Regional Humanitarian Program Officer/Senior Regional Humanitarian Program Officer

SOLICITATION NUMBER: 720BHA23R00057
ISSUANCE DATE: October 30, 2023
CLOSING DATE AND TIME: December 12, 2023, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time
SUBJECT: Solicitation for U.S. Personal Service Contractor (USPSC)

STATEMENT OF DUTIES TO BE PERFORMED
Working under the guidance and supervision of the Team Leader or their designee, the RHPO/SRHPO supports the USAID/DRC Office of Humanitarian Assistance through the management of humanitarian assistance, resilience, and DRR activities in DRC, assisting with program analysis, strategy development, and coordination with partners in the humanitarian community. The RHPO/SRHPO will work closely with a program team that includes field-based Senior Humanitarian Advisors, Humanitarian Program Officers, and Program Management Specialists. This position requires effective daily coordination with several BHA staff members, as well as representatives from other USAID offices, Embassy staff, and the humanitarian community, and therefore requires a highly collaborative work style.

Specifically, the RHPO/SRHPO will be responsible for the following:
At the GS-12 Equivalent:
Contextual Specialty:

• Develop and maintain a specialized understanding of humanitarian developments across the region to include political, social, and operational issues impacting humanitarian efforts.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of USAID and U.S. Government (USG) humanitarian priorities and strategies within the region, and BHA’s contributions and comparative advantages to those efforts.
• Develop strong understanding of country specific portfolio priorities across the region in humanitarian and resilience interventions.
• Provide regular reporting, through cables and other means, on issues related to the humanitarian situations within the region.
• Provide regular reports on site visits, meetings, relevant current events, and other issues
  that impact humanitarian relief efforts.
• Develop fluency in BHA program systems and guidelines across sectors and streams of
  funding within the region.

Portfolio Management:

• Work with BHA’s DRC-based program staff to develop program strategies for emergency response, early recovery, resilience, and DRR activities within the region, overseeing day-to-day management of portfolio and its budgets.
• Support team members in assessing emergency response, early recovery, resilience, and DRR needs in the region in order to ensure that BHA’s programs are appropriately responsive.
• Assist Washington-based Agreement Officer’s Representatives (AOR) in managing and monitoring humanitarian awards by providing field-based insights, knowledge, and perspectives.
• Provide guidance on USAID and USG regulations and policies.
• Participate in USAID/DRC discussions in technical areas to ensure complementarity and help to leverage BHA funding for longer-term sustainability, specifically focusing on complementarity outside of DRC and throughout the region.
• Assist in other related humanitarian award management and response activities that are outside of immediate day-to-day areas of responsibility, as needed.
• Travel as permitted to support team efforts to assess, evaluate and monitor humanitarian conditions in the assigned portfolio, to support the management of portfolios, and to make strategic recommendations for appropriate interventions.

Representation:

• Support the regional team in maintaining relations with senior leadership in the humanitarian community through regular coordination and collaboration with BHA, relevant USG staff, and the humanitarian community.
• Assist the regional team to coordinate with the donor community on policy issues affecting humanitarian operations, and develop integrated, non-duplicative programs, as needed.
• Engage in, and report on, joint donor humanitarian evaluations and UN-led assessments,
  and participate actively in the international community response structures.
• Prepare briefing papers, notes, and presentations on BHA programming for official USG visitors interested in humanitarian issues.
• Represent BHA to various stakeholders and audiences, as requested.

Leadership:

• Serve as peer mentor to team members on grants and portfolio management, to include BHA’s business process, portfolio-specific budget and workload management, and post-award monitoring and management.
• In close coordination with program team members in the Sudans, East, and Central Africa Regional Office (SECARO), and Washington, DC office, work with NGOs, IOs, and UN agencies that are developing proposals for BHA (including grant amendments and extensions) to ensure compliance with BHA’s guidelines.
• Participate in office-wide discussions on initiatives that impact program implementation to provide field-based perspectives, as assigned.
• Participate in technical evaluation committees for staffing and programming, as requested.
• Participate in both field led and Washington based working groups and committees, as requested.

General Duties:

• Become certified and serve as an AOR /Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), as assigned. The AOR/COR provides financial and programmatic oversight of all aspects of managing the agreement or contract; this includes but is not limited to reviewing invoices, requests for approvals, program/project deliverables (i.e. work plans, annual reports, month status reports), travel requests, key personnel requests, and financial/budget reports. They are responsible for drafting and submitting the annual contractor performance evaluation in the Contract/Assistance Performance Assessment Review System. They prepare and review contract/assistance modifications documentation and assist the Contracting/Agreement Officer to ensure performance is compliant with the terms and conditions of the contract/agreement, the FAR, and USAID policy. AOR/CORs are responsible for all related requirements in the COR designation letter and the AOR designation letter.
• May be requested to be on-call or serve, on Washington-based Response Management Teams (RMTs), which provide services and support to Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) deployed in response to disasters. The duties on RMTs will vary.
• May serve on DARTs which may require immediate (within 24 hours) deployment overseas for an extended period of time. During deployment on DARTs (if required), and during site visits, there may be some additional physical exertion including long periods of standing, walking over rough terrain, or carrying of moderately heavy items (less than 50 pounds). Work is primarily performed in an office setting. During deployment on DARTs (if required), and during site visits, the work may additionally involve special safety and/or security precautions, wearing of protective equipment, and exposure to severe weather conditions.
• In times of emergency humanitarian assistance, the PSC will serve on temporary details within the bureau. Duties performed while on detail will correspond to the level and market value for the position and the work specified to be performed in the Statement of Duties.
• Consistently model behaviors that demonstrate a commitment to fostering a non-hostile work environment free of discrimination, bias, unfairness, exclusion, offensive behaviors and harassment of any kind.
• Engage in at least one workforce diversity initiative/activity focused on helping to improve the organizational culture. Attend and actively participate in diversity and harassment training opportunities, brown bag sessions or focus group discussions.
• Lead/foster a collaborative, respectful, and professional work environment by demonstrating partnership and teamwork to accomplish team, office, and bureau objectives.

At the GS-13 Equivalent:

The GS-13 level includes everything in the GS-12 level described above, in addition to the duties
listed below:

Contextual Specialty:

• Develop and maintain a specialized understanding of humanitarian developments across the country to include political, social, and operational issues impacting humanitarian efforts and apply those to program strategy development and implementation.
• Provide input in the preparation of, regular strategic and analytical reports on current or anticipated emergencies, as well as comprehensive preparedness documentation on DRC.

Portfolio Management:

• Lead BHA’s DRC-based program staff in the development of program strategies for emergency response, resilience, and DRR activities in DRC, overseeing day-to-day management of the portfolio and the program budget. Serve as the principal point of contact for BHA programming in DRC implemented by NGO, UN, and PIO partners.
• Coordinate closely with both field and headquarters-based components of BHA’s Regional Team and maintain regular contact with concerned staff in Kinshasa, USAID/DRC, and US Embassy.
• Assess needs for remote monitoring when necessary; advise appropriate remote monitoring approaches and tools; review appropriate and relevant reports.
• In consultation with the Office of Technical and Program Quality, review and analyze partner reports, including quantitative and qualitative data, to assess program performance; discern lessons learned, and make recommendations for improved outcomes.
• Assist Washington-based AORs in managing and monitoring humanitarian awards by providing field-based insights, knowledge, and perspectives. Ensure that there are regularly scheduled review meetings with partners and an up-to-date travel plan for the team.
• Guide implementing partners and humanitarian organizations in developing applications based on BHA’s Emergency Application Guidelines. Review concept papers and applications and provide timely recommendations to BHA/Washington. Provide guidance on USAID award regulations and policies.

Representation:

• Support BHA Country Team Lead in maintaining relations with senior leadership in the humanitarian community. This will include but is not limited to UN agencies, IOs, NGOs, USG personnel, donors, and host government authorities.
• Provide overviews of patterns and trends in the humanitarian situation and keep the BHA Team Lead, and other staff current on response issues. Provide regular reports on site visits, meetings, general atmospherics, and other issues that impact humanitarian relief efforts.
• Ensure reporting on a timely basis to BHA/Washington and SECARO on the quality of grantees’ work, noting deficiencies, attributes, and evolving operational conditions.

Leadership:

• Advise and oversee team mentorship opportunities. Help foster team collaboration on grants and portfolio management, to include BHA’s business process, portfolio-specific budget and workload management, and post-award monitoring and management.
• Offer direct advice along with additional technical support from program team members in Kinshasa, Bangui, Nairobi, and Washington, DC, the work with NGOs, IOs, and UN agencies that are developing proposals for BHA (including grant amendments and extensions) to ensure compliance with BHA’s guidelines.
• The RHPO/SRHPO does not have supervisory responsibilities; however, the PSC may serve in an acting leadership role within the bureau in order to meet short-term staffing needs, not to exceed 120 days in a 12-month contract year.