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Historian

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Reclamation
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Reclamation is seeking a career professional looking for an opportunity to capitalize on his or her expertise as a Historian. Make a difference in the West by assisting in meeting increasing water demands while protecting the environment.

Location - Grand Coulee, Washington https://www.usbr.gov/pn/about/hr/area-information.html

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
01/20/2021 to 02/09/2021
Salary
$64,649 to - $84,049 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 11
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Grand Coulee, WA
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional travel may be required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—Relocation expenses are authorized with the exception of the Guaranteed Home Sale Provision or first-post-of-duty relocation expenses are authorized, as applicable. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), signed into law December 2017, suspends the moving expense deduction and the exclusion from income of qualified employer reimbursements of moving expenses that was allowed under previous tax laws. Employer reimbursements for moving costs are now generally taxed at the same rate as ordinary income.
Appointment type
Permanent - Permanent Appointment
Work schedule
Full-time - This is a FULL-TIME position.
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11 - Position is at full performance level.
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
BOR-21-MP-11011368-MC
Control number
589884900

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Current Federal employees serving under career/career-conditional appointment in the competitive service; former Federal employees with reinstatement eligibility; CTAP/ICTAP eligible; Veterans Employment Opportunities Act; Veterans Recruitment Appointment; 30% or More Disabled Veterans; Military Spouses under Executive Order 13832; Individuals with Disabilities; eligible Peace Corps or AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers; Public Land Corps Eligibles & Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act Eligibles.

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Duties

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The primary duties of this position are:

  • Managing Reclamation's cultural resource program at Grand Coulee Dam and the Hungry Horse Project
  • Conducting consultations on historic resources subject to the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)
  • Preparing scholarly and technical reports, field surveys, and historic resource studies
  • Acting as Curator, the incumbent is responsible for the acquisition, documentation, preservation, and use of museum collections
  • Developing historic preservation management requirements and treatment guidelines for GCPO facilities and Reclamation controlled historic properties

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

To be eligible, an applicant must meet the following:

  • U.S. Citizen or National
  • Suitability for Federal employment determined by background investigation
  • Submit a resume and supporting documentation See How to Apply
  • Meet specialized experience requirements See Qualifications
  • Submit transcripts, if required, to verify education requirements
  • For veterans consideration, submit documents under Required Documents
Applicants must meet all qualification requirements, including time-in-grade restrictions and, all qualification requirements and any selective factors, by the closing date of the announcement, 02/09/2021

TIME-IN-GRADE: Current career or career-conditional employees of the Federal government, or former career or career-conditional employees, who have a break in service of less than one year, are required to meet the time-in-grade restriction of one year of Federal experience at the next lower-grade, with few exceptions outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b). Applicants eligible under the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) are not required to meet time-in-grade restrictions in order to be considered.

Applicants may be required to serve an initial probationary period.

Due Weight Consideration: You must submit 1) a copy of your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation and 2) a list of any awards (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc.) you received in the last 5 years. Any performance appraisal/evaluation and award documentation you provide will be forwarded to the selecting official. The selecting official will review this documentation and give it due weight consideration during the overall selection process. If you do not have your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation, please submit a statement as to why it is not available. Please indicate if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level.

Qualifications

For GS Positions with Basic Education Requirements:
Basic Education Requirements:
A. Degree: history; or related field that included at least 18 semester hours in history.
**OR**
B. Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in history, or a major in a related field that included at least 18 semester hours in history, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Graduate study in the social sciences or humanities may also be credited when such study included training in historical research methodology; or the thesis approached the subject from an historical viewpoint and used professional historical research methodology and techniques in its preparation.

Substitution of Education/Specialized Experience Requirements:
In addition to the basic education requirement, in order to be rated as qualified for this position, the HR Office must be able to determine that the applicant meets the education and/or specialized experience requirement - this information must be clearly supported in the resume.

For each Grade Advertised:
To qualify at the GS-11 level, applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-09 in Federal service. Specialized experience at this level is defined as providing cultural resource program support and professional advice on historic structures; participate as a professional member of an interdisciplinary team; provide technical assistance and serve as a subject matter expert in the conduct of historic preservation activities; plan or participate in the planning of cultural resource projects or studies; research, develop, and prepare manuscripts for professional publications; perform collections management, registration, cataloging, research, preservation, restoration, and conservation of collections.
**OR** 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree
**OR** combination of education and 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. Applicants will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

If selected, the selectee will be required to provide official college transcripts to verify educational qualifications. An official transcript must be sent directly from the University's Registrar's office and must be provided from the institution awarding the degree. Academic transcripts certified by notary publics are NOT official. Official transcripts must be submitted prior to reporting to work as a condition of employment. Failure to submit official transcripts may be grounds for dismissal or rescission of the job offer.

Education

This vacancy announcement allows substituting education for experience. Applicants must submit a copy of college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not-qualified for the position.

This position has a mandatory education requirement. Applicants must submit a copy of college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. Non-submission will result in being rated not-qualified for the position.

Accreditation: Only education from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education is acceptable to meet education requirements or to substitute for experience, if applicable. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management at https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/ and U.S. Department of Education websites at https://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html websites.

Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, applicants must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For further information visit: https://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

Position is being advertised concurrently under vacancy announcement BOR-21-DE-11011369-MC. Applicants interested in applying under both announcement numbers, must submit application packages for each.

At the present time, we have one vacancy; however, this announcement may be used to fill additional, equivalent positions at this duty location.

Reclamation has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisory approval.

The selectee(s) for the vacancy, if otherwise eligible and qualified, may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive to the selectee(s) of this vacancy will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information visit:
Recruitment Incentive
Relocation Incentive

The selectee(s) for the vacancy, if otherwise eligible and qualified, may request consideration for a Superior Qualifications Appointment: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/superior-qualifications-and-special-needs-pay-setting-authority/

DOI uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including applicant rights and responsibilities, please visit https://www.e-verify.gov/

Selective Service: Male applicants born after December 31, 1959 must certify registration with the Selective Service System or that the applicant is exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Go to: https://www.sss.gov

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 how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide to the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position. During the initial review the HR Representative will be assessing the following Competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

Competencies
History and Archaeology
Planning and Evaluating
Technical Competence
Writing

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs)
KSA 1: Knowledge of principles, practices, and methods related to cultural resource management as they apply to project planning, and federal cultural resources regulatory compliance.
KSA 2: Knowledge and experience in conducting cultural resource investigations, including record and literature searches, as well as fieldwork consisting of surveys and cultural resource evaluations with an emphasis on historic-era resources.
KSA 3: Ability to communicate in writing effectively, especially in organizing and writing narratives and in preparing reports documenting cultural resource investigations that set forth a balance and realistic picture of the subject under consideration.
KSA 4: Knowledge and experience in the statutory requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and process of consultation with the State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to ensure Reclamation compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act.

Preview assessment questions here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11011368

Applicant's answers to questions will be verified against information provided in their online resume. Be sure that the resume clearly supports the responses to all the questions by addressing experience, education, and/or training relevant to this position. Applicants must make a fair and accurate assessment of their qualifications. If a determination is made that an applicant has rated themselves higher than is apparent in his/her description of experience, competencies, skills, and/or education/training OR that his/her resume/application is incomplete, the applicant may be rated ineligible or his/her score may be lowered.

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of an additional assessment, including a subject matter expert (SME) review of a writing sample. This assessment measures the critical competencies listed below that are required to successfully perform the job:

Interpersonal Skills
Integrity and Honesty
Oral Communication

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