Summary
Date Posted: Friday, August 25 2023, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
1) General Statement of Purpose of the Contract.

USAID/Uganda is seeking qualified candidates for the position of the Supervisory Development Assistance Specialist (HIV) is located in the USAID/Uganda Office of Health and HIV/AIDS (OHH).

OHH includes six technical units with an annual operating budget of approximately US$310 million, and is led by a USDH Foreign Service Officer who reports directly to the Mission Director. The Specialist serves as a second Deputy to the OHH Director, with direct responsibility for the HIV/TB and Strategic Information (SI) Units which cover the full spectrum of prevention, care and treatment, and SI. The Specialist may serve as Acting Office Director in the absence or preoccupation of the Director and/or the other Deputy Director.
The Specialist leads high-level engagements with the Government of Uganda (GoU), the Ministry of Health (MoH), and other high-level Ministerial officials, at the national and regional levels to ensure with bilateral donors, UN organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and other relevant health agencies and organizations. The Specialist oversees implementation of OHH strategic projects, to ensure achievement of intended results, and may serve as Agreement/Contract
-level integrated activities across technical offices within the Mission.

The Specialist supervises a staff of approximately 25 through two subordinate supervisors, performing the full range of supervisory duties.

2) Statement of duties to be performed.

1. Leadership, Supervision, and Management (50 percent of time)

The Specialist monitors the Mission and the local Ugandan environment to ensure that projects and activities are aligned with USG priorities and support the GoU public health-related goals and objectives. The Specialist assists the OHH Director in leading and managing the OHH Team of 70+ professional and support staff, including direct management of the HIV/TB and SI Units. The Specialist participates in leading overall Office strategic planning, reporting, budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and learning, communications, and data analysis, in collaboration with the OHH Director and the second Deputy Director. The Specialist mentors junior- and mid-level staff, as needed, and coaches senior-level staff to improve performance and leadership in the Office.

The Specialist manages a large, complex obligation process, involving multiple government agencies and oversight by State Department and USAID centrally-based staff; tracks Agency operational planning, budget allocations, and approval processes; congressional notifications; an internal OHH operational

Program and Acquisition and Assistance Offices, after Office of Management and Budget approval, DOAG signature, and sub-obligations, in coordination with the OHH Director and Co-Deputy Director; and coordinates Office implementation of Office-wide reporting requirements and other program tasks.

The Specialist ensures the units are engaging key local and international stakeholders, such as the GoU, the private sector, other health development partners, WHO, Global Fund, GAVI, UNICEF, and the World Bank.

2. Representation and Coordination (30 percent of time)

The Specialist represents the Office, and provides strong strategic leadership for the Office in various fora, including with the MoH, other bilateral and multilateral donors, and with selected technical working groups; represents the Office and the Mission at various conferences, seminars, program launches, closeouts, and other events, including making presentations and delivering speeches; and ensures all speeches, talking points, trip agendas, representational remarks, one-pagers, and other USAID or Mission healthrelated publicly disseminated materials are accurate, timely, approved, and appropriate to the event/representative and venue.

The Specialist supports the Office Director in strengthening the USAID/GoU relationship around the area of health, supports federal and regional government engagement and coordination, and keeps abreast of changes in processes and policies in order to keep the OHH, USAID, and Mission leadership informed.
The Specialist remains current on, and in contact with, prospective partners to USAID, including international, local, civic, private sector, foundations, and others, and represents the Office and the Mission at meetings with prospective partners.

3. Technical and Programmatic (20 percent of time)

The Specialist provides technical and programmatic oversight of all programs and activities within the HIV/TB and SI portfolios including, but not limited to, HIV prevention, care, and treatment to reach and sustain epidemic control, data quality assessments across all IPs, site monitoring, and quarterly data analysis and reporting to other USG agencies; keeps appraised of technical and programmatic work across the Office in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, pandemic preparedness, integrated public health service delivery, vaccination, maternal and child health, and health systems strengthening: and supports the country-level annual PEPFAR budget preparation process, providing technical assistance to USG financial teams and technical working groups in completing the PEPFAR Country Operational Plan inclusive of Funding Allocation to Strategy Tool (FAST) and any other new tools that may be provided for use in the planning processes.

The Specialist brings expertise and remains current on state-of-the-art programs and approaches in HIV prevention, care, and treatment globally both within USAID and elsewhere in order to provide leadership and technical guidance to staff; serves as a resource for the implementation of Agency, Mission, and Office programmatic strategies, while remaining aligned with USG policy, and seeking to innovate and problem-solve to achieve results; and responds to technical and programmatic taskers, urgent requests by the Front Office and the Embassy, delegating tasks to appropriate office technical Specialists, writes briefers and strategic documents, writes speeches for Mission and Embassy senior leadership, and provides strategic direction for the design and development of new programs and projects.

3) Supervision Received.

The Supervisory Development Assistance Specialist (HIV) works under the general supervision of the Office of Health and HIV/AIDS Director, and/or their designee. The Specialist works with considerable independence in carrying out responsibilities. The Specialist develops annual work objectives in consultation with the supervisor, who makes assignments in terms of overall objectives and resources available. Completed work is reviewed in terms of achievement of program/project/activity goals, effectiveness in meeting USAID objectives, and integration with other initiatives in the Health Office and the overall Mission portfolio. Some technical direction may come from other professionals in the Health Office and the Mission; in general, however, the Specialist is expected to exercise considerable autonomy and best judgment in discharging the duties of the assignment.

4) Supervision Exercised.

The Specialist leads, supervises, and manages a group of approximately twenty-five (25) staff, through two subordinate supervisors, and other short-term staff as may be required. The Specialist participates with considerable weight in selection/promotion decisions for the staff; and directly ensures development of staff annual workplans, of work objectives, and professional development goals, as well as timely quarterly and annual performance reviews (inclusive of constructive feedback for professional growth). The Specialist may be assigned to act for the Office Director in his or her absence or preoccupation, and, in this role, would supervise other senior-level employees as needed on an interim basis.

12. PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The work requested does not involve undue physical demands.
II. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION

Offers will be initially screened for compliance with application instructions and eligibility in accordance with the minimum qualification criteria listed below. To ensure compliance with the entire set of this solicitation instructions (please see page 6 to 10 III. EVALUATION AND SELECTION FACTORS and IV. SUBMITTING AN OFFER sections), the offer package must be completed and signed (hand or electronic signature) where indicated - and offerors must include in their offers information to demonstrate that they:

(1) have attained the required education level; and
(2) meet the experience requirements, etc.

Education:

The work assignment requires a US program in public health, medicine, public policy, or a very closely work-related discipline.

Prior Work Experience:

The assignment requires a minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible, professional-level experience in public health or public policy development.

This experience must have provided the opportunity for policy work, program direction and visioning, strategic planning, and design, and/or program management.

A significant portion of this work experience must have been in development work, or related fields, for donor agencies, GoU organizations, or private-sector institutions.

Demonstrated state-of-the-art knowledge related to priority health areas, and experience working or collaborating with other donors, governments, international organizations, the private sector, etc., is required.

Language Proficiency:

Level IV (fluent) oral, reading, and writing language ability in English is required.

Job Knowledge:

A comprehensive, in-depth, and well-developed knowledge of development principles, concepts, techniques, and practices, especially as they relate to multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS approaches and interventions in the Uganda context, including GoU and USG priorities and challenges, funding of the epidemic, and key stakeholders engaged in the response is required.

The work requires a thorough knowledge of GoU health, economic, political, social, and cultural characteristics, and the history of development assistance in Uganda, in particular the response to HIV/AIDS, including current trends and directions.

An in-depth understanding of USG assistance to Uganda, and familiarity with central aspects of USG

accomplishments, and its challenges, is required.
A good knowledge of health systems, financing, workforce development, program management, policy analysis, and policy development is required.

Skills and Abilities:

Demonstrated technical expertise in HIV prevention, health promotion and behavior change communication.

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with IPs, private sector partners, other donor partners, and both central and district level GOU counterparts.

Ability to work effectively with team and interagency environments, and to train, mentor, and coordinate well with others.

Ability to interpret regulatory directives and related guidance and apply them to activity design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Excellent computer skills including in Microsoft Office, web-based databases, and electronic filing, including the ability to help others and to learn new programs quickly.

Strong management skills, including financial management, administrative, and monitoring skills used to track performance of IPs and activities.

Ability to present information, analyses, and recommendations in clear written and oral formats.

Demonstrated skills in mentoring and building technical and institutional capacity of local organizations including faith-based, non-governmental, community based and civil society organizations.

Ability to travel to regions and districts within Uganda.

Excellent analytical, technical and project management skills to review and provide substantive feedback on concept papers, proposals, program descriptions/scopes of work, performance reports, and other technical and programmatic documents.

III. EVALUATION AND SELECTION FACTORS

The Government may award a contract without discussions with offerors in accordance with FAR 52.2151. 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.

The technical evaluation committee may conduct reference checks, including references from individuals who have not been specifically identified by the offeror, and may do so before or after a candidate is interviewed.

Offers will be initially screened for compliance with the solicitation instructions and eligibility in accordance with the qualification criteria below.
To ensure compliance with the entire set of this solicitation instructions (please see page 9 to 10, IV SUBMITTING AN OFFER section), the offer package must be complete, and signed (hand or electronic signature) where indicated - and offerors must include in their offers information to demonstrate that they have attained the required education level and meet the experience requirements, etc.

Offerors will be evaluated and ranked based on the information provided for the four Quality Ranking Factors (QRFs) that must be addressed as required in the supplemental document Item IV Submitting an Offer 1 (iv).

Offerors must, therefore, address each of the four Quality Ranking Factors (QRFs) in their offer. Top ranked Offerors who meet the minimum qualification will be invited for an interview and given a written evaluation.

Management may consider the following when determining successful candidacy: nepotism, conflicts of interest, budget, and residency status.

Current employees serving a probationary period are not eligible to apply. Current employees with an Overall Summary Rating of Needs Improvement or Unsatisfactory on their most recent Employee Performance Report are not eligible to apply.

The four Quality Ranking Factors (QRFs) that must be addressed as required in the supplemental document Item IV Submitting an Offer 1 (iv) are:

1. Skills and Abilities (40 points):

The work requires exceptional interpersonal, leadership, communication, and management skills, to be applied in a high-intensity and high-stakes environment. 10 points

Strong skills in communication (oral and written), advocacy, and networking. 6 points

Strong conceptual and analytical skills are required, in order to quickly grasp and translate new concepts into operational plans and results, along with an outstanding ability to exercise flexibility and prioritization skills to be able to accept and react to evolving planning and implementation contexts. 6 points

The Specialist must have the ability to exercise sound judgement, take initiative and offer leadership, demonstrated timely decision-making and judgment in planning and carrying out tasks, and the skill to negotiate sensitive and complex issues through initiative, imagination, resourcefulness, and diplomacy. 6 points

The Specialist must be able to identify significant economic, political, and social trends in Uganda, and assess their importance and impact on USAID development assistance objectives and programs. 10 points

Well-developed computer skills, including skills with Microsoft Office, web-based databases, and electronic filing, are required. 2 points

2. Job Knowledge (40 points):

A comprehensive, in-depth, and well-developed knowledge of development principles, concepts, techniques, and practices, especially as they relate to multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS approaches and interventions in the Uganda context, including GoU and USG priorities and challenges, funding of the epidemic, and key stakeholders engaged in the response is required. 10 points

The work requires a thorough knowledge of GoU health, economic, political, social, and cultural characteristics, and the history of development assistance in Uganda, in particular the response to HIV/AIDS, including current trends and directions. 10 points

An in-depth understanding of USG assistance to Uganda, and familiarity with central aspects of USG hief accomplishments, and its challenges, is required. 15 points

A good knowledge of health systems, financing, workforce development, program management, policy analysis, and policy development is required. 5 points

3. Prior Work Experience (20 points):

The assignment requires a minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible, professional-level experience in public health or public policy development. 5 points

This experience must have provided the opportunity for policy work, program direction and visioning, strategic planning, and design, and/or program management. 5 points

A significant portion of this work experience must have been in development work, or related fields, for donor agencies, GoU organizations, or private-sector institutions. 5 points

Demonstrated state-of-the-art knowledge related to priority health areas, and experience working or collaborating with other donors, governments, international organizations, the private sector, etc., is required. 5 points

4. Education and Professional Qualifications (Pass/Fail):

Offerors will be given a passing score if they have a relevant level of education. Offerors without a relevant level of education will not be considered for award or proceed forward in the evaluation process.

US- equivalent from an accredited program in public health, medicine, public policy, or a very closely work-related discipline.

Evaluation Factors have been assigned the following points:

Skills and Abilities 40 points
Job Knowledge 40 points
Prior Work Experience 20 points
Education Pass/Fail

Language Proficiency - Pass/Fail
Satisfactory Professional Reference Checks Pass/Fail

Evaluation Factor Total 100 points, and Pass for Education, Language Proficiency, and Reference
Checks. Offerors invited to an interview and written test will be evaluated based upon the same criteria described above. In addition, offerors determined to be competitively ranked may also be evaluated on interview performance, written evaluations and/or satisfactory professional reference checks.


Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Postgraduate Degree

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