Career Center
USPSC Support Relief Group (SRG) Livestock and Animal Health Specialist
USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance
| Position Title: Support Relief Group (SRG) Livestock and Animal Health Specialist (Multiple Positions) Solicitation Number: 720FDA19B00046 Salary Level: GS-14 Equivalent: $90,621 - $117,810 Issuance Date: July 5, 2019 Closing Date: Open and continuous through June 5, 2020 with Three (3) Review Periods closing on: October 25, 2019, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time February 14, 2020, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time June 5, 2020, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time
Closing Time: 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time
Dear Prospective Offerors:
The United States Government (USG), represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), is seeking applications from qualified U.S. citizens to provide personal services as a Support Relief Group (SRG) Livestock and Animal Health Specialist under a United States Personal Services Contract (USPSC), as described in the attached solicitation.
Submittals must be in accordance with the attached information at the place and time specified. Offerors interested in applying for this position MUST submit the following materials:
(a) Paid and non-paid experience, job title, location(s), dates held (month/year), and hours worked per week for each position. Any experience that does not include dates (month/year), locations, and hours per week will not be counted towards meeting the solicitation requirements. (b) Specific duties performed that fully detail the level and complexity of the work. (c) Education and any other qualifications including job-related training courses, job-related skills, or job-related honors, awards or accomplishments. (d) U.S. Citizenship (e) Optional: How did you hear about this opportunity? (FedBizOps, OFDA Jobs, Career Fair, etc.).
Your resume should contain sufficient information to make a valid determination that you fully meet the experience requirements as stated in this solicitation. This information should be clearly identified in your resume. Failure to provide information sufficient to determine your qualifications for the position will result in loss of full consideration.
NOTE REGARDING DATA UNIVERSAL NUMBERING SYSTEM (DUNS) NUMBERS AND THE SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT
All USPSCs with a place of performance in the United States are required to have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database prior to receiving an award. You will be disqualified if you either fail to comply with this requirement or if your name appears on the excluded parties list. The selectee will be provided with guidance regarding this registration.
NOTE: As of March 28, 2018, all new SAM.gov entity registrations will now require a signed notarized letter identifying the authorized Entity administrator for the entity associated with the DUNS number. Additional information on the format of the notarized letter and where to submit can be found via the below Federal Service Desk link:
https://www.fsd.gov/fsd-gov/answer.do?sysparm_kbid=d2e67885db0d5f00b3257d321f96194b& sysparm_search=kb0013183
Offerors can expect to receive a confirmation email when application materials have been received. Offerors should retain for their records copies of all enclosures which accompany their applications. Your complete resume and the supplemental document addressing the QRFs must be emailed to:
OFDA Recruitment Team E-Mail Address: recruiter@ofda.gov Website: www.OFDAjobs.net Any questions on this solicitation may be directed to OFDA Recruitment Team via the information provided above.
Sincerely,
Renee Newton Contracting Officer
Solicitation for USPSC Support Relief Group (SRG) Livestock and Animal Health Specialist (Multiple Positions)
This solicitation is open and continuous until June 5, 2020. The following are the closing dates for each review period:
October 25, 2019, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time February 14, 2020, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time June 5, 2020, 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time
Offerors not selected during a previous review period must reapply in order to be considered for positions available in subsequent review periods. A review period may be cancelled at OFDA’s discretion.
GS-14 equivalent ($90,621 - $ 117,810: not eligible for locality pay). Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value based upon the offerors established salary history. Salaries over and above the top of the pay range will not be entertained or negotiated.
STATEMENT OF LIMITATIONS ON PERIOD AND PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:
The purpose of this contract is to establish an employee/employer relationship with the contractor to perform services on a temporary, on-call, basis as part of the SRG. OFDA intends to contract for these services for a maximum of 250 days per calendar year. Activation days vary but will not exceed 250 days during each contract year.
The level of effort anticipated under this contract will be provided within the terms of this contract at times mutually agreed to by OFDA and the contractor. Upon identification of a temporary need within the scope of work, OFDA will contact the contractor and provide the following information:
The contractor will notify OFDA within 24 hours of availability. At the time the contractor accepts the assignment, he/she is expected to commit for the duration of the assignment. While the contractor will be required to commit to a certain time period, it is understood that the exigencies of a disaster may require the assignment to be extended (not to exceed 250 days). The contractor shall notify OFDA at the time of commitment if their existing schedule would preclude an extension. Notification of schedule conflicts shall not necessarily disqualify the contractor from the assignment but will simply assist OFDA in recruiting a replacement. Subsequently, if the contractor agrees to an extension of the duration of a particular assignment, thereafter, the contractor will be required to give OFDA 10 days’ notice for release from the assignment.
There may be an initial training program in Washington, D.C. for three months, which will include formal classroom training and on-the-job training; and may include security training. After completion of Washington training, the Support Relief Group (SRG) Livestock and Animal Health Specialist will be assigned to the place of performance.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) is the office within USAID that is responsible for providing emergency non-food humanitarian assistance in response to international crises and disasters. OFDA is part of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) and is organized into six divisions.
The Africa (AFD) Response Division and the Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Middle East (ALE) Response Division are responsible for the provision of emergency humanitarian assistance through a grants mechanism to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations including United Nations (UN) agencies and to other partners to ensure the implementation and delivery of this assistance. These divisions also oversee OFDA’s non-response efforts in disaster risk reduction and resilience. AFD and ALE Response Divisions also coordinate with other organizations for the provision of relief supplies and assistance. They devise, coordinate and implement program strategies for a variety of natural and complex disaster situations. Both Divisions encompass groups of operations specialists who provide technical expert capability in assessing the quality and strategic function of disaster response and risk reduction activities. The AFD Response Division is divided into two teams: East and Central Africa (ECA), and Southern, West, and North Africa (SWAN). The ALE Response Division is divided into four teams: East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia (EMCA), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and South Asia (SA).
The Operations (OPS) Division develops and manages operations for OFDA’s disaster responses by readying people and systems; projecting U.S. Government (USG) humanitarian capacity quickly into the field; and delivering material and technical assistance. The OPS Division maintains readiness to respond to emergencies through several mechanisms, including managing Urban Search and Rescue Teams, coordinating, staffing, training, and equipping Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs), and Washington-based Response Management Teams (RMTs), and stockpiling emergency relief commodities in key locations around the globe to ensure OFDA’s capacity to execute and coordinate USG humanitarian assistance and response to natural disasters and complex emergencies. The OPS Division provides technical guidance and expertise in Disaster Logistics, Urban Search and Rescue, Operations Center management, activation/readiness, Civil-Military Liaison, and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive Consequence Management. It also provides overseas support to OFDA offices and personnel and to other sectors necessary to ensure OFDA’s capacity to execute and coordinate USG humanitarian assistance and response to natural disasters and complex emergencies. The OPS Division is divided into four teams: the Disaster Assistance Support Program (DASP), Military Liaison Team (MLT), Operations Support Team (OST), and Overseas Administration Team (OAT).
The Program Support (PS) Division provides operational management support, including general administration, budget and financial services, procurement planning, information technology, human resources management including staff care, and contract and grant administration support to OFDA. The PS Division supports OFDA's mandate by providing innovative solutions in the areas of Information Technology, staffing, funds control, budgeting, human resource management, and procurement to facilitate timely disaster responses. The PS Division is divided into four teams: the Award, Audit, and Risk Management (AARM) Team, Human Resources Management (HRM) Team, Budget, Finance, and Information Technology (BFIT) Team, and the Acquisition and Management (ACQ) Team.
The Preparation, Strategic Planning and Mitigation (PSPM) Division is responsible for the technical oversight of all OFDA response and mitigation programs, as well as preparation for response, mitigation, and disaster risk reduction activities. The PSPM Division houses technical experts in all sectors potentially affected by disasters, and leads the Agency in developing and promoting best practices for programming in these specific sectors. In addition, PSPM will be the focal point for technological innovations for humanitarian assistance in areas such as monitoring and evaluation, assessment, and information management. The PSPM Division is divided into four teams: Cross-Cutting Sectors Team, Natural Hazards Team, Health Team, and the Food Security and Livelihoods Team. The Humanitarian Policy and Global Engagement (HPGE) Division assists the DCHA front office, the OFDA Director and OFDA Deputy Director with tracking trends and policy developments in the humanitarian assistance field. It engages in policy dialogue with other parts of USAID, the USG interagency, other donors, multilateral agencies, and NGO partners; recommends strategies for action to DCHA; initiates development of policy and internal guidance for OFDA; maintains global relationships with implementing partners, other donors, and the broader humanitarian architecture; and engages with the UN to advance USG humanitarian policy objectives and promote humanitarian principles within the USG and internationally. The HPGE Division leads OFDA's communications and social media outreach to effectively communicate OFDA’s story to a variety of strategic audiences. It serves as the office’s primary interlocutor on strategic issues with other federal partners to provide guidance to OFDA on policy issues pertaining to the interagency, and to improve USG humanitarian coordination and response during large-scale crises. The HPGE Division staff manages global programs, policy and outreach, strategic communications, and interagency training and engagement. HPGE is divided into seven teams: Policy Team, Global Programs Team, Strategic Interagency Team, Strategic Communications Team, Global Capacity and Leadership Development Team, Public-Private Engagement Team, and the United States Mission to the UN (USUN) in New York, Geneva, and Rome. INTRODUCTION
The Support Relief Group (SRG) is a program developed by OFDA to satisfy its growing need for surge capacity. Currently, about half of all SRG activations are domestic and half overseas in various capacities.
The SRG program brings on board select candidates who work full-time for discrete periods of time, but on an intermittent basis for no more than 250 days per calendar year, and can be deployed within hours to facilitate OFDA’s response to disasters, or to backfill staff in Washington and other locations. SRG staff can be used for activations as short as one day or for up to several months at a time. SRG positions are contracted for an initial period of one year with the option to extend up to five years. The SRG program is managed by OAT in OFDA's OPS Division. This team maintains a database for all contracted SRG personnel, providing information to the rest of OFDA on their availability, skills and previous OFDA experience. OAT assists the teams within OFDA in choosing the best qualified SRG for any specific task, and provides administrative and personnel support to all SRG. Each SRG incumbent will provide enhancement to the OFDA team according to his/her skills. They will be considered part of OFDA/Washington resources that can be deployed worldwide. At times they may also be a resource for the DCHA Bureau. Foreign language ability in one or more major world languages is preferred.
OFDA requires a SRG Livestock and Animal Health Specialist to provide expert technical advice and assistance for the analysis of livestock and animal health activities and the provision of veterinary pharmaceuticals. This person will also be expected to provide expert advice on disaster response and risk reduction strategies for livestock and animal health activities worldwide. Activation of the SRG Livestock and Animal Health Specialist will be coordinated between OAT and PSPM. USAID/OFDA activities are intended to minimize the adverse impacts of natural hazards by reducing vulnerability to disasters, increasing regional, national, and local capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters, and enhancing the resilience of vulnerable groups and communities to recover from recurrent natural disasters.
OBJECTIVE
OFDA needs to maintain a roster of SRG personnel to meet its surge capacity objectives. Each SRG is deployable to backfill Washington positions, to be assigned to field offices for staff enhancement, to serve various response teams, both domestically and overseas, as disaster response demands, and to assess critical situations as warranted.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The SRG Livestock and Animal Health Specialist responsibilities may include the following:
SUPERVISORY RELATIONSHIP: In general, the incumbent will take direction from and report to the OAT Leader or his/her designee. When activated, the USPSC will take direction from and report to the person designated as his/her supervisor in the Staffing Authorization.
SUPERVISORY CONTROLS: Supervisor provides administrative directions in terms of broadly defined missions or functions. The USPSC independently plans, designs and carries out programs, projects, studies or other work. Results are considered authoritative and are normally accepted without significant change.
The work is generally sedentary and does not pose undue physical demands. 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.
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EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION (Determines basic eligibility for the position. Offerors who do not meet all of the education and experience factors are considered NOT qualified for the position.)
Bachelor’s degree with significant study in or pertinent to the specialized field, including, but not limited to livestock, veterinary training, animal sciences, international development, plus nine (9) years of progressively responsible experience working in emergency relief and humanitarian assistance with a focus on livestock/animal health or veterinary sciences.
OR
Master’s degree with significant study in or pertinent to the specialized field, including, but not limited to, livestock, veterinary training, animal sciences, international development, plus seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience working in emergency relief and humanitarian assistance with a focus on livestock/animal health or veterinary sciences.
SELECTION FACTORS (Determines basic eligibility for the position. Offerors who do not meet all of the selection factors are considered NOT qualified for the position.)
QUALITY RANKING FACTORS (QRFs) (Used to determine the competitive ranking of qualified offerors in comparison to other offerors. The factors are listed in priority order from highest to least. The evaluation of QRF responses will also take into consideration the quality of written responses. Aspects of written responses including, but not limited to typos, grammatical errors, spelling errors, and incomplete sentences will be factored into the evaluation process.)
QRF #1 Describe your relevant work experience in disaster response/ preparedness/ mitigation and humanitarian assistance within the sectors of livestock and/or animal health;
QRF #2 Discuss your experience with the LEGS framework, and how you have applied it within a disaster response scenario;
QRF #3 Describe a previous experience serving with the USG or with an NGO while working in a disaster or humanitarian relief situation overseas, and discuss any lessons you learned from the experience;
QRF #4 Discuss your experiences with program development, assessment, and/or strategic planning in the field of disaster response, preparedness, mitigation, and humanitarian assistance; and
QRF #5 Discuss your ability to work with a diverse array of individuals and organizations involved in disaster response/preparedness/mitigation and humanitarian assistance, including U.S. Government agencies (e.g., USAID, State Department, Department of Defense, CDC, NOAA, USGS), international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and UN agencies, and include any relevant experience.
BASIS OF RATING: Offerors who meet the Education/Experience requirements and Selection Factors will be further evaluated based on scoring of the QRF responses. Those offerors determined to be competitively ranked may also be evaluated on interview performance and satisfactory professional reference checks.
Offerors are required to address each of the QRFs in a separate document describing specifically and accurately what experience, training, and/or education they have received as it pertains to each factor. Be sure to include your name and the announcement number at the top of each additional page. Failure to address the selection factors and/or Quality Ranking Factors may result in not receiving credit for all pertinent experience, education, and/or training.
The most qualified offerors may be interviewed and required to provide a writing sample. OFDA will not pay for any expenses associated with the interviews. Professional references and academic credentials will be evaluated for offerors being considered for selection. Note: Please be advised that references may be obtained independently from other sources in addition to the ones provided by an offeror. OFDA reserves the right to select additional offerors if vacancies become available during future phase of the selection process.
The Offeror Rating System is as Follows:
QRFs have been assigned the following points:
QRF #1 – 15 points QRF #2 – 15 points QRF #3 – 8 points QRF #4 – 7 points QRF #5 – 5 points
Interview Performance – 30 points Satisfactory Professional Reference Checks – 20 points
Total Possible Points: 100 APPLYING:
Applications must be received by the closing date and time at the address specified in the cover letter.
Qualified individuals are required to submit:
(a) Paid and non-paid experience, job title, location(s), dates held (month/year), and hours worked per week for each position. Any experience that does not include dates (month/year), locations, and hours per week will not be counted towards meeting the solicitation requirements. (b) Specific duties performed that fully detail the level and complexity of the work. (c) Education and any other qualifications including job-related training courses, job-related skills, or job-related honors, awards or accomplishments. (d) U.S. Citizenship (e) Optional: How did you hear about this opportunity? (FedBizOps, OFDA Jobs, Career Fair, etc.).
Your resume should contain sufficient information to make a valid determination that you fully meet the experience requirements as stated in this solicitation. This information should be clearly identified in your resume. Failure to provide information sufficient to determine your qualifications for the position will result in loss of full consideration.
Additional documents submitted will not be accepted.
By submitting your application materials, you certify that all of the information on and attached to the application is true, correct, complete, and made in good faith. You agree to allow all information on and attached to the application to be investigated. False or fraudulent information on or attached to your application may result in you being eliminated from consideration for this position, or being terminated after award, and may be punishable by fine or imprisonment.
To ensure consideration of applications for the intended position, please reference the solicitation number on your application, and as the subject line in any email.
DOCUMENT SUBMITTALS
Via email: recruiter@ofda.gov |
Additional Salary Information: GS-14 equivalent ($90,621 - $ 117,810: not eligible for locality pay). Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value based upon the offerors established salary history. Salaries over and above the top of the pay range will not be entertained or negotiated.
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