Jr. PSC Contract Specialist

Job Description

Macfadden, now part of PAE, is seeking a Junior PSC Contract Specialist to support the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) in Washington, DC. The Jr. Contract Specialist provides support to USAID offices in the procurement of humanitarian response personnel worldwide. The PSC hiring mechanism allows OFDA to establish contracts with disaster response subject-matter experts in a fast and flexible manner. The Jr. Contract Specialist on the PSC Team primary focus is on the pre-award component of the procurement workflow. The Jr. Contract Specialist will interface extensively with the government, contractors, and selectees for contract award. Because there is a human resources component to the position, the Jr. Contract Specialist must be comfortable with employee in-take procedures, such as facilitating salary negotiations, verifying contract pre-requisites, providing guidance on clearance processes, etc. The Jr. Contract Specialist reports directly to the PSC Deputy Team Lead, and assist with a variety of tasks across the team’s portfolio (see specific job duties, below).

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Providing necessary onboarding documentation and information to selected candidates.
• Reviewing, proofreading, and processing pre-award contract documents in order to expedite the Contracting Officer’s review/approval process.
• Monitoring actions and deadlines to ensure all assigned tasks are completed in a timely manner.
• Serving as the primary point of contact for OFDA, the Office of Acquisition and Assistance (OAA), and the selected candidates on all aspects for assigned actions.
• Liaising with various DCHA offices and with OAA Contracting Officer(s) as required.
• Responding to OFDA and OAA inquiries on selected candidates status, progress, and issues; responding to basic inquiries from current contractors.
• Providing ad-hoc and regular reports to OAA and/or OFDA, as required.
• Ensuring assigned actions and work products are in compliance with USAID, USG and OFDA regulations, laws, standards, and procedures.
• Maintaining electronic, hard copy files and systems in compliance with USG, USAID and OFDA standards.
• Providing administrative support duties including scanning, copying, filing, and other administrative support as needed.
• Proposing ways in which the team can improve and/or processes can be streamlined.
• Participating in trainings and other opportunities as relevant to the position and role.
• Other duties as assigned.

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

Quality of Work

• Prepares pre-award documents independently with appropriate content and minimal errors.

Pre-award documentation must be prepared in accordance with the appropriate policies, regulations and procedures. The Jr. Contract Specialist must demonstrate good judgement and an understanding of when to seek additional information. The Jr. Contract Specialist must demonstrate knowledge of his or her assigned portfolio, using personal tools (checklists, spreadsheets, etc.) as necessary to accomplish this. The Jr. Contract Specialist must thoroughly review all related materials when preparing pre-award documents, ensuring all details are accurately captured. The Jr. Contract Specialist must be able to work with minimal oversight.

• Is able to work at a fast pace and consistently meets deadlines.

The Jr. Contract Specialist must demonstrate effective time-management skills, as well the ability to respond to a high volume of daily email and verbal requests.The Jr. Contract Specialist should also demonstrate an understanding of requests or an ability to work with the team on unclear requests, and should consistently identify and respond to all aspects of multi-part tasks. In addition, the Jr. Contract Specialist should also maintain and update statuses of assigned actions in the designated trackers.

Job Skills

• Demonstrates strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple work streams and balance priorities.

The Jr. Contract Specialist must produce pre-award documents that are clear and concise. Able to multitask and perform a variety of tasks and functions concurrently while maintaining attention to detail, in high stress environments, completing tasks within limited timeframes and with limited direction.

Professional Qualities

• Understands Client relationship and handles communications effectively and appropriately.

Have excellent written and verbal communications skills. The Jr. Contract Specialist should also be knowledgeable and able to convey current and accurate onboarding information when conducting PSC orientations for new hires.

• Meets client needs, acts professionally, shows initiative and represents the team positively.

The Jr. Contract Specialist must produce accurate, high quality work rapidly, while contributing to a team in a collegial manner.

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Basic Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree (equivalent work experience may be considered)

Experience:

• One (1) to five (5) years related experience
• Government contracting experience, including demonstrated understanding of and experience with applicable laws, rules, regulations and procedures governing contracting operations

Skills:

Successful candidates must be reliable, highly organized, motivated, and able to excel in a deadline-oriented work environment. S/he will have:

• Communications. Excellent communication skills, both written and oral. Must communicate with clients, team members, and other stakeholders in the contracting process.
• Technology. Superior computer skills and the willingness/ability to learn new software and databases management tools quickly. (Microsoft Office in a network environment, Google Suite, etc.)
• Organization. Process-oriented, efficient, and highly organized with high attention to detail. Ability to balance priorities and manage multiple work streams.
• Self-motivated. The ability to complete tasks independently and in a timely manner.
• Analytical. Strong ability to identify problems and solve them with demonstrable mathematical and reasoning ability.
• Professionalism. Customer service oriented with the ability to build strong relationships.

U.S. Citizenship is required; selected candidate must be able to qualify for a government sponsored clearance.

Physical Requirements

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, and use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls.The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms.Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.The employee must occasionally lift or move up to 25 pounds.

This position description reflects Macfadden’s assignment of essential functions; nothing in this job description restricts the Company’s latitude to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

PAE is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our hiring practices provide equal opportunity for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, gender, national origin, age, United States military veteran’s status, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, family structure, medical condition including genetic characteristics or information, veteran status, or mental or physical disability so long as the essential functions of the job can be performed with or without reasonable accommodation, or any other protected category under federal, state, or local law.

About the Organization

Macfadden is now part of PAE. Founded over 30 years ago, Macfadden has provided federal agencies with critical on-the-ground support to U.S. government humanitarian missions around the world as well as financial and IT system support. Through program management, human resources services, financial management systems support, information technology solutions, knowledge management, travel coordination and communications support, Macfadden enables effective U.S. government humanitarian response to international disasters. Macfadden’s workforce includes approximately 300 employees primarily located in the Washington, D.C. area.