Student Veterans of America Jobs

Summary You will serve as a Contract Specialist and may support any of the programs and offices across DOT. You will award, administer, and close-out contracts to support these programs and may procure complex studies; technical & professional services; professional training services; specialized equipment; or IT supplies/services. These programs administer large dollar, multiyear contracts; financial assistance agreements; task/delivery orders; inter/intra-agency agreements; and purchase orders. Responsibilities As a Contract Specialist you will: Be responsible for the full range of pre-award functions involving procurements (including assistance agreements), typically involving technical services or programs of research and development, specialized equipment or systems. Be responsible for the solicitation, analysis, evaluation, and negotiation of proposals and budgets. Perform acquisition planning, scheduling procurement from time of acceptance in the Division through award. Develop procurement objectives for the requirement in terms of competition and price range, and constructs the considerations. Prepare and maintain current acquisition plans, appropriate milestone charts, and related schedules. Perform detailed analyses of all elements of cost in contractor and applicant proposals and budget applications, and make competitive range determinations. Conduct pre-proposal conferences with prospective offerors and applicants to arrive at a clear understanding of what is required under the proposed procurement. Obtain appropriate data from technical officials. Issue solicitations, with amendments as necessary, to clarify questions concerning such topics as specification changes, language ambiguities, or clarification of contract clauses. Be responsible for the full range of post-award functions involving procurements (including assistance agreements) to include negotiation of contract changes, administrative and other modifications, termination, and closeout. The ideal candidate for this position will have a solid background and experience in the award and administration of contracts using the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) specifically Parts 8, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. He or she would possess expertise in the award of a wide variety of contract types to include firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials and cost reimbursement for the acquisition of professional and technical services, as well as research and development, and in conducting price analysis and detailed cost analysis. It is recognized that the breadth and depth of experience will vary by grade level of the candidate. It is considered favorably although not required for the individual to have knowledge and familiarity working with interagency acquisitions and/or grants and cooperative agreements. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. citizen & meet specialized experience to qualify Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date Required Documents must be submitted by the closing date. Direct Hire Authority will be used to fill this position CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT: SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service. BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: You will be required to complete a background/security investigation and meet preliminary requirements prior to onboarding. POSITION SENSITIVITY AND RISK: Varies by position and will be based on the position to which appointed. SECURITY CLEARANCE: Varies by position. If applicable, you must be able to obtain and maintain the appropriate security clearance of the position to which appointed. PCS/RELOCATION/RECRUITMENT: Permanent Change of Station (PCS), Relocation, and Recruitment Incentive authorization varies by position/selection and a service agreement may be required. PROBATIONARY PERIOD: Applicants may be required to successfully complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed). CONFIDENTIAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REPORT: The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter. DEFENSE ACQUISITION WORKFORCE IMPROVEMENT ACT CAREER FIELD POSITION. Must meet position requirements for certification at Level II within 24 months on entrance on duty. Completion of mandatory acquisition certification requirements for this position is a condition of employment and must be accomplished within 24 months of assignment. GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: Travel will vary by position. If the position requires travel, a government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only. REMOTE WORK: This position may be eligible for remote work, which does not require reporting to the agency worksite location on a regular basis. If selected for a remote work location, you will be required to sign a remote work agreement detailing agency remote work policy requirements, working conditions, and expectations for the position. TELEWORK ELIGIBILITY: If selected for a non-remote position, you may be eligible for occasional and/or regularly scheduled telework. The number of telework days approved will be determined by your immediate supervisor or manager following the agency’s telework policy and guidance. If participating in the telework program, you will be required to sign a telework agreement detailing agency telework policy requirements, working conditions, and expectations for the position. Qualifications To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Individual Occupational Requirement for the series, (2) provide a copy of transcripts for verification, AND (3) meet the additional grade level requirements. (1) All applicants must meet the basic requirements to qualify for applying to a position under series 1102: BASIC MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR GS-13 and above: A. Completion of all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher level contracting positions, including at least 4-years’ experience in contracting or related positions. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position, and must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position. AND B. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management. C. Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. This also applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met. However, they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade, unless granted a waiver under Paragraph D. D. Waiver: When filling a specific vacant position, the senior procurement executive of the selecting agency, at his or her discretion, may waive any or all of the requirements of Paragraphs A and B above if the senior procurement executive certifies that the applicant possesses significant potential for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority, based on demonstrated analytical and decision making capabilities, job performance, and qualifying experience. With respect to each waiver granted under this Paragraph D, the senior procurement executive must document for the record the basis of the waiver. If an individual is placed in a position in an agency on the basis of a waiver, the agency may later reassign that individual to another position at the same grade within that agency without additional waiver action. For additional reference, please refer to the OPM qualifications standard for GS-1102: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1100/contracting-series-1102/ (2) Upload the appropriate document(s) to your application for verification purposes. (3) Specialized Experience: To further determine eligibility, review the following grade specific details. You will be asked a few questions as part of your application but make sure to verify how you meet these grade levels in your resume. For the GS-13: You qualify for this grade level if you have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-12 grade level, which included: Experience independently awarding, administering and closing out multi-million dollar contracts to include firm-fixed-price, time-and-material and cost reimbursement type contracts using acquisition regulations as a regular and recurring part of your job. For the GS-14: You qualify for this grade level if you have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-13 grade level, which included: Experience independently awarding and administering fixed-price, cost reimbursement, and time-and-materials contracts and task orders using acquisition regulations as a regular and recurring part of your job. Experience applying acquisition regulations to the award and administration of multi-million-dollar value contracts. Experience mentoring, training, and reviewing the work of other specialists. Although you must meet the mandatory education requirement for the series, you cannot qualify for GS-12 and above grades based solely on education, you must meet the specialized experience for each grade, which is cited above. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas: Contracting/Procurement - Knowledge of various types of contracts, techniques, or requirements (for example, Federal Acquisitions Regulations) for contracting or procurement, and contract negotiation and administration. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Education See the Qualifications section for Mandatory Individual Occupational Requirements. Additional Information This announcement establishes an open continuous period for this series/grade. We will perform interim reviews of all applications as positions become vacant. You must meet all eligible requirements at the time of consideration. At the discretion of the hiring agency, a position may be approved for Remote Work. This is a work arrangement in which an employee, under a written remote work agreement, is scheduled to perform their work at an alternative worksite and is not expected to perform work at an agency worksite on a regular and recurring basis. A remote worker’s official worksite may be within or outside the local commuting area of an agency worksite. Please note that consideration varies by DOT agency and this option is not guaranteed. Duty locations will vary. The difference in the salary is determined by the locality pay in each location. Salaries for all areas are available on the OPM website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/ This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate. If you are hired for this position; you will not receive additional consideration from this announcement. Qualified CTAP/ICTAP candidates receive priority and will referred to the hiring manager.