SOLICITATION NUMBER: 72011422R00001/0001

ISSUANCE DATE: 10/08/2021

CLOSING DATE/TIME: 11/08/2021 (17:00 Georgia time)

SUBJECT: Solicitation for U.S. Personal Service Contractor (USPSC) – (extended/amended)

GS-11 Democracy and Governance Specialist, resident-hire USPSC

Dear Prospective Offerors:

The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID), is seeking offers from qualified persons to provide personal services under contract as
described in this solicitation.

Offers must be in accordance with Attachment 1 of this solicitation. Incomplete or unsigned offers
will not be considered. Offerors should retain copies of all offer materials for their records.

This solicitation in no way obligates USAID to award a PSC contract, nor does it commit USAID to
pay any cost incurred in the preparation and submission of the offer.

Any questions must be directed in writing to the Point of Contact specified in the Attachment 1.

Sincerely,
Digitally signed by Clint

Clint Branam Branam

Date: 2021.10.22 15:16:45
+04'00'

Clinton Branam
Regional Supervisory Executive Officer
USAID/Caucasus
ATTACHMENT 1
I. GENERAL INFORMATION

1. SOLICITATION NUMBER: 72011422R00001

2. ISSUANCE DATE: 10/08/2021

3. CLOSING DATE/TIME FOR RECEIPT OF OFFERS: 11/08/2021 (17:00 Georgia time)

4. POINT OF CONTACT: All questions related to this solicitation should be sent via email to
HR-tbilisi@usaid.gov

5. POSITION TITLE: Democracy and Governance (DG) Specialist

6. MARKET VALUE: USD 55,756 to USD 72,487 equivalent to GS-11. Final compensation will be
negotiated within the listed market value.

7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

The base period will be one year, estimated to start o/a November 28, 2021 (pending the security
clearance processing).

Based on Agency need, the Contracting Officer may exercise (an) additional option period(s) for the
date(s) estimated as follows:

Base Period o/a November 28, 2021- o/a November 27, 2022
Option Period 1 o/a November 28, 2022- o/a November 27, 2023
Option Period 2 o/a November 28, 2023- o/a November 27, 2024
Option Period 3 o/a November 28, 2024- o/a November 27, 2025
Option Period 4 o/a November 28, 2025- o/a November 27, 2026
.
8. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Tbilisi, Georgia with in-country travel as required

9. ELIGIBLE OFFERORS: All interested U.S. Citizens residing in Georgia

Definition: Resident Hire U.S. Personal Services Contractor (USPSC) means a U.S. citizen or resident alien
who, at the time of contract award,-

(i) resides in the cooperating country for reasons other than U.S. Government or non-U. S. government
employment, or under any contract or other arrangements, that provides for repatriation to the U.S.;
or

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 (ii) is a spouse or dependent of a U.S. citizen or resident alien who resides or will reside, in the
cooperating country for the purposes of U.S. government or non-U.S. government employment, or
under any contract or other arrangement that provides repatriation to the U.S.

Note: Physical presence in Georgia at the time of application is not a requirement however the selected
candidate must reside in Georgia at the time of contract award.

10. SECURITY LEVEL REQUIRED: The successful offeror must be able to obtain a U.S.
Government Security Clearance at the “Secret” level. If the clearance is not obtained within a
reasonable time or negative suitability issues are involved, any offer may be rescinded.

11. STATEMENT OF DUTIES:

Based in Tbilisi, the USPSC Democracy and Governance Specialist (DGS) will support ongoing
management of USAID/Georgia’s Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) portfolio, as
well as assist in the design and procurement processes for new DRG programming.

The current $110 million DRG portfolio consists of 19 implementing mechanisms which contribute to
Georgia’s fast-paced democratic transition. The current portfolio supports USAID’s Development
Objective (DO) 1 of the 2020-2025 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) for Georgia:
Resilience to External Malign Influence Strengthened. The CDCS Intermediate Results (IR) that
support this DO through DRG programming are: IR 1.1: Positive engagement with people living in
and along occupied territories increased; and IR 1.4: Impact of targeted misinformation mitigated. The
DRG Office also manages and is designing activities related to CDCS DO 2: Fragile Democratic Gains
Consolidated through Enhanced Citizen Responsive Governance, which is composed of IR 2.1: Civic
participation catalyzed; IR 2.2: Accountability and accessibility of governance institutions increased;
IR 2.3: Rule of law enhanced. Current DRG programs are described on the USAID/Caucasus’s website
at http://georgia.usaid.gov/.As the Mission enters a period of strategy development, the DRG Office is
working on standing up a new portfolio that will continue to advance Georgia’s transition to an
institutional democracy.

The DGS will report to the DRG Office Director, but he/she will be expected to operate with a level of
independence in reporting and supporting improved communications processes of complex programs
and the design of new activities. It is preferred that he/she have demonstrated technical knowledge
and expertise in program reporting and communications, including development of strategic
documents and program descriptions, development and oversight of budgets, and monitoring and
evaluation of development programs.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• To support general DRG office management and team leaders and be a consistent interface
with the Program Office to draft and coordinate general reporting and communications,
including development of decision memorandums and talking points for high-level

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 participation in DRG events, supporting the drafting of the annual Operational Plan (OP),
regular and ad hoc reporting and preparation for portfolio reviews.

• To support the team leaders and activity managers in design processes for new projects and
activities, including but not limited to: development and finalization of strategic documents,
procurement documents, budgets, and consultations with government and inter-agency
counterparts.

• To guide the development of and monitor the DRG program budget, including but not limited
to: providing close supervision of project mortgages, pipelines, and funding requirements for
approval by the DRG Office Director.

• To support the preparation of briefers and other communication products for internal and
external audiences, including editing and proofreading memos and documents. Coordinates
with USAID/Georgia technical and support offices to develop communication materials;
facilitates meetings; conducts presentations to internal and external audiences. Ensures
appropriate clearance of DRG internal and external documents according to USAID/Georgia
mission orders. Coordinates with the Communications Team to ensure strategic DRG social
media presence. Prepares and contributes to speeches for USG officials. Represents DRG in
meetings and forums including USAID internal meetings, USG meetings as well as external
meetings.

• To analyze political and other trends affecting Georgia’s democratic development, particularly
as they relate to USAID’s DRG program; identify ways to further meet both USG foreign
policy and GOG reform policy objectives in Georgia through USAID’s DRG program;
contribute this analysis to key documents and processes as requested by the DRG Office
Director or Mission management.

• To support the DRG office in the management and conceptual thinking around current and
future programming and interventions. Engage with program specialists and stakeholders
within the development community, private sector and Government of Georgia.

• To provide the DRG office with guidance and thinking around private sector engagement
opportunities in current and future programming in coordination with the Mission’s Private
Sector Engagement Advisor.

• To support USAID efforts to promote opportunities for regional cooperation, collaboration and
learning between the three USAID Missions in the South Caucasus.

The above tasks will require close coordination and consultation within the DRG Office and within
USAID, as well as engagement with local stakeholders.

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SUPERVISORY RELATIONSHIP:

The DGS will be supervised by the DRG Office Director. The incumbent is expected to take initiative,
act independently, and manage his/her tasks with minimal supervision.

SUPERVISORY CONTROL

The supervisor will set overall objectives and resources available, and work with the employee to
develop deadlines, projects, and work to be accomplished. The employee will be responsible for
planning and carrying out assignments, resolving most conflicts, coordinating with others, and
interpreting policy in terms of established objectives. Keeping the supervisor informed of progress, the
employee may determine the approach to be taken and the methodology to be used. The supervisor
will review completed work from an overall standpoint of feasibility, compatibility with other work, or
effectiveness in meeting requirements.

12. PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The work requested does not involve undue physical demands.

II. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION

In order to qualify for this position, the offeror must meet the following minimum qualifications:

• Hold a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.

• Have a minimum of five years of relevant experience including project design and
management.

• The candidate must have excellent and demonstrated English language oral and written
communication skills. There is no requirement for local language proficiency.

Only offerors clearly meeting the above minimum qualifications will be considered for further
evaluation.

Security and medical clearances: The ability to obtain the required security and medical clearances
in a reasonable timeframe is considered a minimum qualification.

III. 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
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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. FAR provisions of this solicitation
are available at
https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far.

Selection and Evaluation Process: All the offerors who clearly meet the above-mentioned minimum
requirements as set in the section II, may be further evaluated through the review of the offeror’s
submitted required documents (see section IV below) and ranked based on the below evaluation and
selection criteria. The additional evaluation may include technical tests, interviews, and reference
checks to determine the most qualified/highest ranked offeror.

Evaluation/Selection Criteria.

Candidates will be evaluated and ranked based on the following selection criteria to a maximum score
of 100 points:
Experience and knowledge (60%): Demonstrated five years of relevant experience including project
design and management. Demonstrated ability to work on complex democracy and governance-related
issues in a fast-paced environment, ideally related to the Republic of Georgia.

Specific characteristics of the ideal candidate include:

o Experience with international development programs and their implementation. This

includes knowledge of program management procedures and experience with projects
in line with those described in this position description

o Experience working with minimal oversight to accomplish complex tasks that require
both technical and managerial expertise. This includes a heavy emphasis on information
gathering, analysis and reporting that both informs and fulfills mandatory reporting
requirements and guides future program thinking

o Knowledge and understanding of relevant issues, best practices and programming

related to democracy and governance, human rights, marginalized populations,
education among other relevant areas, ideally related to the Republic of Georgia

o Experience in developing and administering performance monitoring and evaluation

plans and activities

o Experience in managing budgets

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 o Relevant education

Communication and Management Support Skills (40%):

The position requires strong communications, interpersonal, teamwork, and oversight skills, as well as
the ability to interact and work effectively with organizational management and support offices. The
ability to prepare written technical reports, technical and policy documents, and quality results
sometimes with short deadlines is required. The candidate should have demonstrated experience
exercising these skills.

After the closing date/time for receipt of submissions, the received application packages will be
reviewed and evaluated by the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC), in terms of meeting the
minimum requirements (Section II) and in accordance with the above evaluation/selection criteria
(Section III). The TEC will determine the competitive range of the applicants who will participate in
the testing/interviews.
USAID reserves the right to interview only the highest ranked applicant(s) in person or by phone.

Reference Verification (Pass/Fail):

- Reference checks will be conducted only for applicant(s) considered as finalists.

- Reference checks may be conducted with individuals not provided by the applicant and without
prior notification to the applicant.
- Any applicant not receiving satisfactory reference checks will no longer be considered for the
position.

Negotiations will be conducted with the most qualified/ highest-ranked applicant at the conclusion of
evaluations.

IV. APPLYING

Offers must be received by the closing date and time specified in Section I, item 3, and submitted via
email to the Point of Contact in Section I: HR-tbilisi@usaid.gov.

Eligible offerors are required to complete and submit the following documents:

1. Eligible offerors are required to complete and submit the offer form AID 309-2, “Offeror
Information for Personal Services Contracts with Individuals”, available at:

https://www.usaid.gov/documents/offeror-information-personal-services-contracts-individuals-aid-309-2

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 2. A cover letter and current resume or curriculum vitae (CV) containing sufficient relevant
information that respond to the minimum requirements of the position
(education/experience/skills)

3. Additionally applicants are required to submit a document addressing each of the selection
criteria describing specifically what relevant experience, technical knowledge, skills the
applicant has received relevant to each selection criteria described above, providing periods of
performance where possible. Responses are limited to 300 words per selection criteria.

4. Additionally applicants are required to provide one to two page writing sample as part of their
application in order to demonstrate their written English language ability and writing skills.
The writing sample may be an excerpt of a larger work and need not be specifically written for
this solicitation.

5. A minimum of three and a maximum of five professional references from the last five years.
Offerors must provide email addresses and current telephone numbers for all references
provided.

6. Statement of Availability: a written statement certifying the date and length of time for which
the candidate is available for the position.

The applicants who do not submit the documents requested above under Section IV, items (1)
through (4) will not be considered.

Applications received after the closing date/time as specified in Section I, item 3, will be
considered late and will not be further evaluated.

Offeror submissions must clearly reference the number of this Solicitation to ensure the offer is for the
position in this Solicitation.

Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors – The Offeror will be
required to show proof that the Offeror is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 on or before the first
date of onboarding, or submit an approved reasonable accommodation to the CO. If the contractor
does not meet this requirement the contract may be terminated.

V. LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS FOR PSC HIRES

Once the Contracting Officer (CO) informs the successful Offeror about being selected for a contract
award, the CO will provide the successful Offeror instructions about how to complete and submit the
following forms.

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1. Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306)
2. Medical History and Examination Form (DS-6561)
3. Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions (for National Security) (SF-85)
4. Finger Print Card (FD-258)

VI. BENEFITS AND ALLOWANCES:

1. BENEFITS:

a) Employer’s FICA Contribution

b) Contribution toward Health & Life Insurance
c) Pay Comparability Adjustment
d) Annual Increase (pending a satisfactory performance evaluation)
e) Eligibility for Worker's Compensation
f) Annual/Sick Leave (if applicable)

2. ALLOWANCES (If Applicable): N/A

NOTE: A contractor meeting the definition of a U.S. Resident Hire PSC shall be subject to
US Federal Income Tax, but shall not be eligible for any fringe benefits (except
contributions for FICA, health insurance, and life insurance), including differentials and
allowances.

VII. TAXES:

USPSCs are required to pay Federal Income Taxes, FICA, Medicare and as applicable U.S. state income
taxes.

VIII. USAID REGULATIONS, POLICIES AND CONTRACT CLAUSES PERTAINING TO

PSCs

USAID regulations and policies governing USPSC awards are available at these sources:

1. USAID Acquisition Regulation (AIDAR), Appendix D, “ Direct USAID Contracts with a U.S.
Citizen or a U.S. Resident Alien for Personal Services Abroad”, including contract clause “General
Provisions”, available at
https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/aidar.pdf
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 2. PART 52—SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES
Subpart 52.2—Text of Provisions and Clauses
52.223-99 Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, Alternate
70.
ENSURING ADEQUATE COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR FEDERAL
CONTRACTORS (OCT 2021)-Alternate 70 (OCT 2021) (M/OAA-DEV-FAR22-01c)
(a) Definition. As used in this clause –
United States or its outlying areas means—
(1) The fifty States;
(2) The District of Columbia;
(3) The commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands;
(4) The territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands; and (5)
The minor outlying islands of Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll,
Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Atoll.
(b) Authority. This clause implements Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID
Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, dated September 9, 2021 (published in the Federal
Register on September 14, 2021, 86 FR 50985).
(c) Personal Services Contracts with individuals. As a matter of policy, the contractor must
comply with the USAID’s guidance applicable to direct-hire federal employees.
(End of clause)

3. Contract Cover Page form AID 309-1 available at https://www.usaid.gov/forms

LINE ITEMS
ITEM NO SUPPLIES/SERVICES (DESCRIPTION) QUANT UNIT UNIT AMOUNT (F)
(A) (B) IT Y (D) PRICE
(C) (E)
Base Period - Compensation, Fringe
0001 Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) 1 LOT $ _TBD $_TBD at Award
after negotiations
- Award Type: Cost with Contractor
- Product Service Code: [e.g. R497]
- Accounting Info: [PR funding]

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 Option period 1 - Compensation, Fringe
1001 Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) 1 LOT $ _TBD $_TBD at Award
after negotiations
- Award Type: Cost with Contractor
- Product Service Code: [e.g. R497]
- Accounting Info: [PR funding]
Option period 2 - Compensation, Fringe
2001 Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) 1 LOT $ _TBD $_TBD at Award
after negotiations
- Award Type: Cost with Contractor
- Product Service Code: [e.g. R497]
- Accounting Info: [PR funding]

Option period 3 - Compensation, Fringe

3001 Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) 1 LOT $ _TBD $_TBD at Award
after negotiations
- Award Type: Cost with Contractor
- Product Service Code: [e.g. R497]
- Accounting Info: [PR funding]
Option period 4 - Compensation, Fringe
4001 Benefits and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) 1 LOT $ _TBD $_TBD at Award
after negotiations
- Award Type: Cost with Contractor
- Product Service Code: [e.g. R497]
- Accounting Info: [PR funding]

4. Acquisition and Assistance Policy Directives/Contract Information Bulletins (AAPDs/CIBs) for

Personal Services Contracts with Individuals available at http://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/aapds-cibs.

- AAPD 21-04- Executive Order 14042 on ensuring adequate COVID-19 Safety protocols for federal
awards (FAR Deviation No. M-OAA-DEV-FAR-22-01c)- October 12, 2021

- AAPD 21-01 - Applicability of FAR 4.21 to USAID personal services contracts with individuals under
the AIDAR Appendices D and J- March 26, 2021

- AAPD 18-02 REVISED - This AAPD extends and revises implementation of medevac regulations for
USPSCs and TCNPSCs under AIDAR Appendix D and J, § 12, clauses #25 in Appendix D, and #21 in
Appendix J. – December 18, 2019

- AAPD 10-01 – PERSONAL SERVICES CONTRACTS- Changes in USG reimbursement amounts for
health insurance and physical examination costs- 01/08/10

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- AAPD 06-10- PSC Medical Expense Payment Responsibility – October 30, 2006

- AAPD 06-08 - AIDAR, APPENDICES D AND J: Using the optional schedule to incrementally
fund contracts – June 23, 2006

5. 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.

6. 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/workusaid/personal-service-contracts-
ombudsman
The PSC Ombudsman may be contacted via: PSCOmbudsman@usaid.gov.

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