Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced, mission-oriented Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) to support the New Hampshire National Guard's Military Readiness Support Services program. This individual will serve as Ascension's subject matter expert for nutritional readiness, performance nutrition, body-composition improvement, Medical Nutrition Therapy, and family nutrition education.

This is not a traditional food-service or hospital dietary-management position. The successful candidate will work directly with Service Members to improve their ability to meet military body-composition and readiness standards while also supporting the nutritional health of military families.

The New Hampshire National Guard consists of more than 2,900 geographically dispersed Soldiers and Airmen. The broader MRSS program is intended to strengthen financial, behavioral health, physical, and nutritional readiness so that Service Members remain operationally deployable while their families have access to an effective wellness support network.

Ascension is therefore looking for someone who combines strong clinical nutrition knowledge with the ability to coach, educate, motivate, document, analyze results, and translate nutrition science into realistic behavioral changes.

The ideal candidate is approachable yet accountable; comfortable counseling individuals who may have been formally referred because they failed military body-composition standards; capable of working independently with minimal day-to-day supervision; highly organized in managing multiple cases and deadlines; sensitive to confidentiality and protected health information; and able to communicate effectively with Service Members, family members, fitness professionals, program leadership, and military stakeholders.

Contractor Role Summary

The RDN will develop, implement, and manage the nutritional-readiness component of Ascension's support to NHNG. The PWS specifically requires a multi-tiered program consisting of mandatory remedial nutritional counseling for Service Members failing Army body-composition standards, proactive evidence-based nutrition education, and voluntary household nutrition planning for military families.

The RDN will conduct nutritional intake and needs assessments, develop individualized Body Composition “Get-Well” Plans, provide ongoing nutrition counseling, prepare household nutrition plans, deliver performance-nutrition education, participate in virtual and in-person wellness programming, produce weekly nutrition content, and provide data supporting monthly and quarterly readiness reporting.

The position directly contributes to NHNG's objective of improving body-composition compliance, Army Combat Fitness Test readiness, health behaviors, and overall force readiness.

Primary Day-to-Day / Recurring Responsibilities

• CONDUCT nutritional intake assessments for Service Members referred because of noncompliance with Army body-composition standards and initiate assessments within the PWS-required seven-business-day response period.
• DEVELOP individualized written Body Composition “Get-Well” Plans addressing dietary behaviors, performance fueling, weight-management strategies, and other evidence-based interventions supporting compliance with AR 600-9.
• PROVIDE continuous nutrition counseling and case-management support until official notification confirms that the Service Member has returned to body-composition compliance.
• DELIVER evidence-based Medical Nutrition Therapy and performance-nutrition interventions designed to improve health, body composition, and ACFT readiness.
• ASSESS nutritional needs of eligible Service Members, immediate family members, and eligible federal employees requesting voluntary nutrition assistance.
• CREATE customized Voluntary Household Nutrition Plans within ten business days of assessment, addressing practical meal planning, grocery shopping on a budget, healthy eating for children, and sustainable household dietary behaviors.
• DOCUMENT assessments, interventions, treatment plans, progress, and case activities accurately within Ascension's HIPAA-compliant treatment-note/case-management environment.
• EDUCATE Service Members on performance fueling, healthy weight management, hydration, recovery nutrition, meal preparation, and other evidence-based nutrition practices consistent with military readiness objectives.
• INTERPRET and apply AR 600-9, The Army Body Composition Program, and FM 7-22, Holistic Health and Fitness, when designing nutrition-readiness interventions.
• COORDINATE nutrition strategies with the Strength and Conditioning Coach/Exercise Specialist to ensure physical-readiness and nutritional-readiness interventions complement one another.
• DELIVER at least two virtual nutrition-coaching sessions per month as part of the joint decentralized virtual wellness community required under PWS Section 5.6.
• SUPPORT development and administration of the joint “Winning Programming” peer-recognition and wellness-engagement initiative.
• DEVELOP one nutrition-focused subject-matter-expert communication product each week for delivery to the Contract Manager, including performance-fueling tips, evidence-based nutrition information, healthy recipes, or Army Body Composition Program guidance.
• ALIGN educational and promotional content with current Army publications and Government-approved messaging.
• SUPPORT unit meetings, readiness events, wellness activities, and up to twelve standard NHNG drill weekends annually when nutrition support is scheduled by the Contract Manager and COR.
• TRAVEL to NHNG readiness centers, training facilities, and other approved locations when required to deliver in-person services.
• TRACK referrals, active cases, enrollment duration, case outcomes, successful returns to body-composition compliance, and other nutrition-readiness measures.
• PROVIDE accurate program data to Ascension's Contract Manager for Monthly Performance and Analytics Reports and Quarterly Readiness Impact Reports.
• MAINTAIN HIPAA, PII, DoD privacy, information-security, documentation, and records-management requirements when handling beneficiary information.
• COLLABORATE with Ascension's Contract Manager, Exercise Specialist, Mental Health Counselor, Financial Counselor, and other authorized NHNG stakeholders to support an integrated holistic-readiness program.

The PWS specifically requires monthly reporting of referral/intake measures, active remedial cases, enrollments, length of participation, successful “graduations” back to readiness compliance, noncompliance information, and outreach/engagement metrics.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced, independently licensed behavioral health clinician to provide direct, evidence-based mental health counseling in support of New Hampshire National Guard Service Members and their families.

This is not an administrative behavioral-health position. The selected clinician will be directly responsible for helping Service Members and military families address behavioral and emotional health conditions that can affect individual wellbeing, family stability, resilience, and ultimately military readiness. The clinician will provide individual counseling, family and relationship counseling, deployment and reintegration support, and limited counseling for children and adolescents. The PWS specifically identifies support for stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, family communication, and military-life transitions.

Ascension is looking for a clinician who combines strong therapeutic judgment with disciplined case management and documentation. The ideal candidate is empathetic but structured; comfortable exercising independent clinical judgment while operating within clearly defined Government processes; highly protective of client confidentiality; and capable of working with a geographically dispersed military population whose operational schedules may differ significantly from a traditional outpatient practice.

The successful candidate should be self-directed, dependable, responsive, detail-oriented, and skilled at balancing competing clinical priorities. This individual should be comfortable anticipating barriers to care, managing an active caseload, coordinating services, maintaining accurate documentation, adapting to military operational requirements, and communicating professionally with clients, Ascension management, and authorized Government personnel.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Licensed Mental Health Counselor supports the NHNG's broader Military Readiness Support Services program, whose mission is to improve financial, behavioral/emotional, physical, and nutritional readiness across approximately 2,900 Soldiers and Airmen and to extend support to their families. The PWS recognizes that geographically dispersed Guard personnel may not have routine access to installation-based services and therefore requires proactive, accessible support to sustain a ready and resilient force.

The clinician will provide direct therapeutic services to adult Service Members, spouses and other adult family members, couples, and—on a limited basis—children and adolescents. Individuals who are uninsured or cannot obtain timely behavioral-health care are specifically prioritized under the requirement.

The Government provides an estimated planning baseline of 30 active individual cases per month per provider. This is not a guaranteed minimum or maximum, but it demonstrates that the position is intended to carry a meaningful ongoing clinical caseload rather than serve only as an on-call referral resource. The Government expects the contractor to maximize direct in-house clinical care before recommending external referrals. External referrals may not be initiated without prior written approval from the COR.

Day-to-Day and Recurring Responsibilities

The selected clinician will:

• PROVIDE evidence-based individual mental health counseling to Service Members experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, adjustment challenges, and other behavioral-health concerns within the clinician's authorized scope of practice.
• DELIVER therapeutic support to military spouses, couples, and families addressing communication, relationship stress, deployment separation, reintegration, and military-lifestyle transitions.
• COUNSEL children and adolescents, when appropriate and within professional competency, regarding deployment-related stress, family transition, parental absence, and other military-family challenges.
• CONDUCT clinically appropriate intake, assessment, treatment planning, progress evaluation, and case-management activities.
• MANAGE an active clinical caseload while maintaining timely access to care and appropriate prioritization of Service Members and families who cannot otherwise obtain timely behavioral-health services.
• INITIATE client contact within required timelines following receipt of an authorized referral through the program's centralized intake system.
• DEVELOP individualized treatment plans and adjust interventions based upon documented client needs, treatment progress, risks, and clinical outcomes.
• DOCUMENT client encounters, treatment plans, progress notes, and relevant clinical information accurately and promptly.
• UTILIZE Government-furnished health/readiness information systems, including applicable MEDCHART components such as eCase and Health Readiness Record (HRR), as authorized.
• USE the contractor-provided HIPAA-compliant case-management/treatment-note platform for required clinical encounter, treatment-plan, and progress tracking.
• PROTECT PHI and PII in strict accordance with HIPAA, DoD, NHNG, information-security, and privacy requirements.
• MONITOR individual case progress, treatment effectiveness, continued service needs, and clinical capacity.
• IDENTIFY situations in which internal clinical capacity has been exhausted and prepare a formal recommendation for external referral when clinically necessary.
• COORDINATE referral recommendations through Ascension and the COR rather than independently initiating an external referral when Government authorization is required.
• SUPPORT military-family resiliency initiatives, wellness activities, outreach events, and behavioral-health educational programming when appropriate.
• PARTICIPATE in scheduled NHNG meetings, organizational events, unit activities, and selected drill-weekend support when required.
• COLLABORATE with Ascension's Contract Manager and other readiness professionals while preserving clinical confidentiality and appropriate professional boundaries.
• CONTRIBUTE aggregated and de-identified workload information needed for monthly program performance reporting without improperly disclosing protected client information.
• MAINTAIN complete, accurate, auditable, and secure clinical records consistent with applicable professional standards and contractual requirements.
• SUPPORT continuity-of-care and transition activities, including appropriate warm handoffs and secure transfer of clinical records when required.
• COMPLY with applicable installation-access, cybersecurity, privacy, OPSEC, identification, and Government system-use requirements.

The PWS expressly requires the use of Government systems for treatment documentation/readiness information and requires all data handling to comply with HIPAA, DoD, and NHNG privacy/security standards. The contractor must also operate a HIPAA-compliant treatment-note system and centralized client referral/intake system.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced Certified Financial Planner (CFP) or Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) to serve as a Financial Readiness Counselor supporting the New Hampshire National Guard's Military Readiness Support Services program.

This is not a traditional corporate finance, accounting, or investment-sales position. The successful candidate will work directly with Service Members and their Families to strengthen their financial readiness and reduce financial stressors that can affect personal, family, and military readiness.

The New Hampshire National Guard consists of approximately 2,900 Soldiers and Airmen geographically dispersed throughout the state. The Military Readiness Support Services program is intended to improve holistic readiness by providing proactive financial, behavioral health, physical fitness, and nutritional support to Service Members and their Families.

Ascension is therefore seeking a financial professional who combines technical financial-planning expertise with the ability to counsel, educate, coach, present, and build trust with military members and families at different stages of their careers and lives.

The ideal candidate is personable, highly organized, discreet, service-oriented, comfortable working independently, and able to translate complicated financial and federal/military benefit concepts into practical recommendations that clients can understand and implement.

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3. Summary of the Contractor Role

The Financial Readiness Counselor will provide individual, family, group, and organizational financial-readiness support to New Hampshire National Guard Service Members, military spouses, and Families.

The position will help clients understand and manage household budgets, debt, savings, military compensation and entitlements, retirement benefits, education benefits, civilian/military employment transitions, deployment-related finances, and longer-term financial goals.

The role is considerably broader than individual counseling. The PWS also requires financial education products and presentations covering TSP, FERS/OPM retirement, AGR retirement, Social Security, state and federal education benefits, recruiting-related financial education, retirement planning, deployment finances, SCRA, SDP, USERRA, FEHB, TRICARE, and military pay and entitlements.

The individual must therefore be equally comfortable working one-on-one with a financially distressed Service Member, presenting to a room of newly enlisted Soldiers, educating retirees, briefing a deploying unit, and helping Ascension develop high-quality financial education content.

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4. What You Will Do

The Financial Readiness Counselor is expected to:

• Conduct confidential one-on-one financial readiness counseling for Service Members, military spouses, and eligible family members.
• Assess individual and household financial circumstances, including income, expenses, debt obligations, savings, benefits, financial vulnerabilities, and short- and long-term goals.
• Develop practical household budgets, debt-management strategies, savings plans, and personalized financial action plans.
• Educate Service Members and Families regarding military pay and entitlements, including Basic Allowance for Housing and family separation allowances.
• Counsel newly enlisted Soldiers on basic budgeting, military pay, entitlement changes associated with initial entry training, introductory TSP concepts, and avoidance of predatory financial products such as high-interest automobile loans.
• Explain the Thrift Savings Plan, including fundamentals, contribution limits, investment considerations, and retirement withdrawal strategies.
• Advise Dual-Status Federal Technicians regarding Federal Employees Retirement System/Office of Personnel Management retirement considerations.
• Explain Active Guard Reserve retirement calculations and processes.
• Integrate Social Security considerations with military, federal civilian, and other retirement benefits.
• Educate Service Members and Families about education benefits, including the New Hampshire State Tuition Waiver, Federal Tuition Assistance, the GI Bill, and transfer of eligible benefits to dependents.
• Provide financial education to prospective recruits and their Families concerning National Guard compensation, healthcare savings, benefits, and the potential economic advantages associated with military service.
• Develop financial-readiness presentations, job aids, handouts, educational materials, and other resources tailored to different military audiences.
• Develop and support the Government-required Financial, Benefit, and Recruiting Video Series, including financial education modules suitable for digital distribution.
• Deliver targeted Recruit Sustainment Program financial-readiness briefings for newly enlisted Soldiers, particularly individuals approximately 18–24 years of age.
• Prepare and present financial-readiness content at two centralized NHNG retirement seminars each contract year.
• Conduct Pre-Deployment and Post-Deployment Financial Readiness Briefings when requested by the Government.
• Educate deploying and returning Service Members regarding the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, Savings Deposit Program, tax-free combat entitlements, and healthcare-benefit transitions.
• Counsel Dual-Status Federal Technicians and traditional M-Day Service Members regarding the financial impact of mobilization on civilian employment.
• Explain USERRA protections, military-leave considerations, and transitions between FEHB and TRICARE coverage during Title 10 and Title 32 activation periods.
• Respond to assigned client referrals within established contractual response requirements.
• Document client engagement, status, services, and required program information accurately and securely.
• Protect Personally Identifiable Information and other sensitive client information in accordance with DoD and contractual privacy requirements.
• Utilize Ascension's secure referral, intake, and case-management processes to document client interactions and support program metrics.
• Track caseload, referral, engagement, and service information necessary to support monthly and quarterly program analytics.
• Contribute financial-readiness data and narrative information needed for Ascension's Monthly Performance and Analytics Reports and other Government deliverables.
• Coordinate with Ascension's Contract Manager and other readiness professionals to ensure integrated support across the financial, behavioral-health, physical-fitness, and nutritional-readiness domains.
• Participate in Government, program, unit, and interdisciplinary meetings when appropriate.
• Support up to twelve scheduled NHNG drill weekends per contract year when financial-readiness services are required.
• Travel to NHNG readiness centers, training locations, unit events, and other locations throughout New Hampshire as required.

The PWS specifically requires the Financial Education Video Series within 90 days of contract award and evaluates timely delivery of major program deliverables through the Performance Requirements Summary.

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5. Tools, Systems, and Processes

Contractually Relevant Systems/Processes

The employee should be prepared to work within:

• Ascension's secure client referral and intake system
• Ascension's HIPAA-compliant case-management environment
• Government-approved secure communication methods
• Government SharePoint environment, as authorized
• Government-furnished IT equipment and systems, when access is authorized
• DoD information-security, privacy, PII, OPSEC, and acceptable-use requirements

The PWS requires the Contractor to maintain centralized HIPAA-compliant referral/intake and case-management capabilities and requires client contact within seven business days of formal referral.

Expected Productivity Tools

For recruiting purposes, I would also include:

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft SharePoint
• Financial planning/calculation tools
• Presentation and virtual-meeting technologies
• Digital/video-content development tools

The exact commercial financial-planning software is not specified by the PWS, so I would not require a particular vendor platform in the posting.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced Contract Manager / Program Manager to lead the corporate-level management, coordination, quality assurance, workforce oversight, and Government interface for a multi-disciplinary Military Readiness Support Services program supporting the New Hampshire National Guard.

The ideal candidate is an experienced federal program or contract management professional capable of managing a distributed team of highly specialized professionals supporting financial readiness, behavioral health, physical readiness, and nutritional readiness services for Soldiers, Airmen, and their families.

This individual serves as Ascension's primary operational interface with the Government Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) and is responsible for ensuring that contractual obligations, staffing requirements, schedules, deliverables, reporting requirements, security processes, and quality standards remain on track.

The position requires someone who can operate independently with significant professional judgment. The individual should be organized, responsive, comfortable managing multiple disciplines simultaneously, and capable of identifying potential performance, staffing, compliance, or schedule problems before they affect contract performance.

This is not intended to be a full-time on-site Program Manager position. The PWS specifically establishes the management function as corporate-level oversight performed by the Contract Manager and supporting corporate staff.

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Summary of the Contractor Role

The Contract Manager / Program Manager will have authority to act for Ascension on matters concerning the daily operation of the contract and will work through the COR to resolve issues, receive technical instructions, and ensure adequate contract performance. Ascension must also designate an alternate Contract Manager.

The role oversees an interdisciplinary workforce delivering specialized readiness services across geographically dispersed NHNG locations. The Contract Manager is responsible for coordinating personnel availability, maintaining continuity of services, supporting up to twelve annual drill weekends, monitoring performance against the Quality Control Plan, coordinating Government-required deliverables, managing risks and issues, and ensuring appropriate reporting and communication with the COR.

A major responsibility is integrating the work of the individual Subject Matter Experts rather than personally performing clinical, financial, nutrition, or fitness services. For example, the PWS specifically requires the CM to aggregate weekly SME content and provide it to the COR for approval and dissemination.

The Contract Manager will also coordinate development and maintenance of the broader program infrastructure, including the Program Architecture Package, SOPs, intake/tracking processes, training curricula, outreach programming, reporting processes, quality controls, and contract transition activities. Section 5.1 requires the management function to maintain contract compliance, quality control, and strategic alignment with NHNG leadership.

This role is especially important under this Firm-Fixed-Price engagement because Ascension is responsible for efficiently managing its workforce and resources while meeting all PWS performance standards. The solicitation identifies the direct service CLINs as FFP.

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Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

The Contract Manager / Program Manager will:

• SERVE as Ascension's primary operational point of contact with the Government COR for contract performance matters.
• MANAGE the daily administration and overall execution of the Military Readiness Support Services program.
• COORDINATE a multi-disciplinary workforce consisting of financial readiness, mental health, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and supporting program personnel.
• SCHEDULE personnel and allocate workforce coverage to support Government priorities, client demand, unit events, meetings, and up to twelve annual NHNG drill weekends.
• MONITOR staffing levels to maintain workforce continuity and uninterrupted service delivery.
• DEVELOP, IMPLEMENT, AND MAINTAIN the contract Quality Control Plan and associated procedures for identifying, correcting, and preventing recurrence of performance deficiencies.
• REVIEW contractor work products, reports, correspondence, outreach materials, and other deliverables for completeness, accuracy, timeliness, and contractual compliance before Government submission.
• TRACK contract performance measures, service levels, schedules, deliverables, risks, issues, corrective actions, and Government-directed action items.
• COORDINATE preparation of the Program Architecture Package required within 30 days following contract award, including SOPs, required forms, tracking processes, and training curricula.
• LEAD preparation and annual maintenance of the Marketing and Programming Plan required under PWS Section 5.1.3.
• AGGREGATE weekly content prepared by program SMEs and submit the consolidated materials to the COR for Government approval.
• COORDINATE the collection, validation, and consolidation of performance information needed for monthly and quarterly reporting.
• FACILITATE recurring contract status, performance, planning, and problem-resolution meetings.
• IDENTIFY staffing, schedule, compliance, quality, security, data protection, and operational risks before they affect contract performance.
• DEVELOP mitigation and corrective-action strategies and monitor them through closure.
• COORDINATE employee onboarding, required Government access processes, mandatory training, CAC-related activities where applicable, and workforce readiness prior to assignment.
• MONITOR completion of PSIP/e-QIP, installation-access, CAC/TASS, OPSEC, Antiterrorism, Information Assurance, and related personnel requirements where applicable.
• ENSURE appropriate handling and protection of PII, PHI, Government information, contract-generated data, intellectual property, and Government-furnished equipment.
• COORDINATE required local and non-local travel and ensure necessary Government approvals, Trip Reports, and travel-funding controls are followed.
• TRACK travel CLIN execution and elevate funding status when required.
• ATTEND post-award conferences and periodic Government performance meetings.
• RESOLVE performance concerns and outstanding issues raised by the Government.
• COORDINATE phase-out activities, including transition planning, data turnover, Government property disposition, and continuity of services at contract completion.

The PWS places significant responsibility on the contractor for QC, workforce continuity, Government coordination, security administration, and transition management.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced IT Cost Estimator / Pricing and Quality Assurance Analyst to support federal information technology acquisition initiatives by developing accurate, defensible cost estimates and ensuring the quality, completeness, and traceability of acquisition documentation.

The ideal candidate is a detail-oriented federal acquisition professional with demonstrated experience translating complex IT requirements into lifecycle cost models, Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCEs), Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analyses, pricing structures, and acquisition-ready documentation.

This role is critical to helping federal customers make informed investment decisions by ensuring proposed technology solutions are financially viable, acquisition-ready, compliant with federal requirements, and supported by transparent cost analysis.

The successful candidate should have expertise in federal IT acquisitions, cost estimating methodologies, procurement documentation review, and quality assurance processes. The candidate should be comfortable working independently, analyzing ambiguous technical requirements, identifying cost drivers, and developing recommendations that support mission-critical technology modernization efforts.

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Summary of Contractor Role

The IT Cost Estimator / Pricing and Quality Assurance Analyst will provide specialized acquisition, financial analysis, and quality assurance support for federal IT modernization initiatives.

The contractor will support the development of procurement-ready documentation by performing lifecycle cost analysis, developing IGCEs, evaluating licensing and hosting costs, analyzing migration and implementation expenses, recommending Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) structures, and validating acquisition documentation for accuracy, completeness, and consistency.

This role supports federal customers transitioning from legacy/manual processes toward modern technology capabilities by ensuring acquisition strategies are supported by realistic cost assumptions and defensible financial models.

The successful candidate will:

• Analyze technical requirements and translate them into cost estimates.
• Develop cost models supporting COTS, SaaS, cloud, and enterprise technology solutions.
• Assess acquisition documentation for completeness and consistency.
• Support requirements traceability and quality reviews.
• Identify cost risks, assumptions, dependencies, and potential acquisition challenges.
• Provide recommendations to improve procurement outcomes.

The candidate should demonstrate strong analytical judgment, excellent written communication skills, and the ability to work collaboratively with acquisition professionals, program managers, technical stakeholders, and government leadership.

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Position Responsibilities / Expected Activities

The contractor will:

• Develop lifecycle cost estimates, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) models, and cost comparison analyses for federal IT modernization initiatives.
• Prepare and validate Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCEs) supporting acquisition planning and procurement activities.
• Analyze software licensing, subscription models, cloud hosting costs, infrastructure requirements, implementation costs, and sustainment costs.
• Evaluate Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and hybrid technology solutions to identify lifecycle financial impacts.
• Develop cost assumptions, estimating methodologies, pricing models, and supporting documentation.
• Recommend Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) structures aligned with acquisition strategy and anticipated vendor pricing models.
• Review acquisition documentation including:
  • Statements of Work (SOWs)
  • Performance Work Statements (PWS)
  • Requirements documents
  • Evaluation criteria
  • Acquisition strategies
  • Market research reports
• Perform quality assurance reviews to validate:
  • Requirement traceability
  • Documentation completeness
  • Internal consistency
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Accuracy of cost assumptions
• Support Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) reviews by validating alignment between requirements, deliverables, and estimated costs.
• Identify cost risks, pricing uncertainties, and acquisition challenges.
• Provide recommendations to improve affordability, procurement strategy, and contract structure.
• Support program managers and acquisition teams during technical reviews, stakeholder discussions, and acquisition planning sessions.
• Prepare executive-level briefings, cost analysis summaries, and decision-support materials.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced Adjudication, Records, and FOIA Domain Subject Matter Expert (SME) to support the modernization of Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) mission-critical information systems supporting adjudication workflows, electronic filing (e-filing), records management, electronic reading room capabilities, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case processing.

The ideal candidate is a highly experienced federal legal operations, records management, FOIA, or case management professional who understands how government agencies manage legally sensitive information, public access requirements, document repositories, workflow routing, and regulatory compliance obligations.

This role is critical to helping FMC transition from manual and semi-manual processes—including email submissions, spreadsheets, shared drives, Word/PDF documents, paper records, and legacy repository processes—into modern, acquisition-ready technology solutions. The SME will provide the business and functional expertise necessary to define requirements for future Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or configurable technology solutions.

The successful candidate should bring demonstrated experience translating complex legal, regulatory, records, and operational processes into clear functional requirements, workflows, business rules, and acquisition documentation.

This position is ideal for a professional who enjoys solving complex government mission challenges, facilitating discussions with stakeholders, analyzing operational inefficiencies, and designing practical technology-enabled solutions.

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Summary of Contractor Role

The Adjudication, Records, and FOIA Domain SME will provide subject matter expertise supporting Ascension’s requirements development effort for FMC’s modernization initiative covering:

• e-Filing and adjudication workflow capabilities;
• Case management processes;
• Notation voting workflows;
• Electronic reading room/public access capabilities;
• Records repository modernization;
• FOIA intake, tracking, review, processing, and disclosure workflows.

The SME will support Ascension’s team in developing RFQ-ready procurement requirements packages by analyzing FMC’s current-state processes, identifying operational gaps, documenting business needs, and defining future-state functional requirements.

The position requires an individual who understands:

• Federal adjudicatory processes;
• Legal case management workflows;
• FOIA processing requirements;
• Federal records management practices;
• Document lifecycle management;
• Metadata structures;
• Search and retrieval requirements;
• Public/private document access controls;
• Redaction workflows;
• Repository migration considerations.

The SME will support the development of:

• Functional requirements matrices;
• Non-functional requirements;
• Workflow documentation;
• Business process maps;
• Requirements Traceability Matrices (RTMs);
• System gap analyses;
• Acquisition documentation;
• COTS/SaaS solution evaluations;
• Security, privacy, records, and compliance requirements.

The role requires a detail-oriented professional who can operate independently, communicate effectively with government stakeholders, and convert complex business processes into structured acquisition requirements.

Ascension’s experience supporting federal modernization initiatives includes requirements analysis, business process improvement, workflow automation, SharePoint/document management solutions, data governance, and mission support services for agencies including DHS/FPS, DOE/CESER, and FEMA. Ascension has supported federal clients with requirements development, process improvement, data governance, SharePoint solutions, analytics, and automation initiatives.

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Key Responsibilities and Expected Activities

The contractor will:

• Analyze existing adjudication, records management, FOIA, and case management processes to identify operational challenges, inefficiencies, and modernization opportunities.
• Conduct stakeholder interviews and discovery sessions with legal, administrative, records, IT, and mission offices.
• Document current-state workflows, including:
  • Intake processes;
  • Review and approval workflows;
  • Document routing;
  • Case assignment;
  • Status tracking;
  • Records retention;
  • Public disclosure processes.
• Define future-state business processes and technology-enabled workflows.
• Develop functional requirements for:
  • E-filing solutions;
  • Adjudication/case management systems;
  • Records repositories;
  • FOIA management systems;
  • Electronic reading room solutions.
• Identify requirements related to:
  • Case lifecycle management;
  • Document version control;
  • Audit trails;
  • Search capabilities;
  • Metadata management;
  • Retention schedules;
  • Access permissions;
  • Redaction capabilities.
• Support development of requirements packages for COTS/SaaS solutions.
• Evaluate solution capabilities against business needs, including:
  • Configurability;
  • Workflow automation;
  • Integration capabilities;
  • Data migration requirements;
  • Security controls.
• Assist in developing Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) inputs by providing domain expertise related to legal, records, and FOIA operational needs.
• Review and validate:
  • Functional requirements;
  • Business rules;
  • Process maps;
  • Requirements Traceability Matrices.
• Participate in technical discussions regarding:
  • Records repositories;
  • Laserfiche migration considerations;
  • Public/private access models;
  • Electronic document management.
• Provide subject matter input into acquisition documentation, including:
  • Statements of Work (SOWs);
  • Performance Work Statements (PWS);
  • Evaluation criteria;
  • Requirements documentation.
• Support quality reviews to ensure requirements accurately reflect mission needs.
• Participate in government review sessions and incorporate stakeholder feedback.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced COTS/SaaS Solution, Integration and Cybersecurity Architect to support a mission-critical federal information technology modernization effort. The ideal candidate will serve as the technical authority responsible for defining solution architecture requirements, evaluating commercial technology solutions, and ensuring proposed COTS/SaaS platforms satisfy federal security, privacy, interoperability, scalability, accessibility, and operational requirements.

This role is critical to helping the client transition from legacy/manual business processes to modern, secure, commercially available technology solutions. The successful candidate will bridge business needs and technical capabilities by translating mission requirements into acquisition-ready technical specifications, evaluating solution alternatives, and identifying technical risks associated with cloud adoption, SaaS configuration, integrations, cybersecurity compliance, and vendor dependencies.

The ideal candidate is a strategic, detail-oriented technology professional who understands federal IT modernization, cloud acquisition, cybersecurity frameworks, and enterprise architecture principles. The candidate should be comfortable operating in an environment requiring independent analysis, stakeholder engagement, technical decision-making, and the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and executive audiences.

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Summary of Contractor Role

The COTS/SaaS Solution, Integration and Cybersecurity Architect will support the development of RFQ-ready requirements packages for commercial technology solutions by defining technical, cybersecurity, integration, and operational requirements.

The Architect will support activities including:

• Defining solution architecture requirements for COTS and SaaS-based platforms.
• Developing technical requirements related to:
  • Performance
  • Availability
  • Scalability
  • Security
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility
  • Hosting
  • APIs
  • Identity and access management
  • Integration/interoperability
  • Configuration and customization
  • Vendor lock-in risks
• Supporting Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) activities evaluating:
  • COTS solutions
  • SaaS platforms
  • Configurable solutions
  • Shared services
  • Hybrid architectures
  • FedRAMP-authorized cloud solutions
• Assessing cybersecurity requirements aligned with:
  • FedRAMP
  • NIST cybersecurity guidance
  • Federal security and privacy requirements
• Supporting acquisition documentation including:
  • Technical requirements matrices
  • System requirements documentation
  • Integration requirements
  • Cybersecurity requirements
  • Technical evaluation criteria
  • Risk assessments

The role requires a professional who can analyze complex enterprise environments, identify technical constraints, recommend practical solutions, and produce clear documentation that enables successful federal technology acquisitions.

The position supports Ascension's demonstrated capabilities in business systems analysis, requirements management, data governance, technology integration, SharePoint/Power Platform solutions, cybersecurity-aware process modernization, and federal acquisition support. Ascension's experience includes supporting DHS Federal Protective Service modernization initiatives involving requirements development, SharePoint migration, data governance, analytics, automation, and technology solutions.

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Position Responsibilities / Expected Activities

The contractor will:

• Analyze mission and business requirements to define technical solution needs for COTS/SaaS implementations.
• Develop functional and nonfunctional technical requirements covering security, performance, scalability, availability, accessibility, and interoperability.
• Evaluate commercial technology solutions and SaaS platforms against federal mission requirements.
• Define enterprise integration requirements including APIs, data exchanges, authentication, authorization, and system interfaces.
• Assess cloud hosting models, including SaaS, hybrid cloud, and FedRAMP-authorized solutions.
• Develop technical inputs for Analysis of Alternatives (AoA), including solution comparisons, technical feasibility assessments, and risk evaluations.
• Identify cybersecurity and privacy requirements necessary to protect sensitive federal information.
• Assess security controls and compliance considerations aligned with NIST frameworks and federal cybersecurity practices.
• Analyze vendor capabilities, configuration options, customization requirements, and potential vendor lock-in concerns.
• Develop technical documentation supporting RFQ-ready acquisition packages.
• Create requirements traceability matrices linking mission needs to technical requirements.
• Collaborate with business analysts, acquisition professionals, cybersecurity specialists, and government stakeholders.
• Facilitate technical discussions and discovery sessions with program offices and system owners.
• Review technical deliverables for completeness, accuracy, and compliance.
• Recommend mitigation strategies for technical, cybersecurity, integration, and implementation risks.
• Support executive briefings by translating technical findings into clear recommendations.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced Lead Business Analyst / Requirements Engineering Lead who can support a federal agency’s modernization initiatives by transforming complex business challenges into clear, actionable, acquisition-ready IT requirements.

The ideal candidate is a highly analytical, detail-oriented professional who understands how federal organizations define mission needs, evaluate technology solutions, and prepare documentation to support competitive procurements. This individual will serve as the bridge between business stakeholders, technical teams, acquisition professionals, and leadership by facilitating discovery sessions, documenting current-state operations, identifying process improvements, developing requirements, and ensuring all requirements are traceable and validated.

This role is critical to the success of the FMC modernization effort because the candidate will help define the foundation for future enterprise systems supporting:

• Electronic filing and adjudication/case management
• Public electronic reading room capabilities
• Enterprise records repository modernization
• FOIA case management capabilities

The successful candidate will bring strong Federal IT business analysis experience, exceptional documentation skills, and the ability to operate independently in a stakeholder-driven environment where requirements must be accurate, complete, and procurement-ready.

Candidates who excel in this role are:

• Strategic thinkers who can understand mission objectives beyond individual requirements
• Strong communicators comfortable engaging executives, attorneys, program offices, and technical personnel
• Organized professionals capable of managing multiple priorities and complex documentation efforts
• Skilled at identifying gaps, risks, dependencies, and opportunities for process improvement
• Comfortable working independently with limited supervision while maintaining high-quality deliverables

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Summary of Contractor Role

The Lead Business Analyst / Requirements, RTM, and Documentation Lead will support Ascension’s delivery of comprehensive requirements development services for FMC’s future information technology acquisitions.

The position will lead requirements discovery activities, including stakeholder interviews, process analysis, workflow reviews, system inventory assessments, and documentation of current-state challenges. The individual will analyze business processes and translate operational needs into structured functional, non-functional, security, integration, reporting, data migration, and compliance requirements.

The contractor will develop and maintain Requirements Traceability Matrices (RTMs), support Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) activities, assist with acquisition documentation development, and prepare RFQ-ready requirements packages.

Key outputs include:

• Functional requirements matrices
• Non-functional requirements documentation
• System workflow documentation
• Current-state and gap analyses
• Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
• Acquisition support documentation
• Performance requirements documentation
• Evaluation criteria recommendations
• Technical documentation delivered in editable and PDF formats

The role requires strong knowledge of Federal IT acquisitions, requirements management methodologies, business process analysis, and documentation standards. The contractor will support FMC stakeholders across multiple offices, including legal, adjudication, information technology, records management, and executive offices.

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Expected Position Activities

The contractor will:

• Lead discovery sessions with FMC stakeholders to understand mission processes, operational challenges, and future-state objectives.
• Conduct stakeholder interviews and working sessions with business owners, program offices, legal stakeholders, and technical personnel.
• Analyze existing workflows, processes, systems, repositories, and operational practices.
• Develop current-state process maps and future-state requirements models.
• Document system inventories, workflow dependencies, interfaces, and operational pain points.
• Translate stakeholder needs into detailed functional and non-functional IT requirements.
• Develop requirements matrices covering:
  • Functional capabilities
  • Security requirements
  • Privacy requirements
  • Performance requirements
  • Availability requirements
  • Scalability requirements
  • Integration requirements
  • Reporting requirements
  • Audit requirements
  • Data migration requirements
• Develop and maintain Requirements Traceability Matrices (RTMs) ensuring requirements are complete, measurable, and traceable.
• Support Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) activities by evaluating:
  • Commercial solutions
  • COTS/SaaS alternatives
  • Hosting approaches
  • Integration considerations
  • Lifecycle cost considerations
  • Technical risks
• Support development of acquisition documentation, including:
  • Statements of Work (SOWs)
  • Performance Work Statements (PWS)
  • Evaluation criteria recommendations
  • IGCE support documentation
  • Acquisition risk documentation
• Facilitate Government review cycles and incorporate stakeholder feedback.
• Prepare professional-quality technical documentation using Microsoft Office tools.
• Ensure deliverables comply with Federal documentation standards and Section 508 accessibility requirements.
• Participate in project meetings, technical discussions, and executive briefings.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced Program Manager / Senior Federal Acquisition Lead to support a federal mission partner in developing acquisition-ready requirements packages for complex information technology (IT) modernization initiatives. The ideal candidate is a seasoned federal acquisition professional who understands how to translate mission needs, business challenges, and technology objectives into clear, compliant, and executable procurement documentation.

This role is designed for a professional who can bridge the gap between mission stakeholders, acquisition professionals, and technical teams by leading requirements discovery, facilitating stakeholder engagement, developing acquisition documentation, and ensuring federal procurement packages are complete, traceable, and aligned with applicable regulations.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience supporting federal IT acquisitions, including developing Statements of Work (SOWs), Performance Work Statements (PWSs), Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCEs), acquisition strategies, evaluation criteria, market research documentation, requirements traceability matrices, and risk assessments.

The position requires a proactive, detail-oriented professional capable of managing multiple workstreams, coordinating with senior government stakeholders, and delivering high-quality acquisition artifacts within aggressive timelines.

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Summary of Contractor Role

The Program Manager / Senior Federal Acquisition Lead will provide program management and acquisition lifecycle support for federal IT modernization efforts. The contractor will lead structured discovery activities, conduct stakeholder interviews, analyze business processes, document operational requirements, and develop RFQ-ready acquisition packages.

The role supports the customer by transforming complex organizational needs into well-defined procurement documentation that enables successful acquisition of commercial solutions. The contractor will support requirements development for mission-critical systems, ensuring requirements are complete, measurable, traceable, and aligned with federal acquisition regulations, cybersecurity requirements, accessibility standards, and agency policies.

The ideal candidate will:

• Possess deep knowledge of the federal acquisition lifecycle.
• Understand how to develop acquisition documentation for complex IT solutions.
• Demonstrate strong facilitation and stakeholder management skills.
• Be comfortable working independently with minimal supervision.
• Have the ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining quality standards.
• Apply structured methodologies for requirements engineering, documentation, review, and quality assurance.

This position directly supports Ascension’s core capabilities in strategic advisory services, acquisition lifecycle management, program management, requirements analysis, business process improvement, data-driven decision support, and technology modernization.

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Position Responsibilities / Day-to-Day Activities

The contractor will:

• Lead acquisition planning activities supporting federal IT modernization initiatives.
• Manage project schedules, milestones, risks, dependencies, and stakeholder coordination activities.
• Facilitate discovery sessions, interviews, workshops, and requirements gathering meetings with government stakeholders.
• Analyze current-state business processes, workflows, systems, and operational challenges.
• Develop comprehensive requirements documentation supporting competitive federal procurements.
• Create functional and non-functional requirements matrices, requirements traceability matrices (RTMs), and business process documentation.
• Draft acquisition documentation including:
  • Statements of Work (SOWs)
  • Performance Work Statements (PWSs)
  • Performance Requirement Summaries
  • Evaluation criteria recommendations
  • Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCEs)
  • Acquisition strategy documentation
  • CLIN structure recommendations
  • Acquisition risk assessments
• Conduct market research and analyze commercial solution alternatives.
• Evaluate solution options including COTS, SaaS, hybrid, and cloud-based approaches.
• Assess technical, operational, security, integration, and vendor risks.
• Coordinate reviews with government stakeholders and incorporate feedback into final deliverables.
• Ensure acquisition documentation aligns with:
  • FAR requirements
  • Federal IT acquisition practices
  • Section 508 accessibility requirements
  • FISMA and NIST cybersecurity considerations
  • Federal records management requirements
• Track project performance, issues, risks, and action items.
• Prepare executive briefings, status reports, decision papers, and acquisition updates.
• Support quality assurance reviews to ensure deliverables are complete, accurate, and procurement-ready.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking a highly experienced Senior Human Resources Classification Specialist / Position Classification Specialist to provide specialized Human Resources classification support to U.S. Embassy and Consulate operations throughout the Department of State's East Asia/Pacific region.

This is a highly specialized position requiring an HR classification professional who already understands the Department of State overseas HR environment and can independently perform position classification work at the full-performance level upon entry on duty.

The successful candidate must have previously served in at least one of the following capacities and must have gained qualifying Human Resources experience while supporting a U.S. Embassy or Consulate overseas:

• Former U.S. Civil Service employee;
• Former Foreign Service employee;
• Former Employed Family Member (EFM), including EPAP;
• Former Locally Employed (LE) Staff member.

Experience supporting an Embassy solely as a contractor does not satisfy this eligibility requirement.

The ideal candidate brings direct, hands-on experience conducting overseas position evaluations using MClass, analyzing position descriptions, conducting desk audits and fact-finding interviews, applying Department of State classification standards, completing JF-298 documentation, and advising supervisors and HR professionals regarding position classification and organizational structure.

Because the Government requires only one Classification Specialist to perform the work and does not permit personnel substitutions during contract performance, Ascension is seeking an individual who can provide sustained availability, continuity, sound professional judgment, and dependable performance throughout the engagement.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Human Resources Classification Specialist will provide end-to-end position classification support for Locally Employed Staff positions across U.S. Embassies and Consulates in the East Asia/Pacific region.

The specialist will review new and revised position descriptions, evaluate duties and responsibilities against applicable classification standards, conduct interviews with supervisors and incumbents, complete MClass evaluations, validate classification findings with Embassy personnel, complete JF-298 documentation, maintain classification records, update organizational information, prepare classification metrics, and advise management regarding organizational and position-management issues.

The role also requires the development and delivery of classification training, job aids, help sheets, Standard Operating Procedures, presentations, and other guidance materials for HR professionals, managers, supervisors, and Post Classification Advisors.

The selected professional should be analytical, detail-oriented, organized, responsive, and comfortable operating independently in a geographically dispersed environment. The individual must be able to work effectively across different Embassy operating hours and time zones while managing approximately 90 position evaluations annually across as many as 47 EAP posts.

The specialist will use Department of State systems and Government-Furnished Equipment to perform the work and must be comfortable managing sensitive personnel information, interpreting classification regulations and procedures, and explaining complex classification decisions to stakeholders with varying levels of HR expertise.

Primary Responsibilities and Anticipated Activities

• REVIEW new and revised position descriptions for completeness, accuracy, regulatory compliance, and conformity with Department of State classification standards.
• EVALUATE Locally Employed Staff positions using the Department of State MClass evaluation system.
• ANALYZE position functions, organizational relationships, reporting structures, workflows, duties, responsibilities, and classification factors.
• DISTRIBUTE AND REVIEW Job Discussion Help Sheets (JDHS) completed by jobholders and supervisors to identify areas requiring additional clarification.
• FORMULATE classification questions and identify additional information required to conduct complete and defensible position evaluations.
• CONDUCT desk audits, fact-finding sessions, and in-depth interviews with supervisors, managers, incumbents, HR personnel, and other appropriate stakeholders.
• COMPLETE MClass job evaluation questionnaires based on position descriptions, JDHS information, interview findings, organizational context, and applicable classification standards.
• VERIFY AND VALIDATE classification evaluations with Government personnel and provide MClass job reports for review and certification.
• REVISE MClass evaluations, when appropriate, in coordination with Embassy HR offices and other Government stakeholders.
• COMPLETE the JF-298 Interagency Post Employee Position Description Form, including official title, post title, occupational series code, and grade resulting from the MClass evaluation.
• ADVISE Embassy management, supervisors, and HR personnel regarding Locally Employed Staff position evaluation regulations, classification procedures, effective position descriptions, and sound organizational structures.
• ASSIST supervisors and HR staff in developing and improving position descriptions and identifying appropriate documentation necessary to support classification actions.
• ASSESS organizational structures and position requirements to identify potential position-management, organizational-design, or resource-allocation issues.
• PREPARE written justifications supporting additional resources, changed positions, or abolished positions, as required.
• MAINTAIN a master schedule for periodic position reviews and classification actions.
• MAINTAIN AND UPDATE position-description information within Department of State Locally Employed Staff personnel systems and classification files.
• PREPARE AND UPDATE computerized organizational charts and supporting organizational documentation.
• DEVELOP classification statistics, program metrics, trend analyses, discussion papers, ad hoc reports, and other management information.
• DEVELOP training presentations, course materials, agendas, manuals, help sheets, Standard Operating Procedures, and reference materials related to position classification.
• DELIVER individual and group training on classification topics such as Writing Effective Position Descriptions and Establishing Sound Organizational Structures at Posts.
• IDENTIFY emerging training requirements and coordinate with regional evaluators and HR personnel to address classification knowledge gaps.
• ASSESS the effectiveness and suitability of training courses and recommend improvements when appropriate.
• COORDINATE virtually with Embassy personnel using Microsoft Teams and other Department of State collaboration systems.
• SUPPORT approximately 90 anticipated position evaluations annually across Embassy and Consulate locations within the East Asia/Pacific region.
• TRAVEL to Bangkok, Thailand and/or other EAP locations when authorized to support training, certification, or onsite position-evaluation activities.
• PROTECT sensitive, personnel, proprietary, and Government information and comply with all applicable nondisclosure, privacy, Department of State, and U.S. Government requirements.

Ascension is seeking an experienced Senior Data, Performance, Evaluation & Strategic Communications Consultant to support Frederick County, Maryland with complex analytical, performance-management, quality-assurance, program-evaluation, executive-reporting, administrative-consulting, and strategic-communications initiatives.

The ideal candidate is more than a traditional data analyst. Ascension is seeking a senior consultant who can move from raw information to analysis, from analysis to insight, and from insight to an executive-level recommendation or communication product that County leaders can use to make decisions.

The successful candidate should bring a strong combination of:

• Quantitative and qualitative analysis;
• Performance measurement and KPI development;
• Program, agency, or organizational evaluation;
• Quality assurance and quality-control assessment;
• Executive and management reporting;
• Data visualization and storytelling;
• Strategic and public-facing communications;
• Administrative and management consulting;
• Stakeholder engagement;
• Research and assessment;
• Presentation development; and
• Translating complex findings into concise, actionable recommendations.

This individual should be comfortable working with executives, program managers, technical personnel, operational staff, administrative personnel, and other stakeholders across diverse County organizations.

The consultant must be a highly organized, intellectually curious, detail-oriented professional who can work independently under broad direction, structure ambiguous problems, identify the right questions to ask, analyze incomplete or disparate information, recognize emerging issues, and provide practical recommendations supported by defensible evidence.

Because Frederick County consists of numerous operational and administrative departments, the ideal candidate must also be adaptable. One Task Order may involve analyzing operational performance or developing KPIs, while another may involve evaluating an agency or program, conducting QA assessments, developing executive reports, or assisting leadership with strategic communications.

Role Alignment to Frederick County Service Areas

This position is designed primarily to support the following Frederick County consulting service areas:

Service Area	Primary Role Alignment
Public Relations Consultation	Strategic communications, executive messaging, stakeholder communications, public-facing reports, briefing materials, and data storytelling
Administrative Consultant	Organizational research, management analysis, executive decision support, administrative assessments, documentation, and recommendations
Quality Assurance Assessment	QA/QC frameworks, assessment criteria, quality reviews, compliance analysis, performance validation, corrective-action recommendations
Data Analysis	Quantitative and qualitative analysis, trend analysis, data validation, statistical analysis, KPI development, visualization, and decision support
Report Development	Executive reports, management reports, dashboards, presentations, analytical reports, briefing papers, findings, and recommendations
Agency Evaluation	Program and organizational evaluation, effectiveness assessment, performance analysis, outcome evaluation, gap analysis, and improvement recommendations

The consultant may also provide related analytical support to organizational/resource analysis and processes/procedures analysis when those activities are integral to an assigned Task Order.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Data, Performance, Evaluation & Strategic Communications Consultant will help Frederick County transform operational, workforce, programmatic, financial, organizational, stakeholder, and other information into meaningful insights that support informed decision-making and measurable performance improvement.

The consultant will work with County stakeholders to understand business questions and operational challenges; identify appropriate data sources; develop analytical approaches; collect and validate information; establish metrics and performance indicators; conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses; evaluate programs or organizational activities; identify trends, risks, strengths, weaknesses, and performance gaps; and prepare findings and recommendations.

A key responsibility of this position is ensuring that analysis does not stop with the production of numbers. The consultant must be able to explain what the information means, why it matters, what is driving performance, and what County leadership should consider doing next.

The consultant may also develop dashboards, executive reports, briefing decks, visualizations, quality-assurance assessments, agency evaluations, communications products, and decision-support materials for County leadership.

Assignments may involve multiple County departments and therefore require the consultant to rapidly understand unfamiliar operations, establish productive working relationships, protect confidential information, and exercise sound judgment and diplomacy.

The individual must be able to manage multiple priorities and deliver high-quality products with minimal supervision while meeting Task Order schedules, milestones, reporting requirements, and quality expectations.

What the Consultant Will Help the Customer Solve

The consultant may be asked to help County organizations answer questions such as:

• What is actually happening within a program, process, organization, or operation?
• How well is the organization performing against its intended objectives?
• What measures should leadership use to determine whether a program or initiative is succeeding?
• What trends or patterns are emerging from the available data?
• Where are performance gaps, quality problems, inefficiencies, risks, or anomalies?
• Are existing metrics actually measuring the outcomes leadership cares about?
• Are reported results accurate, complete, timely, and defensible?
• What additional information must be collected?
• What factors are driving positive or negative results?
• How should quantitative and qualitative information be combined to explain performance?
• What recommendations are supported by the evidence?
• How can complex findings be communicated clearly to executives, employees, stakeholders, or the public?
• How should performance information be visualized so that decision-makers can act on it?
• How can reporting processes become more efficient, consistent, repeatable, and useful?
• How can the County determine whether an agency, initiative, program, or policy is achieving its intended outcome?

Position Day-to-Day / Task-Order Activities

The consultant will be expected to:

• ANALYZE quantitative and qualitative information from multiple data sources to identify trends, patterns, relationships, anomalies, risks, and opportunities.
• DEFINE business questions, analytical objectives, performance measures, evaluation criteria, and desired outcomes with County stakeholders.
• DEVELOP KPIs, scorecards, performance measures, baselines, targets, and measurement frameworks aligned to program and organizational objectives.
• COLLECT information through existing systems, databases, documents, surveys, interviews, focus groups, workshops, and stakeholder consultations.
• VALIDATE data for completeness, accuracy, consistency, relevance, and reliability before using information in analysis or reporting.
• EVALUATE County programs, agencies, operations, initiatives, policies, or processes to determine effectiveness, efficiency, quality, outcomes, and opportunities for improvement.
• PERFORM quality-assurance and quality-control assessments against established requirements, standards, procedures, performance criteria, or expected outcomes.
• DESIGN dashboards, scorecards, charts, graphs, infographics, and other visualizations that make complex information understandable to nontechnical audiences.
• DEVELOP analytical reports, executive summaries, briefing papers, decision memoranda, presentations, performance reports, and recommendations.
• TRANSLATE technical or analytical findings into concise narratives that clearly explain what happened, why it happened, why it matters, and recommended next actions.
• PREPARE executive-level PowerPoint presentations and talking points for briefings, leadership meetings, public engagements, and stakeholder discussions.
• CREATE strategic communication materials that support internal and external understanding of programs, initiatives, results, organizational changes, or County priorities.
• FACILITATE interviews, workshops, stakeholder meetings, data-review sessions, and working sessions required to gather information and validate findings.
• IDENTIFY performance gaps, quality deficiencies, data limitations, risks, dependencies, and obstacles that may prevent the County from achieving desired outcomes.
• RECOMMEND practical corrective actions, process improvements, performance improvements, reporting enhancements, or management actions based upon evidence.
• ESTABLISH repeatable analytical, reporting, QA/QC, and evaluation methodologies that County personnel can continue using after an engagement ends.
• DOCUMENT assumptions, methodologies, calculations, data definitions, findings, decisions, risks, recommendations, and supporting evidence so that work is transparent and retrievable.
• COORDINATE with County project managers, program managers, executives, analysts, communications personnel, IT personnel, and other stakeholders.
• MONITOR assigned Task Order milestones, deliverables, risks, schedules, and quality requirements.
• RESPOND to routine County inquiries within required response periods and support urgent analytical or reporting requests when necessary.
• PRESENT findings and recommendations confidently to senior leaders and answer questions regarding methodologies, assumptions, data quality, and conclusions.
• TRANSFER knowledge, methodologies, templates, dashboards, documentation, and analytical practices to County personnel.

Tools, Technologies & Processes

Candidates should possess practical experience with several of the following:

Data Analysis and Visualization

• Microsoft Excel, including advanced formulas, PivotTables, Power Query, charts, and analytical models
• Microsoft Power BI
• Tableau
• SQL or comparable querying capabilities
• Data cleansing, transformation, reconciliation, and validation
• Statistical and trend analysis
• Quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques

Reporting and Communications

• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft 365
• SharePoint
• Adobe Acrobat
• Executive briefing development
• Data visualization and storytelling
• Strategic communications
• Report development and technical editing

Data Collection and Evaluation

• Microsoft Forms, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, or comparable survey platforms
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Workshops
• Stakeholder analysis
• Evaluation frameworks
• Logic models and/or theory-of-change methodologies
• Performance measurement frameworks
• KPI and scorecard development

Quality and Process Management

• QA/QC methodologies
• Root-cause analysis
• Gap analysis
• Risk assessment
• Corrective-action tracking
• Continuous improvement
• Process documentation
• Standard operating procedures
• Lessons learned

Experience with Power Automate, Microsoft Power Platform, R, Python, SPSS, SAS, or similar analytical/automation technologies is advantageous but should not substitute for demonstrated business analysis and communication capability.

Ascension is seeking an experienced Senior Technology, Enterprise Systems & Network Consultant to provide senior-level technology advisory, enterprise systems, infrastructure, implementation, and modernization support for potential Frederick County, Maryland Task Orders.

The ideal candidate is more than a traditional network engineer or application specialist. Ascension is seeking a senior technology professional who can look across an organization's business processes, enterprise applications, ERP/EAM platforms, infrastructure, networks, integrations, data flows, security considerations, and technology portfolio and determine how those components should work together to achieve operational objectives.

This individual will help County departments evaluate current technology environments, identify technology and operational risks, define future-state requirements, evaluate solution alternatives, support ERP and Enterprise Asset Management initiatives, guide system implementation, assess network and infrastructure requirements, and translate complex technical information into actionable recommendations for executive, operational, and technical stakeholders.

The successful candidate should be comfortable entering an environment where the problem may initially be loosely defined. The individual must be capable of independently assessing the situation, asking the right questions, identifying dependencies and risks, developing alternatives, and providing practical recommendations without requiring extensive day-to-day supervision.

This role is particularly suited for a technology consultant, enterprise architect, solutions architect, systems architect, ERP/EAM technical consultant, or senior infrastructure consultant who combines strong technical depth with business judgment and client-facing consulting experience.

Contractor Role Summary

The Senior Technology, Enterprise Systems & Network Consultant will provide technical leadership and advisory support across technology modernization initiatives and Task Orders involving:

• Enterprise Asset Management technology and implementation
• Enterprise Resource Planning systems and modernization
• Enterprise application implementation
• Systems integration
• Infrastructure and network services
• Technology assessments
• Technology modernization and transformation
• Systems requirements and architecture
• Technical solution evaluation
• Technology implementation planning
• Testing and implementation readiness
• Data and application integration
• Technical risk and issue assessment
• Technology governance and documentation

The consultant will work with County executives, department leadership, IT personnel, operational users, vendors, project managers, business analysts, and other subject matter experts to understand business requirements and convert them into feasible technology solutions.

The consultant is expected to maintain a business-first technology perspective. Recommendations should not simply identify new technology; they should explain how the proposed architecture, application, infrastructure, or process improves operational effectiveness, reliability, scalability, security, maintainability, interoperability, and user experience.

Position's Day-to-Day / Task-Order Activities

The consultant may be expected to:

• ASSESS existing enterprise applications, infrastructure, networks, integrations, technology platforms, and supporting processes to identify risks, gaps, bottlenecks, redundancies, and modernization opportunities.
• EVALUATE Enterprise Resource Planning and Enterprise Asset Management environments, including business-process-to-system alignment, application functionality, integrations, interfaces, configuration requirements, data dependencies, and implementation readiness.
• GATHER functional, technical, operational, security, integration, reporting, performance, and user requirements through interviews, workshops, documentation reviews, system demonstrations, and stakeholder working sessions.
• TRANSLATE stakeholder requirements into system requirements, technical specifications, architecture recommendations, process models, use cases, user stories, acceptance criteria, and implementation requirements.
• DEVELOP current-state and future-state technology architecture documentation, system diagrams, integration maps, application inventories, data-flow diagrams, and technology roadmaps.
• ANALYZE hardware, software, cloud, network, application, integration, and enterprise platform alternatives and provide objective recommendations based on cost, risk, scalability, supportability, interoperability, security, and business value.
• ADVISE County leadership regarding technology modernization strategies, architecture alternatives, platform selection, technical risks, implementation sequencing, and dependencies.
• SUPPORT ERP and EAM planning, requirements definition, solution evaluation, implementation governance, configuration review, testing, deployment, stabilization, and post-implementation assessment.
• REVIEW vendor-proposed architectures, technical solutions, implementation plans, interfaces, integration approaches, technical documentation, testing strategies, and deliverables.
• IDENTIFY technical risks, implementation obstacles, integration issues, resource constraints, architecture weaknesses, security concerns, and system dependencies before they affect project scope, cost, schedule, or performance.
• RECOMMEND corrective actions, modernization alternatives, architecture improvements, configuration changes, process improvements, and risk mitigation strategies.
• DESIGN or support technical implementation approaches for enterprise applications, digital workflow platforms, integrations, APIs, cloud services, low-code solutions, and supporting technologies.
• COORDINATE with business analysts, project managers, system administrators, developers, vendors, infrastructure personnel, cybersecurity personnel, operational SMEs, and executive stakeholders.
• FACILITATE technical discovery meetings, requirements workshops, architecture sessions, vendor demonstrations, implementation readiness reviews, design reviews, and stakeholder decision meetings.
• SUPPORT network and infrastructure assessments involving connectivity, LAN/WAN environments, cloud connectivity, system availability, performance, resiliency, interoperability, and future capacity requirements.
• DEVELOP technology assessment reports, architecture recommendations, technical decision memoranda, implementation roadmaps, risk registers, technical requirements, testing artifacts, executive briefings, and other Task Order deliverables.
• ESTABLISH measurable technical performance criteria and acceptance requirements for systems, implementations, integrations, infrastructure, and vendor deliverables.
• VALIDATE technical solutions through design reviews, requirements traceability, test planning, user acceptance testing, implementation readiness assessments, and post-deployment verification.
• MONITOR implementation progress and advise project leadership regarding technical dependencies, risks, decisions, changes, issues, and corrective actions.
• DOCUMENT technical decisions, assumptions, dependencies, recommendations, configuration requirements, risks, issues, and implementation activities in a format that is maintainable and retrievable by the client.
• PREPARE concise executive-level presentations that translate complex technology topics into business implications, alternatives, risks, costs, and recommended actions.
• RESPOND to client requests within required Task Order and contract response timelines and maintain professional communication with stakeholders at all organizational levels.

Expected Tools, Technologies, and Processes

Candidates should have experience with a combination of the following. No candidate is expected to have expertise in every platform listed.

Enterprise Systems

• ERP platforms such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, or equivalent enterprise applications
• EAM/CMMS platforms such as IBM Maximo, Infor EAM, Cityworks, or comparable platforms
• ServiceNow or similar enterprise workflow/service management platforms
• Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams, and Power Platform

Infrastructure and Network Technologies

• Enterprise LAN/WAN environments
• Network architecture and connectivity
• Cloud and hybrid-cloud environments
• Microsoft Azure and/or Amazon Web Services
• Identity and access management concepts
• Enterprise integration technologies
• APIs and middleware
• Network monitoring and performance concepts
• Business continuity, resiliency, and disaster recovery concepts

Analysis and Architecture Tools

• Microsoft Visio and/or Lucidchart
• Microsoft Project
• Azure DevOps, Jira, or comparable Agile/requirements tools
• Requirements traceability tools
• Microsoft Excel
• PowerPoint
• Power BI
• SharePoint
• Architecture and technology-roadmapping tools

Delivery Processes

• Systems Development Life Cycle
• Agile / Scrum
• Waterfall and hybrid implementation methodologies
• Requirements management
• Architecture assessment
• Solution evaluation
• Configuration management
• Change management
• Testing and User Acceptance Testing
• Implementation readiness
• Cutover and deployment
• Post-implementation stabilization
• Risk and issue management
• Quality assurance / quality control

Ascension is seeking an accomplished Senior Program, Project & Enterprise Implementation Manager to provide senior-level leadership for complex business, technology, operational, and enterprise transformation initiatives supporting Frederick County, Maryland.

The successful candidate will be an experienced PMP-level project/program leader capable of taking complex initiatives from early planning and requirements definition through implementation, deployment, operational transition, and closeout. This individual should have demonstrated experience managing enterprise-scale initiatives involving multiple departments, stakeholders, vendors, systems, schedules, budgets, risks, and organizational priorities.

The ideal candidate brings substantial experience managing enterprise implementations, particularly Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), business systems modernization, technology implementation, or similarly complex transformation programs.

This is not simply a schedule-management role. Ascension is seeking a senior consultant who understands how to convert strategic objectives into an executable program; organize multiple interconnected workstreams; anticipate implementation risks; establish accountability; resolve cross-functional problems; communicate effectively with executives, operational leaders, technical personnel, vendors, and end users; and ensure that implemented solutions produce measurable operational results.

The person selected should be comfortable entering environments where all requirements may not initially be defined. The candidate must be capable of independently assessing conditions, organizing ambiguity, identifying decisions that must be made, recommending a practical path forward, and establishing the governance, controls, tools, and communications necessary to move an initiative successfully from concept through implementation.

RFP Service Areas Supported

This position is designed primarily to support the following Frederick County service areas:

• Project Management
• Enterprise Asset Management Project Management
• Enterprise Resource Planning Project Management
• Program Management
• Implementation Services

Depending upon the Task Order, the individual may also support related business-process, technology-analysis, strategic-planning, operations-analysis, quality-assurance, organizational-analysis, data-analysis, reporting, or process-and-procedure activities.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Program, Project & Enterprise Implementation Manager will plan, organize, lead, monitor, and control complex County projects and programs while providing the County with a single, accountable point of coordination for assigned initiatives.

The contractor will translate County objectives into structured project or program plans that define scope, responsibilities, schedules, dependencies, resources, risks, costs, decision points, deliverables, performance measures, and implementation requirements.

For enterprise implementations, the manager will coordinate business owners, technical personnel, vendors, consultants, executives, and end users throughout the implementation lifecycle. Activities may include requirements validation, implementation planning, configuration oversight, interface and integration coordination, data conversion planning, testing, training readiness, organizational change, deployment, cutover, stabilization, and post-implementation review.

The successful candidate must be highly organized, analytical, responsive, diplomatically assertive, and comfortable operating with minimal supervision. The individual should be able to identify emerging issues before they become implementation failures and provide leadership with options, consequences, recommendations, and an actionable resolution.

This role requires a consultant who can simultaneously maintain executive-level visibility and detailed operational control—ensuring that strategic objectives remain aligned with everyday activities, assignments, decisions, schedules, budgets, risks, deliverables, and implementation milestones.

Characteristics of the Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is:

• Self-driven and effective when working from broad direction rather than detailed instructions.
• Highly organized and capable of managing multiple priorities, projects, stakeholders, and deadlines concurrently.
• Detail-oriented without losing sight of enterprise objectives and strategic outcomes.
• Skilled at anticipating problems, identifying root causes, evaluating options, and developing implementable solutions.
• Comfortable challenging assumptions and escalating issues when scope, schedule, cost, quality, or outcomes are at risk.
• Diplomatic and credible when communicating with executives, managers, technical teams, vendors, consultants, and operational personnel.
• Adept at establishing accountability without unnecessarily creating bureaucracy.
• Comfortable facilitating difficult discussions and helping stakeholders reach decisions.
• Experienced in environments involving competing priorities and organizational change.
• Focused on measurable outcomes rather than simply completing project activities.
• Able to simplify complex technical, operational, or programmatic information for decision-makers.
• Capable of rapidly becoming familiar with an organization's operations, policies, procedures, systems, and stakeholder environment.

Position Day-to-Day / Task Order Activities

The Senior Program, Project & Enterprise Implementation Manager will:

• LEAD complex projects, enterprise implementations, and multi-workstream programs from initiation through completion.
• ESTABLISH project and program governance structures, operating cadences, decision authorities, escalation paths, roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations.
• DEVELOP project management plans, program management plans, implementation plans, integrated master schedules, resource plans, communications plans, stakeholder plans, and other required management artifacts.
• DEFINE project scope, objectives, deliverables, milestones, assumptions, constraints, dependencies, acceptance criteria, and success measures.
• TRANSLATE strategic and operational requirements into executable work plans and implementation roadmaps.
• COORDINATE County departments, business owners, subject matter experts, technical teams, vendors, consultants, and other stakeholders.
• MANAGE scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, risks, issues, dependencies, requirements, decisions, and deliverables throughout the project lifecycle.
• ESTABLISH and maintain RAID logs covering risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies.
• IDENTIFY potential obstacles, implementation risks, schedule conflicts, resource limitations, and organizational constraints before they adversely affect the project.
• ANALYZE alternative courses of action and provide leadership with concise, decision-ready recommendations.
• MONITOR project and program performance against approved scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk, and implementation baselines.
• CONTROL project changes through structured impact analysis, approval, documentation, and change-control processes.
• MAINTAIN integrated schedules identifying dependencies, critical paths, decision points, implementation milestones, testing activities, deployment activities, and deliverable dates.
• FACILITATE project kickoff meetings, requirements sessions, executive steering committee meetings, working groups, status meetings, risk reviews, implementation readiness reviews, and lessons-learned sessions.
• PREPARE executive briefings, dashboards, project status reports, decision papers, implementation reports, risk summaries, milestone reports, and recommendations.
• DIRECT enterprise ERP and EAM implementation activities when assigned, coordinating business-process, functional, technical, vendor, and organizational workstreams.
• COORDINATE implementation lifecycle activities including requirements validation, solution design, configuration, integration, data conversion, testing, training, deployment, cutover, stabilization, and operational transition.
• MANAGE relationships and dependencies between software vendors, system integrators, County departments, business process owners, technical teams, and end users.
• VALIDATE implementation readiness through structured reviews of outstanding risks, testing status, data readiness, training readiness, business readiness, support readiness, and deployment criteria.
• OVERSEE user acceptance testing planning, defect resolution, acceptance criteria, issue prioritization, and readiness decisions when applicable.
• COORDINATE data migration, interface, integration, configuration, security, infrastructure, or technical workstreams at the project-management level without replacing the responsible technical SMEs.
• ALIGN implementation decisions with operational requirements and expected business outcomes.
• TRACK decisions, financial commitments, action items, deliverable approvals, risks, changes, and project records so that information remains documented and retrievable.
• ESTABLISH quality-control checkpoints and progressive project reviews.
• REVIEW project deliverables for completeness, consistency, quality, compliance, and alignment with Task Order requirements.
• ASSESS contractor and vendor performance against applicable schedules, requirements, deliverables, and commitments.
• ESCALATE significant risks, decisions, deviations, or performance problems with sufficient analysis to support timely leadership action.
• COMMUNICATE project status clearly to stakeholders at all organizational levels.
• RESPOND to routine County inquiries within required contractual response windows and support urgent matters when assigned.
• DOCUMENT meetings, decisions, actions, milestones, approvals, changes, risks, and lessons learned.
• COORDINATE project closeout, transition-to-operations, lessons learned, final documentation, knowledge transfer, and post-implementation activities.
• MEASURE whether completed initiatives have produced the intended operational, financial, organizational, service-delivery, or technology outcomes.
• IDENTIFY opportunities to simplify processes, eliminate waste, improve organizational effectiveness, improve information visibility, and strengthen project delivery.

Anticipated Deliverables

Depending upon the Task Order, deliverables may include:

• Project Management Plan
• Program Management Plan
• Project Charter
• Program Governance Framework
• Integrated Master Schedule
• Implementation Roadmap
• Work Breakdown Structure
• Stakeholder Management Plan
• Communications Plan
• Responsibility Assignment Matrix / RACI
• Risk Register
• RAID Log
• Issue and Action Tracker
• Decision Log
• Change Request Log
• Resource Plan
• Project Budget / Cost Tracker
• Requirements Traceability Matrix
• Implementation Readiness Assessment
• Testing / UAT Management Plan
• Deployment / Cutover Plan
• Training Readiness Plan
• Vendor Performance Reports
• Executive Status Reports
• Program / Project Performance Dashboard
• Steering Committee Briefings
• Lessons-Learned Report
• Transition and Closeout Plan
• Post-Implementation Review

Recommended Project Management Tools and Processes

The RFP does not mandate a specific project-management software platform. Depending upon the Task Order and County environment, the successful candidate should be comfortable using or rapidly adapting to tools such as:

• Microsoft Project
• Microsoft Planner
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft SharePoint
• Microsoft Power BI
• Smartsheet
• Jira / Confluence
• Azure DevOps or similar work-management platforms
• Enterprise ERP/EAM implementation and vendor management tools

The candidate should have strong working knowledge of methodologies and practices including:

• PMI PMBOK
• Agile
• Scrum
• Waterfall
• Hybrid project delivery
• Program and portfolio governance
• Integrated master scheduling
• RAID management
• Risk management
• Requirements management
• Change control
• Configuration / release coordination
• SDLC
• Implementation lifecycle management
• User Acceptance Testing
• Data conversion / migration planning
• Organizational change management
• Deployment and cutover planning
• Quality assurance / quality control
• Lessons learned and continuous improvement

Ascension is seeking an accomplished Senior Human Capital, Organizational Development & Executive Coaching Consultant to provide strategic workforce, organizational development, leadership development, assessment, training, succession planning, career development, and executive coaching services in support of Frederick County, Maryland.

The ideal consultant is an experienced Organizational Development/Human Capital Management professional who combines strong analytical capabilities with the interpersonal skills required to advise executives, managers, supervisors, teams, and employees. This individual should be comfortable moving between strategic workforce issues and hands-on facilitation—for example, analyzing workforce capacity and skill gaps in one assignment and subsequently facilitating an executive leadership workshop, organizational assessment, succession-planning session, or individual coaching engagement.

The consultant will help County organizations strengthen leadership effectiveness, improve workforce capability, develop future leaders, address organizational and team performance challenges, and translate workforce data and organizational assessments into practical recommendations.

This role is important to the County's broader objective of empowering County employees, aligning leadership and employee goals, improving organizational effectiveness, optimizing processes, and producing visible, measurable, and impactful results.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Human Capital, Organizational Development & Executive Coaching Consultant serves as a trusted advisor to County executives, managers, supervisors, HR professionals, and other stakeholders.

Assignments may include workforce analysis and forecasting, organizational assessments, leadership and personnel assessments, leadership development, executive coaching, team development, succession planning, career development, training design and facilitation, organizational effectiveness, and change management.

The consultant must be able to enter an organization or business unit, quickly understand its operating environment and workforce challenges, gather quantitative and qualitative information, identify root causes and organizational risks, and develop solutions appropriate to the County's culture and objectives.

The ideal candidate will be:

• Detail-oriented, highly organized, and capable of managing multiple concurrent priorities.
• Self-directed and comfortable working independently under broad direction.
• Skilled at identifying underlying organizational or workforce problems rather than simply addressing symptoms.
• Experienced working confidentially with senior executives and sensitive personnel matters.
• An effective facilitator who can establish credibility with executives as well as frontline employees.
• Comfortable working in ambiguous environments where requirements may evolve as additional information becomes available.
• Skilled at transforming workforce data, assessment findings, stakeholder feedback, and organizational observations into practical recommendations.
• Capable of anticipating obstacles, presenting alternatives, and helping leaders make informed decisions.
• Diplomatic, objective, collaborative, and able to maintain appropriate professional boundaries in coaching and assessment engagements.
• Focused on measurable improvement rather than simply producing reports or conducting meetings.

Frederick County Service Areas Supported

This position is expected to provide primary or significant support for the following Frederick County service areas:

Workforce Analysis, Forecasting and Needs Assessment

Professional/Leadership and Staff Development and Training

Professional/Leadership and Personnel Assessment, Development Planning and Coaching

Training Development and Delivery

Assessment of Workforce or Subsets of the Workforce, including skills strengths and gaps and staffing needs/projections

Leadership Coaching and Development

Teambuilding and Group Cohesion

Operations-Related Subject Matter Expert Training

Succession Planning

Career Development/Career Coaching

Executive Leadership Group Training

The consultant may also support related assignments involving change management, organizational effectiveness, strategic planning, organizational/resource analysis, data analysis, report development, and agency evaluation when those requirements intersect with workforce and organizational development.

Position Responsibilities and Anticipated Activities

The consultant will be expected to:

• ASSESS organizational, workforce, leadership, team, and employee-development needs through interviews, surveys, workshops, document reviews, observations, workforce data, and other diagnostic methods.
• ANALYZE workforce composition, staffing levels, competencies, attrition, recruitment pipelines, retirement exposure, skill gaps, leadership capacity, workload, and future workforce requirements.
• FORECAST workforce and talent requirements based on organizational priorities, demographic trends, operational requirements, organizational changes, and anticipated service demands.
• IDENTIFY workforce risks, critical positions, vulnerable competencies, institutional knowledge dependencies, leadership gaps, and succession vulnerabilities.
• DEVELOP workforce plans, competency models, talent-development strategies, leadership-development plans, succession frameworks, career pathways, and workforce recommendations.
• CONDUCT organizational, leadership, team, and personnel assessments using interviews, surveys, competency assessments, 360-degree feedback tools, or other appropriate assessment methodologies.
• INTERPRET assessment findings and translate results into individual development plans, organizational recommendations, leadership-development priorities, and measurable improvement objectives.
• COACH executives, senior leaders, managers, supervisors, emerging leaders, and other identified personnel through structured individual or group coaching engagements.
• FACILITATE executive leadership sessions, leadership retreats, strategic-planning workshops, team-development sessions, workforce-planning workshops, and organizational-development interventions.
• DESIGN leadership, management, professional-development, and organizational-development curricula based on identified competency and performance gaps.
• DEVELOP instructor guides, participant guides, presentations, exercises, case studies, job aids, assessments, surveys, and other learning materials.
• DELIVER instructor-led, virtual, hybrid, or facilitated training programs to leadership and staff audiences.
• APPLY adult-learning principles and experiential learning techniques to improve participant engagement, knowledge retention, and practical application.
• FACILITATE teambuilding interventions designed to improve trust, communication, accountability, collaboration, role clarity, and group cohesion.
• EVALUATE team dynamics, organizational culture, communication practices, leadership behaviors, and structural factors affecting organizational performance.
• DESIGN succession-planning processes that identify mission-critical positions, readiness levels, competency requirements, potential successors, development requirements, and knowledge-transfer strategies.
• SUPPORT employees and leaders with career planning, competency development, professional growth, leadership readiness, and career-path discussions.
• ADVISE County leadership on organizational-development, human-capital, talent-management, workforce-planning, employee-development, and leadership-development strategies.
• RECOMMEND interventions that improve organizational effectiveness, leadership capability, employee engagement, workforce readiness, and operational performance.
• ESTABLISH measurable performance indicators for workforce, training, coaching, organizational-development, and leadership-development initiatives.
• MEASURE program effectiveness through participant feedback, pre/post assessments, behavioral indicators, workforce metrics, stakeholder feedback, and other agreed performance measures.
• PREPARE executive presentations, assessment reports, workforce analyses, recommendations, implementation roadmaps, dashboards, briefing materials, and other deliverables.
• PRESENT complex workforce and organizational findings in clear, concise, decision-oriented formats appropriate for executives and nontechnical stakeholders.
• DOCUMENT decisions, recommendations, action items, risks, deliverables, assessment results, and other project information in accordance with County requirements.
• MONITOR assigned Task Order activities, milestones, risks, deliverables, and stakeholder commitments.
• IDENTIFY potential obstacles affecting workforce or organizational initiatives and recommend practical mitigation strategies.
• PARTNER with County stakeholders to promote ownership of recommendations rather than creating consultant-dependent solutions.
• TRANSFER knowledge, methods, templates, tools, and approaches to County personnel to promote sustainable internal capability.
• MAINTAIN confidentiality and exercise diplomacy when working with personnel assessments, executive coaching information, organizational concerns, and other sensitive information.
• RESPOND to routine County inquiries within required response periods and provide timely support for urgent requests.

Problems This Consultant Should Be Able to Solve

The successful candidate should be capable of helping County organizations address challenges such as:

• Difficulty forecasting future workforce requirements.
• Critical workforce or leadership skill gaps.
• Insufficient succession pipelines for key positions.
• Retirement or attrition risks affecting institutional knowledge.
• Leadership-performance or management-development gaps.
• Employees who need structured career-development pathways.
• Organizational units experiencing communication or collaboration problems.
• Teams affected by role ambiguity, conflict, low trust, or ineffective working relationships.
• Managers transitioning into leadership positions without sufficient preparation.
• Difficulty translating workforce data into actionable management decisions.
• Training programs that are not producing measurable workplace improvement.
• Organizational changes requiring structured stakeholder engagement and change management.
• Leadership teams needing facilitated strategic alignment and goal setting.
• Lack of consistent competency, assessment, coaching, or development processes.
• Limited mechanisms for measuring leadership-development or workforce-development outcomes.

Core Technical and Consulting Competencies

Candidates should demonstrate proficiency in:

• Workforce planning and forecasting
• Workforce needs assessments
• Workforce competency and skills-gap analysis
• Organizational development
• Organizational effectiveness
• Talent management
• Leadership development
• Executive and leadership coaching
• Succession planning
• Career development
• Training needs analysis
• Curriculum development
• Adult learning
• Training facilitation
• Team development
• Group facilitation
• Stakeholder engagement
• Organizational assessment
• Change management
• Strategic planning
• Performance measurement
• Survey and interview methodologies
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis
• Executive briefing and report development

Ascension is seeking a Senior Business Process & Organizational Transformation Consultant to provide senior-level business analysis, organizational transformation, process improvement, strategic planning, and operational advisory services in support of Frederick County, Maryland.

The ideal candidate is an experienced management consultant, senior business analyst, organizational effectiveness consultant, or process transformation professional who can move comfortably between detailed operational analysis and executive-level advisory work. The consultant must be capable of examining how an organization currently operates, identifying barriers to performance, engaging employees and leadership, developing practical future-state solutions, and helping stakeholders implement measurable improvements.

This position is particularly well suited for a professional with demonstrated experience in Business Process Improvement/Business Process Reengineering (BPI/BPR), workflow analysis, organizational effectiveness, strategic planning, change management, operating-model assessment, resource analysis, SOP and policy development, and stakeholder facilitation.

Because Frederick County's consulting needs may span departments including Human Resources, Finance, Public Works, Emergency Management, Health Services, Procurement, Information Technology, Public Safety, Utilities, Parks and Recreation, and other County organizations, the successful consultant must be comfortable learning unfamiliar operating environments quickly and applying structured analysis methodologies across different business domains.

Frederick County Service Areas Supported

This position is intended to provide primary or supporting expertise for the following Frederick County consulting service areas:

• Business Process Analysis and/or Consultation
• Group Strategic Planning and Goal Setting
• Group Workflow Analysis and Process Mapping
• Change Management
• Organizational or Process Effectiveness
• Assessment of operations, workplaces, processes, and policies from inclusive perspectives
• Strategic Planning
• Operations Analysis and/or Consultation
• Organizational and Resource Analysis
• Processes and Procedures Analysis

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Business Process & Organizational Transformation Consultant will work with County leaders, managers, employees, stakeholders, and other consultants to understand organizational challenges and translate those challenges into practical, measurable improvements.

Assignments may involve evaluating a single workflow, facilitating an organizational planning effort, assessing operating procedures, developing a future-state process, conducting an organizational effectiveness review, analyzing resource requirements, developing SOPs, or supporting a broader organizational transformation initiative.

The consultant is expected to independently structure ambiguous problems, determine what information must be collected, facilitate productive stakeholder discussions, evaluate quantitative and qualitative information, identify root causes, and develop defensible recommendations.

The consultant must bring an analytical and facilitative mindset rather than simply documenting what stakeholders say. The County should receive clear findings, evidence-based recommendations, implementable processes, useful decision-support tools, and measurable performance improvements from each engagement.

The successful candidate should be:

• Self-directed and comfortable operating with broad rather than highly prescriptive guidance.
• Highly organized and capable of managing multiple priorities, interviews, workshops, deliverables, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Skilled at identifying problems before they materially affect scope, schedule, quality, or stakeholder adoption.
• Comfortable respectfully challenging existing assumptions and practices when evidence demonstrates that another approach will improve performance.
• Diplomatic when working across organizational levels and able to handle sensitive operational, workforce, policy, or management information appropriately.
• Capable of translating complex analysis into clear recommendations that executives, managers, and frontline employees can understand and act upon.
• Focused on producing measurable results rather than recommendations that cannot realistically be implemented.

Position's Day-to-Day / Task-Order Activities

• LEAD discovery meetings, stakeholder interviews, focus groups, working sessions, and workshops to understand business problems, operational requirements, organizational constraints, and desired outcomes.
• ASSESS existing business processes, organizational structures, policies, procedures, controls, resources, systems, responsibilities, and operating practices.
• DOCUMENT current-state processes using process maps, swim-lane diagrams, SIPOC models, workflow diagrams, value-stream maps, RACI matrices, or other appropriate analytical techniques.
• IDENTIFY process bottlenecks, duplicated activities, unnecessary handoffs, delays, control weaknesses, resource constraints, organizational barriers, and opportunities to eliminate waste.
• ANALYZE quantitative and qualitative information to determine root causes rather than relying solely upon stakeholder perceptions.
• DESIGN future-state processes, operating models, procedures, governance structures, decision rights, business rules, and organizational improvement recommendations.
• FACILITATE strategic planning and goal-setting sessions that translate leadership priorities into actionable objectives, initiatives, milestones, responsibilities, and performance measures.
• DEVELOP strategic plans, implementation roadmaps, process-improvement plans, organizational recommendations, decision-support products, and executive briefing materials.
• EVALUATE organizational and resource requirements, including workload, roles and responsibilities, staffing alignment, organizational capacity, and competing operational priorities.
• REVIEW policies, procedures, workflows, and operating practices to determine whether they support efficient, consistent, compliant, and sustainable operations.
• DEVELOP Standard Operating Procedures, process narratives, job aids, business rules, templates, governance artifacts, and related operational documentation.
• ESTABLISH performance indicators and measurable success criteria that allow the County to determine whether implemented improvements are delivering the intended outcomes.
• APPLY appropriate inclusive-assessment considerations when evaluating operations, workplaces, processes, programs, or policies as required by the applicable Task Order.
• DEVELOP change-management strategies addressing stakeholder readiness, communications, training, adoption, resistance, implementation risks, and reinforcement.
• FACILITATE cross-functional discussions to resolve competing priorities, clarify responsibilities, establish consensus, and move decisions forward.
• RECOMMEND practical solutions based upon analysis, stakeholder input, organizational constraints, cost, risk, and implementation feasibility.
• PREPARE executive briefings, assessment reports, findings and recommendations, implementation plans, dashboards, process documentation, and decision memoranda.
• PRESENT findings and recommendations to County executives, managers, project teams, and other stakeholders in a clear and defensible manner.
• TRACK risks, issues, decisions, recommendations, actions, deliverables, and implementation progress throughout the engagement.
• MONITOR whether implemented changes are producing measurable improvements and recommend corrective action when expected results are not being achieved.
• PERFORM quality reviews of work products before submission to ensure accuracy, completeness, consistency, traceability, and professional presentation.
• MAINTAIN complete and retrievable project records, supporting documentation, meeting notes, decisions, process artifacts, and approved deliverables.
• RESPOND to routine County requests within established contractual response expectations and support urgent requests when assigned.
• SUPPORT project closeout activities, including lessons learned, implementation assessments, transition documentation, and recommendations for continued improvement.

Expected Work Products

Depending upon the Task Order, deliverables may include:

• Current-state assessment reports
• Business-process maps
• As-Is / To-Be workflow models
• Organizational assessments
• Resource-analysis reports
• Strategic plans and implementation roadmaps
• Goals, objectives, initiatives, and performance measures
• Business-process-improvement recommendations
• Standard Operating Procedures
• Policies and procedural documentation
• RACI matrices
• Stakeholder maps
• Change-management plans
• Communications and adoption plans
• Risk and issue registers
• KPI frameworks
• Management dashboards
• Executive briefings
• Decision memoranda
• Implementation plans
• Lessons-learned reports
• Final findings and recommendations