GENERAL INFORMATION
USAID DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING) AND DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANT’S BANK ACCOUNTS.
1. SOLICITATION NO.: 23-37
2. ISSUANCE DATE: March 15, 2023
3. CLOSING DATE AND TIME FOR RECEIPT OF OFFERS: March 29, 2023 (4:30 PM East Africa Time).
4. POINT OF CONTACT: USAID Kenya and East Africa Human Resources, e-mail at nairobiusaid.hr@usaid.gov
5. POSITION TITLE: Project Management Specialist (Regional Food Security).
6. MARKET VALUE: Equivalent to FSN-11 Step 1 (4,792,523.00 KSH per annum) to Step 13 (8,147,267.00 KSH per annum).In accordance with AIDAR Appendix J and the Local Compensation Plan of USAID/Kenya and East Africa. Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value.
7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The services provided under this contract are expected to be of a continuing nature that will be executed by USAID through a series of sequential contracts, subject to the availability of funds, the continued need for services and successful performance. It is anticipated that the selection of the successful candidate will be completed within an estimated six-month period from the closing date of this solicitation.
8. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Nairobi, Kenya;with possible travel as stated in the Statement of Duties.
9. ELIGIBLE OFFERORS: Open to qualified Kenyan Citizens, including current locally hired employees of the US Mission in Kenya. Employees presently on probation are ineligible to apply.
10. SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: Security certification issued by the US Embassy RSO.
General Statement of Purpose of the Contract
The Office of Economic Growth and Integration (OEGI) implements interventions that reduce hunger and poverty and promote inclusive economic growth through agriculture; increase resilience of arid and semi-arid land communities and systems; enable affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy; increase sustainable delivery of water and sanitation services; and catalyze finance, trade, investment and innovation to bolster development. The Project Management Specialist (Regional Food Security) will work within the Resilience and Food Security Center of Excellence (COE) within OEGI.
The Project Management Specialist (Regional Food Security) manages a USAID agribusiness and food security portfolio of activities that aim to use market-based interventions to sustainably reduce hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in the Feed the Future (FTF) Kenya and East Africa (KEA) portfolio. This position will utilize an agribusiness and private sector engagement (PSE) lens to employ strategies and tools from the private sector into KEA’s agriculture and nutrition work. The incumbent will utilize practical knowledge of program and project design, management, and monitoring and evaluation to support a diverse portfolio that includes activities related to cross-border community resilience, agricultural trade facilitation, regional agricultural integration within EAC, COMESA, and IGAD, and regional policies that will enhance agricultural competitiveness, growth, and job creation within East Africa.
The incumbent will provide leadership and management to the regional Feed the Future portfolio by integrating strategies for reducing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty while also improving regional food security by opening access to integrated regional markets. S/he will also provide analytical and technical support on agricultural research for development and work with the private sector to promote and strengthen agricultural-related business opportunities. The Specialist will manage productive relationships with senior officials at the Embassy, other donors, the private sector, regional economic communities and government entities, non-governmental and civil society organizations. The incumbent is expected to incorporate private sector engagement (PSE) as well as Collaborative Learning and Adaptation (CLA) into all activity design, implementation, and evaluation duties within the regional portfolio. The position reports to the Food & Nutrition Security Team Leader within the Resilience & Food Security Center of Excellence (COE).
Statement of Duties to be Performed
A. Program/Project/Activity Management: 80%
The Specialist plans, designs, and manages new and existing agricultural, trade, and market access programs, particularly those that focus on regional food security and trade as a driver of poverty reduction. These duties include activity design, leading procurement processes, and activity or project implementation, identifying and resolving program issues, assuring that all activities are carried out in a technically sound and cost-effective manner, and in accordance with all applicable Mission and Agency directives and requirements. S/he will serve as the Agreement/Contracting Officer’s Representative (AOR/COR) or Activity Manager for programs and activities that include cross-border agribusiness, community resilience, and agricultural trade facilitation, regional agricultural integration within EAC, COMESA, and IGAD, and regional policies that will enhance agricultural competitiveness, growth, and job creation within East Africa.
The incumbent will be responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of implementing partners and other agriculture, food security, and nutrition activities, for obtaining and reporting on results and possible setbacks, and for initiating programmatic adjustments, when necessary. The incumbent is responsible for monitoring and evaluation at the project/activity levels, including the development of project and activity-level M&E plans. S/he will also support the reporting and M&E of USAID Kenya and East Africa’s Feed the Future (FTF) programming. The incumbent will provide input into high quality evaluations conducted by the Program Office and by OEGI’s Analytics, Partnerships, Policy, and Systems (APPS) Center of Excellence (COE) in order to analyze data and information sources to inform programming decisions. The incumbent is responsible for drafting narratives and providing other inputs into the planning (Operational Plan) and Reporting (Performance Plan and Report; Mission Resources Request (MRR), Congressional Budget Justification, Congressional Budget Notification, and other reports, as required.
The Specialist will support OEGI, Mission, and broader USG efforts to ensure effective, cost-effective, and responsible programming and reporting in compliance with USG and USAID regulations and ethics standards, and, ultimately, help achieve USAID development objectives and Feed the Future targets at both the bilateral and regional levels.
The Specialist will respond to the U.S. Congressional inquiries and other Washington policy and operational requests, supporting VIP visits, and carrying out ad-hoc assignments at the discretion of the USAID Kenya and East Africa’s USAID/HCTM/OHCI/DS-298 DS-298, USAID Version 10 PAGE -2019 Mission Director, Deputy Director, or OEGI Office Director. As a member of the Food Security and Nutrition Team, s/he will participate in the writing of annual and other reports, success stories, press releases, and other communications related to his/her roles and responsibilities. S/he will develop project-level documents and budgets, memos, and will respond to tasks from within USAID Kenya and East Africa, USAID/Washington, and other USG entities, as needed.
B. Technical Assistance and Representation: 20%
The Specialist will serve as a senior technical advisor in the areas of agribusiness, agricultural productivity, private sectorled nutrition security and agricultural trade facilitation, and regional agricultural integration within USAID Kenya and East Africa. S/he will keep abreast of and analyze economic, political, and other trends affecting agricultural development and food security in East Africa and will keep the Mission informed of these trends as a thought leader and influencer. The incumbent will be considered an expert resource on regional agribusiness, trade, international treaties and standards, and World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) as well as non-tariff barriers to trade within East Africa and how these trade and non-trade barriers may affect the export of agricultural commodities through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA). As such, the Specialist will be expected to participate actively in internal and external strategy discussions, including active engagement across sectors at the Mission. S/he will synthesize trends at the regional/international levels, incorporate learning from all analysis into current and future programming, and share extensively across all stakeholders.
The Specialist will identify ways to further meet USG foreign policy, and East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Central Africa (COMESA), and regional agricultural sector policy objectives. This includes liaising closely with USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) and the Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI) on technical solutions, and the development of new, innovative concepts and program designs which engage both traditional and non-traditional partners, with a focus on local solutions that empower local actors and communities to lead their own development efforts. The incumbent will actively contribute to the monitoring, evaluation, analysis and learning at the Project and Development Objective levels for both USAID Kenya and USAID East Africa.
As an experienced private sector engagement and agribusiness resource person, particularly as they related to in crossborder community resilience and food, food, nutrition security and agricultural trade facilitation, regional agricultural integration, the incumbent will be responsible throughout East Africa for ensuring that U.S. Government development assistance programming reflects best practices for the FTF East Africa portfolio. S/he is expected to have a full understanding of external factors, such as trade barriers and non-trade barriers that impinge regional agricultural trade and agribusiness, food security as well as an understanding of how shocks such as climate change and conflict impinge agricultural trade and, as an effect, regional food security. S/he will maintain strong and supportive relationships with other USG technical offices and USG agencies involved in agriculture, governance, trade and climate change, as well as other donors (from both public and private sectors) and multilateral partners, including regional African institutions such as COMESA and the EAC.
In collaboration with development partners, the incumbent will provide technical leadership to, and facilitate the management of, a community of practice on value chains and markets for agricultural commodities in East Africa. Additionally, s/he will work with development partners to make agricultural production and trade with broader food security and resilience objectives. Areas of knowledge of best practice should include theory and real-world experience in value chain development/improvement, aggregation of commodities, quality standards and management, storage and warehousing, warehouse receipt systems, financial innovations, logistics and transportation systems, market information systems linked with internet and mobile platforms, and finance and credit systems along value chains from producers to food retailers.
S/he will be required to maintain relationships and convene stakeholder meetings with a wide range of senior contacts in government and semi-autonomous government agencies, private sector and civil society organizations, donor agencies, implementing partners, regional African institutions such as COMESA and the EAC, and other stakeholders as related to agriculture and trade and senior levels of government and industry. S/he will represent USAID and the USG with internal and external audiences as required. S/he will work to facilitate knowledge management through the exchange of technical information and ideas, collaborate on cross-cutting issues, provide effective collaboration, and promote program/project synergies. In collaboration with all Feed the Future partners, the incumbent will be responsible for food, nutrition security and agricultural trade facilitation, and regional agricultural integration and support OEGI in coordination, ensuring that programs are leveraged with other efforts to promote regionally integrated markets and free trade of agricultural commodities.
Supervision Received
The position reports to the Food and Nutrition Security Team Leader and has wide latitude for planning, organizing, and executing assigned responsibilities. S/he will handle work assignments independently according to established policies, previous training, and accepted practices. S/he will be expected to develop her/his own work schedule and procedures for accomplishing tasks and to independently resolve problems that may arise during execution of objectives.
Supervision Exercised
Supervision of other employees is not anticipated at this time.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The work requested does not involve undue physical demands.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION
Any application that does not meet the minimum requirements stated below will not be evaluated.
- Education: Bachelor’s Degree in agribusiness, agricultural economics, business administration, international development, or closely related field is required.
- Prior Work Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of professional-level experience in food, nutrition security and agricultural trade facilitation, regional agricultural integration. Experience designing and working with public and private sector stakeholders in East Africa on programs designed to improve agricultural commodity value chains or increase agricultural production, agricultural trade and food security is required. Demonstrated experience working collaboratively with institutional and private sector partners and stakeholders is required. Experience in implementing activities designed to leverage private sector investments in food security, nutrition, and agribusiness to support development goals.
- Language Proficiency: Level IV English speaking, reading, and writing skills are required. Fluency (Level IV) in Kiswahili is required.
EVALUATION AND SELECTION FACTORS
The Government may award a contract without discussions with offerors in accordance with FAR 52.215-1. The CO reserves the right at any point in the evaluation process to establish a competitive range of offerors with whom negotiations will be conducted pursuant to FAR 15.306(c). In accordance with FAR 52.215-1, if the CO determines that the number of offers that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the CO may limit the number of offerors in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated offers. The FAR provisions referenced above are available at https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far.
– Job Knowledge (60 points)
Comprehensive knowledge of agribusiness, agricultural trade facilitation, and regional agricultural integration is required. Must have senior-level technical expertise in regional agribusiness, nutrition, and agricultural practices including in agricultural cross-border trade, international and regional treaties and standards, and relevant regional and international agreements and protocols. A thorough understanding of and proven ability to support implementation of market-driven solutions in the planning and development efforts of public-sector officials, particularly Regional Economic Communities such as EAC, IGAD and COMESA. Thorough understanding of the key logistical challenges faced in the East Africa region and a proven ability to develop and implement innovative solutions to such challenges, either in the region or in a similar development context. High level of knowledge of cross-border resilience and food nutrition and security, as well as knowledge and understanding of regional agricultural trade facilitation and regional agricultural integration.
– Skills and abilities (40 points)
Ability to read, interpret, and understand global best practices related to cross-border community resilience, agribusiness, nutrition security and agricultural trade facilitation, regional agricultural integration and how those practices might be used in the East Africa region. Ability to articulate the private sector perspective in dialogue with public sector officials, and to ensure that new regional and national level strategies addressing cross-border resilience, nutrition security and agricultural trade facilitation and regional agricultural integration are incorporated at the national and regional levels. Demonstrated ability to broker alliances between the public and private sector that leverages investments and enhances project sustainability. Ability to work effectively with high-level personnel from government, donor community, implementing partners and other development organizations.
Total possible points: 100
How to apply
SUBMITTING AN OFFER
Step 1: Register in MyJobsInKenya at www.myjobsinkenya.com
Step 2: Complete the job application at www.myjobsinkenya.com
Step 3: Internal Offerors/Current USG Employees: Attach an updated curriculum vitae/resume (no more than five pages), a copy of your most recent Performance Evaluation Report, and copies of all relevant certificates. Scan and attach all the documents and upload them to MyJobsInKenya.
OR
External Offerors/Not Current USG Employees: Attach an updated curriculum vitae/resume (no more than five pages) and copies of all relevant certificates. Scan and attach all the documents and upload them to MyJobsInKenya.
Offerors must provide a list of minimum three (3) professional references who are not family members or relatives, with complete name, title, organization where he/she works, description of relationship, with working/accurate telephone numbers and email addresses. The offeror’s references must be able to provide substantive information about his/her past performance and abilities.
Note to Applicants:
1. Offers must be received by the closing date and time specified in Section I, item 3, and submitted through myjobsinkenya.com.
2. Submissions will only be accepted through www.myjobsinkenya.com. Late and incomplete applications (those that do not contain the applicant’s most current and up to date detailed CV and relevant education certificates) will not be considered for the position.
3. All Applicants must provide at least three professional references, who are not family members or relatives, with working telephone and e-mail contacts. The references must be able to provide substantive information about your past performance and abilities. USAID reserves the right to contact your previous employers for relevant information concerning your performance and may consider such information in its evaluation of the application.
LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS PRIOR TO AWARD
The CO will provide instructions about how to complete and submit any required forms after an offeror is selected for the contract award.
BENEFITS AND ALLOWANCES
Benefits and allowances are offered in accordance with the Local Compensation Plan (LCP).
TAXES
The Contractor must observe Kenyan laws including those concerning income and related tax obligations.
USAID REGULATIONS, POLICIES AND CONTRACT CLAUSES PERTAINING TO PSCs
USAID regulations and policies governing CCN and TCN PSC awards are available at these sources:
- USAID Acquisition Regulation (AIDAR), Appendix J, “Direct USAID Contracts With a Cooperating Country National and with a Third Country National for Personal Services Abroad,” including contract clause “General Provisions,” available at https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/aidar_0.pdf.
- Contract Cover Page form AID 309-1 available at https://www.usaid.gov/forms.
- Acquisition & Assistance Policy Directives/Contract Information Bulletins (AAPDs/CIBs) for Personal Services Contracts with Individuals available at http://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/aapds-cibs.
- Ethical Conduct. By the acceptance of a USAID personal services contract as an individual, the contractor will be acknowledging receipt of the “Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch,” available from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, in accordance with General Provision 2 and 5 CFR 2635. See https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/OGE%20Regulations.
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PSC Ombudsman
The PSC Ombudsman serves as a resource for any Personal Services Contractor who has entered into a contract with the United States Agency for International Development and is available to provide clarity on their specific contract with the agency. Please visit our page for additional information: https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/personal-service-contracts-ombudsman.
The PSC Ombudsman may be contacted via: PSCOmbudsman@usaid.gov.
