Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DME) Program Advisor

Creative Corrections, LLC•Washington, DC

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Creative Corrections is actively recruiting exceptional candidates to be considered for a Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DME) Program Advisor position located in Washington, DC. This will be a contract role within the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Department of State is the lead institution for the conduct of American diplomacy and the Secretary of State is the President’s principal foreign policy advisor. The Department of State’s mission is to advance U.S. national security interests, fight terrorism, protect U.S. interests abroad, and implement foreign policy initiatives that build a freer, prosperous and secure world. The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) keeps Americans safe at home by countering crime, illegal drugs, and instability abroad. INL advances U.S. national security and foreign policy interests by helping foreign partners build, reform, and sustain effective criminal justice systems to disrupt illicit drugs and transnational organized crime – addressing these threats at their source before they reach the United States, hurt U.S. citizens, and damage U.S. businesses. Under this task order, the DME Advisor will provide services ensuring that INL programs in the Office of Africa and the Middle East (AME) are compliant with DME requirements as laid out in the FAM and INL DME policy. The goal of this contract is to provide dedicated support for AME programs to ensure that they are compliant with the standards set forth in 18 FAM 301.4 and other relevant policy or regulatory guidance and have sound metrics at the project and/or program level and on each foreign assistance award1 that are mutually reinforcing. The dedicated support to AME will also ensure that each program and project align to the INL Functional Bureau Strategy (FBS) goals and objectives and is collecting data on the appropriate indicators. Along with those specific requirements, the contractor will provide services to AME that cover all aspects of DME at the direction of AME management and in coordination with other offices within INL and the Department that manage DME requirements. In addition, the contractor will seek to empower INL leadership with the capability to leverage performance data in order to make data driven decisions at the project, program, and Bureau levels in compliance with the FAM and INL policy. Beyond ensuring that AME programs are compliant with the FAM and Bureau requirements and have increased data gathering capabilities, INL expects an approach to said compliance that is intuitive to non-experts in the field of DME. This approach must be adaptable to the culture, business practices, and existing systems that INL has in place with a focus on change management that must occur in order to bring all INL programs into compliance. INL recognizes that, due to the number of countries it operates in and the difference in one country program compared to another, that a one size fits all approach will not work. Therefore, it is important that the approach to accomplishing FAM compliance be flexible with the goal of the program being the driving force behind this initiative. POSITION DESCRIPTION The DME Advisor will work closely with the INL program officers and management in INL/AME to bring them into compliance with 18 FAM 301.4 and any other DME requirements. This is a key priority for INL, which is being undertaken to ensure the Bureau’s compliance with the FAM. The advisor will perform all of the duties and have all of the responsibilities listed in the below section. This position is contingent upon award of contract for BPA Call.

Requirements

U.S. Citizenship.
A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
Demonstrated experience working in the Department or in INL
Six to ten years’ experience in relevant field.
Demonstrated knowledge of specific country issues, including specialized knowledge of international narcotics and law enforcement, or similar type programs sufficient to ensure project work is in compliance with management policies and procedures and in conformance with the Foreign Assistance Act and other regulatory procedures and guidelines.
Proven knowledge of Federal policies and procedures including methods of providing assistance and the Federal budget process.
Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with a wide range of players.
Demonstrated ability to provide advice, guidance, and consultation with regard to the interpretation and application of analysis.
Experience drafting US government reports and documents, such as the INCSR, embassy cables, and other documents.
A Secret security clearance is required for this position; however, the contractor may begin work with an interim Secret security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree from an accredited institution in the area of social science, program development, or monitoring and evaluation.
Demonstrated ability to understand complex business processes to support new initiatives within the existing culture of an organization.
Demonstrated skills in providing comprehensive and routine reports for various audiences related to Key Performance Indicators; tracking and evaluation; organizational assessments; monitoring and evaluation; and data utilization.
Demonstrated ability to clearly and consistently organize, manage, and present complex information.
Combined five (05) years of experience between implementing foreign assistance programs and projects, and performing DME on foreign assistance programs.

Responsibilities

Support program reviews, in coordination with the relevant program officer and team lead, to ensure that stated goals and objectives connect to identified problems or needs of the host nation.
Ensure that each program plan clearly identifies which INL Functional Bureau Strategy (FBS) goals and objectives it supports based on the most up to date INL FBS.
Help the program officer develop performance indicators that measure actual results that can be compared to established performance targets for each part of the program, including but not limited to any interagency agreements, grants, and contracts.
Assist the program officer with creating monitoring plans for programs and projects that meet INL design standards.
In consultation with and upon request of the program officer and other relevant staff, propose and perform project and/or program evaluations, including evaluation design, data collection, and analysis.
In consultation with and support of the program officer, perform trends analysis and reporting to executives using INL approved software (DevResults and/or other relevant software). The reports may include, but are not limited to; executive summaries, trend analysis, dashboard indicators, and supervisory level programmatic summaries.
Develop relationships with INL regional and functional program offices to foster improved DME and utilization of country data across the domestic INL offices.
Assist in coordinating and delivering training to domestic and overseas INL staff on proper DME practices.
Analyze and provide recommendations to AME leadership on proposed DME practices and policies within the bureau.
Interact positively and work cooperatively with team members and points of contact to accomplish assigned work in a timely and efficient manner.
Take proactive measures to improve the working environment and cultivate teamwork.
Comply with all internal controls and procedures to protect organizational integrity and prevent unauthorized use or misappropriation of all classified and sensitive (but unclassified) material and equipment in assigned areas. Report security violations/problems to the appropriate authority.