PSC_Announcement_6-2-2015_MCC-RFP-15-0118_PSC_IT_Spec.pdf

Date Posted June 2, 2015

Announcement No.: MCC-15-RFP-0118

Title

IT Specialist (Enterprise Applications)

Position information

Full-Time, Personal Services Contractor (PSC) One year (2,080 hours per year), renewable for up to four years at the sole discretion of the government

Pay band 3B ($39.77 - $66.45per hour)

Closing date for questions

16 June 2015 no later than 3:00pm EST

Application deadline

30 June 2015 no later than 5:00pm EST

Who may be considered U.S. citizens or legal, permanent residents with five years of residency history

Duty location Washington, D.C., US Note: more than one position may be filled under this announcement

Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a United States government-owned corporation created in 2004, whose mission is to provide assistance that will support economic growth and poverty reduction in carefully selected developing countries that demonstrate a commitment to just and democratic governance, economic freedom, and investments in their citizenry. To receive assistance, eligible countries are required to enter into a public agreement (Compact) with the MCC that includes a multi-year plan for achieving shared development objectives and the responsibilities of each country in achieving those objectives, regular benchmarks to measure progress, multi-year financial plan, and a plan to ensure accountability for the use of MCA assistance.

SCOPE OF POSITION

The Department of Administration & Finance (A&F), Enterprise Applications Branch, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is seeking a full-time PSC to serve as an Information Technology Specialist in the Enterprise Applications Branch at MCC headquarters in Washington, DC. The PSC shall report to the Director of Enterprise Applications and shall serve as the key project manager for administrative and mission based solutions.

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 PSC 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 PSC 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 contact:

(1) Performance on site.

(2) Principal tools and equipment 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.

PLEASE NOTE: This contract shall be awarded solely to an individual(s), not to a firm. The individual must have an active DUNS # and a fully approved and active record in the System for Award Management (SAM).

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• U.S. citizenship or legal, permanent resident with five years of residency history

• Must be able to obtain and maintain a federal security clearance https://acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2037_1.html%23wp1082924 https://acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2037_1.html%23wp1082924 https://acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%207_5.html%23wp1078200 https://acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%207_5.html%23wp1078200 http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/

• Performance at MCC Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Relocation expenses will not be paid. Overseas travel may be required (to MCC eligible countries)

• Statement of Employment & Financial Interest (i.e. Office of Government Ethics form-450, or similar statement) may be required

• Active and approved SAM record (listed as sole-proprietor)

DUTIES

This position is located in the Office of the CIO within the Department of Administration and Finance (A&F) of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and reports to the Director of Enterprise Applications. The Personal Services Contractor (PSC) serves in support of the Director of Enterprise Application as a key project manager for administrative and mission based solutions.

The Enterprise Applications Branch is responsible for the following service delivery areas for the OCIO, as well as for working in conjunction with all other OCIO Divisions to ensure cohesive and excellent information technology and information management services to MCC. The Enterprise Applications Branch performs the following functions.

Business Relationship Management: Work with the business to ensure the right services at the right price are in place to satisfy business needs and establish SLAs as appropriate. The primary goal of BRM is to build a partnership between IT and the business clients to ensure that the organization leverages IT technologies for business advantage.

Development: Provide design, development, and configuration services for enterprise applications.

Solution Consulting: Provide technology solution consulting services. Proactively maintain awareness, evaluate, test and recommend new technologies that improve operational capabilities and meet business needs.

Business Intelligence: Provides implementation and support for application tools that provide data architecture, management and mining, reporting, analytics, data warehousing and other business intelligence functions.

Operations and Maintenance; Provide operations and maintenance support for deployed enterprise applications. Support incudes installation, configuration, testing, monitoring and Tier 2 and Tier 3 incident management.

Data Management: Manages the MCC’s data storage, database structures, and processes for data receipt, transformation, and publication.

http://www.oge.gov/Financial-Disclosure/Confidential-Financial-Disclosure-450/OGE-Form-450/ http://www.oge.gov/Financial-Disclosure/Confidential-Financial-Disclosure-450/OGE-Form-450/ http://www.oge.gov/Financial-Disclosure/Confidential-Financial-Disclosure-450/OGE-Form-450/ http://www.oge.gov/Financial-Disclosure/Confidential-Financial-Disclosure-450/OGE-Form-450/

Functions within this Division encompass administrative and mission systems, SharePoint support, development and maintenance, and all data and open data development, support and maintenance.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Serves as a Program and Project Manager for application development, operations and maintenance, information architecture and comprehensive IT project and program management. The incumbent provides advice regarding policy and program priorities, and for applications and administrative systems which support strategic goals and objectives.

• Provides senior level advisory services to the Chief Information Officer and Directors within the Office of Chief Information officer for programs of great complexity that are multipurpose and support major MCC initiatives.

• Leads, directs and manages the Administrative or Missions Systems development and operation within the MCC OCIO. The PSC supervises cross functional teams of information technology contractors in identifying and development methodologies, best practices and standards; in identifying, analyzing and integrating commercial off-the-shelf application suites into administrative solutions; and in delivering complex MCC administrative systems. These efforts include establishing standards; technologies and products for use in MCC application development; developing application documentation, training materials and application deployment best practices; integrating security within the application development process;

describing interfaces between applications and identity management/access control systems;

and conforming procured and Agency developed applications/systems with applicable government mandates and requirements, such as Section 508 compliance.

• Supports and defines the modernization of the Agency’s systems. Administrative and mission systems comprise applications and data related to the management of the Agency, including compact operations for international development and investments/grants, policy and evaluation, legal, contract, human capital, financial management, and other organizational processes, and provide data, document and content, record and knowledge management, and reporting/analytic services. Additional responsibilities are to maintain the MCC enterprise applications’ portfolio and to disseminate application development information across the

OCIO.

• Leads project sponsors and application owners and developers in preparing and evaluating business case proposals for new development. These evaluations ensure adherence to MCC technical standards and best practices; apply appropriate technologies and emphasize interoperability, platform independence and technological agility; create opportunities for technology reuse across MCC; and eliminate application overlap and duplication.

• Models proposed systems to ensure integration with the Agency’s Enterprise Architecture;

suggests product selection, integration, contracting and deployment strategies; identifies opportunities for process reengineering and optimization; anticipates design errors and omissions and recommends remedies; and assesses proposed application development projects to ensure alignment of information technology processes and concepts with MCC business objectives.

• Participates with OCIO personnel and experts in evaluating new technologies, developing a coherent strategy for technology infusion and replacement and in modernizing the Agency’s administrative systems.

• Communicates with OCIO staff, business process owners, and governance bodies on assigned projects, and attends various conferences and symposia to ensure that the MCC systems modernization efforts are inclusive and collaborative. The PSC leads the administrative systems governance bodies – e.g., Integrated Project Teams, Change Control Board. Provides management of operations and maintenance system enhancements.

• Assists with quality reviews of contractors another PSCs; validating completed work, overseeing performance, and providing advice to the contracting officer’s representative on both work-related and administrative matters. He or she assists with formulating training requirements for personnel in the Division to ensure appropriate skills and knowledge capacity. The PSC directs on-the-job training for cross-training employees; recommends specific training when the need is apparent and makes recommendations regarding performance issues within the Section.

POSITION DESIGNATION: Facility Access Only

DELIVERABLES

Deliverables are associated with the tasks identified in DUTIES to include reports as required by the Contracting Officer Representative (COR).

The PSC Contractor shall 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. Example of such reports and analyses include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Cost/Benefit Analysis

• Communications Plans and Deliverables

• Customer support analysis, ticket analysis, and customer training recommendations

• Risk Management Plans and Logs

• Project Management Plans and Evaluations

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 the Corporations’ concerns and provide final deliverables within one week of receiving the MCC response.

In addition to monthly progress reports, the PSC 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.

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

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:

Education/Certification:

The following certifications, education and experience is required unless otherwise noted. Please submit relevant information, including copies of relevant certification and education/training information with your application materials.

The qualified applicant will possess one or more of the following (multiple certifications are desired):

o Federal Acquisition Certification – Program/Project Management (FAC P/PM) at the mid-level. This is typically issued by a government agency’s Acquisition Career Manager o Project Management Professional (PMP) (issued by the Project Management Institute) or equivalent o Help Desk Institute Certification o ITIL certification o MS SharePoint, ServiceNow and other service delivery system experience or training, or o Relevant experience in with the federal government, either as a federal employee or in private industry.

http://www.fai.gov/drupal/certification/program-and-project-managers-fac-ppm http://www.fai.gov/drupal/certification/program-and-project-managers-fac-ppm http://www.pmi.org/en/Certification/Project-Management-Professional-PMP.aspx o Knowledge of and experience with MCC or another closely-related agency with an international mission (i.e. USAID, OPIC) --desired, but not required.

Qualifying specialized experience:

• Mastery of and the ability to evaluate current and proposed IT systems to assess their overall compliance with IT plans, policies, and business needs.

• Skill in oral and written means of communication to prepare comprehensive plans for accomplishing studies and analyses, developing written materials (drafting policies, procedures, and technical systems documentation) for inclusion in the IT plan, presenting recommendations to management concerning IT systems’ related issues, interpreting information to users/contractors, information gathering, and providing training and marketing new IT systems.

• Comprehensive knowledge in contract management and evaluation.

• Ability to serve as a project manager and/or team leader.

• Skill in MS Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, etc.) desktop skills and SharePoint (or similar web-based content management application).

NOTE: All experience must be well-documented on your resume and within your application. All aspects of your application must specifically show how you meet the QUALIFICATIONS

REQUIRED.

COMPENSATION

PSCs for the services of individual experts or consultants are limited by the Classification Act. In addition, the 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 a full time position and thus, the maximum number of hours allowed is 2,087 per year. The contract will have four one-year option periods that may be exercised at the sole discretion of MCC.

The pay range for this position is $39.77 - $67.45 per hour, inclusive of Washington, DC locality pay. Final compensation will be negotiated within this pay range based upon the successful candidates’ salary history, work experience, and educational background. A salary above this pay range will NOT be entertained or negotiated. Candidates who live outside of the Washington, DC area may be considered for this contract, but relocation expenses are not compensable under the resulting contract.

MCC issues W-2s to the PSC. For U.S. citizens and legal resident aliens, MCC makes the employer contribution to FICA and Medicare for the PSC. MCC withholds FICA, Medicare, federal tax, and state tax on behalf of the PSC. The PSC is not eligible for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.

Benefits:

Under the MCC personal services contract 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 PSC is not eligible for participation in the Civil Service Retirement System or the Federal Employees Retirement System. Moreover, the PSC is ineligible to receive Federal Health and Life Insurance or participate in the federal Thrift Savings Plan.

Notwithstanding the above, MCC does permit reimbursement of a portion of health insurance premium incurred during the contract’s period of performance. To be eligible for the health insurance reimbursement the employee must provide proof of insurance coverage and payment of premium for which s/he is responsible. Examples of acceptable proof are an insurance binder, cancelled checks, or other proof of payment. Individuals covered under another health insurance plan, or have subsidized health insurance are not eligible for this reimbursement. Subject to the availability of funds, MCC may pay up-to-15% of the employee’s base salary (based upon the hourly rate and estimated number of hours) towards either an individual policy or a family health insurance as mentioned above.

The full time PSC earns sick leave, annual leave, and holiday pay.

The full time PSC working at MCC Headquarters in Washington, DC is eligible for parking or transit subsidy, subject to the availability of funds. The full time PSC whose duty station is overseas is not eligible for this subsidy.

Travel:

The PSC is subject to the Federal Travel Regulations and MCC travel policies and procedures to the same extent as MCC direct-hire employees.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

Interested applicants must submit all required documents to include, but not limited to:

• Completed and signed Biodata Form;

• Curriculum vitae or resume (limit 10 pages);

• A written narrative of up to five pages clearly describing relevant experience and knowledge of each of the Qualifying Specialized Experience requirements, and any Desired qualifications.

• No less than three (3) and no more than five (5) professional references with current contact information;

NOTE: Submittals shall be in accordance with the INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLICANTS. Please ensure that applicants’ most recent contact information (telephone numbers and e-mail address) are accurate. Any other documentation will not be accepted.

Delivery:

Electronic submission is required. Electronic application packages shall be submitted by e-mail to MCCPSC@mcc.gov. Submission shall reference the position title AND the announcement number on the subject line of the e-mail. Electronically submitted packages must include a scanned signature on the Bio-data form to be considered.

MCC does not accept responsibility for delays in transmission or receipt of any application.

Applicants are responsible for submitting the application package so as to reach the designated Government office by the closing date and time specified above. Applications 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 an application in response to this announcement does not constitute an award commitment. The U.S. Government will not reimburse any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of an application. Any submission is at the sole risk of the applicant.

Questions:

Any questions regarding this announcement should be submitted in writing via email only (no phone calls) to MCCPSC@mcc.gov, before the deadline as given on p.1.

Submission of applications to this announcement must be received via e-mail to MCCPSC@mcc.gov before the deadline as given on p.1.

INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLICANTS

The QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED are the basis for evaluating all applications. Applicants 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 submit a completed and signed Biodata form. Please ensure that you provide a current, valid e-mail address and telephone number for notification purposes.

The Biodata form must be fully completed including a proposed hourly rate & signed for the application to be considered.

(b) Qualified individuals must submit a resume (or a curriculum vita) 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 applicant; as well as formal title, and duration (start date / end date) for each listed position.

Resume is limited to ten (10) pages and must not contain a photo or any salary information.

(c) Describe your experience and knowledge of each of the Qualifying specialized experience requirements and Desired qualifications, if applicable, in no more than five (5) pages (page = 8 ½” x 11” paper; 11 point font or larger; double sided pages count as two pages). Clearly demonstrate how your prior experience is either relevant or directly related to the duties of this position as listed under 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.

(d) Qualified individuals must submit no fewer than three (3) and no more than five (5) professional references, who are not relatives or family members. Submitted references MUST include current information, as follows:

a. Name of reference

b. Applicants’ relationship to reference

c. Title of reference at current job

d. Reference current telephone number (work or personal)

e. Reference e-mail address (work)

At least two (2) references must be from direct supervisors (current or prior) who can provide information regarding the applicant’s knowledge & experience in the field of IT Enterprise Application. All references must be from within the last ten (10) years of the applicant’s professional life.

(e) Applications must be signed and received prior to the closing date and time specified above to be considered for this position.

To ensure consideration of applicants for the intended position, please reference the position title and announcement number on the subject line of your submission email, on supporting documentation and any cover letter.

SELECTION PROCESS

In order to be considered for the position, a candidate must meet the qualifications listed above.

Consideration and selection will be based on a panel evaluation of applicant’s vis-à-vis the

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED. In addition to the materials listed above, applicants are strongly encouraged to write a cover letter, not to exceed one (1) page, to highlight their suitability for this position. The cover letter is NOT included in the required five-page written narrative.

All applicants will be evaluated based on the documentation submitted, the applicant’s evidence of the above qualification requirements, performance in a potential interview, if conducted, and information provided by references, if contacted. All applicants will received one of three scores for each of the required qualification: Does Not Meet, Meets, or Exceeds. Only qualified applicants will receive one of two scores for the desired criteria: Present, Not Present. MCC reserves the right to call the highest qualified candidates for an interview and/or conduct a reference check on those individuals. Reference checks may be conducted on the highest qualified applicants.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to ensure the work history portion thoroughly documents the duties, responsibilities, and accomplishments that are directly related to this position in order to verify specialized experience. Errors or omissions may affect your evaluation.

The U.S. Government & MCC is not obligated to make an 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 not to award any contract as a result of this announcement.