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Ascension is seeking an experienced Federal Program Manager to lead contractor support for the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ First Step Act Time Credit Administration program. This individual will serve as Ascension’s senior day-to-day program leader and the principal contractor interface with the Government for management, performance, staffing, schedule, risk, quality, communications, and delivery of contract requirements.

This is a mission-critical leadership position supporting a nationally significant program affecting the accurate administration of First Step Act Time Credits, staff readiness, program accountability, stakeholder confidence, and consistent implementation across BOP institutions and organizational components.

The ideal candidate combines disciplined federal program management with strong organizational leadership, communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder-management capabilities. The individual should be comfortable managing multiple interconnected workstreams—including training, inquiry support, quality assurance, reporting, technical activities, governance, corrective actions, and stakeholder coordination—while maintaining visibility into contract performance.

We are seeking a highly organized, accountable, and self-directed professional who can anticipate issues before they affect performance, establish practical solutions, make informed recommendations, and maintain forward momentum in an environment involving numerous stakeholders and evolving program requirements.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Federal Program Manager will serve as Key Personnel and will be responsible for the planning, direction, coordination, and control necessary to accomplish the objectives of the BOP First Step Act Time Credit Administration support effort.

The BOP SOW specifically requires the Project Manager to be responsible for cost, schedule, and performance and to serve as the Government’s central contractor point of contact. The role integrates management of scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk, communications, staffing, configuration, deliverables, and stakeholder engagement.

The Program Manager will establish and maintain the management structure needed to coordinate activities across training, inquiry management, auditing/validation, software and technical support, reporting, stakeholder engagement, quality management, and corrective actions. The PM will translate Government priorities into executable work plans, maintain visibility into performance, coordinate resources, facilitate governance, escalate issues when necessary, and ensure deliverables are complete, accurate, timely, and suitable for BOP leadership decision-making.

The individual will also coordinate closely with BOP organizations that may include Information Technology Services, Correctional Programs Branch, Reentry Services Division, the Designation and Sentence Computation Center, Residential Reentry Management Offices, Office of General Counsel, Program Review Division, Regional Offices, institution-level personnel, and Central Office leadership.

This role requires someone capable of operating with limited supervision, managing competing priorities, creating structure where issues may initially be ambiguous, and communicating effectively with executives, technical personnel, operational staff, subject-matter experts, and contract officials.

Position Responsibilities and Anticipated Activities

The Federal Program Manager will:

• SERVE as Ascension’s primary program-management interface with the BOP Contracting Officer, COR, program leadership, and designated Government stakeholders.
• LEAD overall contract execution across scope, schedule, cost, quality, staffing, communications, risks, issues, deliverables, configuration, and stakeholder coordination.
• DIRECT integrated coordination among training, inquiry management, quality assurance, validation/audit, technical, reporting, and stakeholder-support workstreams.
• PLAN and lead contract kickoff activities and brief BOP personnel on Ascension’s management, staffing, security, reporting, governance, and execution approach.
• DEVELOP the draft and final Project Plan addressing organization, staffing, responsibilities, resources, management controls, planned hours, schedule, performance objectives, communications, quality, risk, and security.
• ESTABLISH and maintain an integrated project schedule identifying tasks, resources, dependencies, milestones, deliverables, and Government review points.
• UPDATE the project schedule weekly and ensure activities are structured at a level that supports meaningful weekly progress measurement.
• PREPARE weekly and monthly program status information describing completed work, planned activities, risks, issues, performance metrics, corrective actions, and unresolved matters.
• FACILITATE biweekly project status meetings and required weekly, monthly, quarterly, and executive governance activities.
• PREPARE or oversee agendas, executive briefing materials, meeting minutes, decision logs, action-item trackers, governance summaries, and supporting documentation.
• MONITOR performance against contract requirements, service levels, milestones, staffing commitments, and Government expectations.
• IDENTIFY project risks, emerging problems, dependencies, and resource constraints before they adversely affect contract performance.
• MAINTAIN risk, issue, action-item, decision, and corrective-action tracking mechanisms.
• COORDINATE root-cause analysis and corrective actions when systemic issues or performance deficiencies are identified.
• ESCALATE significant risks, unresolved issues, resource constraints, or decisions requiring Government intervention.
• COORDINATE staffing and workload allocation so sufficient resources are available to satisfy fluctuating program requirements.
• VERIFY that contract deliverables are complete, accurate, professionally prepared, technically sound, and ready for Government review.
• INTEGRATE operational, inquiry, audit, training, system, performance, and corrective-action metrics into program reporting and executive decision support.
• ENGAGE BOP leadership and operational stakeholders to identify trends, recurring deficiencies, emerging risks, and opportunities for program improvement.
• SUPPORT development of quarterly executive briefings and strategic recommendations for improving program accuracy, transparency, consistency, oversight, training, and long-term sustainability.
• MAINTAIN management processes consistent with Agile or iterative project-management practices where appropriate.
• ENSURE contractor personnel comply with applicable security, privacy, records-management, acceptable-use, and Government system-access requirements.
• COORDINATE contractor use of Government-furnished equipment, BOP accounts, PIV credentials, and approved BOP collaboration systems as applicable.
• PROMOTE continuous improvement by evaluating project performance, lessons learned, recurring issues, and opportunities to improve processes, tools, communications, and service delivery.

The PM will have substantial responsibility for management-related deliverables including the Kick-Off Briefing, Project Plan, Project Schedule, Monthly Program Status Report, Quarterly Executive Briefing, Corrective Action Tracking Report, Risk Management Report, Governance Meeting Summaries, and Strategic Recommendations for Program Improvement.

Tools and Management Processes

The successful candidate should be comfortable using or quickly adapting to:

• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
• Project scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project or comparable Government-approved solutions
• Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, or Government-provided collaboration platforms
• Program performance dashboards and metric-tracking tools
• Risk, issue, decision, dependency, and action-item logs
• Integrated master schedules and milestone trackers
• Corrective-action and root-cause-analysis processes
• Configuration and change-control processes
• Agile, iterative, and traditional project-management practices
• Executive briefing and governance processes
• Quality-control and deliverable-review workflows
• Government-furnished systems and BOP collaboration environments, as authorized