Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking a highly organized, dependable, and detail-oriented Administrative Specialist to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate. This individual will provide the administrative coordination, documentation control, records support, meeting management, and correspondence tracking necessary to keep complex federal grant operations organized, responsive, and audit-ready.

The ideal candidate understands that administrative support in a federal grants environment extends beyond routine clerical work. The Administrative Specialist helps ensure that grant applications, award-processing activities, correspondence, inquiries, records, meetings, action items, and program materials move through the organization accurately and on time.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Administrative Specialist provides integrated administrative and operational support across FEMA grant-program activities. The position may support application review and award-processing administration, correspondence and registry management, monitoring and closeout tracking, stakeholder inquiry coordination, document editing, data compilation, electronic archiving, and general program administration.

The role also supports FEMA personnel through Microsoft Teams and SharePoint administration, electronic and physical filing, template control, briefing preparation, meeting read-aheads, meeting materials, minutes, action-item tracking, and conference logistics. The Administrative Specialist helps create the administrative structure that allows program managers, grants specialists, analysts, and subject-matter experts to focus on mission delivery.

The successful candidate must be comfortable working with incomplete or evolving information, clarifying requirements, identifying missing documentation, maintaining multiple trackers, and following assignments through completion. The individual must demonstrate sound judgment, discretion, responsiveness, and the ability to work with limited supervision.

Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

• Coordinate administrative activities associated with grant application review, award processing, award administration, monitoring, and closeout.
• Receive, log, route, and track incoming correspondence, requests, inquiries, taskings, and supporting documentation.
• Maintain correspondence logs, grant-related registries, suspense trackers, action-item logs, and status reports.
• Monitor administrative milestones, due dates, pending actions, and documentation requirements.
• Follow up with responsible personnel to obtain overdue responses, approvals, records, or supporting materials.
• Respond to routine applicant, recipient, stakeholder, or internal program inquiries using approved information and escalation procedures.
• Coordinate complex or sensitive inquiries with grants specialists, program personnel, or designated Government officials.
• Review and edit correspondence, memoranda, reports, briefing materials, meeting documents, templates, and other program products for formatting, grammar, consistency, and completeness.
• Compile administrative, programmatic, and grant-related information from multiple sources for reports, briefings, status updates, and management reviews.
• Organize and archive program records in accordance with FEMA, DHS, and federal records-management requirements.
• Create and maintain standardized file structures, document naming conventions, version-control practices, and retention procedures.
• Manage Microsoft Teams channels, SharePoint libraries, shared drives, folders, permissions requests, and collaborative workspaces as authorized.
• Prepare agendas, read-ahead packages, briefing books, attendee lists, presentation materials, decision papers, and meeting support documents.
• Schedule and coordinate meetings, briefings, conferences, town halls, interviews, and virtual collaboration sessions.
• Document meeting discussions, decisions, conclusions, commitments, and recommended actions.
• Prepare clear and accurate meeting minutes and summaries of conclusions.
• Track meeting action items through completion and elevate overdue or unresolved items.
• Support in-person and virtual conference planning, including scheduling, invitations, registration, logistics, conference materials, toolkits, and online meeting management.
• Maintain reusable templates, forms, standard correspondence, checklists, job aids, and administrative procedures.
• Assist with transition materials, onboarding information, contact lists, organizational charts, and orientation packages for new personnel.
• Perform quality checks to ensure records and deliverables are complete, current, properly formatted, and stored in the appropriate repository.
• Safeguard sensitive, personally identifiable, procurement-sensitive, and grant-related information.
• Communicate workload status, risks, missing information, and emerging deadlines to the appropriate Ascension and Government leads.
• Support urgent, expedited, or surge assignments when grant-program workloads increase.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking an experienced Database/SharePoint Subject Matter Expert to design, configure, maintain, and improve the data repositories, SharePoint environments, dashboards, registries, tracking systems, and collaboration tools supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate.

The ideal candidate combines strong Microsoft SharePoint and database expertise with an understanding of business operations, records management, data governance, reporting, and federal grants administration. This individual will help FEMA organize and protect program information, improve access to accurate and timely data, streamline collaboration, and provide decision-makers with reliable tools for monitoring grant program activities.

This position is well suited for a technically skilled professional who can translate operational requirements into practical, maintainable solutions. The successful candidate is analytical, organized, security-conscious, responsive, and capable of working independently in an environment where priorities, data sources, and stakeholder needs may evolve.

Contractor Role Summary

The Database/SharePoint SME supports FEMA’s ability to collect, organize, retrieve, analyze, share, and retain grant program information. The role supports application tracking and downloads; grant-related registries and databases; grant closeout tracking; SharePoint response archives; dashboards; spreadsheets; intranet content; FEMA.gov and Grant Programs Directorate pages; shared drives; and Microsoft Teams and SharePoint collaboration environments.

The SME is expected to evaluate existing information-management practices, identify technical and process deficiencies, and develop solutions that improve data integrity, accessibility, usability, traceability, and records retention. The position may also support workflow automation, application configuration, dashboard development, data extraction, system documentation, user training, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement.

The role requires more than routine SharePoint administration. The selected professional must be able to understand the business purpose behind FEMA’s data and collaboration requirements, anticipate user needs, recommend sustainable solutions, and coordinate effectively with program managers, grants specialists, analysts, communications personnel, and Government information technology stakeholders.

Ascension’s corresponding GSA Technical Specialist functions include maintaining web-based collaborative platforms; configuring pages, lists, folders, libraries, documents, and calendars; monitoring site usage and growth; evaluating user requirements; documenting system specifications; and serving as a liaison between technical teams and business users.

Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

• Administer SharePoint sites, subsites, pages, lists, document libraries, calendars, folders, permissions, metadata, views, alerts, and navigation structures.
• Design and maintain grant program databases, registries, trackers, repositories, and structured information-management solutions.
• Configure SharePoint and Microsoft Teams environments that support collaboration, records retention, document control, and program operations.
• Develop dashboards and management views that present grant, application, closeout, workload, response, and performance information.
• Extract, transform, validate, reconcile, and organize information from databases, spreadsheets, SharePoint lists, shared drives, and other authorized sources.
• Maintain application tracking tools, downloadable files, grant registries, program databases, and closeout-tracking solutions.
• Manage the SharePoint response archive and establish logical naming conventions, metadata structures, version controls, and retention practices.
• Support FEMA intranet pages, Grant Management Hub resources, FEMA.gov content, Grant Programs Directorate pages, and shared-drive information structures.
• Integrate Microsoft Teams and SharePoint capabilities to improve document sharing, collaboration, records management, and access to authoritative information.
• Translate stakeholder needs into functional requirements, system configurations, technical specifications, process maps, and user stories.
• Assess current databases and SharePoint environments to identify duplication, obsolete content, permission risks, broken workflows, usability issues, and opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend enhancements, upgrades, automation opportunities, and governance controls that improve system performance and user experience.
• Build approved forms, lists, workflows, notifications, approval processes, dashboards, and low-code solutions using Microsoft 365 and Power Platform tools.
• Establish data-quality rules, validation checks, naming conventions, taxonomies, content types, and governance standards.
• Monitor site usage, data growth, storage capacity, application performance, access controls, workflow failures, and other operational indicators.
• Troubleshoot SharePoint, database, dashboard, permissions, content-management, and user-access issues.
• Document system configurations, data definitions, business rules, workflows, standard operating procedures, user guides, release notes, and change histories.
• Train FEMA users on SharePoint, Teams, dashboards, trackers, databases, document libraries, and records-management practices.
• Coordinate with program staff, analysts, grants specialists, information technology personnel, records-management personnel, and other stakeholders.
• Protect sensitive information by following FEMA and DHS cybersecurity, privacy, records-management, and access-control requirements.
• Perform testing, quality reviews, defect resolution, and post-implementation validation before releasing technical changes.
• Provide timely status updates, technical recommendations, risk notifications, and escalation support to Ascension and Government leadership.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension seeks an experienced Senior Reporting Specialist / Data Analyst to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate under the Grant Programmatic, Administration, and Technical Services program.

The ideal candidate is an accomplished analyst who can turn complex grant, programmatic, operational, and financial information into accurate reports, executive-level analyses, performance measures, dashboards, trends, and actionable recommendations. This individual will help FEMA leaders understand program performance, identify emerging risks, respond to high-profile information requests, and use reliable data to strengthen grant program planning and oversight.

This role is best suited for a professional who combines strong analytical judgment with exceptional attention to detail and executive communication skills. The successful candidate must be comfortable working with incomplete or evolving requirements, reconciling information from multiple sources, independently structuring analytical problems, and presenting defensible findings to senior stakeholders.

The position supports FEMA’s broader need for scalable, multidisciplinary teams capable of providing grant program planning, implementation, administration, tracking, reporting, and technical support. Contractor personnel are expected to work independently with minimal direction while collaborating with federal employees, other contractors, program offices, and senior government officials.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Reporting Specialist / Data Analyst leads complex reporting and analytical assignments across FEMA’s grant portfolio. The role supports program evaluation, performance measurement, post-award monitoring, financial and programmatic analysis, data-quality reviews, executive reporting, audit and oversight responses, and the development of dashboard and reporting solutions.

The analyst will organize, validate, integrate, and interpret data from multiple program and financial sources; identify patterns and anomalies; establish defensible analytical methods; and translate findings into concise recommendations for program managers and executive leadership. The position may also support high-profile, time-sensitive data calls requiring rapid collection, verification, analysis, and presentation of information.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead complex programmatic, operational, and financial analyses supporting FEMA grant programs and associated offices.
• Develop program-evaluation documentation, including logic models, performance measures, data-collection templates, risk registers, and analytical frameworks.
• Assess program effectiveness using established performance metrics and explain how findings may affect future planning, policy, resource allocation, and program implementation.
• Analyze program, process, performance, workload, award, recipient, and financial data to identify trends, risks, anomalies, gaps, and improvement opportunities.
• Design executive dashboards, scorecards, recurring reports, visualizations, and decision-support products that communicate program status and performance.
• Establish reporting methodologies, data definitions, business rules, calculation logic, and quality-control procedures.
• Collect and integrate information from databases, spreadsheets, grant systems, program files, surveys, and stakeholder submissions.
• Validate source data for completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness, duplication, and logical integrity before analysis or publication.
• Reconcile conflicting information across multiple data sources and document assumptions, limitations, exclusions, and resolution decisions.
• Support programmatic and financial monitoring by updating databases, drafting reports and correspondence, and preparing information for federal review and approval.
• Prepare executive analyses, briefing slides, decision papers, data summaries, talking points, and recommendations for senior leadership.
• Respond to high-profile and time-sensitive data calls from FEMA leadership, oversight organizations, external stakeholders, or other authorized parties.
• Draft data-supported responses to audit, oversight, congressional, Government Accountability Office, Inspector General, or leadership inquiries for government review.
• Create repeatable reporting templates and processes that reduce manual effort and improve consistency across reporting cycles.
• Document data lineage, sources, transformation steps, analytical methods, assumptions, calculations, and report-production procedures.
• Develop data dictionaries, metric definitions, standard operating procedures, user guides, and other reporting documentation.
• Monitor program indicators and emerging trends and elevate material risks, unusual patterns, reporting delays, or data-integrity concerns.
• Recommend corrective actions, process improvements, reporting enhancements, and practical approaches to improve data reliability and program visibility.
• Translate analytical findings into clear business implications and actionable recommendations for government decision-makers.
• Coordinate with program managers, grants management specialists, financial and audit personnel, business analysts, SharePoint specialists, and other stakeholders.
• Facilitate requirements-gathering sessions to define reporting needs, decision questions, performance indicators, data sources, and acceptance criteria.
• Present analytical results and dashboard findings during meetings, working sessions, briefings, and program reviews.
• Maintain organized electronic records, analytical workpapers, report versions, source files, and supporting documentation.
• Perform peer reviews and quality checks of analytical products to ensure that calculations, conclusions, and visualizations are accurate and defensible.
• Deliver reports and analytical products according to established schedules, FEMA standards, task-order requirements, and Ascension’s quality-control procedures.
• Use artificial intelligence tools only when expressly authorized by the FEMA Contracting Officer.
• Protect government-furnished information and refrain from disclosing government data or documents without authorization.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking a Reporting Specialist / Data Analyst — Mid-Level to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate in transforming grant program, financial, operational, and performance data into accurate reports, actionable insights, and decision-support products.

The successful candidate is an analytical problem-solver who can organize information from multiple sources, validate its accuracy, identify trends and risks, and communicate findings clearly to program managers and senior leaders. This position is important because FEMA relies on timely, defensible data to monitor grant performance, respond to high-visibility inquiries, assess program effectiveness, meet reporting deadlines, and strengthen oversight of federal grant programs.

The ideal candidate combines strong analytical ability with practical reporting discipline. They are comfortable working with incomplete or evolving requirements, coordinating with stakeholders across multiple business lines, and independently developing organized, repeatable solutions. They anticipate data-quality problems, investigate discrepancies, document assumptions, and produce reports that Government personnel can confidently use for program oversight and decision-making.

Candidates with federal grants, emergency management, financial reporting, audit support, or federal program-management experience will be especially well aligned.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Reporting Specialist / Data Analyst supports FEMA’s grant program planning, implementation, administration, tracking, reporting, and technical-support activities. The individual receives and analyzes programmatic, financial, and operational data; maintains reporting tools and trackers; develops databases and spreadsheets; produces visualizations and executive summaries; and helps FEMA respond to recurring and high-priority data inquiries.

The analyst supports monthly plans of action and milestone tracking, program evaluation documentation, performance-measure development, data-collection templates, effectiveness assessments, programmatic and financial monitoring, and reporting-database maintenance. The position also supports the Government’s efforts to track organizational priorities and convert weekly and monthly information into standardized reporting and briefing templates.

This is not simply a data-entry role. The successful candidate must understand the operational meaning of the data, recognize inconsistent or unsupported information, ask appropriate questions, and convert complex findings into clear products for both technical and nontechnical audiences. The analyst will help FEMA establish reliable processes and tools for:

• Monitoring milestones, deliverables, risks, and deadlines.
• Responding to program-level data inquiries.
• Evaluating grant-program performance and effectiveness.
• Compiling programmatic and financial information.
• Maintaining repeatable trackers, databases, and reporting templates.
• Developing dashboards, graphics, executive summaries, and briefing materials.
• Supporting audit readiness and data traceability.
• Improving the consistency and efficiency of reporting processes.

Day-to-Day and Recurring Responsibilities

• Receive, log, categorize, and track incoming programmatic, operational, financial, and grant-related data inquiries.
• Coordinate with FEMA program personnel and stakeholders to clarify data definitions, reporting requirements, priorities, and deadlines.
• Collect, compile, and organize data from spreadsheets, databases, grant-management systems, SharePoint repositories, and other approved sources.
• Validate source data for completeness, consistency, accuracy, timeliness, and alignment with established business rules.
• Reconcile discrepancies among source systems, reports, trackers, and stakeholder submissions.
• Analyze raw financial, programmatic, operational, performance, and risk data to identify trends, anomalies, gaps, and areas requiring management attention.
• Conduct real-time analyses in response to high-profile or time-sensitive grant-related inquiries.
• Develop and maintain recurring reports, databases, spreadsheets, graphics, scorecards, trackers, and specialized analytical products.
• Create dashboards, executive summaries, visualizations, briefing materials, and management reports that present information clearly and accurately.
• Maintain monthly plans of action and milestone charts, identifying deliverables or milestones that may not be completed as scheduled.
• Track high-level project deadlines, organizational priorities, dependencies, risks, and follow-up actions.
• Update weekly and monthly trackers and transfer validated information into approved reporting and briefing templates.
• Develop and maintain performance measures, data-collection templates, logic-model inputs, risk registers, and program-evaluation documentation.
• Assess program effectiveness using approved performance measures and explain how analytical findings may affect future program planning.
• Support programmatic and financial monitoring by preparing data summaries, draft correspondence, reports, and database updates for federal review.
• Prepare written responses, data packages, exhibits, tables, and supporting documentation for Government review and approval.
• Review and edit analytical products and program-office responses for accuracy, consistency, formatting, grammar, and completeness.
• Document data sources, methodologies, assumptions, calculations, definitions, limitations, and quality-control procedures.
• Maintain reporting archives and supporting documentation in FEMA-approved SharePoint sites, collaboration platforms, or shared drives.
• Apply version control, naming conventions, records-management requirements, and approved data-governance practices.
• Identify reporting inefficiencies and recommend practical improvements to data collection, validation, analysis, and presentation processes.
• Develop standard reporting templates, desk procedures, job aids, and repeatable workflows where needed.
• Participate in project meetings, data calls, status reviews, working sessions, and stakeholder briefings.
• Communicate analytical findings, emerging risks, data limitations, and recommended actions to project leadership.
• Protect sensitive, controlled, financial, grant-recipient, and personally identifiable information in accordance with FEMA and DHS requirements.
• Perform additional reporting, analysis, and technical-support activities authorized under applicable task orders.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension seeks an experienced Financial/Audit Subject Matter Expert to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate in strengthening financial oversight, grant accountability, internal controls, audit readiness, and compliance across complex federal grant programs.

The ideal candidate is a financial management, audit, or grants-compliance professional who can examine financial and programmatic information, recognize emerging risks, evaluate whether controls are working as intended, and translate technical findings into practical recommendations for FEMA leadership and program stakeholders.

Contractor Role Summary

The Financial/Audit SME supports FEMA’s oversight of grant-related financial activity and program performance. The position evaluates financial data, expenditure trends, payment requests, compliance documentation, audit findings, and internal-control processes to help FEMA identify risk, confirm allowability and reasonableness, and take corrective action when necessary.

The requirements associate this labor category with:

• Performance and risk documentation.
• Programmatic and financial monitoring.
• GAO and Inspector General audit responses.
• Compliance analysis.
• Analysis of payment requests.
• Financial-data compilation.
• Burn-rate and expenditure analysis.
• Financial analysis and reporting.
• Audit findings, internal controls, and financial-process improvement.

The individual must be capable of working across multiple assignments with changing priorities and incomplete or evolving information. Successful performance requires a disciplined, evidence-based approach to analysis, strong documentation practices, and the ability to distinguish routine variances from conditions that may represent questioned costs, control deficiencies, noncompliance, or elevated program risk.

The SME is expected to help FEMA personnel use reliable financial information, documented methodologies, standardized review tools, and practical control processes to make timely and defensible decisions.

Anticipated Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• Analyze grant-related financial, programmatic, performance, and risk information to identify trends, anomalies, control weaknesses, and areas requiring additional review.
• Review payment requests, supporting documentation, expenditure records, and other financial submissions for completeness, consistency, allowability, reasonableness, and alignment with applicable requirements.
• Compile financial information from multiple sources into organized datasets, monitoring tools, briefing materials, and management reports.
• Calculate and monitor obligation, expenditure, disbursement, and burn rates against approved budgets, funding periods, milestones, and expected program performance.
• Identify unusual spending patterns, delayed expenditures, accelerated drawdowns, unsupported costs, budget variances, and other indicators of potential financial or programmatic risk.
• Assess the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting, payment review, monitoring, documentation, and corrective-action processes.
• Document risks, findings, conclusions, supporting evidence, and recommended actions in a clear and auditable format.
• Evaluate compliance with applicable statutes, regulations, award terms, FEMA policies, financial-management requirements, and grant-administration procedures.
• Support FEMA responses to GAO, Office of Inspector General, independent auditor, and other oversight-body inquiries, findings, recommendations, and information requests.
• Develop audit-response packages, management comments, corrective-action plans, finding-resolution trackers, evidence matrices, and supporting documentation.
• Track open audit findings, questioned costs, corrective actions, responsible parties, target dates, evidence submissions, and closure status.
• Reconcile discrepancies among financial systems, program records, payment documentation, monitoring reports, and recipient or subrecipient submissions.
• Perform root-cause analyses to determine why financial-control, compliance, reporting, or process failures occurred.
• Recommend corrective actions, compensating controls, monitoring procedures, process improvements, and risk-mitigation strategies.
• Prepare financial analyses, decision memoranda, executive summaries, dashboards, presentations, and recurring or ad hoc reports.
• Brief FEMA leadership, program officials, grants-management personnel, financial staff, auditors, and other stakeholders on findings, risks, and recommended actions.
• Coordinate with grants-management specialists, program analysts, data analysts, project managers, and Government personnel to validate assumptions and resolve discrepancies.
• Develop standardized templates, checklists, review protocols, standard operating procedures, risk-control matrices, and monitoring tools.
• Maintain complete, accurate, version-controlled workpapers and supporting documentation sufficient to demonstrate how conclusions were reached.
• Protect sensitive financial, grant, recipient, subrecipient, and personally identifiable information in accordance with FEMA and DHS requirements.
• Participate in meetings, monitoring reviews, audit-readiness sessions, risk discussions, and corrective-action working groups.
• Respond to urgent Government requests and competing priorities while maintaining the accuracy and defensibility of analyses.
• Apply approved quality-control procedures before submitting reports, recommendations, workpapers, or other deliverables.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking an experienced Grants Management Subject Matter Expert — Level III to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate in administering complex federal grant programs throughout the complete award lifecycle.

The ideal candidate understands how federal grant programs move from initial program design and funding opportunity development through application review, award processing, recipient monitoring, amendments, audit response, and closeout. This individual brings the judgment to interpret grant requirements, identify program and compliance risks, develop practical solutions, and produce accurate work products for Government review and approval.

Position Summary

The Grants Management SME — Level III provides senior functional expertise across FEMA’s grant portfolio and supporting program offices. The individual supports new grant-program planning, pre-award and post-award administration, application and technical review, recipient assistance, monitoring, award amendments, audit response, closeout, process improvement, and policy implementation.

The SME works with FEMA program officials, financial personnel, grants management staff, analysts, and other stakeholders to resolve complex grant-administration matters and maintain accurate, timely, and compliant program operations. Work products may include program-planning materials, milestone trackers, award documentation, technical analyses, monitoring reports, risk registers, recipient correspondence, audit responses, policies, standard operating procedures, briefing materials, and closeout trackers.

The position also provides specialized support for FEMA’s Fire Prevention and Safety Research and Development award lifecycle and may assist with establishing application criteria, performing technical analysis, and supporting applicants or recipients.

The BPA’s primary place of performance is FEMA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Work not requiring an onsite presence may be performed through approved telework or at an authorized contractor facility. The work schedule generally aligns with Government operating hours, and travel may occasionally be identified at the individual order level.

Key Responsibilities

• Advise FEMA program offices on the planning, development, coordination, implementation, and administration of new and existing federal grant programs.
• Develop plans of action, milestone schedules, risk registers, implementation tools, and status trackers that provide leadership with timely visibility into program progress and potential delays.
• Draft and revise pre-award and post-award grant documentation for Government review, approval, and issuance.
• Prepare briefing materials, executive summaries, decision memoranda, presentations, talking points, and program rollout materials for internal and external audiences.
• Design program-evaluation documentation, including logic models, performance measures, data-collection instruments, risk frameworks, and evaluation plans.
• Establish application criteria, review standards, scoring tools, technical-review instructions, and supporting documentation for competitive or discretionary grant programs.
• Analyze grant applications for completeness, eligibility, technical merit, program alignment, risk, and compliance with established evaluation criteria.
• Support application-review activities by coordinating review logistics, tracking applications, maintaining evaluation records, preparing review packages, and monitoring review progress.
• Provide technical and programmatic assistance to applicants, recipients, and FEMA stakeholders concerning grant requirements, application expectations, award conditions, and corrective actions.
• Review award materials for accuracy, consistency, completeness, and alignment with approved program requirements before final Government review.
• Evaluate recipient and program performance using established metrics, award terms, financial information, monitoring results, and other available evidence.
• Conduct programmatic and financial monitoring activities, including review of recipient submissions, identification of compliance concerns, documentation of findings, and development of recommended corrective actions.
• Draft monitoring correspondence, technical-assistance materials, approval or denial letters, action memoranda, reports, and recipient notifications for Government approval.
• Assess requests for award amendments, extensions, budget revisions, changes in scope, and other post-award actions.
• Manage grant closeout activities by reviewing files, identifying missing documentation, tracking outstanding actions, preparing correspondence, and supporting timely administrative and financial closure.
• Research and interpret applicable statutes, regulations, Uniform Guidance requirements, FEMA policies, program guidance, Notices of Funding Opportunity, and award terms and conditions.
• Prepare draft responses and supporting documentation for Government Accountability Office, Office of Inspector General, internal-control, and other audit or oversight requests.
• Identify recurring compliance issues, process bottlenecks, control weaknesses, and opportunities to improve grant-program administration.
• Develop and update policies, standard operating procedures, desk guides, templates, checklists, process maps, and quality-control tools.
• Facilitate meetings, technical discussions, working sessions, and decision reviews involving Government personnel and program stakeholders.
• Coordinate with program, financial, legal, policy, data, audit, and administrative personnel to resolve cross-functional grant-management issues.
• Maintain complete, organized, accurate, and audit-ready grant records in approved Government systems and repositories.
• Perform quality reviews of grant documentation to verify accuracy, consistency, traceability, accessibility, and compliance before submission.
• Track assignments, decisions, risks, findings, corrective actions, deadlines, and deliverables through completion.
• Communicate emerging risks, delayed actions, unresolved recipient issues, and potential compliance concerns to project leadership promptly.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking dependable, service-oriented Federal Grants Management Specialists to support FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate in administering mission-critical federal grant programs.

This role is suited for professionals who understand that effective grants administration requires more than processing documents. It requires accuracy, responsiveness, sound judgment, careful recordkeeping, and the ability to guide applicants and grant recipients through complex requirements without making unauthorized commitments on behalf of the Government.

The ideal candidate brings hands-on experience supporting federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, nonprofit, emergency-management, fire-service, or public-safety grant programs. The candidate is comfortable reviewing grant documentation, tracking applications and awards, responding to inquiries, maintaining program records, and supporting grants throughout the pre-award, award, monitoring, amendment, and closeout lifecycle.

Successful candidates are organized, patient, detail-oriented, and able to manage repetitive, high-volume work without sacrificing accuracy or customer service. They communicate clearly by telephone and email, recognize when an issue requires escalation, and work independently while remaining responsive to Government and contractor leadership.

Position Summary

The Grants Management Specialist II provides front-line grants administration, application-processing, recipient-support, documentation, tracking, and customer-service support across FEMA grant programs.

Assignments may include drafting pre- and post-award documents; downloading, organizing, and initially reviewing application packages; preparing award materials; tracking monitoring and closeout actions; maintaining databases and spreadsheets; answering applicant and recipient questions; and supporting application-evaluation panels.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• Draft and revise pre-award and post-award grant documentation for Government review and approval.
• Download, organize, and track grant applications and associated supporting documents.
• Review application packages for completeness, required documentation, formatting, and apparent inconsistencies.
• Maintain application-review spreadsheets, trackers, shared records, databases, and status reports.
• Prepare application-review materials, evaluation-panel documents, award packages, and supporting correspondence.
• Populate draft award documentation for final review and approval by authorized federal personnel.
• Support programmatic and financial monitoring by updating records, drafting correspondence, and tracking outstanding actions.
• Track grant amendments, payment requests, progress reports, monitoring activities, corrective actions, and closeout status.
• Draft award-amendment materials, action memoranda, approval letters, denial letters, and recipient correspondence.
• Coordinate grant closeout activities, including document collection, correspondence, status tracking, and follow-up.
• Respond professionally and accurately to applicant, recipient, stakeholder, and program-office inquiries by telephone and email.
• Staff a high-volume programmatic help desk and document each inquiry, response, referral, and resolution.
• Explain published grant application processes, deadlines, program requirements, and current policies without providing unauthorized legal, financial, or award advice.
• Escalate complex, sensitive, policy-related, or potentially noncompliant matters to the appropriate federal or contractor lead.
• Assist program offices in developing application criteria and preparing for grant-evaluation panels.
• Coordinate incoming grant-program and data inquiries and track responses through completion.
• Research applicable grant policies, procedures, notices, guidance, and reporting requirements.
• Identify missing information, conflicting documentation, overdue actions, compliance concerns, and risks requiring review.
• Protect applicant, recipient, financial, personally identifiable, and sensitive Government information.
• Apply quality-control checks to ensure records and deliverables are accurate, complete, properly formatted, and submitted on time.
• Participate in team meetings, training sessions, workload reviews, process-improvement discussions, and knowledge-transfer activities.
• Perform related grants administration and program-support duties assigned under individual FEMA task orders.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking an experienced Senior Communications Specialist to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate, or GPD, under the Grant Programmatic, Administration, and Technical Services program.

This role is designed for a senior communications professional who can translate complex federal grant policies, program requirements, operational data, and leadership priorities into clear, accurate, audience-appropriate communications. The selected candidate supports communications with FEMA leadership, program staff, grant recipients, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners, and other internal and external stakeholders.

The position requires more than strong writing. The successful candidate understands how communications support program implementation, stakeholder confidence, policy adoption, organizational change, grant recipient awareness, and executive decision-making. This individual serves as a senior reviewer and communications advisor, helping FEMA ensure that correspondence, outreach materials, executive briefings, program announcements, meeting products, and public-facing information are accurate, consistent, timely, and aligned with approved Government messaging.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Communications Specialist supports planning, development, review, coordination, and execution of internal and external communications across FEMA’s grants portfolio.

The role develops briefing materials for new or updated grant programs, prepares and reviews responses to program and data inquiries, documents new grant-related policies and reporting requirements, supports strategic communications and outreach initiatives, and develops products such as newsletters, town halls, fact sheets, and communication toolkits.

The position also creates and quality-checks correspondence, expedites executive briefings, prepares presentation materials, supports meeting and conference communications, and facilitates high-level discussions with internal and external stakeholders. These responsibilities directly support the Government’s need for accurate, complete, timely, and high-quality deliverables.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop briefing materials supporting the stand-up, rollout, implementation, or modification of FEMA grant programs for internal and external audiences.
• Plan strategic communications and stakeholder-outreach activities that improve program awareness, understanding, participation, and transparency.
• Draft clear, concise, and accurate responses to inquiries for Government review and approval.
• Review program-office responses to leadership, stakeholder, congressional, oversight, or data inquiries for accuracy, grammar, structure, tone, formatting, and message consistency.
• Translate complex grant policies, legislation, directives, program data, and reporting requirements into understandable communications for targeted audiences.
• Document new grant-related practices, policies, legislation, directives, and reporting requirements.
• Brief program personnel on communication changes, stakeholder implications, messaging requirements, and newly established procedures.
• Develop newsletters, fact sheets, talking points, frequently asked questions, town-hall materials, communication toolkits, presentations, announcements, and other outreach products.
• Prepare executive briefings, decision-support materials, read-aheads, agendas, summaries, and presentation decks.
• Expedite the compilation, review, clearance, and delivery of time-sensitive briefing packages and correspondence.
• Create high-quality written correspondence using Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with exceptional proficiency in grammar, spelling, punctuation, structure, and formatting.
• Conduct quality reviews of written and visual products to verify factual accuracy, consistency, readability, audience alignment, accessibility, and adherence to approved templates.
• Maintain communication resources, stakeholder information, SharePoint content, GPD web pages, collaboration sites, and approved message repositories.
• Coordinate content development with grant program personnel, analysts, subject-matter experts, leadership, and other communications professionals.
• Facilitate high-level meetings involving FEMA personnel and internal or external stakeholders.
• Support town halls, webinars, conferences, working sessions, stakeholder calls, and other in-person or virtual engagements.
• Develop meeting and presentation materials, including slides, handouts, speaker notes, participant materials, attendance tools, and post-event communications.
• Capture meeting conclusions, decisions, commitments, risks, action items, and follow-up requirements.
• Prepare concise meeting summaries and executive-level records of decisions.
• Track communication deliverables, review comments, approvals, action items, dependencies, deadlines, and outstanding decisions.
• Advise project and program leaders on audience needs, message sequencing, communication risks, stakeholder sensitivities, and appropriate communication channels.
• Ensure communications do not imply that contractor personnel are Government officials and comply with applicable Government review and approval processes.
• Protect sensitive, pre-decisional, personally identifiable, and other controlled information in accordance with FEMA and DHS requirements.
• Perform work independently while keeping the project manager and Government stakeholders informed of risks, delays, conflicting guidance, or required decisions.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION seeks an experienced Communications Specialist – Intermediate to develop clear, accurate, accessible, and audience-appropriate communications supporting FEMA grant programs, initiatives, stakeholders, and leadership.

The ideal candidate combines strong writing and editing ability with practical experience producing federal program communications, stakeholder correspondence, outreach materials, web content, briefing products, and meeting or conference materials. This individual understands that effective government communication requires more than polished writing—it requires accuracy, consistency, responsiveness, appropriate clearance, records discipline, and the ability to translate complex program information into useful messages for different audiences.

This position is well suited for a detail-oriented communications professional who works effectively in a deadline-driven environment, manages multiple assignments, anticipates stakeholder information needs, and remains productive when priorities or requirements evolve. The successful candidate is comfortable coordinating with program managers, grants professionals, technical specialists, leadership, and other stakeholders while protecting sensitive information and maintaining an organized review and approval process.

Position Summary

The Communications Specialist supports the planning, drafting, editing, coordination, and delivery of internal and external communications for FEMA grant-related programs and initiatives. The role develops rollout and awareness materials; prepares letters, memoranda, stakeholder registries, and inquiry responses; supports outreach campaigns; and creates SharePoint or web content, newsletters, town hall materials, fact sheets, toolkits, briefings, presentation slides, meeting materials, and conference resources.

The specialist helps FEMA communicate consistently across multiple channels and stakeholder groups. Responsibilities include transforming technical, grants-related, policy, operational, or program information into clear content; coordinating reviews and approvals; maintaining version control; validating facts and references; and preparing final products that meet Government formatting, accessibility, records-management, and quality requirements.

The role maps to ASCENSION’s Documentation/Media Specialist I GSA labor category, which includes digital content coordination, website and collateral development, visual communications, proofreading, document editing, approval-chain coordination, and preparation of reports, memoranda, briefing papers, presentations, and other communication products.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop rollout, awareness, and socialization materials for FEMA grant programs, policies, initiatives, and operational changes.
• Draft letters, memoranda, announcements, stakeholder notifications, talking points, executive messages, and other official correspondence.
• Maintain stakeholder contact lists, distribution lists, communication calendars, correspondence trackers, and stakeholder registries.
• Prepare clear, responsive, and properly coordinated answers to public, stakeholder, leadership, or program inquiries.
• Create outreach materials, newsletters, fact sheets, one-page summaries, frequently asked questions, toolkits, and informational resources.
• Develop SharePoint and web content that is current, clearly structured, searchable, accessible, and appropriate for the intended audience.
• Produce briefing decks, presentation slides, meeting agendas, read-ahead packages, speaker notes, decision papers, and executive-level materials.
• Support virtual and in-person town halls, stakeholder meetings, working sessions, conferences, webinars, and outreach events.
• Compile conference and meeting toolkits, including agendas, participant materials, presentation files, biographies, logistical information, and post-event resources.
• Edit program documents, policies, reports, correspondence, presentations, and outreach products for clarity, grammar, tone, consistency, and completeness.
• Translate complex grants-management, policy, operational, or technical information into understandable content for executive, program, recipient, partner, and public audiences.
• Coordinate content reviews with program staff, subject matter experts, leadership, legal counsel, public affairs personnel, and other designated reviewers.
• Track comments, revisions, approvals, deadlines, dependencies, and outstanding actions through the complete content-development lifecycle.
• Apply Government templates, editorial standards, branding requirements, plain-language principles, and Section 508 accessibility practices.
• Validate names, dates, program references, links, citations, data points, and other factual information before releasing communication products for approval.
• Manage document versions, file naming, approval records, source materials, and final communication products in SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, or other approved repositories.
• Monitor communication activities and available engagement information to identify recurring questions, content gaps, or opportunities to improve stakeholder awareness.
• Recommend improvements to communication workflows, templates, content calendars, review processes, and information-sharing methods.
• Collaborate with program managers, grants analysts, trainers, data analysts, SharePoint specialists, and administrative staff to develop integrated communication products.
• Protect sensitive, controlled, pre-decisional, and personally identifiable information in accordance with FEMA and DHS requirements.
• Complete assignments within established timelines while maintaining accuracy, responsiveness, and professional quality.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking an experienced Business Analyst to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate in improving the planning, administration, oversight, and performance of federal grant programs.

The selected professional serves as a bridge between FEMA program personnel, grant-management stakeholders, data specialists, and operational teams. This person helps translate program needs into clear requirements, practical processes, reliable performance measures, standardized procedures, and decision-support products.

The ideal candidate understands how to examine a complex federal program, identify what is working and what is creating risk, and convert findings into actionable recommendations. This role is well suited for a detail-oriented, analytical professional who can work independently, organize incomplete or competing information, facilitate discussions across business lines, and develop clear products for both operational personnel and senior leadership.

Direct FEMA grants experience is highly valuable, but candidates with closely related experience in federal program administration, program evaluation, business-process improvement, audit response, performance management, or public-sector operations are also encouraged to apply.

Contractor Role Summary

The Business Analyst supports new grant-program planning, program evaluation, post-award effectiveness reviews, compliance and risk analysis, reporting requirements, audit-finding reviews, process improvement, and business-practice documentation.

The position helps FEMA determine:

• What information program personnel and leadership need.
• How program effectiveness should be measured.
• Where processes, controls, or reporting practices create risk.
• How grant-management activities can be standardized.
• What procedures, templates, dashboards, or job aids personnel need to perform their work consistently.
• How analytical findings affect future program planning and resource decisions.

The role supports PWS activities involving new program planning; development of logic models, performance measures, data-collection templates, and risk registers; assessment of program effectiveness; routine program, process, and risk analysis; reporting and dashboard requirements; review of audit findings; process improvement; and development of SOPs and job aids.

Primary Responsibilities

• ANALYZE program requirements, business operations, workflows, risks, controls, and stakeholder needs across FEMA grant programs.
• SUPPORT planning, development, coordination, and implementation activities for new or enhanced grant programs.
• ELICIT and document business, reporting, operational, and information requirements through interviews, working sessions, document reviews, and stakeholder meetings.
• DEVELOP program-evaluation materials, including logic models, performance measures, data-collection templates, evaluation frameworks, and risk registers.
• ASSESS program effectiveness using established performance measures and explain how findings may affect future program planning, policy, or resource decisions.
• CONDUCT routine program, process, compliance, internal-control, and risk analyses to identify concerns, gaps, bottlenecks, and improvement opportunities.
• CLARIFY recurring information needs with FEMA personnel and end users across multiple business lines.
• TRANSLATE business needs into practical reporting designs, dashboard concepts, templates, trackers, process maps, and other visual decision-support products.
• REVIEW grant-management practices, financial and programmatic processes, audit findings, reporting requirements, and supporting documentation.
• RECOMMEND process improvements that increase efficiency, consistency, transparency, control effectiveness, and compliance.
• DOCUMENT current-state and future-state processes using workflows, process narratives, responsibility matrices, decision points, and control descriptions.
• CREATE and maintain standard operating procedures, job aids, desk guides, templates, checklists, and other operational resources.
• FACILITATE stakeholder discussions, requirements sessions, process-mapping workshops, working groups, and review meetings.
• PREPARE executive summaries, briefings, analytical reports, decision papers, findings, recommendations, and implementation materials.
• VALIDATE requirements and proposed solutions with program personnel before products are finalized.
• TRACK assumptions, requirements, risks, issues, decisions, action items, dependencies, and implementation progress.
• COORDINATE with program analysts, grants-management specialists, financial specialists, data analysts, SharePoint personnel, and project leadership.
• APPLY version control, document-management, quality-review, and records-management practices to assigned work products.
• PROTECT sensitive Government, grant-recipient, financial, and programmatic information in accordance with applicable FEMA and DHS requirements.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking an experienced Senior Program Analyst to provide grants program, operational, analytical, and executive support to FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate. This position is suited for a federal grants or program-management professional who understands how to convert complex requirements, policies, program data, audit findings, and stakeholder input into accurate analyses, actionable recommendations, executive briefings, and improved business processes.

The ideal candidate brings sound judgment, strong writing and analytical abilities, and demonstrated experience supporting senior government officials in a deadline-driven environment. The individual must be comfortable managing several workstreams simultaneously, working through incomplete or evolving information, identifying risks before they affect performance, and producing polished work products with limited supervision.

This role supports FEMA programs responsible for administering preparedness and public-safety grant funding. The Senior Program Analyst helps FEMA improve grant administration, reporting, audit readiness, internal controls, business practices, stakeholder coordination, and executive decision-making.

Position Summary

The Senior Program Analyst provides advanced programmatic and analytical support across FEMA grant programs, including the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and the Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Program. Depending on the assigned order, the analyst may support grant lifecycle activities, program monitoring, audit and financial reviews, internal-control assessments, policy and process improvement, performance reporting, meeting facilitation, executive communications, and leadership-transition products.

The analyst reviews program information from multiple sources, evaluates operational and compliance issues, documents findings, develops recommendations, and prepares clear materials for technical staff, program managers, and senior leadership. The position also helps establish repeatable tools and processes—such as trackers, standard operating procedures, briefing templates, decision logs, action-item registers, dashboards, risk logs, and quality-control checklists—that enable FEMA personnel to manage work consistently and maintain reliable program records.

This is a senior individual-contributor role. It may also include leading discrete workstreams, coordinating junior analysts, reviewing work products, and serving as a primary point of contact for assigned projects.

Primary Responsibilities

The successful candidate is expected to:

• Analyze federal grant programs, policies, procedures, operational data, audit findings, and stakeholder requirements to identify risks, trends, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
• Support senior-level grant program activities associated with FEMA preparedness, fire, and public-safety grant portfolios.
• Review grant-related documentation for completeness, consistency, accuracy, compliance, and alignment with established program requirements.
• Evaluate program operations, business practices, workflows, internal controls, and reporting processes.
• Develop recommendations that improve program integrity, efficiency, accountability, customer service, and management visibility.
• Prepare executive briefings, decision memoranda, reports, issue papers, talking points, meeting materials, summaries, and other leadership products.
• Draft and revise policies, procedures, standard operating procedures, job aids, templates, checklists, and process documentation.
• Track program milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, decisions, commitments, and corrective actions through completion.
• Coordinate information requests and deliverables among FEMA program personnel, financial specialists, grants management professionals, auditors, regional stakeholders, and contractor staff.
• Facilitate working sessions, program reviews, stakeholder meetings, briefings, conferences, and other high-level engagements.
• Document meeting discussions, conclusions, recommendations, commitments, and assigned actions.
• Prepare concise meeting summaries and follow up with responsible parties to promote timely completion of action items.
• Assist with virtual and in-person conference planning, logistical coordination, support materials, toolkits, agendas, and online meeting administration.
• Develop leadership and organizational transition materials for incoming FEMA officials.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research using program records, interviews, data sets, policies, regulations, and other authoritative sources.
• Validate source information and reconcile inconsistencies before including data in reports or executive products.
• Produce recurring and ad hoc status reports, performance summaries, trend analyses, and management-level presentations.
• Recommend performance measures and practical methods for monitoring program progress and operational outcomes.
• Maintain organized, current, and traceable program files in approved collaboration and document-management environments.
• Perform quality-control reviews of analytical products, reports, presentations, and supporting documentation before submission.
• Protect sensitive government and grant-related information and follow applicable records-management, privacy, cybersecurity, and information-handling procedures.
• Identify requests that may exceed the assigned order’s scope and elevate them through ASCENSION’s project-management chain before proceeding.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking a detail-oriented Federal Grants Program Analyst to support FEMA grant programs throughout the planning, application review, award, monitoring, closeout, evaluation, and administrative support lifecycle.

This position is suited for an analytical and highly organized professional who understands how federal programs convert policy, funding, and program requirements into documented processes, award actions, monitoring records, reports, and defensible management decisions. The successful candidate brings strong writing, coordination, data-tracking, records-management, and problem-solving capabilities and is comfortable supporting multiple grant programs or administrative projects simultaneously.

The analyst plays an important role in helping FEMA maintain accurate grant documentation, monitor program progress, respond to oversight requests, improve operating procedures, and provide leadership with reliable information. The work requires someone who can independently organize assignments, identify missing or inconsistent information, anticipate deadlines, elevate risks, and develop accurate work products for Government review and approval.

This is not a designated key-personnel position. The solicitation identifies only the Senior Project Manager/BPA Manager as BPA-level key personnel. The Program Support Analyst—Mid Level requires a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of experience.

Contractor Role Summary

The Federal Grants Program Analyst provides mid-level programmatic and administrative support across FEMA’s grant portfolio. Depending on the funded order, the analyst may support one or more FEMA program offices with new grant program planning, pre-award and post-award documentation, federal application reviews, award processing, program monitoring, closeout activities, audit responses, process documentation, records management, stakeholder inquiries, briefings, and transition materials.

Day-to-Day and Recurring Responsibilities

• Assist FEMA program offices with planning, coordinating, documenting, and implementing new or revised grant programs.
• Track plans of action, milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and due dates, and identify items that are at risk of delay.
• Draft and revise pre-award and post-award grant documentation for Government review and approval.
• Prepare briefing decks, talking points, status reports, meeting materials, and program rollout products for internal and external audiences.
• Support the development of logic models, performance measures, data-collection templates, risk registers, and program-evaluation documentation.
• Coordinate federal application-review logistics, including application tracking, document downloads, reviewer materials, review-progress spreadsheets, and initial completeness analysis.
• Populate award-processing materials and supporting documentation in preparation for federal review and approval.
• Analyze program information and performance measures to help assess program effectiveness and inform future planning.
• Draft action memoranda, approval or denial correspondence, amendment materials, monitoring letters, and other official documents for Government approval.
• Maintain stakeholder registries, contact lists, program trackers, action-item logs, document repositories, and administrative records.
• Support programmatic and financial monitoring by updating databases, organizing supporting documentation, and preparing draft reports and correspondence.
• Track award-closeout actions, outstanding documentation, resolution items, and completion status.
• Research and draft responses to Government Accountability Office, Inspector General, audit, compliance, or management-review inquiries.
• Respond to routine program inquiries by researching applicable records, coordinating with subject-matter experts, and preparing clear draft responses.
• Develop and update standard operating procedures, desk guides, templates, checklists, process maps, and job aids.
• Review program files for completeness, consistency, version control, naming conventions, and records-management compliance.
• Document business processes, decisions, meeting outcomes, action items, risks, and follow-up requirements.
• Organize meetings, briefings, working sessions, stakeholder discussions, and project checkpoints.
• Capture accurate meeting notes and convert discussions into decisions, action items, owners, deadlines, and follow-up materials.
• Support transition-in and transition-out activities, including file inventories, knowledge-transfer materials, status summaries, and continuity documentation.
• Validate data and documentation before submission to confirm accuracy, traceability, completeness, and adherence to established templates.
• Escalate conflicting requirements, overdue actions, documentation gaps, compliance concerns, and emerging program risks.
• Collaborate with project managers, grants-management specialists, financial analysts, data analysts, communications staff, and FEMA stakeholders.
• Protect sensitive Government information and follow FEMA, DHS, contract, privacy, cybersecurity, and records-management requirements.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking detail-oriented, service-focused Federal Grants Program Analysts to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate. The analysts help FEMA plan, administer, monitor, document, and close federal grant programs while maintaining reliable trackers, correspondence, records, reports, and meeting products.

This position is well suited for professionals who have experience supporting federal grants, government programs, project coordination, management analysis, administrative operations, or mission-support environments. Strong candidates understand that effective grant administration depends on accurate records, disciplined follow-up, timely reporting, and careful coordination among program offices, applicants, recipients, leadership, and other stakeholders.

The analyst serves as an operational link between program requirements and day-to-day execution. The role helps FEMA maintain visibility into milestones, application reviews, award actions, monitoring activities, data requests, leadership priorities, meetings, and closeout actions. Although the analyst works as part of an integrated team, the PWS expects contractor personnel to work independently, exercise sound judgment, manage assignments with minimal direction, and interact effectively with Government personnel and other contractors.

Contractor Role Summary

The Program Support Analyst provides intermediate-level program, grant-administration, tracking, reporting, records, correspondence, and meeting support across FEMA Grant Programs Directorate offices.

Assignments may span the full grant lifecycle. The analyst may update plans of action and milestones, prepare pre- and post-award documents, coordinate application-review logistics, populate draft award materials, maintain stakeholder registries, support programmatic and financial monitoring, draft correspondence, and track award closeout activities. The role may also receive and coordinate responses to data inquiries, maintain priority trackers, compile information for reports, organize official program records, prepare meeting materials, document decisions, and follow up on action items.

The analyst does not make final grant eligibility, funding, award, or other inherently governmental decisions. Work products are prepared for federal review, approval, or use.

Performance is measured by timeliness, accuracy, completeness, and overall quality. FEMA’s performance standards target at least 95% timely deliverables, 95% accurate and complete reports, and 98% high-quality deliverables that meet or exceed applicable requirements.

Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

• Maintain plans of action, milestone schedules, status trackers, action-item logs, and deliverable calendars.
• Monitor deadlines and promptly identify milestones, dependencies, or deliverables at risk.
• Coordinate application-review logistics, document downloads, reviewer materials, spreadsheets, and progress updates.
• Review application packages and supporting documents for initial completeness or administrative processing, within the analyst’s assigned authority.
• Prepare draft pre-award, award, post-award, amendment, monitoring, and closeout documents for federal review.
• Populate approved templates and draft award-processing materials using source information provided by program personnel.
• Update stakeholder registries, contact lists, correspondence logs, program databases, and shared repositories.
• Track programmatic and financial monitoring actions, outstanding requests, approvals, responses, and corrective-action items.
• Receive and log program-level data inquiries and coordinate inputs from responsible offices.
• Compile data from spreadsheets, trackers, correspondence, reports, and other approved sources.
• Analyze routine program information to identify overdue actions, incomplete records, emerging risks, and reporting discrepancies.
• Draft correspondence, memoranda, meeting summaries, briefing slides, status reports, and other program documents.
• Edit written products for grammar, spelling, punctuation, formatting, consistency, and adherence to approved templates.
• Organize electronic correspondence, leadership decisions, grant-program records, and official files using approved naming and filing conventions.
• Maintain SharePoint sites, Microsoft Teams workspaces, shared drives, and other authorized collaboration repositories.
• Prepare agendas, read-ahead packages, presentation materials, participant lists, and conference toolkits.
• Support meetings, webinars, town halls, briefings, conferences, and stakeholder-engagement sessions.
• Record attendance, meeting minutes, decisions, commitments, risks, and assigned actions.
• Follow up with responsible parties to verify that meeting actions and program commitments are completed on time.
• Produce accurate monthly and ad hoc progress reports in required formats.
• Conduct self-review and peer review before submitting documents or data products.
• Protect sensitive Government, grant applicant, recipient, and stakeholder information.
• Identify oneself as contractor personnel in meetings, correspondence, telephone conversations, and FEMA email signatures, as required.
• Escalate requests that exceed assigned authority, conflict with established requirements, or could constitute a change in scope.
• Perform short-term and long-term administrative projects assigned through authorized BPA Orders.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking an experienced Senior Grants Training Specialist to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate under the Grant Programmatic, Administration, and Technical Services Blanket Purchase Agreement.

This role is designed for an accomplished trainer, facilitator, and learning professional who can translate federal grant-management requirements, policies, procedures, and operational practices into practical learning experiences for FEMA personnel and grant stakeholders. The selected professional supports workforce readiness by developing clear training materials, delivering instructor-led and virtual sessions, facilitating town halls and awareness briefings, and preparing staff to apply changing grant policies and reporting requirements consistently.

The solicitation requires the Trainer at the senior level to possess at least a bachelor’s degree and five years of experience. It is not identified as a key-personnel position. FEMA estimates 3,840 labor hours annually for this labor category, equivalent to approximately two full-time professionals across the BPA rather than 3,840 hours for one employee.

Who ASCENSION Is Seeking

The ideal candidate is a senior training professional who combines strong facilitation skills with practical knowledge of grants management, federal programs, policy implementation, or public-sector operations.

Successful candidates can:

• Explain complex grant policies and procedures in clear, practical language.
• Engage audiences ranging from operational staff to program leadership.
• Develop training courses, briefing materials, job aids, presentations, and communication toolkits.
• Facilitate virtual and in-person events, workshops, town halls, and awareness sessions.
• Work with grant-management specialists, policy personnel, communications staff, and program leadership to validate technical content.
• Adapt training quickly when legislation, policy, program guidance, systems, or reporting requirements change.
• Manage multiple training assignments with limited supervision while maintaining accuracy, consistency, and professional presentation.

The role is particularly well suited for a detail-oriented, organized, and self-directed professional who anticipates participant needs, resolves content and delivery challenges, and remains effective in a changing federal program environment.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Grants Training Specialist supports the design, development, coordination, delivery, and evaluation of FEMA grant-management training and stakeholder-engagement activities.

The trainer collaborates with subject-matter experts to convert technical information into learner-centered materials, prepares facilitators and participants for scheduled events, conducts training, captures questions and feedback, and recommends improvements based on participant performance and evaluation results.

This position is more than a classroom-instructor role. It combines training delivery, instructional design, technical writing, stakeholder facilitation, change communications, and performance support.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Analyze FEMA grant-management processes, policies, legislation, reporting requirements, and audience needs to identify learning objectives and performance gaps.
• Develop instructor-led, virtual, blended, and self-directed training materials for FEMA personnel and grant stakeholders.
• Translate complex policies and procedures into practical examples, exercises, scenarios, checklists, reference guides, and job aids.
• Design course outlines, lesson plans, facilitator guides, participant materials, presentations, assessments, surveys, and post-training resources.
• Deliver engaging virtual and in-person training sessions for adult learners with varying levels of grants-management experience.
• Facilitate program rollouts, awareness briefings, workshops, town halls, stakeholder meetings, focus groups, and knowledge-transfer sessions.
• Brief personnel on changes to grant practices, program policies, legislation, systems, procedures, and reporting expectations.
• Prepare presentation materials, talking points, frequently asked questions, communication toolkits, one-page guides, and other rollout resources.
• Develop and update SOPs, process guides, desk references, and job aids that reinforce training and support consistent task performance.
• Collaborate with grants-management SMEs, program analysts, communications personnel, data specialists, and leadership to validate content.
• Coordinate schedules, invitations, participant materials, facilitator preparation, technology checks, attendance, and follow-up activities.
• Apply adult-learning principles and instructional-design methods to improve knowledge retention and practical application.
• Incorporate realistic grant-management cases and scenarios into courses and facilitated sessions.
• Monitor changes in FEMA guidance, federal grant requirements, and program operations that may affect existing training materials.
• Evaluate training effectiveness through participant feedback, assessments, observation, attendance data, and stakeholder input.
• Recommend course updates, delivery improvements, or additional performance-support tools based on evaluation findings.
• Maintain version control, approval records, source references, and organized repositories for training products.
• Review materials for technical accuracy, readability, consistency, accessibility, and compliance with approved templates.
• Support Section 508 accessibility requirements for electronic training and presentation materials.
• Document meeting decisions, participant questions, action items, lessons learned, and required follow-up.
• Protect sensitive program information and comply with FEMA, DHS, contract, records-management, and information-handling requirements.
• Perform work within the scope, schedule, quality standards, and direction established for each BPA order.

Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

ASCENSION is seeking a highly experienced Senior Federal Program Manager to serve as the BPA Manager and designated Key Personnel for a potential five-year Federal Emergency Management Agency Grant Programmatic, Administration, and Technical Services Blanket Purchase Agreement.

This individual serves as ASCENSION’s senior management representative and primary operational point of accountability for BPA-wide performance supporting FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate. The position is responsible for coordinating contract execution, overseeing order-level project managers and multidisciplinary personnel, maintaining performance and quality controls, and ensuring that technical, administrative, financial, and reporting obligations are completed accurately and on time.

The ideal candidate combines federal program leadership, contract management discipline, grants or mission-support knowledge, and the ability to manage multiple workstreams in a fast-moving environment. This person must be comfortable working directly with contracting officials, CORs, program leaders, technical specialists, subcontractors, and executive leadership.

The successful candidate is an organized and decisive leader who anticipates risks, establishes clear accountability, communicates difficult information early, and converts broad or evolving customer needs into actionable plans, schedules, staffing decisions, quality controls, and measurable results.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Federal Program Manager provides BPA-wide leadership and management oversight for grant programmatic, administrative, analytical, financial, communications, training, reporting, data, and technical support services.

The FEMA GPATS BPA has an anticipated ordering period of one 12-month base period and four 12-month option periods. The solicitation identifies the Senior-Level Project Manager/BPA Manager as the BPA’s only expressly designated Key Personnel position and requires a bachelor’s degree and at least 10 years of experience. The Government’s estimated price schedule provides 1,920 hours per annual performance period for this role, supporting classification as a full-time position.

The BPA Manager coordinates performance across orders rather than personally executing every technical task. This individual establishes the management structure that allows order-level teams to plan and deliver work consistently, including:

• Grant program planning, implementation, and administration
• Pre-award and post-award grant support
• Program and financial monitoring
• Audit-response support
• Business and process analysis
• Program evaluation and performance measurement
• Data analysis, reporting, and dashboard support
• Communications and stakeholder engagement
• Training and technical assistance
• SharePoint and database support
• Administrative and operational support

The role also oversees BPA-level deliverables, including the post-award conference, Quality Control Plan, Project Management Plan, progress meetings, performance reporting, and other general reporting requirements identified by FEMA.

FEMA may issue fixed-price or time-and-materials orders under the BPA. Order quotations must identify the proposed technical approach, personnel, labor categories, hours, labor mix, and supported PWS tasks. Expedited order quotations may be required within 48 hours.

Key Responsibilities and Anticipated Activities

The Senior Federal Program Manager is expected to:

• Serve as ASCENSION’s principal management representative for BPA-wide contract performance and customer coordination.
• Lead BPA startup activities, including the post-award conference, transition planning, governance establishment, communication protocols, and implementation of management controls.
• Develop and maintain the BPA-level Project Management Plan defining scope governance, organizational responsibilities, schedules, communications, risk management, quality management, staffing, reporting, and change-control processes.
• Develop and administer the Quality Control Plan, quality review workflows, corrective-action procedures, and deliverable acceptance controls.
• Translate FEMA requirements and order requests into practical execution strategies, staffing models, schedules, milestones, deliverables, and performance measures.
• Coordinate preparation of order quotations, including technical approaches, proposed order leads, labor categories, hours, labor mix, schedules, risks, assumptions, and management controls.
• Respond to expedited order quotation requests within the required timeframe, including requests that may require submission within 48 hours.
• Direct order-level project managers, analysts, grants specialists, trainers, communications personnel, financial specialists, data analysts, SharePoint specialists, and administrative personnel.
• Assign responsibility for tasks and deliverables based on personnel qualifications, workload, deadlines, and order-specific performance requirements.
• Monitor scope, schedule, cost, staffing, deliverable status, quality, dependencies, risks, issues, and corrective actions across concurrent orders.
• Maintain an integrated BPA-level view of active orders, upcoming deliverables, personnel utilization, customer decisions, risks, and financial performance.
• Review technical deliverables for completeness, consistency, accuracy, responsiveness, accessibility, and compliance before submission to FEMA.
• Enforce internal quality-control gates so that deliverables require minimal Government rework and are submitted on or before required due dates.
• Track plans of action and milestones and promptly inform FEMA and ASCENSION leadership when milestones, deliverables, staffing levels, or performance standards are at risk.
• Facilitate recurring progress, performance, risk, staffing, and leadership meetings with the COR, Contracting Officer, order-level CORs, program offices, and contractor teams.
• Prepare meeting agendas, status materials, executive briefings, decision requests, meeting minutes, action registers, and follow-up communications.
• Produce accurate BPA-level progress reports describing accomplishments, activities completed, deliverables, staffing, schedule status, risks, corrective actions, and planned activities.
• Coordinate financial and administrative reporting with ASCENSION’s contracts and accounting personnel, including labor-hour validation, invoice support, order funding, burn-rate monitoring, and reconciliation of billed activities to authorized work.
• Verify that personnel charge only to authorized BPA orders, labor categories, tasks, and periods of performance.
• Manage subcontractor performance, deliverables, staffing, reporting, and compliance when subcontractor personnel support an order.
• Identify performance deficiencies, determine root causes, implement corrective and preventive actions, and verify that corrective actions remain effective.
• Escalate potential scope changes, unauthorized direction, funding concerns, contractual risks, personnel issues, and schedule threats through the appropriate contractual channels.
• Maintain the non-personal-services boundary by ensuring that ASCENSION—not Government personnel—directs, supervises, evaluates, and manages contractor employees.
• Coordinate recruitment, onboarding, replacement, retention, cross-training, and surge staffing needed to maintain uninterrupted performance.
• Ensure that contractor personnel complete required security, privacy, nondisclosure, system-access, identification, and Rules of Behavior requirements before accessing FEMA systems or sensitive information.
• Support CPARS-related performance documentation and coordinate ASCENSION’s response to Government performance assessments.
• Protect sensitive, procurement-sensitive, proprietary, personally identifiable, and Government information in accordance with BPA and order-level requirements.
• Ensure that artificial intelligence is not used or deployed in contract performance unless expressly authorized by the Contracting Officer, as required by the solicitation.