, with other USAID offices in direct support of BHA programs.

POSITION ELEMENTS:

a. Supervision Received: The HA Nutrition Specialist will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by the USAID/KEA/FFP Office Chief, or his/her designee and collaborate and coordinate closely with technical colleagues in BHA/Washington and while the individual is expected to keep the Office Chief apprised of the country program, is expected to independently oversee the portfolio and advise Mission Management and BHA/Washington.

b. Available Guidelines: Guidelines include Agency regulations, Food for Peace Strategy, USAID Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy, Title II regulations, among others. The incumbent provides guidance and ensures guidelines are enforced at all levels. The incumbent must be able to use excellent judgment and have the ability to deal with ambiguity at all levels. On many instances, the incumbent will have to rely on his/her knowledge and extensive prior experience to enforce guidelines as s/he carries out his/her duties.

c. Responsibility for decision making: The incumbent serves under administrative discretion of the Office Chief, or his/her designee, but will directly and independently oversee a technical portfolio. As such, s/he will have wide latitude in decision making on program technical and budgetary issues, and in providing recommendations to BHA/Washington for program technical direction. His/her high-level expertise directly impacts decisions in the Mission at the highest level, and decisions in BHA/Washington.

d. Complexity: The incumbent works in an environment of continual change. BHA programs are faced with unprecedented new and intricate sets of political, economic and technical issues which have to be resolved to the satisfaction of all stakeholders and very often under a strict time frame of meeting the emergency needs of thousands of people affected by crop failures, droughts, conflict and natural disasters. As such, the incumbent is required to take the lead in resolving complex issues in humanitarian assistance programs by exercising a high level of creativity, judgment, sensitivity to local and host government perspectives, gender issues, and business sense as related to the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S.

humanitarian assistance. Given the fluid humanitarian and security situations, the incumbent will regularly work with implementing partners to adjust BHA programming (e.g., geographic locations, types of interventions, etc.) as needed in response to changing humanitarian and security conditions on the ground. The incumbent also represents BHA in program and strategy discussions with other USAID offices regarding linking humanitarian and development programs to build resilience. This engagement requires innovative thinking to achieve USAID objectives regarding resilience, while remaining compliant with guidelines and policies for humanitarian assistance and nutrition programming and international humanitarian principles.

e. Scope and Effect: The individual is required to be expert in nutrition programming in humanitarian and development contexts, to include livelihoods, and resilience programming.

Due to his/her expertise, the individual may be called upon to participate in or lead disaster assistance response teams, participate in other emergency assistance assessments, develop scopes of work for assessments and incorporate results into programming. The individual will develop and contribute to lessons learned and best practices for humanitarian assistance programming at the national and regional level.

f. Nature, Level and Purpose of Contacts: Must maintain high level contacts and communication with internal and external stakeholders including USAID and other USG officials, heads of UN country programs, heads of NGO organizations, senior government officials including heads of ministries and county governments. Must also maintain high-level contacts and communication with internal and external stakeholders including USAID, State

Department, Department of Defense, as well as host governments to advise on food assistance programming in alignment with USAID regulations and priorities.

g. Supervision Exercised: The incumbent will not serve as a supervisor.

h. Travel: Travel may represent up to 30-40% of the total work time.

i. Security Clearance: Secret

j. Support Items: The incumbent will be provided access to a desktop computer in an office setting, shared office equipment (such as printer, scanner and shredder), office supplies and support services.

k. Sunday Pay: Is not authorized.

12. PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The primary location of work will be on the U.S.

Embassy/USAID compound in Nairobi, Kenya. No special demands are required to perform the work.

II. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

The incumbent must meet the following requirements in education and professional experience:

Education

Master’s degree in nutrition, public health or related field with significant study in maternal and child nutrition, with seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in at least one of the four technical areas: the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition, nutrition in emergencies, public health nutrition, nutrition monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and survey design, and/or nutrition-sensitive agriculture, of which two (2) years must be related to emergency nutrition programs.

OR

A Bachelor’s degree in nutrition, public health or related field with significant study in maternal and child nutrition, with nine (9) years of progressively responsible experience in at least one of the following four technical areas: the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition, nutrition in emergencies, public health nutrition, nutrition monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and survey design, and/or nutrition-sensitive agriculture, of which two (2) years must be related to emergency nutrition programs.

AND

A minimum of two (2) years of overseas professional experience implementing emergency nutrition programs in a humanitarian setting, either through multiple short-term assignments or long-term residential postings.

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.

Applicants shall be rated as per three (3) significant evaluation factors – Professional Experience, Program Management and Interpersonal and Communication Skills. Professional Experience represents half of the overall weight of the evaluation and is the single most important factor. The first two sub factors thereunder are of relative equal weight to each other. The significant factors

Program Management and Interpersonal and Communication Skills, when combined, are of equal weight to Professional Experience. The sub factors are of relative equal weight to each other under each significant factor.

A. Professional Experience (50 percent)

(i) Demonstrated experience programming both development and emergency nutrition programs to achieve desired nutrition impacts.

(ii) Demonstrated knowledge of development and emergency nutrition program implementation and food aid nutritional quality factors, especially as related to food assistance commodities provided to food insecure and/or malnourished populations.

B. Program Management (25 percent)

(i) Demonstrated ability to assess operational research efforts, identify project implementation constraints and successes.

(ii) Ability to monitor and evaluate nutrition programs, to include programmatic and financial issues.

(iii) Ability to review, evaluate and apply complex policies and regulations.

C. Interpersonal and Communication Skills (25 percent) i.Ability to provide rapid, concise, accurate reporting, both verbally and in writing, ii.Ability to work effectively as a team member and with staff from diverse cultures.

IV. APPLYING/SUBMITTING AN OFFER

1. Interested applicants are required to submit the following:

1) Offer form AID 309-2, “Offeror Information for Personal Services Contracts with individuals,” available at https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-2

2) An up-to-date curriculum vitae (CV) or resume (no more than five pages), cover letter explaining your qualifications for the position, copies of all relevant certificates and include three (3) references, who are not family members or relatives, with working telephone and e-mail contacts. The references will be asked to provide a general assessment of the applicant's suitability for the position. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure submitted references are available to provide a written or verbal reference in a timely manner.

2. Applications must be submitted electronically via email to nairobipscjobs@usaid.gov by the closing date and time indicated above.

3. To ensure consideration of offers for the intended position, Offerors must prominently reference the Solicitation number in the offer submission/cover letter.

V. LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS PRIOR TO AWARD

The CO will provide instructions about how to complete and submit the following forms after an offeror is selected for the contract award.

• Medical Form (DS Form 6561)

• EQIP Questionnaire for Sensitive Positions (for National Security (SF-86) or

EQIP Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions (SF-85)

• EQIP Signature Forms (3-CER, REL, MEL)

• Finger print Card (FD-258) (available from requirements office)

• AID 6-85 (Foreign Residence Data) https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-2 mailto:nairobipscjobs@usaid.gov

VI. BENEFITS AND ALLOWANCES

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

1. BENEFITS:

(a) Employer’s FICA Contribution

(b) Contribution toward Health and Life Insurance

(c) Pay Comparability Adjustment

(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. AIDAR: The Agency for International Development Acquisition Regulation (AIDAR)

Appendix D – “Direct USAID Contracts with U.S. Citizens or U.S. Resident Alien for

Personal Services Abroad,” including contract clauses “General Provisions,” found at:

http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/300/aidar.pdf 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://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/300/aidar.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): AAPDs/CIBs for Personal Services Contracts with Individuals available at https://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]

https://www.usaid.gov/forms https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/aapds-cibs https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/OGE%20Regulations