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ASCENSION is seeking a highly organized, client-focused Federal Project Manager to serve as the primary Contract/Project Manager supporting HUD’s Executive Support Services BPA. This individual will be responsible for coordinating the successful execution of executive-level consulting, strategic initiatives, portfolio management, operational improvement, enterprise transformation, analytics, succession planning, governance, procurement consulting, and administrative management activities performed under the BPA.

HUD’s objective is broader than conventional project administration. The Department is seeking executive support that enhances operational capabilities, improves efficiency, and supports reorganization, succession planning, strategic management, modernization, and other executive-level priorities. The successful candidate therefore needs to understand how to manage professional services work in an environment where priorities can shift quickly, senior leadership visibility is high, and multiple workstreams may need to be coordinated simultaneously.

We are looking for someone who combines disciplined project management with the judgment and communication skills required in a federal executive environment. The ideal candidate will be a detail-oriented planner, strong facilitator, proactive problem solver, and polished communicator who can translate broad executive objectives into organized workplans, responsibilities, schedules, risks, decisions, deliverables, and measurable outcomes.

This position is particularly well suited for a candidate who has managed federal management consulting, PMO, program support, organizational transformation, acquisition, operations, or mission-support engagements and who is comfortable working directly with Contracting Officers, Contracting Officer’s Representatives, Government Project Managers, senior executives, consultants, and multidisciplinary delivery teams.

ASCENSION has directly relevant corporate experience supporting federal clients with project coordination, project facilitation, program review and assessment, strategic management, acquisition support, analytics, SharePoint, business process improvement, automation, training, change management, and executive reporting.

Contractor Role Summary

The Federal Project Manager will serve as ASCENSION’s principal operational point of contact for the HUD Executive Support Services engagement and will be accountable for coordinating contract and task order activities from initiation through completion.

The Project Manager will establish and maintain the management structure necessary to keep work within scope, on schedule, within budget, compliant with contractual requirements, appropriately staffed, and responsive to HUD priorities. The individual will organize project information, coordinate team assignments, manage risks and issues, monitor deliverables, facilitate client meetings, oversee action items, and maintain visibility into performance across active workstreams.

The HUD PWS requires the Contract/Project Manager and designated alternate to possess technical knowledge of the requirement, have sufficient authority to act on matters related to daily operations, and be allocated sufficient time to ensure successful performance. Both must be employees of the contractor.

Because task orders may span 13 different executive-support scope areas, this individual must be capable of managing diverse professional-services assignments rather than specializing in only one technical discipline. HUD’s contemplated work includes strategic initiatives, portfolio management, executive advisory consulting, operational efficiency, enterprise transformation, portfolio analytics and reporting, regulatory and policy support, succession planning, executive briefings, governance and compliance, partnership management, procurement consulting, and executive administrative support.

The ideal candidate will be self-directed and capable of operating effectively where not every requirement is defined in advance. HUD specifies that deliverables, performance standards, special qualifications, and some constraints will be further defined at the task-order level. The Project Manager must therefore be comfortable establishing structure quickly, asking the right questions, identifying dependencies, anticipating emerging problems, and converting task-order requirements into an executable management plan.

Position Responsibilities and Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

The Federal Project Manager will:

• Manage the quality, schedule, cost, scope, staffing, risks, dependencies, and overall execution of HUD BPA and assigned task-order activities.
• Serve as ASCENSION’s primary operational point of contact for HUD’s Contracting Officer, Contracting Officer’s Representative, Government Project Manager, and other authorized Government stakeholders.
• Translate task-order requirements into actionable project plans identifying activities, milestones, dependencies, resources, deliverables, responsible personnel, review cycles, and completion dates.
• Develop and maintain integrated project schedules, work breakdown structures, milestone trackers, action-item logs, risk and issue registers, decision logs, and deliverable calendars.
• Coordinate contractor personnel and consultants across concurrent project activities to maintain clear assignments, accountability, workload balance, and delivery schedules.
• Facilitate project kickoff meetings, status meetings, working sessions, internal team meetings, leadership reviews, and executive-level client discussions.
• Prepare agendas, briefing materials, presentations, status reports, decision-support materials, meeting summaries, and other management products appropriate for Government and executive audiences.
• Monitor contract and task-order performance against schedule, scope, budget, quality standards, performance measures, and Government expectations.
• Identify potential schedule, technical, staffing, financial, performance, stakeholder, or contractual risks before they materially affect delivery.
• Establish risk mitigation and issue-resolution actions, assign owners, monitor corrective actions, and escalate matters requiring management or Government attention.
• Notify appropriate ASCENSION leadership and authorized Government representatives of significant technical, financial, personnel, management, schedule, or performance concerns.
• Track decisions, commitments, action items, dependencies, and Government requests through closure.
• Review project deliverables for completeness, accuracy, consistency, professionalism, contractual compliance, Section 508 considerations, and readiness for Government submission.
• Coordinate Government review comments and oversee timely incorporation of required revisions into draft and final deliverables.
• Support development, implementation, and maintenance of ASCENSION’s contract-level Quality Control Plan.
• Perform quality-control reviews to reduce rejected deliverables, rework, missed deadlines, incomplete analyses, and inconsistent documentation.
• Develop monthly and ad hoc project or portfolio status information summarizing accomplishments, upcoming activities, milestones, risks, issues, decisions, and performance indicators.
• Monitor labor utilization and project resources against task-order budgets and planned hours.
• Coordinate staffing actions with ASCENSION leadership when workload changes, vacancies, absences, or emerging task-order requirements create resource needs.
• Maintain contract documentation, project artifacts, reports, Government comments, meeting records, approvals, and other official records in an organized and retrievable manner.
• Ensure contractor personnel appropriately identify themselves as contractor employees when interacting with Government personnel and follow applicable contract operating requirements.
• Maintain clear boundaries between contractor functions and inherently Government functions consistent with the PWS’s non-personal services requirements.
• Coordinate authorized travel requirements, when applicable, with ASCENSION and HUD before travel occurs.
• Support executive leadership with concise information and decision-ready recommendations rather than simply reporting project activity.
• Anticipate upcoming requirements and resource needs so ASCENSION and HUD leadership can address potential constraints before they affect mission delivery.
• Support transition-out planning, knowledge transfer, records disposition, and continuity activities when directed by the Contracting Officer.