Position Title: Response Readiness Unit Specialist (Multiple Positions)
Solicitation Number: SOL-OFDA-16-000025
Salary Level: GS-13 Equivalent: $92,145 – $119,794
Issuance Date: February 26, 2016
Closing Date: March 25, 2016
Closing Time: 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time
Dear Prospective Applicants:
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 Response Readiness Unit Specialist (RRU 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. Applicants interested in applying for this position MUST submit the following materials:
- Complete resume. In order to fully evaluate your application, your resume must include:
(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) Names and contact information (phone/email) of your current and/or previous supervisor(s). Current and/or previous supervisors may be contacted for a reference.
(d) Education and any other qualifications including job-related training courses, job-related skills, or job-related honors, awards or accomplishments.
(e) U.S. Citizenship
(f) Optional: Where you heard about this job (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.
Supplemental document specifically addressing the Quality Ranking Factors (QRFs) shown in the solicitation.
USPSC Application form AID 302-3. Applicants are required to complete and sign the form. This form must be physically signed. Electronic signatures will not be accepted.
Additional documents submitted will not be accepted. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. OFDA reserves the right to select additional candidates if vacancies become available during future phases of the selection process.
Applicants can expect to receive a confirmation email when application materials have been received. Applicants 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 Reed
Contracting Officer
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The RRU specialist(s) will support and undertake the following activities. He/she will be assisted with this portfolio by other RRU specialists, planning staff, and occasional additional part-time staff.
Regarding staffing, the RRU specialist(s), in consultation with the RRU Leader, SMT, RUs, DASP, and other stakeholders, will:
Support and monitor OFDA’s Multiple Response Strategy (MRS), including:
Monitoring implementation and provide support to the RUs.
Reporting on MRS readiness.
Initiating and facilitating periodic discussions of MRS assumptions and conclusions with the goal of updating it to maintain ongoing relevance to OFDA’s current operating environment.
Support Position Task Book Implementation
Track completed PTBs.
Support linkage between MRS and PTB processes.
Support RUs and report as needed on availability of qualified staff for various DART and RMT positions.
- Track staff readiness, PTBs, training, skills, language, deployment history, etc for reporting and recommending staff for appropriate DART and RMT positions.
- Coordinate on-call DART and on-call RMT readiness per MRS requirements. In close consultation with SMT and RUs, develop and experiment with new / improved systems to ensure response readiness.
Support planning for DART and RMT structures for actual or imminent activations, through
Facilitating planning efforts with regional teams
Identifying potential personnel to fill the positions identified
Coordinating with other Ops teams and units
- Prior to the activation of an RMT, provide relevant support needed to successfully deploy a team to the field.
- Facilitate readiness drills and exercises, including practice drills for special activations such as USAR, IAS, CBRNE, and wildfire responses.
- Support the Operations Center Manager(s) with duty officer roster procedures and training.
- Manage the staffing alert process.
- Serve as backstops to other teams within the Ops Division, including completing PTBs for the other RUs in the Division. A particular focus will be on serving in the DMO role, and/or backstopping other teams so that they can serve in that role.
Deployment Gear
- Support coordination of overall OFDA policy and procedures concerning DART uniforms to support field operations.
- Link with HPGE and other relevant office stakeholders, and determine clothing specifications and operational requirements.
- Communicate intent to DASP, which will implement procurement, warehousing, dispatching, and inventory management.
- Determine requirements, distribution guidelines, and specifications for field support kits, such as Remote Location Kits (RoLos) and communicate intent to DASP, which will implement procurement, warehousing, dispatching, and inventory management.
Ops Liaisons and Planning
- Serve as the core secretariat for the Ops Liaisons group, soliciting and training other Liaisons from across the Division and developing and maintaining a common approach and scope of work for the Liaisons.
- Develop and or facilitate division-wide plans for Ops support to regional teams for newly evolving disasters until and unless an RMT is established.
- Provide coordination of and support to division planning resources as required.
- Perform DMO functions in support of regional teams for newly evolving disasters until and unless an RMT is established.
- Interact with other USG agencies to manage effective coordination of response efforts, and interagency planning for operational contingencies.
Surge Capacity Resource
Serve as staffing resource to OFDA for operational and contingency requirements;
Maintain individual readiness for short-term assignments. Interact, as appropriate, with other OFDA units in order to build and sustain familiarity with their activities;
Sign-up for and serve as needed, on Washington-based RMTs, which provides services and support to DARTs deployed in response to disasters. The duties on RMTs will be varied but may include serving as the Deputy Manager for Operations.
Serve as the OFDA after-hours phone duty officer on a rotational basis, for approximately one week every six months; and
As needed, serve on DARTs which may require immediate (within 24 hours) deployment overseas for an extended period of time.
The USPSC is responsible for planning and carrying out assignments. The USPSC is responsible for planning approach or methodology to be used in carrying out assignments.
EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION
(Determines basic eligibility for the position. Applicants 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 international relations, disaster management, contingency planning, or a related field) plus seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience working in emergency relief and humanitarian assistance or related field.
OR
Master’s degree with significant study in or pertinent to the specialized field (including, but not limited to, international relations, disaster management, contingency planning, or a related field), and five (5) years of progressively responsible experience working in emergency relief and humanitarian assistance or related field.
SELECTION FACTORS
(Determines basic eligibility for the position. Applicants who do not meet all of the selection factors are considered NOT qualified for the position.)
· Applicant is a U.S. Citizen.
· Complete resume submitted. See cover page for resume requirements. Experience that cannot be quantified will not be counted towards meeting the solicitation requirements.
· USPSC Application form AID 302-3. Applicants are required to complete and sign the form. This form must be physically signed. Electronic signatures will not be accepted.
· Supplemental document specifically addressing the Quality Ranking Factors (QRFs) submitted.
· Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret up to Top Secret level clearance.
· Ability to obtain a Department of State medical clearance.
· Satisfactory verification of academic credentials.
QUALITY RANKING FACTORS (QRFs)
(Used to determine the competitive ranking of qualified applicants in comparison to other applicants. The factors are listed in priority order from highest to least.)
QRF #1 Experience working on a team focused on addressing time-limited, personnel-sensitive issues with high-stake results. Demonstrated ability to manage several tasks at once and meet goals
QRF #2 Experience with response team staffing; including planning, systems development and management, identification of required skills, training, staff enhancement, and mentoring.
QRF #3 Demonstrated knowledge of operations, methodologies, systems, and structures of other US Government agencies involved with disaster response, in particular U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), or Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
QRF #4 Demonstrated knowledge of the humanitarian assistance and disaster response community, culture, and objectives, and sensitivity to the associated technical and political issues. Demonstrated experience operating effectively in this community, at both the field and headquarters levels.
QRF #5 Experience in the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and systems for liaising with trainers, technical experts, planners, stakeholders, and other agencies of the U.S. Government, on response-related issues.
BASIS OF RATING: Applicants who meet the Education/Experience requirements and Selection Factors will be further evaluated based on scoring of the QRF responses. Those applicants determined to be competitively ranked may also be evaluated on interview performance and satisfactory professional reference checks.
Applicants 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 candidates 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 applicants 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 applicant. OFDA reserves the right to select additional candidates if vacancies become available during future phase of the selection process.
The Applicant Rating System is as Follows:
QRFs have been assigned the following points:
QRF #1 – 15 points
QRF #2 – 10 points
QRF #3 – 10 points
QRF #4 – 10 points
QRF #5 – 5 points
Interview Performance – 30 points
Satisfactory Professional Reference Checks – 20 points
Total Possible Points: 100
How to apply:
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:
1. Complete resume. In order to fully evaluate your application, your resume must include:
(a) Paid and non-paid experience, job title, location(s), dates held (month/year), and hours worked per week for each position. Dates (month/year) and locations for all field experience must also be detailed. 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) Names and contact information (phone/email) of your current and/or previous supervisor(s). Current and/or previous supervisors may be contacted for a reference.
(d) Education and any other qualifications including job-related training courses, job-related skills, or job-related honors, awards or accomplishments.
(e) U.S. Citizenship
(f) Optional: Where you heard about this job (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.
2. Supplemental document specifically addressing the QRFs shown in the solicitation.
3. USPSC Application form AID 302-3. Applicants are required to complete and sign the form. This form must be physically signed. Electronic signatures will not be accepted.
Additional documents submitted will not be accepted.
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