Clarification from the agency

Open to all U.S. citizens.

THIS VACANCY HAS BEEN EXTENDED

This Senior Legislative Affairs Specialist position is located in Legislative Affairs (LA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If selected for this position, you will work in a fast-paced office with the office’s senior management and serve as Team Lead to other Legislative Specialists. In this position you will assist in identifying and resolving problems on complex legislative issues and situations. Typical assignments will include, but are not limited to:

• Working with LA's Assistant Administrator, Deputy Assistant Administrator and Legislative Director by assisting in the planning, developing, and tracking of the agency’s legislative program, as well as monitoring and researching any proposed legislation impacting the agency’s operations.  
• Initiating and implementing internal organizational procedures and processes to ensure timely and accurate responsiveness to DHS, TSA, and congressional inquiries, correspondence, mandates and directives.
• Advising and reporting on the office’s Hill activities to senior leaders and assist in preparing program offices and leadership for interactions with Congress, including congressional hearings and Member and staff-level briefings.
• Researching historic and recent agency responses and positions on programmatic issues. Drafting testimony, briefing memos and talking points for leadership.
• Coordinating with DHS and TSA organizations, specifically DHS Office of Legislative Affairs, TSA’s Chief Finance Office, as well as TSA’s Chief Counsel, on the mission, goals, and transportation and security policies and working to develop unified and cohesive presentations to Congress.
• Developing daily and weekly reports for wide distribution amongst agency headquarters on significant legislative activities pertaining to TSA.
• Providing legislative advice consistent with the U.S. House and Senate rules and ethics in presenting a strategic framework to promote the agency’s legislative initiatives.

Conditions of employment

• You must possess U.S. Citizenship or be a U.S. National.
• You must complete a favorable Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI).
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret Clearance.
• Selective Service registration is required.
• Must pass pre-employment drug screening AND random drug testing.
• See additional "Conditions of Employment" and "Other Information" section

You must meet the qualification requirements for this position no later than the closing date of the vacancy announcement.

This position is also being announced through Public (US Citizen) procedure under Announcement #HQ-LA-18-521633-G. Candidates who wish to be considered under both Public (US Citizens) and Government-Wide procedures must apply to both announcements.

Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.

Salary range listed includes Locality Pay of 28.22%.

This position is located in Arlington, VA.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

You must pass pre-employment drug screening AND you will be subject to post-employment random drug testing.

You must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret Clearance.

Disclosure of your financial information is required.

Qualifications

To qualify for the SV-I Pay Band (equivalent to GS-13), you must have one year of specialized experience at the SV-H or GS-12 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as experience that has equipped you with the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as:

• Extensive understanding of the congressional legislative process and experience in analyzing and summarizing legislation on transportation legislative matters;
• Conducting legislative research and drafting papers or talking points on transportation security legislative matters;
• Responding to congressional inquiries on issues of a general or policy nature; and
• Coordinating activities for an organization to ensure that congressional relations are properly understood and represented.

Note: Credit for experience is given based on a 40-hour workweek. Part-time experience is credited on a part-time ratio, i.e., working 20 hours per week for two months equals one month of experience. No additional credit is given for overtime. 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.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated based on a comparison of the position requirements against the quality and extent of the experience and/or related education as reflected in your resume and supporting documentation.  You are encouraged to ensure work experiences clearly show possession of the competencies required for this position.  We will compare your resume and supporting documentation to your responses on the assessment questionnaire. If, after reviewing your resume and any supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your category placement may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Grouping procedures.  Under Category Grouping, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

Best-Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate high proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all Selective Placement Factors (SPF) and appropriate Desirable (Quality Ranking) Factors as determined by the job analysis.

Well-Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrates acceptable proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all SPFs as determined by the job analysis.

Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate basic proficiency in most of the critical competencies, including all SPFs as determined by the job analysis.

Veterans: Qualified veterans who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10% are listed in the best-qualified category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level, or higher. (This position [is or is not] considered scientific/professional.) Other 10-point preference eligibles and veterans with 5-point preference who meet the eligibility and qualification requirements are placed above non-preference eligibles within the category in which they qualify. View information on veterans’ preference .