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Ascension is seeking an accomplished Senior First Step Act Policy and Sentence Computation Advisor to serve as a principal subject matter expert supporting the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ administration of First Step Act Time Credits.

This position is intended for a senior professional who possesses deep, practical knowledge of the First Step Act, federal sentencing and sentence computation, inmate eligibility and exclusion criteria, earned-time-credit calculations, prerelease custody and supervised-release determinations, and the operational application of federal correctional policy.

The ideal candidate understands that FSA Time Credit administration is more than a calculation exercise. Decisions and interpretations can affect inmate release dates, prerelease placement, supervised release, litigation exposure, congressional inquiries, institutional operations, and public confidence. The successful candidate must therefore be capable of translating complex statutory, regulatory, policy, operational, and sentence-computation requirements into clear and defensible business rules, guidance, training content, recommendations, and operational decisions.

Ascension is particularly interested in candidates who have worked within or directly supported the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Designation and Sentence Computation Center, correctional programs, inmate records, sentence computation, legal/policy functions, reentry operations, or comparable federal corrections environments.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior First Step Act Policy and Sentence Computation Advisor serves as a senior functional and policy advisor supporting accurate, consistent, transparent, and auditable administration of FSA Time Credits.

The Advisor interprets and documents FSA requirements governing eligibility, exclusions, Time Credit earning, application, and sentence-computation implications. The individual helps convert complex requirements into business rules, formulas, decision points, exception-handling procedures, training guidance, and operational recommendations that can be consistently applied across BOP institutions, Regional Offices, Residential Reentry Management offices, Central Office components, and other designated organizations.

The Advisor is expected to work collaboratively with BOP operational personnel, legal and policy stakeholders, information technology teams, training personnel, quality assurance staff, program leadership, and inquiry-resolution personnel.

This position requires someone who can independently research difficult issues, recognize when a question involves conflicting or incomplete information, distinguish routine matters from matters requiring escalation, and develop well-supported recommendations without exceeding established authority.

The successful candidate should be:

• Detail-oriented and exceptionally accurate when interpreting statutes, regulations, policies, sentence information, and calculation rules.
• Comfortable operating in a complex federal environment in which guidance, policy, court decisions, procedures, and system functionality may evolve.
• Self-directed and able to research and resolve complex issues with limited supervision.
• Skilled at identifying inconsistencies, exceptions, systemic problems, and unintended consequences.
• Able to explain highly technical or policy-sensitive information to audiences with different levels of subject matter expertise.
• Organized and capable of managing multiple concurrent inquiries, reviews, recommendations, and documentation requirements.
• Comfortable providing senior-level advice when matters involve litigation sensitivity, congressional interest, executive attention, or significant operational impact.
• Collaborative and professional when working across legal, operational, program, training, technical, records, privacy, and security stakeholders.

Position Responsibilities and Day-to-Day Activities

The Senior First Step Act Policy and Sentence Computation Advisor will:

• INTERPRET First Step Act statutory, regulatory, policy, operational, and sentence-computation requirements affecting the earning and application of FSA Time Credits.
• ANALYZE complex eligibility, exclusion, earning, application, prerelease custody, supervised release, and sentence-computation scenarios.
• DOCUMENT FSA Time Credit business rules, formulas, decision points, exceptions, dependencies, and calculation logic in a form that can be consistently applied by BOP personnel and supporting systems.
• VALIDATE proposed or existing calculation methodologies against applicable statutes, regulations, BOP policies, operational procedures, and approved business rules.
• REVIEW complex or unusual FSA Time Credit cases and identify applicable requirements, policy considerations, exceptions, and potential escalation requirements.
• RESEARCH statutes, regulations, policy issuances, operational guidance, court decisions, program documentation, and other authorized materials necessary to resolve FSA-related issues.
• ADVISE BOP and contractor personnel regarding interpretation and application of approved FSA policies and sentence-computation requirements.
• SUPPORT recurring validation activities, random sample reviews, targeted reviews, trend analysis, audit findings, and corrective-action recommendations.
• IDENTIFY recurring deficiencies, inconsistent interpretations, calculation issues, or operational practices that may require policy clarification, training modifications, system changes, or corrective action.
• PERFORM root-cause analysis of systemic FSA Time Credit issues and recommend practical corrective measures.
• DEVELOP clear policy interpretations, technical explanations, decision aids, process guidance, frequently asked questions, knowledge articles, and response templates.
• REVIEW training materials, case studies, exercises, job aids, quick-reference guides, and assessment content to ensure technical and policy accuracy.
• SUPPORT specialized subject matter training and policy-update training for BOP personnel and designated stakeholders.
• RESPOND to or support resolution of complex inquiries referred by BOP personnel, including matters requiring extensive research or coordination.
• SUPPORT analysis of sensitive inquiries involving attorneys, courts, congressional offices, executive stakeholders, family members, or other authorized parties when directed by the Government.
• DISTINGUISH matters that can be resolved through established policy from matters requiring legal, policy, management, technical, or executive escalation.
• COLLABORATE with BOP program offices, operational SMEs, legal personnel, information technology stakeholders, training staff, quality assurance personnel, records officials, privacy officials, and security personnel.
• ASSESS the operational impact of statutory, regulatory, policy, court, or system changes on FSA Time Credit administration.
• RECOMMEND policy clarifications and operational improvements that promote consistency across BOP institutions, regions, and Central Office organizations.
• CONTRIBUTE SME findings and analysis to monthly program reports, quarterly executive briefings, annual program assessments, corrective-action reports, and strategic improvement recommendations.
• MAINTAIN clear and defensible documentation supporting research, analysis, recommendations, interpretations, and determinations.
• ENSURE assigned work products are accurate, current, professionally prepared, technically sound, and suitable for Government review and decision-making.

Anticipated Tools and Processes

Depending upon Government direction and system access, the Advisor should be prepared to work with:

• Federal Bureau of Prisons systems and Government-furnished equipment.
• BOP-approved collaboration and virtual meeting platforms.
• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and related Microsoft 365 applications.
• Government-approved case or inquiry management systems.
• Knowledge-management repositories and document libraries.
• Business-rule and decision-logic documentation.
• Case-review and validation checklists.
• Issue, risk, decision, and corrective-action tracking processes.
• Root-cause analysis methodologies.
• Quality assurance and audit-review processes.
• Standard operating procedures, policy crosswalks, decision trees, and workflow diagrams.
• Training manuals, job aids, FAQs, reference guides, and knowledge articles.