Electronically Stored Information - ESI Specialist

Softthink Solutions Inc•Washington, DC

1d•$45 - $55•Remote

About The Position

Performs hands-on recovery, repair, conversion, loading, and reconstruction of email and instant message data in a Microsoft environment. The specialist works within PCLOB’s isolated, read-only staging environment and documents accuracy checks. The role has no direct access to live production Exchange Online or enterprise backup systems. Contractor-supplied software must run offline in the staging virtual machine, without an internet connection or license call-home, and requires agency approval before installation. The specialist must follow PCLOB Rules of Behavior and least-privilege access rules and safeguard Government property. U.S. citizenship is required.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship.
At least 5 years of relevant experience with email and instant messages in a Microsoft environment.
Hands-on experience with PST and OST repair, forensic recovery, carving, and conversion tools.
Experience with Exchange, Outlook, Teams, and Skype for Business data structures.
Experience preparing accuracy checks, counts, and statistics for data sets of 250 GB to 500 GB across 100 to 140 containers.
Bachelor’s degree; the field is not specified.

Nice To Haves

Information technology, computer science, information management, or a related field is recommended.

Responsibilities

Manipulate, load, and convert electronically stored information, particularly email and instant messages in a Microsoft environment.
Search network and cloud storage spaces made available by PCLOB IT for relevant data files and load the data into an existing Microsoft environment.
Inventory and process Government-staged files, recording each file’s source, custodian, and storage location to support the A04 report.
Confirm collected OST and PST files are readable and not corrupt; identify and repair corrupt or incomplete files to recover missing or hidden message data, including header corruption requiring binary repair or block-level carving; and parse orphaned and unindexed OST files.
Convert OST files to PST files and verify that each resulting PST completely represents the OST data.
Perform and document quality and accuracy checks on data conversion and loading.
Generate ESI statistics for each OST and PST, including item types, item counts, first and last item dates by type, and date and time distribution charts, to support the A05 report.
Migrate OST and PST content into PCLOB’s agency-furnished isolated staging repository, applying custodian tracking and duplicate handling in accordance with NARA guidance (A06).
Determine whether Skype and Teams instant message data exists in cloud storage, network folders, backups, and other locations; count messages and date ranges by user (A07); and consolidate and format recovered instant message data into NARA-compliant preservation containers.
Reconstruct email records user by user for Government-selected custodians and record the work in the Reconstructed Email Records Log (A08).
Prepare electronic exports for archiving, including NARA-compliant PST outputs.
Provide input to the Gap Analysis (A09), recommendations (A10), and training recommendations (A11).
Work only in the isolated, read-only environment; obtain agency approval before installing tools; follow PCLOB Rules of Behavior and least-privilege access rules; and safeguard Government property.