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Acquisition & Program Management Best Practices & Training Lead / SME

OCT Consulting LLC is a boutique management and strategy consulting company that provides support to Federal Government clients. We provide consulting services in the areas of Strategy, Process Improvement, Change Management, Program and Project Management, Acquisition/Procurement, and Information Technology.

Responsibilities and Duties

OCT Consulting has grown significantly within the last 3 years and continues to grow. We are looking to bring onboard a senior acquisition and program management subject matter expert (SME) to lead the best practices and training function related to a government clients high-level acquisition and program management review board. This review process is led from within the procurement line of business; the review team directly supports the high-level Committee (i.e., the acquisition and program management review board) ahead of a formal 2-hour Committee session where a given program is reviewed. The Committee reviews procurements / programs with a lifecycle value of $500 million or more. You will be expected to develop a best practices repository of document templates and examples; develop training materials related to acquisition and program management best practices; and lead group training, 1:1 coaching, and other learning and development (L&D) sessions for programs, the review team, the Committee, and other stakeholders around the Department.

This review process and best practices / training function is new to the given Federal government agency. In addition to your duties regarding best practices and training, you will also be expected to directly participate as a member of the review team / SME, as needed. Additionally, you will be expected to support the continued development of existing review strategy, evaluation frameworks, processes, and procedures. Serving as a best practices / training SME, you will work side-by-side with the programs that you evaluate to share best practices, iterate on their submissions to the review Committee, and serve as the key point of contact (POC) to help programs to understand what stellar acquisition and program planning looks like. The goal of the review team and the high-level Committee that you serve is to evaluate very large government procurements to ensure optimal program management best practices. This role requires leadership skills, empathy, extroversion, proactivity, and deep program management and Federal acquisition expertise to ensure that programs, the review team, and the Committee are set up for success throughout the review process and beyond as programs manage critical acquisition and program functions.

Responsibilities and duties include:

• Develop a robust repository of in-house (i.e., agency-specific) best practice templates and examples of relevant acquisition and program management documents (e.g., Acquisition Plans, SOWs, Program Management Plans, LCCEs or Program Budgets, Program Milestone Schedules, Risk Registers, Market Research, Analyses of Alternatives, etc.) that can be used to guide both programs and the review team in submitting and reviewing documents. The purpose of this task is to ensure that all stakeholders have examples of what good looks like. This task supports the implementation of a key Committee-level goal advising programs on planning and program management best practices. As part of this exercise, conduct an analysis of the current best practice templates / submission documents repository to determine the As Is state and identify areas of potential improvement. Using this assessment, develop the in-house set of agency-specific templates and examples needed to complete the best practices repository, tailoring documents to the unique needs of various bureaus (e.g., the needs of IT vs. construction / building operations). The best practices repository should, at minimum, include at least one agency-specific template and one example of each required and optional submission document, as well as other helpful acquisition and program templates and examples. The individual should also source external best practice templates and examples, as needed.
• Ensure that programs coming before the Committee are well-trained on best practices. The individual will work with programs to refine their documentation prior to the start of their EBRC cycle, providing advice and guidance in regularly scheduled meetings. The Lead will additionally provide training to the review team so that they are knowledgeable about what quality documents look like. The individual will conduct a study of leading training practices employed by similar organizations to determine how to best implement a training and education program with respect to this unique acquisition and program review process. Using these results, the individual will then create a Best Practices Training Plan that outlines how s/he will train programs, the review team, and other key stakeholders on acquisition and program management best practices.
• Evangelize the use of these best practice templates and examples across the Department to all relevant stakeholders, even those beyond the direct oversight of this review process. Continuously educate key stakeholders on the purpose, value proposition, and processes behind the acquisition / program management review process and Committee. Educate relevant stakeholders, as needed, on various aspects of the Committee and on the role played by the training function, review team, Committee, program, and Liaison Office.
• Operating within the team of reviewers, the person will evaluate documents submitted to the acquisition / program management review Committee, directly participating in the review process. Notably, these planning documents will pertain to both the acquisition process and the sustainment of the program beyond acquisition. Currently, the team of reviewers is a group of 5-10 Federal employees from a diverse set of Bureaus. The team will likely expand to include contractors, and you would serve as a SME on the team and directly contribute to the evaluation of documents submitted to the Committee. This review team, Committee, and review framework are new to the given Federal agency, and so we are in a ramp-up period as we advance past the initial pilot reviews. At run-rate, the current expectation is to conduct 6-10 program reviews per year. Each review cycle lasts 45 calendar days and has a 2-hour Committee program review meeting scheduled in the middle of the cycle. Notably, there will be some peak times where many review documents need to be reviewed quickly.
• As part of your responsibilities as a SME and participant on the review team, you will participate in developing key issues lists, informational memos, and other relevant writeups and outputs of evaluation which will be formally sent upwards to the Committee ahead of each of the Committees formal 2-hour meetings / program reviews. You will serve as a SME to help guide the review team on the creation and synthesis of these evaluation outputs. As you go about your work, it will be expected that you continuously evolve and improve the frameworks and processes underpinning these review outputs.
• Answer questions from Committee members regarding the review teams evaluation of acquisition and program management documents. Schedule and lead meetings / briefings, as needed, to ensure that Committee members are adequately briefed ahead of their 2-hour formal meetings. Be available to attend Committee sessions if/when needed. Note that Committee members are generally at the Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary level.
• Work side-by-side with programs to ensure that they know exactly what documents and information must be submitted to the Committee. Answer questions from programs regarding their submissions and help them to understand what good looks like in terms of a quality set of submission documents.
• Continue to refine a preexisting Analytical Framework Breakdown (AFB) that serves as the evaluation criteria for submission documents. Solicit feedback on the AFB from relevant stakeholders and ensure that any changes to the AFB are properly communicated and applied at future reviews.
• Working with the Committees Liaison Office, continue to evolve review processes and procedures related to the 45-day review cycle.

Qualifications and Skills