USAID Senior Acquisition and Assistance Specialist Job in Nairobi Kenya

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) seeks to hire Senior Acquisition & Assistance Specialist (FSN 12) in the Regional Acquisition & Assistance Office (RAAO), USAID/East Africa.

The position is open to qualified Kenyan citizens and located in Nairobi.

Basic Function of the Position:

The incumbent is a professional Acquisition & Assistance Specialist and has responsibility for managing the procurement portfolio of a large program of the East Africa region.

As the principal assistant to a lead contracting officer with responsibility for the entire EA region programs, the incumbent will be required to perform independently in a program requiring complicated and sensitive contracting operations.

The Regional Senior A&A Specialist plays a key role in negotiating, administering, and modifying various types of contracts for the acquisition of services, equipment, supplies, materials, and other needs for projects having a strong contracting orientation.

Required Qualifications:

Any application that does not meet the minimum requirements stated below will not be evaluated.

Only short listed applicants will be contacted.

If you have not been contacted within one month from the closing date of this advertisement, please consider your application unsuccessful.

Note: The three evaluation factors, i.e., prior work experience, knowledge, and skills and abilities are of approximately equal weight relative to each other.

Education: A master’s degree in business administration, political science, international relations, procurement, supply chain management, social science, or a related field, is required. Specialized training in USG acquisition is desirable, but can occur after employment.

Prior Work Experience:

A minimum of eight (8) years of progressively responsible experience in the field of procurement/ acquisition and assistance and management is required.
At least five (5) years prior experience with a U.S. government Agency and/or other international organization(s) is preferred.Prior experience and knowledge of U.S. Government contracting regulations and procedures is desirable.
Must possess advanced knowledge of the full range of the acquisition and assistance instruments.
Advanced practical and theoretical understanding of procurement and fundamentals of contract law is required.
Good knowledge of international as well as local business practices and market pricing is also required.
Advanced research skills are required to respond to Mission and partner inquires and keep abreast of USAID and USG procurement regulations.
Ability to understand and stay current on the policy and political environment that impacts the Mission’s programs, especially the sensitive programs in Somalia, DRC, Kenya and DRCAbility to apply USAID and USG procurement regulations to the overseas environment and to activities that weren’t necessary considered in drafting the regulations, ability to adopt USAID/Washington initiatives to the Mission and explain them to client missions such as the Procurement Reform initiative.Excellent negotiation skills to negotiate multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts and other instruments.
Excellent writing and interpersonal skills.
Successful applicant must possess the appropriate skills to participate in USAID’s FSN pilot warrant program.For a complete position description visit http://kenya.usaid.gov/employment-opportunities.

Those fulfilling the requirements of the position should submit their application, together with a detailed CV and all relevant attachments to the following address:

Human Resources Office,
USAID/Kenya,
P.O. Box 629, Village Market 00621,
Nairobi, Kenya

Re: Acquisition & Assistance Specialist

Application must be in the USAID office by August 12th, 2011.

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