Job Vacancies At United States Agency For International Development (USAID)-Operations and Finance

USAID Southern Africa Trade & Investment Hub
Contracts, Procurement and Grants Advisor Short Term Technical Assistance – STTA

Dates:                                     o/a January 11 – March 31, 2020
Estimated LOE:                     40 days
Origin/Destination:               Pretoria, South Africa (no travel)
Applicable Program Area:   Operations and Finance

1. Overview

Career United States Agency For International Development (USAID)-Operations and Finance The USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub (USAID TradeHub) engages with partners across the region to increase sustainable economic growth, global export competitiveness, and trade in targeted Southern African countries. It supports these objectives by (a) increasing exports from Southern African countries to South Africa, (b) increasing exports from targeted Southern African countries to the United States (under the African Growth and Opportunity Act [AGOA]), (c) boosting capital and technology flows from South Africa to other Southern African countries, and (d) providing targeted trade facilitation support to Zambia. The USAID TradeHub works with market actors to identify and resolve enterprise constraints and to implement sustainable solutions through market-based trade and investment facilitation services. The USAID TradeHub’s programming closely reflects the U.S. Government’s partnership with Southern African private enterprises, U.S. government agencies, Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, local and regional trade associations, and other development partners. The USAID TradeHub partners with the USAID Bilateral Missions through the Regional Mission in the successful delivery of its objectives.

2. Purpose of activity:

The Contracts, Procurement and Grants STTA will provide support to the USAID TradeHub team. He/she will be overseeing the procurement, grants and contracts team.  S/he will manage fast-paced procurement processes, supporting international development activities in the SADC region as well as globally.  The position requires substantial work experience in the field of procurement, grants, and contracting across a variety of industry sectors, contract management, managing interpersonal relationships and communication, and investigating/following up on vendor issues. S/he will be responsible for reviewing and submitting for approval requisitions, RFQs/RFPs, evaluation committees, purchase order/agreement preparation, and payment requests.   The position will require close coordination with partners, recipients and /or beneficiaries to accomplish program objectives.  The position’s responsibilities can be divided into the following categories: Procurement, Grants, Financial Reviews, Contract Management and Reporting.

3. Specific Tasks:

The Contracts, Procurement and Grants STTA will be responsible for, but not limited to, the following detailed tasks:

Procurement:

• Draft Requests for Proposals (RFP) and review Request for Quotations (RFQ) independently, prepared by the procurement team, and manage the RFP/RFQ process, contract preparation and execution of contracts for procurement of goods/services/logistics.
• Ensure adequate competition is achieved, as per DAI policies and procedures.
• Supervise procurement processes and evaluate cost effectiveness and provide support in negotiating contracts based on DAI/USAID rules and regulations
• Ensure DAI/USAID and FAR/AIDAR/CFR/OMB policies, and procedures are followed and enforced
• Serve as non-voting chairperson for procurements under designated threshold.
• Monitor cost and deliverable schedule of performance of projects using a tracking matrix
• Determine source selection methods for complex procurement to ensure compliance
• Submit for approval to Director of Operations (DOO) evaluation data, and source selection documentation prepared by procurement team
• Ensure integrity, compliance, fairness, accuracy, and openness in procurement processes
• Review all submissions that relates market research efforts, identified and qualified potential suppliers (and products/services). Ensure that beneficial, ethical and open supplier relationships are created and maintained according to procurement policies
• Contribute to maintaining systems to enable the flow of information and data between teams to track performance and contribute to the completion of reports, data and analysis

Grants Management:

• Review Requests for Applications (RFA) as needed, prepared by the grants team, including the release of RFA and subsequent grant application openings.
• Explore and implement innovative ways to streamline USAID TradeHub grantee procurement needs for in-kind grants (e.g. blanket purchase orders, use of local markets, etc.)

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Deliverables:

• Complete the Procurements Contracts and Grants Awards still in progress by 28 February 2021.
• Prepare weekly reports to DOO on procurement status to include external factors that will affect procurement in all USAID TradeHub countries of operation
• Participate actively in Operations team meeting and give recommendations on all procurement, contracts and grants related issues
• Identify gaps in procurement and recommend suggestions

Reporting:

This activity will be managed by USAID TradeHub Director of Operations

Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Closing date: January 12, 2021. Send applications to [email protected], please indicate on the application STTA. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.