Cost/Price Analyst

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Job description

Grant Thornton is seeking a Senior Associate to join its Financial Transformation service line and take an active role in engagement execution, project management and key business development activities.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

+ Conduct independent reviews, analysis, and assists with preparation of responses to inquiries from other sources alleging that overpricing occurred on FSA contracts. Finally, the incumbent is responsible for advising on the soundness of the contract pricing strategy for individual procurements designated for review \

+ Responsible for a comprehensive pricing analysis of the programs being reviewed. The reviews include analysis and comparison to contractual terms, conditions, validation of automated purchasing systems and manual procurements at every dollar level/degree of complexity. The incumbent acts as the lead for special pricing projects.

+ Responsible for the strategy of projects, communication with the field activities involved, requesting/identifying participants from within FSA and/or the field activities, analysis of the data, preparation of the project results (e.g. report), and presentation of the results to Director, FSA Acquisition and/or other Senior Leaders within FSA.

+ Reviews contracts and programs to assess compliance with pricing strategy and determine the effectiveness of the pricing strategy used. The incumbent develops "lessons-learned" for application during contract administration and in future procurements.

+ Coordinates the work of several other price analysts. Occasionally, may be required to serve as leader for certain aspects of the review team.

+ Responsibilities occasionally require the incumbent to review specific subject areas across several contracting activities. For the Agency's most complex procurements, which typically involve a fundamental change in the method of customer support the incumbent serves as a pricing/business advisor to the Chief, FSA and to the Senior Procurement Executive (SPE). This involvement typically happens during the Headquarters review of the Acquisition Plan and Business Case Analysis.

+ May be required to be a member or an advisor to FSA/customer/supplier teams and tasked with developing the terms of SSAs or other strategic agreements. Reviews and analysis at every level are conducted for: consistency with law and regulation; consistency with the FSA Strategic Plan; and, to ensure that business decisions are sound. Contract costs/pricing is considered within the context of the acquisition cycle.

+ Develops cost/price portions of Request for Proposals. Conducts competitive life cycle/economic cost analyses involving extended contract life and numerous options throughout the acquisition process.

+ Attends meetings and conferences in both public and private sector locations. Provides information/presentations on cost/pricing issues consistent with the FAR, EDAR and uniform systems of account promulgated by the various communications regulatory authorities.

+ Requests, coordinates, and integrates into a comprehensive pricing report the various technical evaluations of cost elements such as engineering, startup labor, facilities, subcontractor overhead and profit, inefficiencies and idle labor, special delays and standby cost, escalation factors, home office allocations, job site/field service costs, overhead, and profit.

+ Evaluates the technical and audit reports to determine the reasonableness of the various cost elements or justified exceptions in terms of factors such as risk, extent of Government assistance, problems of capital investment, and extent of subcontracting; reviews the advisory audit report and technical evaluations to assure appropriate coverage, and initiates issuance of supplemental audit or technical reports or reevaluations when required; and prepares a pricing report of findings, determinations, and conclusions reached which reflect the comprehensive review and evaluation of the total pricing team effort.

+ Participates, as required, in "Should Cost" studies.

+ Establishes the pre-negotiation pricing position and participates in the final price negotiation, as requested.

+ Reviews and evaluates contract price proposals for adequacy and compliance with Public Law 87-653, Truth in Negotiations, and Public Law 91-379, CAS. On pre-award and post-award financial analysis reviews, evaluates adequacy, completeness, and soundness of the contractor's credit and financial position using various tools including D&B reports.

+ Evaluates financial statements, commercial credit reports, cash flow, and other financing arrangements (such as guaranteed loans) to establish the contractor's financial capability to successfully perform the contract to completion.

+ Makes comparisons of the past, present, and future financial and operational condition of the contractor, identifying deficiencies which may be pertinent to the financial evaluation as, for example, omissions of financial or operational information which may create a distortion of the contractor's financial condition, faulty financial or operating structures and costly financing practices.

+ Prepares reports which identify problems and present conclusions and recommendations based on the findings.

+ Meet or exceed targeted billing hours (utilization).

+ Assist with business development activities, such as proposals, capture, account teams, whitepapers, con ferences, and/or other thought leadership materials.

Qualifications - External

+ Experience with developing and evaluating cost/pricing models and analyses using comprehensive work breakdown structures (WBSs) that capture direct and indirect life cycle costs

+ Familiarity with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) cost principles, Department of Education Acquisition Regulation (EDAR), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Truth in Negotiations (TINA)

+ Experience with Government, industry and open source data collection and screening for quality and proper applications

+ Experience with performing data collection and analysis, including normalization, unitization, trends and projections

+ Experience with various quantitative analytical methodologies (e.g., parametric, analogous and engineering build-ups)

+ Understating of Federal cost estimating guidance and best practices (e.g. GAO)

+ Ability to multi-task and work independently

+ Organized and detail-oriented

+ Strong verbal communication and writing skills

+ Bachelor's Degree required from an accredited college or university in a related field.

+ Ability to obtain and maintain certain job-related certifications if no job-related advanced degrees.

+ U.S. citizenship may be required. Ability to work in the United States indefinitely required.

+ Travel may be required.

+ Ability to work overtime required on occasion.

+ Ability to sit in an office environment for long periods of time.

+ Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

+ Ability to communicate clearly in writing and verbally.

+ Ability to obtain and maintain firm independence and abide by firm ethics requirements.

+ Meet or exceed continuing professional education (CPE) requirements.