The Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Office of Trade has a requirement for Workforce Planning & Consulting Services.

The Office of Trade (OT) consolidates the trade policy, program development, and compliance measurement functions of CBP into one office. OT provides uniformity and clarity for the development of CBP’s national strategy to facilitate legitimate trade and manages the design and implementation of results-driven strategic initiatives for trade compliance and enforcement. OT also directs national enforcement responses through effective targeting of goods crossing the border as well as strict, swift punitive actions against companies participating in predatory trade practices.

Through coordination with international partners and other U.S. government agencies, OT directs the enforcement of intellectual property rights, the identification of risks to detect and prevent the importation of contaminated agricultural or food products, and the enforcement of free trade agreement eligibility.

By promoting trade facilitation through partnership programs, OT intends to streamline the flow of legitimate shipments and foster corporate self-governance as a means of achieving greater compliance with trade laws and regulations. OT implements a risk-based audit program to respond to allegations of commercial fraud and to conduct corporate reviews of internal controls to ensure importers comply with trade laws and regulations.

Finally, OT provides the legal tools to promote facilitation and compliance with customs, trade, and border security requirements through the issuance of all CBP regulations, legally binding rulings and decisions, informed compliance publications, and structured programs for external CBP training and outreach concerning international trade laws.

• OT is requesting strategic level assistance, consultation, recommendations, and support in the following areas:
  • WORKFORCE SUCCESSION PLANNING
    • The Contractor shall assist in developing an OT strategic workforce plan for identifying and addressing the gaps between the workforce of today and the workforce of tomorrow. The Contractor shall have the knowledge and technical expertise in any subject matter related to Strategic Workforce Planning, Business Transformation, Data Analytics and Data Science, and Workforce Optimization. The Contractor shall have the ability to write about a variety of topics along with understanding the highly complex technical, financial, and social issues inherent to CBP Trade and Government policy.
    • Examples of work areas that the Contractor shall be prepared to support, but not limited to, include the following:
      • Conduct primary research regarding the OT workforce on the “as-is” or current state of the OT workforce via interviews, requirements gathering, development of whitepapers, internal and external stakeholder engagement, surveys, observations from meetings and workshops with project sponsors and other stakeholders, and analysis of primary data sources.
      • Conduct secondary research regarding the OT workforce through analysis of existing internal reports, staffing models, plans, and other similar source documents, and review external secondary sources, such journals, trade publications, books, and others for authoritative or otherwise influential information.
      • Conduct workforce gap analysis, to include developing as-is and intended future workforce competency and structural requirements assessments, with corresponding identifications of uncertainties and risks.
      • Identify and recommend alignment with workforce requirements directly to OT’s strategic plan and annual operating plans.
      • Analyze workforce, identify, and implement gap reduction strategies, conduct workforce analysis.
      • Develop a comprehensive picture of where gaps exist between competencies the workforce currently possesses and future competency requirements.
      • Compile a workforce profile of the knowledge, skills, abilities and other talents needed by the job series to fill vacant positions.
      • Develop a succession planning strategy and establish a framework to prepare the OT workforce for inevitable changes in the workforce dynamic.
      • Develop a succession planning tracker or dashboard to help visualize the positions in need of planning.
      • Create action plan and developmental plans by series for potential successors which will identify meaningful opportunities for growth.
      • Produce written findings, recommendations, reports, strategic plans, and action plans.
      • Develop an action plan that identifies strategies to close gaps, along with implementation milestones and timeline plan and metrics to assess progress and success. These strategies could include, but not limited to, areas in an employee lifecycle such as recruiting, training/retaining, restructuring organization, succession planning, technological enhancements, attrition.
      • Develop data analytics visualization including, but not limited to, dashboards and reports in the areas of employee lifecycle such as recruiting, training/retaining, restructuring organization, succession planning, Employees Lifecycle Engagement Survey, facilities, and assets management, attrition.
      • Develop an action plan that identifies strategies to close gaps, along with implementation milestones and timeline plan and metrics to assess progress and success. These strategies could include, but not limited to, areas in an employee lifecycle such as recruiting, training/retaining, restructuring organization, succession planning, technological enhancements, attrition.
      • Conduct primary research regarding the OT workforce with at least 3 future state strategies for the OT workforce via interviews, requirements gathering, development of whitepapers, internal and external stakeholder engagement, surveys, observations from meetings and workshops with project sponsors and other stakeholders, and analysis of primary data sources.
      • Produce dynamic workforce data visualizations and models.
      • Develop data analytics visualization including, but not limited to, dashboards and reports in the areas of employee lifecycle such as recruiting, training/retaining, restructuring organization, succession planning, Employees Lifecycle Engagement Survey, facilities, and assets management, attrition.
      • Communicate findings, recommendations, and plans orally with simple, intuitive visual aids.
      • Identify and develop strategies for overcoming internal and external barriers to accomplishing strategic workforce goals.
      • Monitor and evaluate progress against agreed upon milestones, adjusting action plans as directed, and making course correction recommendations to address new identified workforce issues.
      • Develop workforce training, coaching, and mentoring programs.
      • Evaluate the effectiveness of existing plans and process.
      • Conduct other activities closely related to workforce and succession planning.
      • The Contractor shall assist in developing a succession planning strategy, including identifying key positions within the organization, and creating a talent pipeline. The strategy of the OT pipeline is to prepare existing employees to fill vacancies in their organization as others retire or depart.
  • DATA-DRIVEN STRATEGY FORMULATION AND ANALYTICAL SUPPORT
    • The Contractor shall have the personnel, expertise and knowledge as the prime contractor to perform the following:
      • Developing an OT Resource Allocation Strategy and support implementation of the transformed future state of financial management.
      • Creating SharePoint sites to share relevant financial management information to all directorates within OT
      • Developing workflows, dashboards, and databases such as the facilities and asset automated ticketing system for nationwide roll out, including supporting the enhancement of all facilities and assets management processes.
      • Supporting the implementation of the transformed future state of facilities and asset management, creating a SharePoint site and/or Salesforce as a centralized repository for all facilities and asset management documents.
      • Ability to work with large databases, work includes, extracting, manipulating, transforming, and analyzing data.
      • Examples of the work areas that the Contractor must be prepared to support include the following:
        • for Budget Office: Apply rigorous analytical models to accurately track funding levels, complete comprehensive and timely scenario analyses, and effectively package resource justifications.
        • Analyze relevant mission metrics such as Trade, Immigration, Border-crossing, and Travel levels to inform accurate sub-allotment, obligation, and de-obligation to relevant Line of Business (LOB) programs.
        • Conduct analysis to help the government maintain regular and frequent visibility over fiscal year forecasts vs. available funding.
        • User Fee Analysis: Identify opportunities to improve User fee formulation processes and activities to better algin with the CBP budget cycle in anticipation of fluctuating revenue.
        • Identify opportunities to maximize the use of user fees by incorporating delivery from User Fee, OMB, and DHS experts familiar with User Fee Committees, Industry Trade Associations, and other key agencies like USDA.
      • In addition, the Contractor shall have the ability to create and manage an OT specific Financial Management Dashboard.
    • The Contractor shall be able to support the existing development of an activity-based costing (ABC) model or development of new ABC models as required. Finally, the Contractor shall have the ability to work with large databases, work includes, extracting, manipulating, transforming, and analyzing data. Examples of work areas that the Contractor shall be prepared to support, but not limited to, include the following:
      • Develop, explore, categorize, enhance, and evaluate information concerning CBP Trade operations and mission support functions including the strategic plans to understand the “as-is” state of the OT workforce.
      • Identify and recommend alignment with workforce requirements directly to OT’s strategic plan and annual operating plans.
      • Analyze workforce, identify, and implement gap reduction strategies, conduct workforce analysis.
      • Develop a comprehensive picture of where gaps exist between competencies the workforce currently possesses and future competency requirements.
      • Develop an action plan that identifies strategies to close gaps, along with implementation milestones and timeline plan and metrics to assess progress and success. These strategies could include, but not limited to, areas in an employee lifecycle such as recruiting, training/retaining, restructuring organization, succession planning, technological enhancements, attrition.
      • Develop data analytics visualization including, but not limited to, dashboards and reports in the areas of employee lifecycle such as recruiting, training/retaining, restructuring organization, succession planning, Employees Lifecycle Engagement Survey, facilities, and assets management, attrition.
      • Develop a succession planning strategy and establish a framework to prepare the OT workforce for inevitable changes in the workforce dynamic i.e., departures, retirements, and promotions.
      • Compile a workforce profile of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other talents needed (by series) to fill vacant positions.
      • Develop a Succession Planning Tracker that helps visualize positions in need of succession planning.
      • Create an action plan and developmental plan for potential successors to identify meaningful opportunities for growth.
      • Provide data-driven recommendations and reports concerning resource planning, programming, budgeting, and financial management and mission execution activities.
      • Inspect, clean, transform, analyze, and model data with the goal of supporting OT’s evidence-based decision-making through the discovery of patterns and trends, developing answers to questions, and informing conclusions and recommendations.
      • Review existing database architecture and data control policies and offer recommendations for improvement.
      • Build and maintain project-specific data visualization dashboards such as data automation of the OT HR system, financial management system, workspace capacity, program management database system, manpower modeling, and information sharing websites.
      • Facilitate strategy formulation and strategic planning activities among senior leaders.
      • Provide risk and policy assessments and organizational capabilities gap analyses based on primary research regarding the OT operations via interviews, surveys, observations from meetings and workshops and analysis of primary data sources and informed by secondary research of existing hierarchical plans and policies and external secondary sources, such journals, trade publications, books, and others for authoritative or otherwise influential information.
      • Performing ad hoc data-driven analysis and reporting for decision-making.
      • Conduct other activities closely related to data-driven analytical support.
  • BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
    • The Contractor shall have the ability as a prime contractor to:
      • Monitor, recommend, and assist in implementing enhancements for the overall hiring transformation process.
      • Develop educational and training materials for key stakeholders and leadership.
      • Facilitate meetings includes developing agendas, establishing meeting objectives, and documenting outcomes and the path forward.
      • Facilitate and assist with development and execution of the hiring process improvement areas, and track progress.
      • Develop a performance management system that differentiates levels of performance of staff, provides regular feedback, and links individual performance to organizational goals.
      • Design, develop, and implement proven strategies and techniques and practices to attract, hire, develop, and retain talent.
      • Make progress toward closing any knowledge, skill, and competency gaps throughout the Office of Trade.
    • Examples of work areas that the Contractor shall be prepared to support, but not limited to, include the following:
      • Analyze and provide recommendations to improve existing processes, capabilities, and mission support functions based on Operations Research methodologies, Lean Six Sigma principles, and other techniques to achieve measurable improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction.
      • Facilitate knowledge management, outcome measurement, and accountability reporting activities.
      • Participate and provide expertise regarding enterprise-wide risk management and evidence-based decision-making efforts.
      • Design solutions and recommend capabilities to transform the business of OT through people, processes, and technologies to address illicit trade risks and other priority trade issues.
      • Provide strategic and communications support to enhance retention and resiliency related communications.
      • Provide strategic and technical support to expedite the creation of processes and tools to launch operations and onboard staff.
      • Provide administrative support and expertise for assigned projects, including documenting project plans, activities, and milestones, and facilitating working groups, and other project lifecycle activities