Senior Grants and Procurement Manager - ARE Activity

BACKGROUND

The Lebanon Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE) program is a multi-year project funded by USAID to develop rural economics in Lebanon through support to the agro-food sector and other industries to unlock local and export sales potential while also creating jobs and increasing farmers’ and worker’s incomes. ARE will increase jobs; improve incomes; improve female participation and employment opportunities; increase domestic and export sales; increase private sector investment; improve access to finance; link value chain actors to domestic and international markets; and improve farm production through improved practices, technology, increased volume, and/or decreased cost.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Senior Grants and Procurement Manager implements and monitors the issuance of grants and procurements under the ARE project. The manager will oversee and supervise the grants assistant and the Grants Managers who support the Regional Business Portfolio Managers and Business Development Officer to design and effectively implement rapid technical assistance interventions. The manager will lead interventions related to grants and subcontract solicitation, selection, and implementation, and will develop controls for tracking expenditures and use of funds to build the capacity of local grantees. The manager will be familiar with USAID grants and procurement rules and regulations and will liaise with the Operations, Finance and Grants Director to ensure that all activity interventions are designed in accordance with USAID regulations, contractual requirements and Lebanese law.

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES

Ensures that all grants activities are implemented in accordance with the approved ARE Grants Manual and any other relevant USAID and/or Lebanese rules, regulations, and/or laws;

Supervises the development and revision of the procurement and grants-making annual work plan;

Analyzes, assesses, and assists with the analysis of budget estimates and financial aspects of grant proposals, and planning for implementation/procurement throughout the life of the project to ensure feasibility, consistency, allocable costs and compliance;

Oversees activities related to grant solicitation and selection, grant awards, grant implementation, grant monitoring and evaluation, and grant close-outs;

Ensures that all contract-specified grants-related regulatory requirements, such as ADS, CFR and OMB, are met in a satisfactory and professional manner;

Together with the Operations, Finance & Grants Director, create and oversee overall policies, practices, and procedures relations to all aspects of grants;

Create a grants database tracker and make regular reports on grantee performance and signal any significant delays or other issues in implementation;

Ensure that program staff contribute all relevant documents and records in the grant files;

Responsible for all documentation related to closeout of grant;

Establish financial and administrative procedures for grant expenditures, including appropriate reporting and authorities;

Develops any applicable training, technical assistance, and commodity needs of potential grantees, and establish controls for expenditures and reporting on use of funds related to these needs;

Conducts institutional assessments and diagnostic analysis of potential grantees and subcontractors. In particular, participates in examining financial, accounting, and administrative procedures for control of funds and expenditures, including appropriate reporting and authorities;

Ensure effective coordination between project staff and grant recipients to ensure that recipients are provided with suitable technical advice and assistance in the fields of management, including advocacy;

Monitor compliance of all agreements governing the award of grants and prepare necessary reports;

Ensure the highest levels of honesty, integrity, openness and transparency in administering grant and subcontract award processes and procedures;

Oversees procurement requirements and ensures compliance with corporate policies, contractual requirements, US Federal Acquisition Regulations, and any other applicable policies and regulations;

Ensures full compliance with USAID regulations related to fair and open competition in the award of local subcontracts and grants and manage the issuance of solicitations for proposals.

Together with the Communication and Outreach Manager, develop branding and marking plans with subcontractors/grantees

Together with the DCOP/CTO and relevant environmental compliance expert(s), ensure that all grant activities meet the required USAID and Lebanese environmental compliance requirements;

Works directly with local, regional, or international vendors and service providers to obtain quotations and/or initiate procurements of request commodities and services;

Monitor contracts and purchase orders issues to vendors and follow up as necessary to ensure compliance to terms and conditions;

Supports the achievement of the overall project goals as required to ensure project performance;

Ensures that grants, subcontracts and associated activities are closed out within required time frames;

Provide procurement status reports (managing ‘in liaison with Program staff’ all committed contracts/purchase orders in terms of end date, completion status, payment schedule) and inventory summaries as requested by project staff;

Provide training to project staff in procurement and grant policies and procedures;

Ensures that procurement requests are conducted in a timely manner;

Perform any other relevant duties as assigned by the Operations, Finance and Grants Director, or Chief of Party;

Travels to field locations and elsewhere in country if/as needed to support grant making and procurement processes;

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree in relevant field, including social sciences such as international development, required;

Minimum of five years of experience working on donor-funded projects in a related role and with demonstrated supervisory experience;

Demonstrated experience in grants management, specifically in assuring procurements, disbursements, logistics, are implemented on-time and according to Chemonics standards, as well as Lebanese laws and regulations;

Experience conducting capacity assessments of potential grantees or potential preferred suppliers in order to design effective and targeted interventions;

Knowledge of USAID, or other donor, contract management, grants management rules and regulations, and procurement policies strongly preferred;

Excellent/fluent written and spoken English and Arabic;

LOCATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The Senior Grants and Procurement manager will be based in the project’s main office in Beirut, with travel throughout the country as needed.

REPORTING

The Senior Grants and Procurement Manager will report to the Operations, Finance and Grants Director.