About the role
LOCATION
Washington D.C., USA
DEPARTMENT
Commercial Development Office
FUNCTION OF DEPARTMENT
Support the Crown Agents (CA) Group of Companies to build a portfolio of new US Government-funded programs, positioning CA group companies as trusted partners for both prime and subcontract awards.
Leverage Crown Agents’ existing technical capabilities and international office presence to drive growth across the Crown Agents group of companies.
To build out from our existing and recently concluded projects and position CA as an established player and implementer of choice for projects supporting all three Crown Agents clusters,procurement and supply chain, government systems strengthening and program/fund management, and health and humanitarian.
MAIN JOB PURPOSE
The Specialist New Business Development (SNBD) will support new business capture efforts across the Crown Agents group (CA) of companies. Under the supervision and direction of the CA-USA President & CEO and Senior Business Development & Program Manager (SBDPM), s/he will work and coordinate with key CA group staff (cluster leads, technical directors, international project office heads, and country/project directors); manage regular communication with CA clients in the US.
The SNBD will support the CA group to execute strategic business development plans, supporting new business capture efforts and technical and cost proposal volume development. The SNBD will support new business efforts from new business opportunity identification, proposal development planning and management, and own and shepherd the proposal management process through submission.
The SNBD will be responsible for carefully reviewing requests for proposals (RFPs) and play a lead bid coordination and management role that will involve CA staff across offices and companies as well as independent contractors (consultants). As part of this work, the SNBD will support proposal writing, recruitment efforts, and represent CA on calls with partners, and at business development related events.
S/he will support internal and external collaboration to increase visibility with CA clients and to effectively promote and grow CA global portfolio of projects strengthen partnerships with key clients, including USG entities and prime contractors.
The SNBD may lead special initiatives to advance the adaptation and adoption of new information, communication, and other technologies, systems, and processes which increase business development and program implementation effectiveness, impact, and cost efficiency and support of the growth of group’s portfolio and technical capacities.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES OF JOB
New Business Development
- Support efforts to monitor and track new business opportunities with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. Trade Development Agency (USTDA), Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and the international financial institutions and UN agencies, accessing their procurement websites/forecasts/portals daily.
- New Business Development efforts are expected to focus heavily on supporting pursuit of new contracts/subcontracts, including calls issued under USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) Support Which Implements Fast Transitions 5 (SWIFT 5), Public Financial Management II (PFM II), Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR II), and Active Communities Effective States (ACES) IDIQs.
- Support SBDPM to prepare Pursuit Qualification Matrices for new business pursuits and participate in the CA commercial development office-led weekly pursuit review committee and bi-weekly top pursuits meetings.
- Meticulously review RFPs and create bid compliance matrices for both technical and cost proposal volumes.
- Establish and manage bid development plans leveraging Microsoft (MS) project planning tools and calendaring functions.
- Conduct research in support of specific opportunities and/or general market intelligence and provide competitive landscape analysis.
- Maintain proposal and new business development files in Microsoft SharePoint.
- Work closely with the bid director to coordinate logistics and administrative tasks through each stage of the proposal cycle, including coordinating with both technical and operational teams spanning pricing, recruitment, and contracts.
- Participate in and contribute during proposal design sessions, reviews, and analysis of cost and technical proposal volumes.
- Draft, review, and format proposal sections including required annexes.
- Engage in key and non-key personnel recruitment, conducting initial interviews and supporting the gathering of documentation and information required for both the technical and cost proposals.
- Liaise with partners to secure documentation tailored to the RFP requirements.
- Provide technical writing support for various proposal sections including past performance, corporate capabilities, personnel, or other sections as assigned by the proposal manager/czar.
- In coordination with bid director and CA legal team, get non-disclosure, pre-teaming, teaming, consulting, and any other agreements and letters of commitment as required in placed and signed.
- Provide administrative and logistical support for capture trips and serve as recruiter.
- Maintain, file, and submit records for international and local consultants, managing the logistics and administrative tasks i.e., travel and submission of timesheets, travel expense reports, and invoices.
- Maintain and update all business development files on SharePoint.
- Support the full cycle of the proposal development process in coordination with other CA staff and short-term independent contractors.
- Support writing, rewriting, editing, and reviewing of technical and cost proposal sections spanning management approach sections, proposed personnel and their CVs, budget narratives, etc.
- Support cost proposal development efforts, developing lists of standard inputs for cost proposals, compiling detailed cost information for the commercial development office team, and reviewing and editing cost proposal and accompanying narrative to ensure coherence between the cost and technical proposal volumes.
- Manage logistics for new business development strategy meetings and the administrative aspects required to engage and work with partners and consultants.
- Identify partners and personnel for bids and ongoing projects and act as liaison with identified partners and personnel during proposal preparation and project implementation.
- Cultivate relationships with highly-qualified candidates for anticipated key and non-key long-term field-based personnel positions and experts for short-term consulting assignments.
- Manage and cultivate relationships with proposal writers who can provide surge support to lead, contribute to, and participate in reviews of new business proposals.
- Work with graphics team to design organization charts, flow charts, and other graphics for proposals.
- Work closely with international resourcing (recruitment) team to develop job descriptions, screen applicants, identify candidates, and conduct interviews of short- and long-term personnel for proposals.
- Keep informed of key trends in the international development industry generally and specifically in the areas of political and security transition/stabilization, security sector reform, governance and public financial management, global health, and climate change and renewable energy.
- Build new business pipeline and conduct scoping missions and pre-positioning efforts. This may require frequent overseas travel on short notice (up to 25% time) including to fragile countries and regions to design innovative approaches for the CA group’s top new business pursuits.
- Participate in, present at, and represent CA at events that advance new business development efforts.
- Develop and cultivate relationships with partner organizations and clients.
- Support networking with new, existing, and former clients, and partners.
Marketing
- Work with field project staff and the CA group communications team to keep the CA-USA pages on the CA website up to date.
- Assist with development, updating, and production of marketing and informational brochures and/or capability statements.
Technical Delivery
Where applicable, the Job Holder shall,
- Undertake all procurement in compliance with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) in accordance with the provisions of our Wholesale Distribution Authorization (Human) (WDA (H)) issued by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and our United Kingdom Controlled Drug License issued by the Home Office.
- Ensure that all procurement is carried out using the relevant corporate IT system(s) in operation.
General
- Be aware of and adhere to company quality standards and procedures in accordance with Crown Agents’ commitment to working to the highest quality standards and striving for continual improvement.
Any other duties as appropriate to the position, as requested.
About You
Requirements
Education
Bachelor’s Degree and four (4) years of relevant experience required or a master’s degree in an international development-related field and at least 2 years’ relevant work experience required.
Required Experience/ Qualifications
- Must have experience/exposure to working with USAID and other donor-funded programs; experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and/or Latin America & the Caribbean preferred.
- Knowledge of and experience working on BD and/or projects funded by USAID’s Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization; Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, and the Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation; Bureau for Global Health; the U.S. Trade Development Agency; the Millennium Challenge Corporation; U.S, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention; U.S. State Department; U.S. Defense Department; UN Agencies; and/or the international financial institutions preferred.
- Excellent analytical, conceptual, verbal, and written communication skills required.
- Proficiency in the English language required; foreign language ability preferred, especially in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Arabic.
- Strong attention to detail and ability to multi-task; ability to work efficiently and independently in a fast-paced environment and under stress required.
- Strong interpersonal and troubleshooting skills required.
- Advanced ability to use all Microsoft Office and other Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, CRM, etc.)
- Knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, USAID Assistance Regulation (AIDAR), and other donor regulations related to the management of field staff and human resources, project accounting and finances, and solicitation and negotiation for project procurements and grant subawards required.
Additional Requirements
- Willingness to travel up to 25% and make trips to Crown Agents group headquarters in London as well as overseas destinations including to politically unstable countries and regions, countries and regions where serious security threats exist, and travel to remote areas where basic services including water and electricity may be limited and/or interrupted.
- US work authorization required, dual US and EU or UK work authorization preferred.
Notifications
Crown Agents USA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and affords equal opportunity to all qualified applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other status protected under local, state or federal laws.
- Candidate must be able to demonstrate legal right to work in the United States.
- The role will be based in the CA-USA offices, with the possibility of required stints working in London or overseas to support project start up, close down, and/or new business development.
