Sol_72061521R00019.pdf

Postal Address:

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) P.O. Box 629 Village Market 00621 Nairobi, Kenya Tel:+ 254-20-363-2000

Courier Address:

USAID/Kenya and East Africa 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

Electronic:

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usaid.gov/kenya usaid.gov/east-africa-regional usaidkea@usaid.gov USAIDKenya @USAIDKenya and @USAIDEastAfrica

Solicitation No.: 72061521R00019

Issuance Date: April 12, 2021

Closing Date/Time: April 23, 2021 04:30 p.m. (Nairobi Time)

SUBJECT: Solicitation for U.S. and Third Country National (TCN) Personal Services Contractor

(U.S./TCN PSC) Democracy, Governance and Conflict (DGC) Deputy Office

Director, GS-14

Dear Prospective Offerors:

The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is seeking applications from qualified U.S. Citizens and/or U.S Resident Aliens and Third Country

Nationals to provide personal services under contract as described in this 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 offer.

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

Sincerely, -s-

Matthew Corbin

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

Attachment 1:

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

1. SOLICITATION NO.: 72061521R00019

2. ISSUANCE DATE: April 12, 2021

3. CLOSING DATE/TIME: April 23, 2021 at 04:30 p.m. (Nairobi Time)

4. POSITION TITLE: Democracy, Governance and Conflict (DGC) Deputy Office Director

5. MARKET VALUE: $93,907 to $122,077 annually equivalent to GS-14. Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value.

6. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: 11 Months without any option to extend

7. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Nairobi, Kenya

8. AREA OF CONSIDERATION: U.S. Citizens and/or U.S Resident Aliens1 and Third Country

(non-US, non-Kenyan) Nationals. Citizenship, if dual, must be clearly stated.

9. SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: USAID/Washington-issued clearance level at the

Facility/Computer Access Level

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

11. 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.

12. STATEMENT OF DUTIES/POSITION DESCRIPTION

Background/Introduction

USAID/Kenya and East Africa’s Office for Democracy, Governance and Conflict consists of three USDH and eight Foreign Service Nationals split between two technical teams, a democracy and governance team, and a conflict mitigation and countering violent extremism team. The DGC Office manages a portfolio of five bilateral mechanisms and one regional mechanism focusing on anti-corruption, elections, civil society, local development, conflict prevention and countering violent extremism, and supports

Mission-wide priorities on county partnerships and integrated program implementation. The Deputy

Office Director will serve as the acting Office Director when needed, and will advance various actions for the office as well as cover the office during the absence of various staff.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

The Deputy Office Director will provide overall office management as well as technical support to anti-corruption, elections, civil society, local development, conflict prevention and countering violent extremism projects. He/she will act independently and have a high degree of responsibility and decision-

1 U.S. resident alien means a non-U.S. citizen lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States.

mailto:pbii@usaid.gov making. He/she will have several years of experience with USAID, in particular in the areas of democracy, governance, conflict prevention and countering violent extremism.

Specific duties include:

● Support the Office Director to:

o manage implementation of and reporting on DGC projects, including working directly with AOR/CORs to answer information and M&E taskers;

o organize office representation at mission events and meetings as needed, including assigning FSNs to cover meetings;

o organize weekly staff meetings and weekly briefings with the Front Office;

o manage processes / liaison with the Strategic Planning and Analysis (SPA) Office;

o manage DGC budget and conduct pipeline reviews and activity budget discussions;

● Participate in TEC committees and prepare selection documentation for recommendation and approvals;

● Serve as AOR/COR or alternate for democracy, governance, conflict prevention and countering violent extremism projects, if needed;

● Provide program support (GLAAS actions, clearing briefers, etc.) to DGC office;

● Respond to taskers;

● Draft reporting for DGC office (Senior Staff Notes, DGC Weekly, etc);

● Conduct site monitoring visits and field reports;

● Ensure that all procurement actions are kept on track;

● Supervise FSN staff as needed

● Provide mentoring to DGC staff, to include, but not limited to: designing individual learning and training plans, assistance on the creation of work objectives, and leadership coaching;

Position Elements

Supervisory Controls: The Deputy Officer Director will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by the

USAID/KEA/DGC Office Director, or his/her designee. During the absence of the Office Director, s/he will report to the Deputy Mission Director.

Knowledge level required: The Deputy Director PSC requires a broad technical knowledge ranging from democracy, human rights and governance to conflict mitigation and countering violent extremism program areas. At the same time, s/he must also need to understand the integration of these technical areas with other USAID development priorities such as health, economic growth and education. S/he must be able to exercise judgement and discretion in the application of his/her technical knowledge. The position also requires knowledge in administrative management, personnel administration, budget analysis, management analysis, procurement and planning. Knowledge acquired through education equivalent to the graduate or higher degree level with significant study in or pertinent to the specialized field or seven years of progressively responsible experience equivalent to this level in the professional or technical field is required.

Decision making: The Contractor is expected to perform under general administrative discretion with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgment based on his/her knowledge of USAID policies, procedures and practices and best practices in governance, civil society, conflict and countering violent extremism. S/he will have the decision-making authority as delegated to the office director and deputy in the areas of program management, design and implementation. This position requires the ability to exercise independent professional judgment within the scope of responsibilities based on the policy directives. Decisions involve largely undefined areas and issues and require extensive probing and analysis to determine the scope of the problem and potential solutions.

Guidelines: The PSC will be required to follow guidelines that are broadly stated and non-specific (such as policy guidelines around working with civilian law enforcement and Leahy Vetting). Because of the sensitive nature of DGC’s programs, there are a wide variety of policies that govern our work (such as support to political parties) in addition to the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), Automated Directive

System (ADS), Standardized Regulations and AID Acquisition Regulations (AIDAR) This requires both judgement and ingenuity to interpret the intent of guides and to apply them correctly. The incumbent, then, must draw upon experience and knowledge to ensure sound judgment in translating rules and regulations into a solution, answer, or decision.

Complexity: The duties of this position are complex and significantly varied and the incumbent must be able to work independently in an efficient and timely manner, including preparation of reports, identifying issues and suggesting areas of improvement in various aspects of democracy, governance, conflict and

CVE program implementation and management, and collaborating with USAID colleagues, and other development partners and the interagency.

Scope and Effect: The incumbent will have formal responsibilities as a Deputy Director for the DGC

Office and will serve as Office Director during his/her absence from the office, which includes leading teams. He/she will be responsible for coordinating and directing the work of DGC’s professional staff.

Duties are significantly varied and require many different unrelated processes and methods that are applied to a broad range of problems/situations that require a substantial depth of analysis. The work involves major areas of uncertainty in approach, methodology, interpretation and evaluating processes, often with continuing changes in program and priorities. His/her work will involve isolating and defining unknown conditions, resolving critical problems, or developing new theories. The employee is recognized as an expert to the experts and his/her work affects the work of other experts throughout USAID/KEA and our implementing partners. The work directly affects the development of major USAID programs.

Level and Purpose of Contacts: The Deputy Director PSC frequently interacts with and advises office directors, Mission Directors, Deputy Mission Directors at USAID/KEA, senior officials in

USAID/Washington and senior officers in the Embassy including the Deputy Chief of Mission, Political and Econ Section Chiefs and, occasionally, the Charge de Affairs. This interaction is required to exchange information, resolve problems and settle pending matters.

Work Environment: Work is primarily performed in an office setting. If the employee travels, the work may additionally involve safety and/or security precautions, wearing of protective equipment, and exposure to severe weather conditions.

Travel Requirement: The employee must be available and able to travel to Kenya if the Embassy’s policy on travel to post changes.

Support Items: The employee will be provided with the support services, equipment, and supplies necessary to perform the work. This will include shared office equipment (such as printer, scanner and shredder), and a workstation that includes a desk, computer, file cabinets, and network access, with the possibility for mobile computing devices based on need and Mission management approval.

Sunday Pay: Is not authorized.

II. SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

The incumbent must meet the following requirements in education, professional experience, job knowledge, skills and abilities:

Education: Master’s degree or above in development studies, conflict mitigation, peacebuilding, political or other social science, public administration or similar is required.

Prior Work Experience: A minimum of seven years of experience in providing technical assistance, implementing, managing, analyzing and/or evaluating democracy, governance, conflict or CVE programs in developing countries is required. Experience working with USAID, the Department of State, other international donors, and/or the United Nations system is preferred.

Job Knowledge:

1. In-depth knowledge and understanding of development theory and programmatic best practice in democracy and governance, anti-corruption, elections, civil society, local development, conflict prevention and/or countering violent extremism. The successful candidate must demonstrate advanced knowledge in understanding the economic, social, cultural, and political characteristics of development and democracy, governance and peacebuilding dynamics.

2. A firm grasp of international development organizations’ business practices and procedures.

Specific knowledge of the business practices of USAID, the Department of State, other international donors, and/or the United Nations system is preferred.

3. Expert knowledge in activity design, program management, monitoring and evaluation related to democracy, governance, conflict, and/or countering violent extremism programming.

4. Demonstrated knowledge in managerial and administrative areas, especially the management and development of staff and technical teams, and demonstrated experience as an effective and successful human resource manager, project manager, and/or mentor.

Skills & Abilities:

1. This is a management position that requires a grasp of technical knowledge and strong organizational and management skills. The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate a combination of technical, analytical, and managerial abilities combined with excellent interpersonal, diplomatic, leadership, communications, and writing skills.

2. Advanced capacity to work successfully in a highly demanding environment and capable of handling tasks with varying deadlines. Expert ability to analyze and communicate complex and difficult policy and programmatic issues in an understandable manner; and to maintain and adhere to the highest standards of professional conduct.

3. Excellent English writing and editing skills, as well as expert-level ability to process information from a wide variety of sources into cohesive documents including briefing papers, project design documents, minutes of meetings, and reports.

4. Advanced teamwork and communication skills, and highly developed ability to work within multinational/multicultural environments.

5. Excellent oral presentation skills. Due to the critical nature of the position, the successful candidate should demonstrate a high level of tact and diplomacy with dealing with various officials inside and outside USAID.

6. Advanced computer and data visualization skills using specialized software, including Windows and Microsoft Office Suite; must demonstrate ability to navigate the Internet with ease.

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 factors listed below will be the basis for evaluating and ranking applicants who meet Required

Qualifications and Selection Criteria for the position. All applicants are scored based on the documentation submitted with the application. Applicants are encouraged to write a brief appendix to demonstrate how prior experience and/or training address the following Evaluation Factors:

Evaluation Factor Scoring:

Education – 10 points

Work Experience – 20 points

Technical Knowledge – 40 points

Skills and Abilities – 30 points

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

Total Possible Points: 100

IV. APPLYING

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/brief appendix explaining your qualifications for the position, copies of all relevant certificates and include three (3) referees, who are not family members or relatives, with working telephone and e-mail contacts.

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.

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-2 mailto:nairobipscjobs@usaid.gov

V. LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS FOR PSC HIRES

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

● Medical History and Examination (DS 6561)

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

● Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306)

● Fingerprint Card(s)

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://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

LINE ITEMS

0001 Base Period - Compensation, Fringe Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs)

- Award Type: Labor Hour

- Product Service Code: R408

- Accounting Info:

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