The Acquisition Specialist II supports HUD Contracting Officers, Contract Specialists and CORs across the acquisition lifecycle, from planning and market research through award, administration and closeout. You will prepare preliminary drafts, research regulations, run consistency and completeness checks, and keep acquisition files and trackers current.
This is a support role. Contracting Officers make all acquisition decisions, approve and issue all solicitations, awards and modifications, and bind the Government. Your work products are preliminary drafts and analyses for Government review.
Key Responsibilities
Acquisition planning and market research (5.1.1)
- Review acquisition packages for completeness and flag documentation gaps, inconsistencies or risks.
- Conduct market research on acquisition vehicles, sources, NAICS codes, Product Service Codes and socioeconomic data; prepare preliminary market research summaries.
- Assist with Requests for Information and Sources Sought notices; develop acquisition milestone schedules.
- Prepare preliminary acquisition planning documents and research FAR, HUDAR and HUD policy requirements.
Solicitation development (5.1.2)
- Prepare preliminary solicitation documents in Government-approved templates, incorporating Government-provided requirements, clauses and evaluation criteria.
- Prepare preliminary notices and amendments; maintain question-and-answer logs.
- Run cross-document consistency reviews and checklist verification before Government review.
Technical evaluation administration (5.1.3)
- When authorized, maintain evaluation repositories, run compliance checks, and organize proposals for Government evaluators.
- Prepare evaluation templates, consolidate evaluator comments without changing their substance, and maintain clarification logs.
Price and cost analysis (5.1.4)
- Organize proposed pricing, verify the math, and build price comparison spreadsheets.
- Compare proposed prices with historical, catalog, market or Government estimates; flag pricing anomalies.
- Prepare preliminary price/cost analysis and document data sources and methodology.
Award documentation (5.1.5)
- Prepare preliminary award documents, checklists, abstracts and data-entry worksheets.
- Verify approved terms are incorporated and check consistency across award documents.
Post-award administration (5.1.6)
- Maintain contract trackers for milestones, expiration dates, option exercise dates and Government-provided funding balances.
- Prepare preliminary modification documents, correspondence logs and status reports; flag schedule, funding or performance issues.
Closeout and file management (5.1.7–5.1.8)
- Review files against closeout checklists, identify missing documents and apparent unliquidated obligations, and prepare preliminary closeout documents.
- Organize electronic acquisition files using Government naming conventions and run checklist quality reviews.
Required Qualifications
- The PWS requires Federal acquisition experience appropriate to the labor category and complexity of the work (PWS 1.8 and 4.5). McGarity sets the specific minimums below.
- Bachelor's degree in business, public administration, contracting or a related field.
- 3 or more years of Federal acquisition or contract specialist experience.
- Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C), Practitioner or the former Level I or II.
- Working knowledge of the FAR and the acquisition lifecycle, including market research, solicitation preparation, price analysis, award, modifications and closeout.
- Strong attention to detail in checklist reviews, consistency checks and file management.
- Advanced Excel skills for price comparisons and trackers.
- Ability to protect procurement-sensitive, source-selection and Privacy Act information and to stay within contractor support boundaries.
- Ability to obtain HUD system access, including any background investigation the Government requires.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting HUD OCPO or another civilian agency's procurement office.
- Familiarity with HUDAR and HUD acquisition templates and procedures.
- Hands-on experience with Federal contract writing systems, SAM.gov and electronic contract files.
- Experience supporting source selections under procurement integrity and nondisclosure requirements.
- Experience producing Section 508-compliant documents.
Salary, Contract Terms and How to Apply
This is an independent contractor engagement at $115,000 per year for the full-time Base Period. Continued work in the Option Periods depends on HUD exercising each option and on available funding.
The agreement ends automatically if HUD cancels the supporting task order. The contractor gives McGarity at least 7 days' notice before ending the engagement. The contractor provides their own equipment and workspace (PWS 4.1–4.3). McGarity is closed on Federal holidays; planned time offline is shared with the McGarity lead 2 weeks in advance.
To apply, send a resume and a short cover letter describing your Federal acquisition experience and FAC-C certification to Lelyn Knowlden, point of contact, at lelyn.knowlden@mcgarityllc.com.
The McGarity Consulting Group, Inc. is committed to equal opportunity. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.