Solicitation Technical Team Lead (REACT) GS14.pdf

U.S. Agency for International Development Great Massoud Road Kabul, Afghanistan

Tel: +1.301.490.1042 Email: kblaiddocinformation@usaid.gov https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan

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SOLICITATION NUMBER: 72030621R00011

ISSUANCE DATE: May 27, 2021

CLOSING DATE/TIME: June 25, 2021 (04:30 PM Kabul Time)

SUBJECT: Solicitation for U.S Personal Service Contractor or Third Country National

Personal Service Contractor (USPSC) – Technical Team Lead: Rule of Law, Elections, Anti-Corruption and Transparency (REACT), GS-14

Dear Prospective Offerors:

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

Development (USAID), is seeking offers from qualified individuals to provide personal services under contract as described in this solicitation. For further information about

USAID/Afghanistan please visit https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan.

Offers must be in accordance with Attachment 1 of this solicitation. Incomplete or unsigned offers will not be considered. Offerors 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 offer.

Any questions must be directed in writing to the Point of Contact specified in Attachment 1.

Sincerely, Ann Guardian

Contracting Officer mailto:KBLAIDDOCInformation@usaid.gov

ATTACHMENT 1 [72030621R00011]

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

1. SOLICITATION NO.: 72030621R00011

2. ISSUANCE DATE: May 27, 2021

3. CLOSING DATE AND TIME

FOR RECEIPT OF OFFERS:

June 25, 2021 no later than 04:30 PM Kabul Time

4. POINT OF CONTACT: Ann Guardian, Contracting Officer, e-mail at aguardian@usaid.gov

5. POSITION TITLE: Technical Team Lead: Rule of Law, Elections, Anti-Corruption and Transparency (REACT)

6. MARKET VALUE:

$93,907 - $122,077 equivalent to GS-14

Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value.

7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

The base period will be 1 year, estimated to start on o/a October 2021. Based on Agency need, the

Contracting Officer may exercise additional 3 option periods of 1-year for the dates estimated as follows:

Base Period: October 2021 – October 2022

Option 1: November 2022 – November 2023

Option 2: December 2023 – December 2024

Option 3: January 2025 – January 2026

8. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Kabul, USAID/Afghanistan

9. ELIGIBLE OFFERORS: United States Citizens (including Permanent

Residents)

10. SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: Facility Access

11. STATEMENT OF DUTIES:

1) General Statement of Purpose of Contract:

USAID/Afghanistan is the largest Mission in the world and manages one of the most complex development programs in one of the most demanding environments. The program, with a multi-billion-dollar portfolio, includes a broad range of activities including democracy, governance, agriculture, economic growth, education, government-capacity building, health, infrastructure, and women’s empowerment.

Since 2002, USAID has supported participatory, democratic processes that empower Afghan citizens, promote accountability and transparent governance, encourage national unity, and serve the needs of the Afghan people. Promoting gender equality and women’s civic and political leadership is a priority for USAID. By developing the capacity of key electoral, representative, judicial, and executive branch institutions, USAID supports Afghan-led development and the capacity of institutions to advocate for and implement society-led reforms. A critical effort in securing support for a democratic Afghanistan and the mailto:aguardian@usaid.gov

Afghanistan Government is the successful implementation of a portfolio of inclusive and transparent programs in elections, sub-national governance, and civil society, rule of law, anti-corruption, and peacebuilding. This position is pivotal to USG support and donor coordination to assist in that effort.

The Technical Team Lead for the Office of Democracy and Governance (ODG), which has a

$500 million multi-year portfolio that includes activities focused on local governance, civil society and media, rule of law, anti-corruption, elections, and peacebuilding will lead a team of primarily Afghan staff for the REACT team--rule of law, elections, anti-corruption, and transparency. S/he will oversee the technical implementation of the portfolio in close coordination with the ODG Deputy Director. The incumbent will report directly to the

Democracy Officer or designee.

The Afghanistan ODG portfolio is dynamic, relevant, and cross-cutting with the incumbent

Team Leader managing the portfolio to support Mission priorities in peace, anti-corruption, rule of law, and elections. This will require an intense focus on keeping the portfolio adaptable and relevant. The right candidate will bring creativity and enthusiasm to building and maintaining strong relationships with interagency, civil society, the donor community, and Afghan government stakeholders. Proactive participation with leadership of multi-sector teams is essential. S/he will be expected to lead the ODG technical team consisting of around five (5) Cooperating Country National (CCN) AOR/CORs and a variable level of United

States/Third Country National Personal Services Contract (US/TCNPSC) and Eligible Family

Member (EFM) incumbents as they build their skills in adaptive management and cross-sectoral integration. ODG also has a Program Support Team led by the Deputy Director. Prior experience integrating democracy and governance programming within other sectors such as economic growth, health, and education would be advantageous in addition to strong experience working within the inter-agency.

2) Statement of Duties to be Performed:

• Leads the REACT team--rule of law, elections, anti-corruption, and transparency team comprising around 6 US, international, and Afghan staff in the design and management of elections, rule of law, and anti-corruption programming for

Afghanistan.

• Provides technical and advisory support to the USAID Front Office, Office of

Democracy and Governance leadership, and interagency colleagues on democracy and governance policies, priorities, and engagement strategies.

• Provides mentoring and coaching to all technical staff on design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, budgeting, procurement, reporting and communications, as well as representing USAID to external stakeholders.

• Assists in the overall strategic planning for the Office of Democracy and Governance.

• In coordination with the Program Support Team and relevant Mission offices, leads and oversees the project design and procurement process.

• Leads or participates in various interagency, USAID and donor working groups including those on elections, anti-corruption, and rule of law.

• Coordinates via phone, email, letters, meetings, conferences, and other fora with

Afghan government officials, USAID senior management, USAID technical staff, USAID implementing partners, international donors, senior U.S. Embassy officials, senior officials of other embassies, and the general public (both American and

Afghan).

• Represents USAID in meetings with the Afghan government, donor agencies, international organizations and other stakeholders and prepares detailed reports for

ODG management, USAID leadership, the interagency, and external actors and prepares detailed reports for ODG management and the mission’s leadership.

• Coordinates and shares information with implementing partners across all technical sectors.

3) USAID Consultation or Orientation:

The selected applicant shall proceed to Washington, D.C. for at least two (2) weeks of mandatory training to complete the Foreign Affairs Counter Threat CT-650 (FACT) and the

Afghanistan Familiarization RS-415 (FAM) courses (if FAM was not completed within the past five (5) years and if FACT training did not include the ESCAPE Module) prior to proceeding to USAID/Afghanistan to commence duties as outlined in the statement of work.

FACT and FAM are mandatory courses for service in Afghanistan.

4) Supervisory Relationship:

The Team Lead will work under the direct supervision of the Democracy Officer or designee within the Office and the general guidance and direction of the Director. The ODG leadership will provide consultation and guidance for the incumbent to make sound recommendations. The incumbent will enjoy considerable independence. The incumbent’s work will be evaluated on the overall accuracy, feasibility, and compatibility to the Agency’s programs and available regulations.

5) Supervisory Controls:

The incumbent will be relied upon as the subject matter expert and direct supervisor for the

REACT team-rule of law, elections, anti-corruption, and transparency team which include a mix of approximately five (5) Afghan and one American staff.

12. PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The work requested does not involve undue physical demands.

II. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION

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

Offers will be pre-screened and only those that meet the minimum qualifications will be considered. The minimum qualifications necessary to be considered for the position are as follows:

a) Education: A Master’s degree in Social Sciences (Economics, History, Law, Political

Sciences), International Relations, Development Studies (International/ Rural/ Social/

Sustainable Development, Peace and Conflict Studies) or Public Administration/

Policy is required. (Education requirements must be met at the time of application for the subject position).

b) Work Experience: A minimum of five (5) years of successful experience in a leading or supervisory role in elections, sub-national governance, civil society, rule of law, anti-corruption, and/or peacebuilding project management, including experience in project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, budgeting, and procurement is required. Firsthand experience working with international donor organizations, host government, and donor organizations is required. (Work experience requirements must be met at the time of application for the subject position).

III. EVALUATION AND SELECTION FACTORS

The Government may award a contract without discussions with offerors in accordance with

FAR 52.215-1. The Contracting Officer (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 Evaluation Factors listed will be the basis for evaluating and ranking applicants for the position. Applicants will be scored based on the documentation submitted within the application. Applicants must submit a supplemental document outlining their responses to the evaluation factors in order to be considered. Only the highest-ranked applicants will be interviewed.

1. SELECTION PROCESS

After the closing date for receipt of applications, a committee will convene to review applications that meet the minimum requirements and evaluate them in accordance with the evaluation criteria. Applications from candidates who do not meet the minimum requirements will not be scored. As part of the selection process, finalist candidates will be interviewed.

Reference checks will be made only for applicants considered as finalists. The applicant’s references must be able to provide substantive information about his/her past performance and abilities. 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; USAID will delay such reference checks pending the applicant’s concurrence.

2. EVALUATION FACTORS

Applicants who meet the minimum education and experience qualifications will be evaluated based on the content of their application as well as on the applicant’s writing, presentation, and communication skills. On a supplement document included with the application package, applicants should cite specific, illustrative examples to address each factor. Responses are limited to 1000 words (approx. 1 typewritten page) per factor. Applicants should describe specifically and accurately the experience, training, education and/or awards they have received that are relevant to the factor. Applicants should include their name and the announcement number at the top of each additional page. Failure to specifically address the

Evaluation Factors may result in the applicant not receiving full credit for pertinent experience.

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far

FACTOR #1: Demonstrated ability to produce high quality written reports and analysis for the different audiences

FACTOR #2: Demonstrated ability and skills to interpret project development related policies and procedures, technical aspects of the project and communicate with the stakeholders.

FACTOR #3: Demonstrated ability and skills to understand and analyze a democracy and governance project in a complex and insecure environment, develop mitigation and contingency plans for the project and advise stakeholders.

3. BASIS OF RATING

Applicants who clearly meet the Education/Experience requirements and basic eligibility requirements will be further evaluated based on scoring of their Evaluation Factor responses.

Those applicants determined to be competitively ranked will also be evaluated on their interview performance and satisfactory professional reference checks. The Applicant rating system is as follows:

Evaluation Factors:

Factor #1 15 points

Factor #2 5 points

Factor #3 15 points

Interview Performance: 65 points

Interview questions will revolve around the candidate’s propensity to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of US and Afghanistan laws and policies related to promoting democracy and governance in Afghanistan.

• Demonstrate an understanding and expertise in designing, managing and evaluating complex initiatives in the areas of conflict resolution and peacebuilding, rule of law, elections, anti-corruption and transparency

• Demonstrate expertise in managing large teams with complex projects and programs

• Demonstrate an ability to produce and present to ODG and the mission leadership memos, and technical notes on issues concerning democracy and governance in

Afghanistan

• Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in a team environment

• Demonstrate an ability to represent USAID to inter-agency, Afghan government and donor community

• Demonstrate an ability to mentor and coach technical ODG staff on design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, budgeting, procurement, reporting and communication.

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

Total Possible Points: 100

IV. SUBMITTING AN OFFER

1. 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. Offers must be received by the closing date and time specified in Section I, item 3, and submitted by email to Afgpscjobs@usaid.gov

3. Offeror submissions must clearly reference the Solicitation number on all offeror submitted documents and in the subject line of the application email.

Eligible offerors are required to submit the following documents to be considered for this position:

1. Form AID 309-2, “Offeror Information for Personal Services Contract with Individuals,” available at: https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-2

2. Cover Letter that outlines how your qualifications and experience meet the requirements.

3. A current curriculum vitae (CV) or resume.

4. A supplemental document with written responses to the Evaluation Factors.

Documents must be compatible with Microsoft Word or PDF and not compressed (.rar/.zip etc.).

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

V. LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS FOR PSC HIRES

Once the Contracting Officer (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:

1. Contractor Employee Biographical Data Sheet (AID 1420-17);

2. Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306);

3. Medical History and Examination Form (DS-6561);

4. Pre-Deployment Physical Exam Acknowledgement Form (DS-6570);

5. Security Clearance Forms:

i. Overseas Vetting Questionnaire

ii. Overseas Vetting Questionnaire – Authorization for release of information

iii. US Embassy Kabul Supplemental Information Form

iv. Security Acknowledgement Form

v. Authorization for release of Information

vi. Emergency Contact Information

6. Statement of Prior Service (SF-144A).

VI. BENEFITS/ALLOWANCES

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

1. BENEFITS:

http://www.usaid.gov/forms http://www.usaid.gov/forms mailto:Afgpscjobs@usaid.gov https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-2

1) Employer’s Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) Contribution

2) Contribution towards Health & life insurance

3) Pay Comparability Adjustment

4) Annual Increase (pending a satisfactory performance evaluation)

5) Eligibility for Worker's Compensation

6) Annual & Sick Leave

7) Access to Embassy medical facilities, commissary and pouch mail service as per post policy

2. ALLOWANCES (If Applicable) *:

1) Post Differential (Chapter 500)

2) Payments during Evacuation/Authorized Departure (Section 600)

3) Danger Pay (Section 650)

4) Education Allowance (Section 270)

5) Separate Maintenance Allowance (Section 260)

6) Education Travel (Section 280)

* Standardized Regulations (Government Civilians Foreign Areas).

*Eligibilities for allowances are in accordance with Standardized Regulations (Government

Civilians Foreign Areas) based on the type of appointment and Mission Policy.

VII. TAXES

USPSC’s 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), (all available at:

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/aidar.pdf)

- 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,”

2. Contract Cover Page form AID 309-1 available at https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-

1. Pricing by line item is to be determined upon contract award as described below:

LINE ITEMS

ITEM NO

(A)

SUPPLIES/SERVICES (DESCRIPTION)

(B)

QUANTITY

(C)

UNIT

(D)

UNIT

PRICE

(E)

AMOUNT

(F)

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

Type: Cost - Product Service Code: [e.g.

R497] - Accounting Info:

Appropriation: 7218/191037

Fund Code: es-oco/2018/2019

1 LOT $ TBD $ TBD at award after negotiations with contractor

1001 Option Period 1 – Compensation, Fringe

Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) -

Award Type: Cost - Product Service Code:

1 LOT $ TBD $ TBD at award after negotiations https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/aidar.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-1 https://www.usaid.gov/forms/aid-309-1

[e.g. R497] - Accounting Info: To be incrementally funded with contractor

2001 Option Period 2 – Compensation, Fringe

Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) -

Award Type: Cost - Product Service Code:

[e.g. R497] - Accounting Info: To be incrementally funded

1 LOT $ TBD $ TBD at award after negotiations with contractor

3001 Option Period 3 – Compensation, Fringe

Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) -

Award Type: Cost - Product Service Code:

[e.g. R497] - Accounting Info: To be incrementally funded

1 LOT $ TBD $ TBD at award after negotiations with contractor

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.

- AAPD 21-01 Applicability of FAR 4.21 to USAID personal services contracts with individuals under the AIDAR Appendices D and J

- AAPD 18-02 REVISED Revisions to Medevac Policies for USPSCs and TCNPSCs

- AAPD 10-01 PERSONAL SERVICES CONTRACTS -- CHANGES IN USG

REIMBURSEMENT AMOUNTS FOR HEALTH INSURANCE AND PHYSICAL

EXAMINATION COSTS

- AAPD 06-10 PSC MEDICAL EXPENSE PAYMENT RESPONSIBILITY

- AAPD 06-08 AIDAR, APPENDICES D AND J: USING THE OPTIONAL

SCHEDULE TO INCREMENTALLY FUND CONTRACTS

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://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/aapds-cibs https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/aapd21_01.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/aapd21_01.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/AAPD-18-02-REVISED.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aapd10_01.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aapd10_01.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aapd10_01.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aapd06_10.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aapd06_08.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aapd06_08.pdf https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/OGE%20Regulations