About CRS: Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.
Background:
This Business Development Specialist – Contracts position is part of the Institutional Donor Engagement and Advancement Department (IDEA). Within the department, Business Development staff supports HQ and field staff to acquire public funding for CRS’ programs worldwide. Team members promote efforts related to each of the three parts of the CRS Business Development Cycle: prepositioning, pursuing opportunities, and leveraging results. Prepositioning involves gathering information about the funding environment, taking action to improve CRS’ competitiveness, cultivating donor and partner relationships, and identifying potential funding opportunities. Pursuing opportunities involves using a systematic process to produce funding proposals that are both responsive to the public donors’ needs, and that articulate CRS’ unique capabilities. Leveraging results involves documenting and marketing information about what CRS accomplishes through its current projects, in order to secure new funding. This specific position will focus on the pursuit of acquisition opportunities.
Primary Function:
The Business Development Specialist – Contracts will support the agency’s competitive positioning for and pursuit of USAID resources through acquisition mechanisms (contracts). This specialist will focus on systems, processes, and capacities development and focus on RFP responses through targeted support with country programs. S/he will provide field and HQ staff with direct support, information and analysis, and capacity building to improve their business development skills in contracts to enhance CRS’ reputation and revenue. The candidate may also support other mechanisms including USAID RFAs and other public donors including DFID, DFATD and others.
Job Responsibilities:
S/he works with business development, programs, finance, human resources, contracts, and other relevant departments to support the development of institutional processes that will enable CRS to prepare for, successfully bid on and negotiate contracts as prime or sub-awardee.
Specific Responsibilities:
- Provides support to a complete range of government contracting activities such as acquisition planning, evaluation of RFPs, assisting with interpretation and implementation of federal procurement regulations, and other procurement guidance.
- Develops internal training programs, tools and resources, in conjunction with HR and other relevant departments, to ensure that staff have strong capacities in business development with a particular focus on federal contract mechanisms.
- Supports senior managers to track potential contract funding opportunities and to strengthen their competitive intelligence to enable successful pursuit of RFPs.
- Supports bid capture, teaming and recruitment strategies for RFPs.
- As appropriate, serves as Proposal Coordinator or other appropriate core proposal team role in partnership with technical, pricing, management/staffing, and program operations staff.
- Work in an on-the-job training and mentorship capacity with peers in CRS’ field offices to build overseas staff capacity in all facets of contracts BD.
- Works with HR to develop and implement contract recruitment policies and practices from the perspective of new business development and RFP requirements, and builds CRS staff capacity on pre-proposal recruitment, biodatas, salary negotiation, CVs, and live proposal recruitment.
- Works with Finance and Operations, primarily in a support and collaboration function, to strengthen CRS’ contract pricing and budget development processes and capacities; supports cost teams to produce accurate, compliant, and competitive applications.
- Provide support to field teams on pre-teaming negotiations and agreements for sub-contract roles on anticipated or live RFPs.
- Participates in proposal reviews and After Action Reviews, incorporating lessons into best practice guidelines and related job tools.
- Analyzes performance on contract bids and competitiveness within the international aid and development community, providing data and recommendations to inform senior management and executive decision-making.
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff): These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Serves with Integrity
- Models Stewardship
- Cultivates Constructive Relationships
- Promotes Learning
Supervisory Responsibilities: None
Key Working Relationships:
INTERNAL: Institutional Donor Engagement and Advancement Department, Program Impact and Quality Assurance Department; Operational Excellence Department; Country Representatives and Heads of Programming; Country and Regional technical and business development staff; Finance, Purchasing, Human Resources, Office of Legal Counsel.
EXTERNAL: Donor representatives, business development officials of peer organizations
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Qualifications:**
- Master’s Degree in Development, International Relations, or relevant field preferred; equivalent experience acceptable.
- Minimum 5 years of international development experience required; at least 3 years in a developing country a plus.
- Demonstrated experience providing proposal development leadership in response to competitive USAID RFPs required. Experience with non-USAID and non-USG funding opportunities highly desirable.
- Experience developing responses to RFPs required
- Strong knowledge of Federal and USAID Acquisition Regulations, USAID ADS, and USG Cost Principles for non-profit organizations required.
- Knowledge of common USAID contract types including IQCs, T&M, FFP, CR, and CPFF required.
- Experience with adult learning, instructional design, and/or facilitation and training highly desirable.
- Knowledge of agriculture and livelihoods, water and sanitation, and/or health programming and the institutional funding landscape for those sectors a plus.
- Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication and negotiation skills.
- Demonstrated experience managing people and processes, leading cross disciplinary teams to produce complex applications under tight deadlines and at exceptional quality.
- Attention to detail and accuracy. Strong analytical skills. Knowledge of Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet) required, experience with Access or other data base programs is a plus.
- Ability and willingness to travel overseas as needed, up to 30% of job time.
- Fluency in English required; working ability in French strongly preferred, Spanish or Arabic desirable.
Physical Requirements/Environment:
- Normal conditions for an office environment
- Willingness and ability to travel overseas
This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, efforts, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
NOTE: All interested applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. at the time of application.
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
EOE/M/F/D/V
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