Consultants Needed at the Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 countries and territories in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Catholic Relief Services eases suffering and provides assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Consultant - 2022 USDA Notice of Funding Opportunity - Proposal Design Support and Review

Solicitation Number: US4329.03.2022

Purpose
Provide Supply Chain technical support to CRS Country Programs preparing applications (i.e., proposals) to submit to USDA under the 2022 NOFO cycle. This support ranges from direct assistance with quantification, forecasting and planning, to budgeting, to drafting the logistics section of the proposal, to review of the pink and red drafts.

Objectives

• Assist country program SCM and other staff with the preparation of superlative and competitive proposals under USDA funding instruments. A major focus will be the preparation of key SCM documents including the food commodity pipeline plan, the USG Commodity Calculator, and the draft logistics section of the narrative.
• Additional responsibilities include completing the pink and red reviews, and the provision of comments, advice and guidance to ensure CRS submits competitive, professionally-written documents.

Activities
The Consultant will contribute in the following ways;

• Provide expert assistance, advice, comments, edits, and content writing on various SCM and general logistics aspects of the proposals;
• Provide timely guidance on commodity standards, the USDA regulations, and best practices for USDA McGovern-Dole funding streams;
• Support the preparation of internal tools and documents (e.g., draft SCM budget and commodity pipeline) and the USDA-required templates (e.g., Commodity Calculator, LOA CF Schedule) related to the commodity management and logistics sections of the proposals;
• Remain in close contact with proposal food commodity leads to provide focused assistance, support and guidance;
• Review and comment on the pink and red drafts, checking for accuracy and consistency vis a vis commodity requests and the commodity management section of the proposal;
• Help CP SCM staff revise and update the materials and documents to update them in accordance with the comments received after the pink and red draft reviews.
• Mentor country and regional staff on the processes used to complete the assigned SCM tasks.

SOW Assignment / Deliverables

• Specific tasks and deliverables will be determined by a point of contact assigned by CRS GSCM/STAR.
• For each assignment under the consultancy, an assignment-specific scope of work would be created and agreed to between the parties.
• GSCM/STAR and the consultant will monitor the number of days the consultant applies to each supported CP, and the balance of time remaining under the contract in order to maximize effort and the output / deliverables.

Application Closing Date
11:59pm (EST), 8th April, 2022.

Submission of Proposals
All proposals must be received by CRS to: jasmine.ferrell@crs.org

Note

• The solicitation name indicated above must be included in the subject line.
• Applicants must submit a cover letter and CV that demonstrates qualifications and a list of clients/projects that he/she has supported in undertaking similar work.
• Please provide daily rate, references, and availability.

Click Here (PDF) for more clarifications.