(US/TCN PSC) Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor for the Regional Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance

SOLICITATION NUMBER: 72068520R00006 ISSUANCE DATE: August 5, 2020 / CLOSING DATE: August 26 - 5:00 p.m.(Senegal time) SUBJECT: Solicitation for a U.S. Citizen /Third Country National Personal Service Contractor (US/TCN PSC) – Regional Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor Dear Prospective Offerors: The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is seeking offers from U.S. citizens qualified to provide personal services under contract as described in this solicitation. Offers must be in accordance with Attachment 1, Sections I through VIII 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 offers. Any questions must be directed in writing to the Point of Contact specified in the attached information. GENERAL INFORMATION 1. SOLICITATION NUMBER: 72068520R00006 2. ISSUANCE DATE: August 5, 2020 3. CLOSING DATE/TIME: August 26, 2020 - 5:00 p.m. (Senegal time) 4. POINT OF CONTACT: Recruitment team, [email protected] 5. POSITION TITLE : Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor 6. MARKET VALUE: GS-13 ($78,681 – $102,288 per annum) (Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value.) 7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: Immediate upon receipt of security/medical clearances (The duration of the US Personal Services Contract will be for one (1) year, with four one-year option periods, subject to satisfactory performance, availability of funds and continuing need for the position.) Level of effort is full time (40 hours per week). 8. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Dakar, Senegal 9. ELIGIBLE OFFERORS: United States Citizens and Third Country Nationals are eligible offerors. TCNPSC under this solicitation are eligible for benefits in accordance with AIDAR Appendix J, sec. 4(c)(2)(ii)(B)). An exception has been approved by the Mission Director in accordance with AIDAR Appendix J and ADS 309maa, requesting Approval to Use Alternate Classification Procedures (ACP). 10. SECURITY ACCESS: Facility Access 11. STATEMENT OF DUTIES: COUNTRY BACKGROUND The former Office of Food for Peace (FFP), which is now part of the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) in the U.S. Agency for International Development is the largest provider of food assistance in the world. In FY 2018, USAID provided more than $3 billion in emergency and development food assistance to the poorest corners of the world. Contributions included over 1.5 million metric tons of in-kind food and local and regionally procured commodities as well as cash transfers and food vouchers to meet short term emergency needs of vulnerable populations. BHA also supports longer term development food security activities that address the underlying causes of food insecurity, build the resilience of target populations, and improve the health, nutrition, and overall wellbeing of individuals. Taken together, BHA emergency and development programs provide an impressive array of tools to combat hunger and malnutrition around the world. In West Africa, The BHA Regional Office in Dakar is part of the USAID/Senegal mission and provides technical services to 21 client missions throughout the region, as well as direct management of Title II programs in non- or limited-presence countries. The FY 2019 FFP budget amounted to $495 million. In response to immediate needs and to prevent a potentially much more serious situation, FFP allocated emergency resources, including Title II food commodities, as well as cash resources in support of regional procurement of food commodities, to respond to the crisis. In addition, FFP improved household food security, agricultural productivity, and maternal and child health through longer term development activities in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. To help support the BHA regional portfolio and adequately monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of food security and emergency programs, the BHA Regional Office in Dakar requires the services of a regional BHA Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Advisor hired through a US or Third Country National (TCN) Personal Services Contract (PSC). The position is based in Dakar, Senegal, but the M&E Advisor is expected to spend at least thirty (30) percent of his/her time traveling throughout the region to monitor program activities, assess food aid needs, and support client USAID missions and U.S. embassies (in non-presence countries) with technical services by providing program expertise to ensure adequate implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of emergency and development programs in West Africa. BHA activities are implemented by international organizations, such as the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), and private voluntary organizations (PVOs). POSITION DESCRIPTION The Regional BHA M&E Advisor will ensure the effective management of resources from the Title II, International Disaster Assistance (IDA), and Community Development Fund (CDF) accounts in West Africa. His/her primary responsibility is to provide guidance to and build capacity of implementing partners, BHA, and USAID Mission staff in the region to monitor BHA investments, and support the evaluation of BHA--funded emergency and development food assistance programs—including Title II and the IDA-funded Emergency Food Security Program (EFSP)—and report on their implementation to BHA/Washington, the regional BHA Office in Senegal, and the relevant USAID mission or U.S. embassy. The Regional BHA M&E Advisor will synthesize reports, analyze data to help the Mission and Regional Office to make evidence based programmatic and strategic decisions, provide guidance to implementing partners’ M&E staff to design/ refine activity level M&E system, coordinate with other M&E advisors in the Mission and Regional Office for regional initiatives, and contribute to the results framework for USAID Mission Country Development Cooperative Strategies (CDCS) within the West Africa region. The BHA Regional M&E Advisor will also support evaluation-related activities of food security programs, including baselines, mid-term and final evaluations, and other evaluative research. As a member of the BHA Global M&E team, s/he will closely coordinate with the BHA team leader and other advisors of the BHA M&E team to contribute to global M&E initiatives, developing and implementing BHA M&E policies and guidance, participate in capacity development initiatives, global meetings and workshops, and a common BHA Global M&E team workplan. The BHA Regional M&E Advisor works closely with BHA officers deployed in several countries across the region (Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad) and represents the U. S. Government (USG) on humanitarian and food assistance policies and programs with host country officials, donors, and other stakeholders. Overall, the M&E Advisor will serve as a regional expert in M&E methodologies and plan development, providing technical guidance to Missions and partners to develop sound M&E plans with well-defined indicators and sound measurement techniques. SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES The Regional BHA M&E Advisor will undertake the following duties with regard to monitoring and evaluation of BHA-funded emergency and development programs: Serve as the M&E point of contact for all issues pertaining to Title II, CDF, and EFSP programs for the BHA West Africa Regional Office, BHA/Washington, USAID missions across the region, other parts of the U.S. government, PVOs, international organizations, host nation governmental ministries and agencies, and others in the country. Develop monitoring methods, tools, and guidance, and build capacity of BHA Officers and implementing partners to monitor BHA investments in the region; periodically participate in monitoring visits and report on implementation of ongoing Title II, CDF, and EFSP programs, including progress and problems encountered by awardees. Participate and co-facilitate M&E workshops for the new awardees in countries; provide technical assistance to further refine theories of change, logic model, M&E approach, and indicators; review M&E documents, and survey and evaluation Scope of Work (SoWs). Assess technical capacity of the implementing partners’ and BHA M&E staff and arrange/provide appropriate training for them; Further analyze baseline and end-line survey and monitoring data to improve Regional Mission’s knowledge and understanding about the pathways to achieve food and nutritional security outcomes, contribute to the regional and BHA learning agenda and reporting needs, tracking BHA strategic results framework; and using innovative approaches/ strategies to improve data utilization for decision making. Provide technical oversight to the third-party monitoring (TPM) contracts in the region; review methods, tools, workplans, and reports submitted by the TPM and help the portfolio to utilize the findings from the TPM. Report on all food security and humanitarian issues to include changes in the food security situation and food aid requirements, government policies and actions affecting food aid programs, government food aid programs, and donor pledges and programs. Undertake and report on assessments to inform Title II, CDF, and EFSP funding decisions or modifications to ongoing programs. Collaborate with other parts of the U.S. Government and other donors to promote integration of food aid with other programs to increase the effectiveness of the programs overall. Provide technical assistance to USAID Missions and Title II, CDF, and EFSP implementing partners to develop and implement systems for measuring and evaluating the outcomes; review M&E plans and provide constructive feedback for improvements; assist BHA and Mission staff to review monitoring and evaluation portions of planning and reporting documents, and project proposals. Update guidance and regulations for monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of BHA-funded programs, in coordination with the BHA M&E team members based in the region as well as in Washington, DC. Review development and emergency projects’ quarterly and annual reports and summarize program results and generate systems to communicate program successes, lessons learned, useful examples, etc., for improved performance and long-term impact. Ensure the quality of data reported to the annual performance plan and report (PPR) and BHA/W through the coordination and implementation of annual Data Quality Assessments. Liaise with IDEAL and other BHA contractors in carrying out activities designed to strengthen partner M&E systems in the region, including training and development of M&E plans for new programs. Keep abreast of trends in M&E as they relate to food insecurity and the underlying causes of hunger, including standard and customized indicators to capture results. Apply knowledge learned to improve BHA’s program results and monitoring. Review methodologies and scopes of work for baseline, mid-term and final evaluations, participate in such evaluations; participate in the baseline and final evaluation survey design, workshop, in country training, and monitor contractor’s field work; review instruments, manuals, data tables, and draft reports. Assist with reporting to the Department of State and USAID, including Operational Plans and Performance Plan and Report (PPR). Position Elements Supervision Received: The BHA M&E Advisor will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by the BHA West Africa Regional Director or his/her designee, but will receive regular guidance and substantive direction from the BHA/Washington M&E Team Leader. Supervision Exercised: Supervise a Cooperating Country National (CCNPSC) M&E Specialist. Available Guidelines: Guidelines include Agency regulations, Food for Peace Strategy, Title II and International Disaster Assistance (IDA) funding 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. In 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. 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 vulnerable populations. At the same time, there is heightened focus from policy makers in Washington, DC on the effectiveness and efficacy of food assistance programming. A September 2009 U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) report on International Food Assistance noted that effective monitoring and evaluation of food assistance is critical for ensuring that the former Office of Food for Peace meets its strategic objective; and recommended that FFP (now BHA) strengthen its monitoring and evaluation activities. The report particularly noted the need to strengthen evaluation activities by providing “skilled evaluators” who can support the capacity of Mission staff and implementing partners to carry out program evaluations. The thrust of the GAO report is echoed in the new USAID Administrator's oft-repeated public remarks on the importance of aid efficiency and effectiveness in demonstrating good stewardship of U.S. taxpayer dollars. As such, the incumbent is required to take the lead in resolving complex issues related to the monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning of humanitarian assistance programs by exercising a high level of creativity, judgment, sensitivity to African 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 advise on the effectiveness of BHA activities as needed in response to changing humanitarian and security conditions on the ground. The incumbent also represents BHA in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) 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 both food and non-food humanitarian assistance programming and international humanitarian principles. Scope and Effect: The individual is required to be expert in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning of both food and non-food humanitarian assistance programming to including nutrition, livelihoods, and resilience programming. Due to his/her expertise, the individual may be called upon to participate in or lead evaluation teams, design monitoring, evaluation , and learning (MEAL) training sessions, participate in other assessments, develop and review scopes of work for assessments and provide guidance to USAID staff and implementing partners to incorporate results into programming. The individual will develop, disseminate, and contribute to lessons learned and best practices for food and non-food assistance programming at the national and regional level, as well as with global USAID/BHA staff. Responsibility for decision making : The incumbent serves under administrative discretion of the BHA Regional Director, or his/her designee, but will directly and independently oversee MEAL activities across 21 countries in the West Africa region. As such, s/he will have wide latitude in decision making on all MEAL technical and budgetary issues, and in providing recommendations to BHA/Washington for MEAL technical direction. His/her high-level expertise directly impacts decisions in the Mission at the highest level, and decisions in BHA/Washington. Exercise of Judgment : The M&E Advisor must exercise sound and independent judgment in the course of carrying out the assigned duties. Position requires a high level of ability with regard to understanding BHA policies and regulations and the ability to analyze situations and accurately apply those regulations and make sound judgments. Authority to make commitments : The M&E Advisor does not have the authority to make legal determinations that have the effect of binding the U.S. Government. Nature, Level and Purpose of Contacts : The incumbent must be able to relate technical information about the monitoring and evaluation of BHA activities to development partners and USAID personnel in Missions and Washington. Time required to perform full range of duties: The M&E Advisor is expected to be an expert in the field of monitoring and evaluation of food security and emergency programs. Physical Demands/ Work Environment : The work is performed in an office setting with frequent visits to the field. Security and Medical Clearance Requirements The applicant selected to fill this position must be able to obtain a Security Clearance, which involves a comprehensive background investigation performed by a U.S. Government Agency. The applicant selected to fill the position must also receive a Worldwide Availability Medical Clearance (WWA/Class 1). Details of how to obtain such clearance will be provided after selection and acceptance of the job offer. The selected applicant must obtain both the required security and medical clearances within a reasonable period of time (USAID will provide details regarding these clearances to the selected applicant). A substantial delay in obtaining either required clearance will make the applicant ineligible for selection. AREA OF CONSIDERATION: OPEN TO U.S. CITIZENS AND THIRD COUNTRY NATIONALS USAID policy specifies that U.S. citizens or resident aliens (USNs) are preferred over third country nationals (TCNs). Therefore, USN and TCN offers will not be evaluated together. USAID will evaluate USN offers first and if the CO determines that there are no qualified USNs, only then will USAID evaluate TCN offers. For USPSC : • Be a U.S. Citizen; • Submit a complete application as outlined in the solicitation section titled APPLYING (Section IV); • Be able to obtain a Security Clearance; • Be able to obtain a Department of State issued Medical Clearance; • Be willing/able to travel to work sites and other offices as/when requested; • Employment is subject to funds availability and all required approvals/clearances obtained. For TCNPSC : • Be a Third Country National. Third Country National means an individual: (1) Who is neither a citizen nor a permanent legal resident of the United States nor of the country to which assigned for duty (Senegal); and (2) Who is eligible for return to his/her home country or country of recruitment at U.S. Government expenses; • Submit a complete application as outlined in the section titled APPLYING (Section IV); • Be able to obtain a required Employment Authorization; • Be able to obtain a Department of State issued Medical Clearance; • Be willing/able to travel to work sites and other offices as/when requested; • Employment is subject to funds availability and all required approvals/clearances obtained. If a TCNPSC is selected for award, during the period of this contract, the TCNPSC contractor will be required to train a CCNPSC identified by USAID in his/her recognized Technical Area of Expertise. The Supervisor will establish a structured training plan for the TCNPSC with a work objective and performance benchmarks to measure the contractor's progress toward achieving this required training deliverable. 12. PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The work requested does not involve undue physical demands. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION Education: Master’s degree in Economics, Agricultural/Development Economics, Bio Statistics, Engineering, Monitoring and Evaluation; or other Social Sciences discipline with significant study in quantitative techniques. Experience: Demonstrated expertise and at least five (5) years of experience as a Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor or Specialist in programs related to food and nutrition security, economic growth, poverty alleviation, or food assistance in developing countries. Knowledge: Strong background or formal training in evaluating community-based programs that include agriculture, health and nutrition, water and sanitation and food security. Skills & Abilities: The incumbent must have: (a) Demonstrated professional experience as a M&E Specialist in monitoring development and emergency programs aims to improve food and nutrition security/economic growth /poverty alleviation outcomes as it is practiced in the context of international development, including developing M&E systems, qualitative or quantitative data collection and analysis, survey methods and sampling, qualitative methods and tools, capacity building on various M&E topics; survey design and implementation, and participate in evaluations, and producing reports. (b) Demonstrated proficiency/fluency in oral and written English (level) and French (level 3) are required. Demonstrated ability to make sensitive oral presentations logically and persuasively to senior USG, senior host government officials, and donors. (c) Excellent verbal communication skills, tact and diplomacy are required to establish and develop sustainable working relationships at the highest level and a high level of trust with public/private organizations. Have superior verbal communication skills to negotiate activity plans and resolve activity implementation issues with counterparts, partners and team members. Ability to communicate technical information to health and non-health audiences. Excellent written communication skills are required to prepare regular and ad hoc reports, activity documentation and briefing papers. (d) Computer skills are required for effectively operating in this position, particularly SPSS/STATA or other analytical software, and Microsoft Office Suites. Demonstrated expertise in, data visualization software such as PowerBI or Tabaleau will be considered as an advantage. Experience with cloud-based platforms for editing, such as google docs, is required. Good computer skills are required to implement, analyze, monitor, and manage activity goals, inputs, outcomes, and achievements. (e) Demonstrated statistical analysis skills. SELECTION AND EVALUATION 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. Selection Process After the closing date for receipt of application, a Selection Committee will convene to review applications that meet the minimum requirements and evaluate them in accordance with the evaluation criteria. Incomplete applications from applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements will not be scored. As part of the selection process, only shortlisted applicants will be invited to participate in an oral interview. Required reference checks will be conducted only for shortlisted applicants who meet the specified requirements. The applicant’s references must be able to provide substantive information about his/her performance and abilities. Evaluation Factors 1. Work Experience (40%) 2. Language skills (10%) 3. Job Knowledge (25%) 4. Skills and Abilities (25%) 5. Education Pass/Fail based on the diploma required in the offer Evaluation Summary In order to be considered for the position, applicants must meet the Minimum Qualifications listed above. Consideration and selection will be done by the Selection Committee based on the Evaluation Factors. Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted to participate in the oral interview process. PAST PERFORMANCE/PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE CHECKS Applicants are required to provide no less than five (5) references with an accurate email address. 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 reference in a timely manner. In addition to comments from references, the Selection Committee will take into account awards or other evidence of outstanding performance in any areas related to the above selection criteria. USAID/Senegal reserves the right to obtain from previous employers’ relevant information concerning the applicant's past performance and may consider such information in its evaluation. SUBMITTING AN OFFER To ensure consideration of applications for the intended position, Applications must be received by the closing date and time specified in Section I, item 3 and submitted electronically to: [email protected] with the Solicitation Number and Position Title in the application submission Subject Line. Qualified applicants are required to submit a complete application packet including : 1. A Cover Letter with current résumé/curriculum vitae (CV) attached . The CV/résumé must contain sufficient relevant information to evaluate the application in accordance with the stated evaluation criteria. Broad general statements that are vague or lacking specificity will not be considered as effectively addressing particular selection criteria. 2. Applicants are required to provide the names and contact information of no less than five (5) references who are not family members or relatives. References should include current or former Supervisors who can provide information regarding applicant job knowledge and professional work experience. Applicants must provide accurate email addresses for all references. 3. Information for the required Personal Services Contracts Form AID 309-2 can be found at http://www.usaid.gov/forms/. Applicants should note that the salary history for the purposes of the AID 309-2 is the base salary paid, excluding benefits and allowances such as housing, travel, etc. Applicants are required to complete and sign the form . To ensure consideration of applications for the position, applicants must prominently reference the Solicitation Number in the Application Submission and Cover Letter. Please note that incomplete and/or unsigned applications will not be considered. ALL DOCUMENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN ENGLISH. LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS PRIOR TO AWARD Once the Contracting Officer (CO) informs the successful applicant about being selected for a contract award, the CO will provide the successful applicant instructions about how to complete and submit the following forms: Forms outlined below can found at: http://www.usaid.gov/forms 1.Medical History and Examination form (DS-6561) 2.Questionnaire for Sensitive Positions (for National Security) (SF-86), or Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions (SF-85) 3.Fingerprint Card (FD-258) 4.Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) 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 & 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), available at https://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=282&menu_id=101 (a) Temporary Quarters 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) *Eligibilities for allowances are in accordance with Standardized Regulations (Government Civilians Foreign Areas) based on the type of appointment and Mission Policy. TAXES USPSCs are required to pay Federal income taxes, Medicare and applicable State Income taxes. 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), 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,” available at https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aidar_0.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 ) for Personal Services Contracts with Individuals available at http://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. Equal Employment Opportunity Policy The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor. END OF SOLICITATION