Senior Technical Assistance Specialist, Child Welfare

You will assist the Children’s Bureau’s Division of State Systems (DSS) in their oversight of the development, implementation, and operations of statewide and tribal automated child welfare information systems.  Your technical assistance work will also help guide the implementation of the new Comprehensive Child Welfare Information Systems (CCWIS) regulations, through the following:

• Conducting preliminary and critical analyses of technical documentation such as:  APDs; procurement documents; Federal functional requirements guidance/manual(s); State and Tribal project methodology approaches; feasibility studies; alternatives analyses; cost benefit analyses; State and Tribal project processes; project scope and charters; communication plans; change management plans; configuration management plan(s); vendor management plans; knowledgebase and transition plans; infrastructure and database documentation; general and detailed systems design document(s); functional requirements and gap analyses documents and processes; data processing/ programming standards; data quality plans; disaster recovery/business continuity plans; project development methodologies; and related policy document .

• Conducting technical on- and off-site reviews of State and Tribal child welfare information systems, providing technical advice and consultation to Federal, State, Tribal, and outside vendor representatives on program requirements and technical issues involving project management, organization, design, development, implementation, operation and maintenance of automated child welfare information systems.

• Developing and delivering written, oral and analytical work products, based on research, evaluation, discussions and interviews with Federal, State, and Tribal staff, and reviews at State and Tribal human service automation project worksites and at other locations

This position supports the Division of State Systems onsite at the Children’s Bureau (CB) in Washington, DC.  As a Senior Technical Assistance Specialist, you will help provide technical assistance, training, and guidance to states, Tribes, and other federal agencies and organizations in support of automated child welfare information systems built with federal financial support.  The selected candidate will have creative and critical analytical skills, excellent written and verbal communication skills; and strong research capabilities, with some knowledge of state human services automated systems (child welfare, child support, Medicaid/Medicare, and/or TANF) and the system development lifecycle.  

Key Responsibilities:  

• Provide training and technical assistance to states and tribes on federal Comprehensive Child Welfare Information Systems (CCWIS) requirements and industry trends

• As needed, provide technical assistance on:

  • IT project development life cycle approaches, including Agile and Waterfall

  • The creation and maintenance of quality data in Child Welfare information systems, and research on techniques and best practices on how to define, identify, and monitor data for quality issues in an ongoing data quality plan 

  •  Procurements, procurement strategies, contracts, contract management, APD requirements, program requirements, and

  •  Project management and project processes

• Provision of technical writing, quality assurance monitoring, and development and delivery of training content in formats such as guidance documents, webinars and virtual meetings;

• Obtain and analyze data from reviews of documentation, legislation, federal and state regulations, and reports, interviews with executive and program staff, and research and analysis of published and internet material.  Maintain current up-to-date knowledge of relevant state and federal programs and policies;

• Prepare content for white papers, briefing presentations, technical assistance documents, information memoranda, technical bulletins, and other types of policy guidelines on topics including technology, federal regulations, and program guidance;

• Conduct reviews and provide written and verbal feedback of state/tribal provided documents to include Advance Planning Documents, draft RFPs and contracts, cost allocation reports, and self-assessments;

• Review and assess state/tribal systems documentation (e.g., Advance Planning Documents, design documents, use cases, training and technical documentation, IV&V reports, test plans, data quality plans, data standards plans, risk assessment and disaster recovery plans, configuration management plans);

• Assist and assess the impact that federal regulations, policies, procedures, and industry trends will have on CB, States, and Tribes. Additionally, contractor staff will propose and advise on whether CB