Clarification from the agency

Open to all U.S. Citizens.

This Legislative Affairs Specialist position is located in the Legislative Affairs, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Duties include but are not limited to:

• Provides assistance to the Senior Legislative Affairs (LA) personnel through coordinating and monitoring TSA related legislative issues and activities, conducting research, and drafting briefing and summary documents.
• Coordinates with the TSA Office of the Executive Secretary on the development and delivery of responses to Congressional correspondence or mandated reports, studies, assessments or other documentation.
• Initiates and implements internal organizational procedures and processes to ensure timely and accurate responsiveness to DHS, TSA and congressional mandates and directives.
• Assist other legislative affairs specialists on complex legislative issues and situations.
• Works with senior management to identify and jointly resolve problems.

This position is also being announced through Government Wide procedures under Announcement #HQ-LA-19-578312-G. Candidates who wish to be considered under both Public (US Citizens) and Government-Wide procedures must apply to both announcements.

Conditions of employment

• Selective Service registration is required.
• You must possess U.S. Citizenship or be a U.S. National.
• You must complete a favorable Background Investigation (BI).
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret Clearance.
• See additional "Conditions of Employment" and "Other Information" section

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

Any offers of employment made pursuant to this announcement will be consistent with all applicable authorities, including Presidential Memoranda, Executive Orders, interpretive U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance, and Office of Management and Budget plans and policies concerning hiring. These authorities are subject to change.

Qualifications

To qualify for the SV-F Pay Band (equivalent to GS-5/7/9), you must meet one of the qualification requirements (A, B, OR C) outlined below.

A. Experience: For those qualifying using experience, your application must clearly outline three (3) years of progressively responsible general experience, one year of which was equivalent to at least the SV-E Pay Band or GS-4 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Such experience will demonstrate the ability to analyze problems, gather pertinent data, and recognize solutions; plan and organize work; and communicate effectively orally and in writing. 

OR B. Education: A Bachelor's or higher-level degree in any field from an accredited college or university. 

OR C. Combining of Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements, and may be computed by first determining the total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the position; then determining the education as a percentage of the education required for the position; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for the position. 

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.

National Service Experience (i.e., volunteer experience): 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.

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

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) 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 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 .

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies that are relevant to the duties of this position and must be fully supported by information in your resume:

• Working knowledge of Federal Government operations, the legislative process, the structure/procedures of Congress, and interaction between Congressional and Executive branch staff.
• Working knowledge of Federal Government operations and OMB Circular A-19 in order to perform legislative coordination and clearance processes.
• Legislation and Congressional Awareness: Understanding of the policy impacts behind agency actions so as to answer inquiries appropriately.
• Ability to conduct legislative research in support of agency driven initiatives.