AoA Project Manager – Federal IT Modernization

Company: SMX Services & Consulting, Inc.
Client: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA)
Project: Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) Business Modernization – ECAPE and Customer Portal
Location: Remote – U.S. based
Work Arrangement: Primarily remote, with occasional Government-requested onsite meetings or stakeholder sessions
Potential Onsite Area: Washington, DC / North Bethesda, Maryland region or another Government-identified Federal facility
Employment Type: Contract / Project-Based
Estimated Project Duration: Approximately 9 months
Estimated Hours: Approximately 1,560 hours
Target Pay Rate: $79.00–$81.00 per hour, depending on qualifications and experience
Security / Suitability: HHS Tier 2 suitability; HSPD-12/PIV credentialing requirements may apply
Clearance: No Secret or Top Secret clearance requirement is stated in the solicitation

Position Overview

SMX Services & Consulting, Inc. is seeking an experienced Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) Project Manager to support the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals.

The successful candidate will lead and manage an independent, objective, evidence-based Analysis of Alternatives supporting modernization of OMHA's Electronic Case Processing System (ECAPE) and Customer Portal.

This role will coordinate requirements development, stakeholder engagement, capability-gap analysis, alternatives evaluation, lifecycle cost and risk analysis, Business Case Analysis, implementation planning, and executive-level decision support.

The AoA Project Manager is the designated Key Personnel position for this requirement.

Primary Responsibilities

The AoA Project Manager will be responsible for overall project management, governance, coordination, quality, schedule, risk, and delivery of the AoA engagement.

Responsibilities include:

• Lead overall planning, management, and execution of the Federal Analysis of Alternatives effort.

• Establish and maintain project governance, schedules, milestones, action-item logs, decision logs, stakeholder-engagement logs, risk and issue logs, and deliverables tracking.

• Lead kickoff activities and development of the project management approach.

• Coordinate requirements-development and validation activities for ECAPE and the Customer Portal.

• Lead stakeholder interviews, workshops, working sessions, and requirements-validation activities.

• Coordinate engagement with OMHA leadership, program representatives, technical stakeholders, operational users, and field-office personnel.

• Support development and validation of the Requirements Traceability Matrix.

• Lead development of the Initial Capabilities Document, including current-state analysis, desired-state definition, capability gaps, constraints, and performance measures.

• Lead development of the AoA Study Plan, including:

  • study scope and purpose;

  • assumptions and constraints;

  • stakeholder governance;

  • alternatives-selection methodology;

  • evaluation criteria;

  • scoring framework;

  • cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness methods;

  • risk-assessment approach;

  • sensitivity-analysis approach;

  • schedule and decision gates.

• Manage independent evaluation of modernization alternatives, including the required status quo/no-action alternative.

• Ensure alternatives are evaluated against mission effectiveness, operational performance, lifecycle cost, schedule, risk, security/privacy, acquisition feasibility, and suitability.

• Coordinate development of lifecycle cost estimates, Rough Order of Magnitude estimates, confidence ranges, sensitivity analysis, and risk analysis.

• Lead preparation and delivery of the Final Analysis of Alternatives Report and associated executive leadership briefings.

• Support development of the Business Case Analysis after Government selection of a preferred alternative.

• Support acquisition-strategy analysis and procurement-source recommendations.

• Lead development of the Implementation Roadmap and Notional Schedule aligned with HHS Enterprise Performance Life Cycle requirements.

• Manage Government review cycles, comments, corrections, acceptance activities, and decision gates.

• Monitor labor-hour utilization, ceiling burn, staffing allocation, and project performance against the approved plan.

• Prepare and oversee monthly status reporting.

• Ensure all analyses and recommendations remain vendor-neutral, objective, traceable, and audit-ready.

• Ensure compliance with HHS security, privacy, accessibility, records-management, and information-handling requirements.

• Maintain continuity of operations and knowledge transfer throughout the project.

These responsibilities directly reflect Tasks 1–7 and the management requirements contained in the RFQ/PWS.

Required Qualifications

Candidates proposed to lead or substantially perform the AoA effort must demonstrate:

• At least eight (8) years of Federal experience performing and communicating Analysis of Alternatives study results, or equivalent role-specific Federal analytical experience.

• Demonstrated experience supporting Federal IT modernization initiatives.

• Experience performing or supporting:

  • Analysis of Alternatives;

  • alternatives assessment;

  • business case analysis;

  • investment analysis;

  • feasibility studies;

  • modernization assessments;

  • technology-options analysis;

  • lifecycle cost analysis;

  • cost-benefit analysis;

  • risk analysis;

  • sensitivity analysis.

• Strong experience developing executive-level, audit-ready decision-support materials.

• Experience leading stakeholder engagement with business, technical, operational, executive, and Government stakeholders.

• Experience developing requirements, capability-gap assessments, and traceability documentation.

• Experience evaluating enterprise systems, workflow platforms, case-management systems, or comparable mission-critical applications.

• Experience supporting Federal acquisition planning and IT investment decision-making.

• Strong project-management and governance experience.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to independently organize, facilitate, analyze, and communicate complex technical and business information.

The Government clarified that qualifying equivalent experience may include Federal experience in IT modernization, Business Case Analysis, lifecycle costing, enterprise architecture, alternatives analysis, and investment analysis, provided the candidate's role is clearly explained as equivalent to AoA work.

Preferred Qualifications

Highly desirable experience includes:

• HHS or CMS-related program experience.

• HHS Enterprise Performance Life Cycle experience.

• Federal case-management or adjudication-system experience.

• Medicare, healthcare, claims, appeals, or benefits-processing systems experience.

• Enterprise architecture experience.

• Federal IT capital-planning or investment-management experience.

• Lifecycle cost estimating and ROI analysis.

• Experience developing acquisition strategies for Federal IT modernization.

• Experience facilitating senior leadership decision gates.

• Experience producing Government-ready reports, briefings, scoring matrices, and recommendations.

• Experience working with multiple geographically distributed stakeholder groups.

• Experience managing labor-hour Federal contracts.

Federal AoA Experience Requirement

The Government has specifically clarified that:

• the eight-year experience requirement applies to personnel who lead or substantially perform AoA work;

• nonconsecutive Federal assignments may be combined;

• qualifying experience may have been obtained while working for prior employers;

• experience must be clearly documented and verifiable;

• equivalent Federal analytical experience may be accepted when clearly tied to AoA-related responsibilities.

Candidates should ensure their résumé clearly explains their personal role, responsibilities, deliverables, and results for qualifying Federal projects.

Work Location

This position is expected to be primarily remote.

The Government has stated that stakeholder engagement is expected to be primarily virtual. Occasional onsite coordination may be requested by the Contracting Officer's Representative when mission needs require it.

The solicitation does not establish a mandatory local residency requirement. Any required onsite meeting would occur at a Government-identified Federal facility.

Expected Stakeholder Environment

The selected Project Manager should be comfortable coordinating a significant stakeholder-engagement effort.

The Government anticipates approximately:

• 6–8 stakeholder groups;

• 4–6 user communities;

• approximately 25–40 individual participants;

• participation from Central Operations and Administrative Law Judge teams;

• engagement across OMHA field-office communities.

Actual participation may vary based on Government direction.

Security and Suitability Requirements

The Government has identified the standard HHS position sensitivity designation for this requirement as Tier 2.

The selected candidate may also be required to:

• complete HHS security, privacy, and records-management training;

• complete applicable HSPD-12 credentialing;

• obtain and use a Government-issued PIV card;

• use Government-furnished equipment when required;

• sign applicable nondisclosure agreements;

• comply with Government information-handling and incident-reporting requirements.

Technology / Environment

The engagement is advisory and analytical in nature.

Current ECAPE is a production electronic case-processing platform that supports Medicare appeals and interfaces with CMS systems. The existing platform uses Tyler Applications, formerly Entellitract.

The role is not primarily a software-development position. The Project Manager will instead lead modernization analysis, requirements development, stakeholder engagement, alternative evaluation, investment analysis, planning, and Government decision support.

Key Deliverables

The AoA Project Manager will lead or coordinate development of the following major deliverables:

• Project management plan / optional project charter

• Stakeholder and field engagement sessions

• Requirements Traceability Matrix

• Initial Capabilities Document

• Analysis of Alternatives Study Plan

• AoA interim analysis package

• Final Analysis of Alternatives Report

• Senior leadership briefing

• Business Case Analysis

• Implementation Roadmap

• Notional Schedule

• Monthly Status Reports

The RFQ establishes a nine-month base period with Government decision gates controlling advancement between phases.

Compensation

Target hourly pay: $79.00–$81.00 per hour

The final rate will depend on the candidate's Federal AoA experience, IT modernization background, leadership qualifications, and ability to satisfy the Government's minimum experience requirements.

Candidate Submission Requirements

Interested candidates should provide a résumé that clearly identifies:

• Federal customer or agency;

• project name;

• employer at the time of performance;

• dates of performance;

• position/title;

• specific AoA or equivalent analytical responsibilities;

• alternatives-analysis activities performed;

• lifecycle-cost, risk, sensitivity, or BCA responsibilities;

• modernization or investment-analysis responsibilities;

• reports or executive briefings developed;

• stakeholder groups supported;

• acquisition or implementation-planning responsibilities.

Résumés should make it possible to verify at least eight years of qualifying Federal AoA or equivalent analytical experience.

About SMX Services & Consulting, Inc.

SMX Services & Consulting, Inc. is a Government and commercial technology-services organization providing IT staffing, systems engineering, business analysis, project management, software, infrastructure, and technology consulting services. SMX holds GSA MAS Contract 47QTCA19D000F, CAGE 4WR61, and UEI XCPVGAMNW527.

Equal Opportunity

SMX Services & Consulting, Inc. considers qualified applicants without regard to protected status in accordance with applicable Federal, state, and local employment laws.