Management Systems International (MSI), a Tetra Tech Company, is a Washington, D.C. metro area management consultancy with a 40-year history of delivering results for our clients. Our expertise is in the fields of monitoring and evaluation; democracy and governance; peace and stability; rule of law and accountability; education; gender and inclusion; strategic communications; and leadership and organizational development. MSI has implemented projects in 90 countries around the world such as Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria and Ukraine, and works domestically. We support clients ranging from the U.S. Government (e.g., the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Departments of State and Labor, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation) to large bilateral and multilateral donors (e.g., the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program). We also work with national and local governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), think tanks, foundations and universities. For more information, please visit our website at www.msiworldwide.com.

Proposal Summary:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Planning, Learning, and Resource Management (PLR), Office of Learning, Evaluation, and Research (LER) seeks support in the delivery of high-quality analytical and evidence building services to USAID including analyses, assessments, impact evaluations and related analytical services. The activity will support the design, implementation, and evaluation of other USAID funded activities, initiatives, and related efforts. The contractor will produce high-quality analytical products that help assess what is working, what is not, and why. In order to strengthen how the Agency builds and uses evidence the objectives of the anticipated mechanism are to provide U.S. Government and other stakeholders with timely, solid evidence on impact and costs as needed for decision making about foreign assistance intervention expansion and scale up or elimination/scale back and to contribute to the knowledge base of what works and does not work to achieve development outcomes.

Please note: U.S. work authorization is required for this position

Position Summary:

The Research Director/Chief of Party (COP) will serve as the primary point of contact with the USAID Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The COP will oversee all technical and administrative aspects of the project. This leadership position involves supervising staff across various technical components, managing relationships with subcontractors, and ensuring the project’s compliance with USAID regulations. The full-time position is based in Washington, D.C. with support to missions globally. This position is contingent upon award.

Responsibilities:

• Provide overall leadership for all aspects of the requirement, assuming responsibility for the overall technical, managerial and financial direction of the activity, developing appropriate solutions and ensuring quality and timeliness of all deliverables and compliance with USAID requirements.
• Lead and motivate diverse teams and manage complex activities while ensuring all services and products meet client needs.
• Ensure rigor, creativity, innovation, and appropriate ethical standards in study designs, implementation, and dissemination to fully meet stakeholder utilization needs.
• Foster a positive and inclusive team environment.
• Effectively manage high-volume, fast-turnaround, and complex evidence generation and evidence use tasks across diverse countries and contexts.
• Serve as the principal contact with and represent the project to various USAID representatives and other activity stakeholders.
• Identify, engage, and oversee principal investigators and other activity team members across multiple disciplines.
• Lead and oversee task-level planning and implementation.
• Use data and evidence to foster a project culture of continuous communication, learning and improvement.