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Ascension is seeking an experienced Federal Acquisition Specialist to provide hands-on acquisition lifecycle support to a major Federal health agency procurement organization.

The ideal candidate is a federal acquisition professional who understands how to move procurement actions efficiently from requirements development and acquisition planning through solicitation, evaluation, award, contract administration, modification, invoice processing, and closeout while maintaining strong compliance with Federal acquisition regulations and agency procedures.

This position is particularly suited for an acquisition professional who enjoys working directly with Contracting Officers, Contracting Officer’s Representatives, program managers, technical stakeholders, vendors, and other acquisition professionals to solve procurement challenges and keep acquisition actions moving.

The successful candidate will be analytical, detail-oriented, responsive, highly organized, and comfortable managing multiple acquisitions simultaneously. The individual should be able to recognize incomplete or problematic procurement documentation, identify risks before they affect acquisition schedules, recommend practical solutions, and independently prepare high-quality acquisition work products.

Candidates should also be comfortable operating in a Federal environment where priorities, workloads, and acquisition milestones may change and where accuracy, responsiveness, confidentiality, professional judgment, and documentation quality are essential.

Position Summary

The Federal Acquisition Specialist will provide comprehensive pre-award, award, post-award, and contract closeout support across the Federal acquisition lifecycle.

The Specialist will support the Government in developing and reviewing procurement packages; performing market research; preparing acquisition strategies and solicitation documents; conducting cost and price analyses; supporting source selection activities; preparing award documentation; maintaining contract files; processing modifications and invoices; monitoring acquisition milestones; and supporting contract closeout.

The Specialist will work closely with Contracting Officers and program offices to promote acquisition actions that are timely, well-planned, competitive, properly documented, and compliant with applicable regulations.

Assignments may involve acquisitions for professional services, supplies, equipment, information technology, and other mission-support requirements.

This individual serves in an advisory and support capacity only and will not negotiate contracts, obligate Government funds, or perform inherently governmental functions.

What You Will Help the Customer Accomplish

The Federal Acquisition Specialist will help the customer:

• Improve acquisition cycle times and Procurement Administrative Lead Time.
• Develop complete and defensible procurement packages.
• Maintain consistent acquisition documentation and contract files.
• Conduct effective and well-documented market research.
• Improve acquisition strategy and competition.
• Strengthen cost and price analysis.
• Maintain compliant source-selection processes.
• Resolve procurement documentation and administrative backlogs.
• Improve contract administration and invoice processing.
• Maintain audit-ready procurement records.
• Track acquisition milestones, funding, modifications, options, and closeouts.
• Protect procurement-sensitive, proprietary, Privacy Act, and personally identifiable information.
• Provide surge acquisition capacity during periods of increased workload.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

The Federal Acquisition Specialist will:

• REVIEW procurement requests for services, supplies, equipment, systems, and information technology requirements for completeness, accuracy, and acquisition readiness.
• ANALYZE Statements of Work, Performance Work Statements, specifications, and other requirements documents and recommend appropriate revisions.
• DEVELOP and review acquisition plans, acquisition strategies, milestone schedules, procurement plans, and supporting acquisition documentation.
• CONDUCT market research and prepare written market research reports documenting available sources, acquisition alternatives, competition, and socioeconomic small-business considerations.
• SUPPORT small-business capability analyses, including consideration of 8(a), small disadvantaged business, HUBZone, WOSB, SDVOSB, and other applicable socioeconomic programs.
• PREPARE Requests for Proposals, Requests for Quotations, combined synopsis/solicitations, amendments, notices, and other pre-award documents.
• REVIEW solicitations to verify inclusion of appropriate FAR, HHSAR, agency, and acquisition-specific terms and conditions.
• PREPARE procurement notices and support electronic posting through approved Federal acquisition systems.
• PERFORM cost and price analyses of quotations, proposals, and other contractor submissions and develop supporting pricing documentation.
• SUPPORT technical evaluation teams and source-selection activities while helping maintain the integrity and documentation of the evaluation process.
• PREPARE evaluation documentation, technical evaluation materials, correspondence, award recommendations, and related acquisition records.
• SUPPORT Contracting Officers during exchanges, discussions, clarifications, and other pre-award acquisition activities without independently exercising Government contracting authority.
• PREPARE purchase orders, task orders, delivery orders, stand-alone contracts, award documentation, and supporting contract-file documentation.
• MAINTAIN accurate electronic acquisition and contract files in Government-approved systems.
• TRACK procurement actions, funding status, milestones, options, modifications, deliverables, and closeout activities.
• MONITOR Procurement Administrative Lead Time and other acquisition performance measures and identify actions that may be approaching or exceeding established milestones.
• SUPPORT post-award conferences, vendor meetings, contract administration, contractor-performance monitoring, and corrective-action documentation.
• PREPARE contract modifications involving funding, pricing, delivery schedules, period-of-performance changes, options, and other administrative actions for Contracting Officer review and execution.
• REVIEW contractor invoices and funding status and coordinate resolution of invoice discrepancies with appropriate Government stakeholders.
• SUPPORT contract closeout, including verification of required documentation and maintenance of closed-contract records.
• ASSIST with acquisition-related FOIA requests, protests, congressional inquiries, data calls, and other information requests when assigned.
• IDENTIFY acquisition risks, incomplete documentation, schedule concerns, compliance issues, and process bottlenecks and recommend practical corrective actions.
• COMMUNICATE acquisition status, risks, milestones, changes, and expected completion dates to Government customers.
• COLLABORATE with Contracting Officers, CORs, program managers, legal counsel, technical evaluators, financial personnel, vendors, and other acquisition stakeholders.
• PREPARE acquisition status information and supporting documentation for periodic program and contract reporting requirements.
• PROTECT procurement-sensitive, proprietary, confidential, Privacy Act, and personally identifiable information.
• PARTICIPATE in acquisition planning meetings, requirements meetings, evaluation meetings, post-award meetings, training sessions, and other Government-directed activities.