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Ascension is seeking an experienced Federal Procurement Analytics & Strategic Sourcing Specialist to provide data-driven procurement, strategic sourcing, category management, and acquisition performance support to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Acquisition and Logistics Management (OALM).

This position is designed for a professional who understands both Federal acquisition operations and business/data analytics and can turn complex procurement information into actionable recommendations for Contracting Officers, Contracting Officer’s Representatives, program offices, and acquisition leadership.

The ideal candidate is more than a reporting analyst. Ascension is seeking someone who can understand what procurement data means operationally, recognize patterns affecting acquisition performance, investigate the causes behind those patterns, and translate findings into practical sourcing, process, workload, and acquisition recommendations.

The successful candidate should be comfortable operating in a Federal acquisition environment where accuracy, transparency, sound judgment, confidentiality, and regulatory compliance are essential. The individual should be organized, analytical, intellectually curious, self-directed, and capable of managing multiple priorities with limited supervision.

This role directly supports NIH’s objective of improving the efficiency, integrity, transparency, and compliance of procurement operations while helping the agency make better use of acquisition data to improve procurement cycle times, strategic sourcing decisions, category management, contract-vehicle performance, competition, and stewardship of taxpayer resources.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Federal Procurement Analytics & Strategic Sourcing Specialist will analyze procurement, sourcing, workload, contract-vehicle, and acquisition-performance information to identify trends, risks, opportunities, and areas for improvement.

The specialist will support NIH acquisition leadership and contracting personnel with analysis associated with Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT), acquisition workload, spend, sourcing strategies, market conditions, competition, small-business utilization, vendor performance, contract-vehicle usage, and acquisition process performance.

The position will assist in transforming raw acquisition information into dashboards, management reports, executive-level briefings, analytical findings, and recommendations that enable NIH stakeholders to make informed acquisition and sourcing decisions.

The role also supports strategic sourcing and category-management activities associated with NIH-wide and multi-agency contract vehicles. This can include analyzing utilization and performance, supporting market research, identifying sourcing opportunities, developing information for customer and vendor outreach, and contributing to continuous improvement of procurement processes.

The specialist will work closely with acquisition specialists, Contracting Officers, CORs, program personnel, contract-vehicle managers, project leadership, and other stakeholders.

This position does not have authority to negotiate contracts, make source-selection decisions on behalf of the Government, or obligate Government funds.

Expected Day-to-Day Activities

• ANALYZE procurement, acquisition, contract-vehicle, workload, spend, and sourcing data to identify trends, anomalies, risks, opportunities, and performance issues.
• MONITOR acquisition performance indicators, including PALT, procurement cycle times, workload, acquisition milestones, competition, and other management measures.
• DEVELOP dashboards, scorecards, recurring reports, management summaries, and executive-level visualizations that communicate acquisition performance clearly.
• PERFORM spend analysis to identify purchasing patterns, consolidation opportunities, strategic sourcing opportunities, and potential category-management actions.
• SUPPORT category-management and strategic-sourcing analyses for NIH-wide and multi-agency contract vehicles.
• CONDUCT quantitative and qualitative market research supporting acquisition strategies, sourcing decisions, socioeconomic considerations, and procurement planning.
• ASSESS contract-vehicle utilization, vendor participation, procurement volumes, ordering patterns, and performance information.
• IDENTIFY procurement bottlenecks, recurring delays, process inefficiencies, data-quality issues, and root causes affecting acquisition performance.
• RECOMMEND practical process improvements designed to reduce acquisition cycle time, improve visibility, strengthen controls, or increase utilization of appropriate sourcing mechanisms.
• PREPARE analytical findings, briefing materials, presentations, decision-support memoranda, charts, tables, and recommendations for Government stakeholders.
• SUPPORT acquisition planning by providing historical procurement data, market intelligence, spend information, sourcing analyses, and relevant performance metrics.
• ASSIST with cost and price analyses, procurement workload assessments, market analyses, and other quantitative acquisition activities as assigned.
• TRACK acquisition and contract-vehicle performance against established metrics, targets, milestones, and expected outcomes.
• VALIDATE procurement data for completeness, consistency, accuracy, and usability before incorporating information into official reports or management products.
• RECONCILE information across available acquisition systems and reporting sources when discrepancies are identified.
• CREATE repeatable analytical methodologies, templates, data dictionaries, reporting processes, and standard operating procedures where appropriate.
• SUPPORT development of performance evaluation methodologies and key performance indicators for procurement and contract-vehicle management.
• CONTRIBUTE data and analysis to NIH contract-vehicle marketing, road shows, fact sheets, vendor meetings, customer training, and communication activities.
• COLLABORATE with Contracting Officers, CORs, program offices, acquisition specialists, functional experts, vendors, and other stakeholders to understand analytical requirements and translate them into useful products.
• PRESENT findings and recommendations to program and acquisition stakeholders in concise, non-technical business language.
• MAINTAIN appropriate documentation supporting analyses, assumptions, methodologies, recommendations, and management reports.
• PROTECT procurement-sensitive, proprietary, confidential, Privacy Act, and personally identifiable information encountered during performance.