Attachment_1_Performance_Work_Statement.pdf

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

1. BACKGROUND

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS) is a federal agency, which is headquartered in Washington, DC. NRCS was established by Congress in 1935 as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS). NRCS has expanded to become a conservation leader for all natural resources, ensuring private lands are conserved, restored, and made more resilient to environmental challenges, such as climate change. Seventy percent of the land in the United States is privately owned, making stewardship by private landowners critical to the health of our nation’s environment. NRCS works with landowners through conservation planning and technical assistance designed to benefit the soil; water; air;

plants; and animals resulting in more productive lands and healthy ecosystems. NRCS currently has a total workforce of 10,569 employees, which include individuals on permanent, term, temporary and student appointments.

2. SCOPE OF WORK

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) established provisions for Executive Branch agencies of the United States Government to govern competitive procedures used in filling competitive service positions. Provisions of Title 5, United States Code (USC), Part 1104, as amended by Public Law 104-52 (1995), gives agencies the authority to examine for all jobs in the competitive civil service, except for administrative law judge positions. The NRCS Director, Office of Human Resources Management, is granted authority to ensure delegated examining within the agency adheres to statutory requirements.

In accordance with OPM examining requirements and USDA regulation, DR-4030-337-4, Delegated Examining, all delegated examining units (DEUs) shall conduct annual “self-audits” of their delegated examining operations as prescribed in the Interagency Agreement, DOA-1.

The audit must be conducted by an HR Practitioner not involved in the DE activities of the office being audited. Self-audits can only be conducted by a person who has received DE training and their certification is current.

NRCS is seeking a contractor with expertise in conducting annual self-audits for Delegated Examining Units. In conducting this audit review, the contractor must ensure the audit follows the “Model Agency-Based Accountability Coverage” framework for self-audits. The review should include cases representative of a sample of occupations, including Pathways vacancies, and will include at least one case for each HR practitioner. In fiscal year 2015, NRCS advertised 546 positions under DE authority. The requirement for annual self-audits is to review at least 5% of the delegated examining cases conducted, or five case files, whichever is greater. Based on this requirement and the total number of DE job opportunity announcements advertised, it is expected that at least 28 DE casefiles will be reviewed to meet the 5% requirement for fiscal year 2015. A similar number will be reviewed for the 2016 audit.

Attachment #1 AG-1A23-S-16-0016

Each examining action in the sample will be reviewed for conformance with applicable laws, regulations, and OPM examining instructions in the following functional areas of competitive examining:

a. Standard Form 39s (SF-39), Request for Referral of Eligibles;

b. Job Opportunity Announcements (JOA)/Public Notices;

c. Applications;

d. Evaluation of Basic Qualifications;

e. Job Analysis and Questionnaire;

f. Rating and Ranking;

g. Certification;

h. Selection(s);

i. Veterans Preference; and

j. Miscellaneous Items: which may include, but are not limited to, reports to OPM, written operating procedures, accuracy of appointment SF-50s, and maintenance of records.

The auditor will also review the DEU’s internal procedures and work flow for efficiency of operations. The contractor will protect all employees’ personal information and data in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974. All findings and recommended actions will be retained in strictest confidence. They will not be provided to, or discussed with, any persons outside of authorized agency management. The contractor will have HR Specialist read access to e-Recruit.

3. TASKS AND DELIVERABLES

Task 1: Audit Review Plan

The contractor will prepare an audit review plan as part of the overall audit process. The audit review plan should specify how many vacancy casefiles can be completed on a daily basis. The plan should also specify a target completion date. The completion date shall be recognized as the date when all 28 DEU casefiles have been examined and successfully audited and the final audit report is completed and ready to be turned in. The audit plan should also describe the process and format to be used in providing the agency with written accounts of progress, communication of findings and the type of technical advice which may be offered to aide in the efficiency of DEU operations. This plan will be emailed to the agency point of contact.

Deliverable: Create Audit Plan

Task 2: Audit Review

The contractor will conduct a comprehensive quality review of NRCS’ DEU casefiles. The compliance reviews must be conducted in accordance with the OPM Delegated Examining Handbook and USDA Delegated Examining procedures. Each examining action in the sample will be reviewed for conformance with applicable laws, regulations, and OPM examining instructions in the aforementioned functional areas of competitive examining. Read-only access to electronic systems will be granted to the contractor. If hard copy files are involved they will be provided to the contractor.

Deliverable: Audit 28 DE casefiles

Task 3: Final Report

The contractor must prepare a written report and provide the report to the agency point of contact via email upon the conclusion of the audit. The report will include a summary of findings and recommendations. Specific corrective actions will be addressed in the event that corrections may be needed.

Deliverable: Create Final Report

Appendix A

OPM’s DEU Handbook: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/deo_handbook.pdf

USDA Departmental Regulation, DR-4030-337-4:

http://www.ocio.usda.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2012/DR4030-337-4.htm https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/deo_handbook.pdf https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/deo_handbook.pdf http://www.ocio.usda.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2012/DR4030-337-4.htm