Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open ONLY to current permanent career/career-conditional employees who are currently assigned to the Providence Regional Office and current/former VA employees who are CTAP eligible.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Performs individual quality reviews to determine the authorization quality level of individual VSRs for purposes of individual performance standards in accordance with an established monthly schedule.
• Conducts focused "in-process reviews" for cases to determine the accuracy of claims actin taken. (Such reviews are for station-level feedback and improvement only, not used for individual performance standard purposes).
• Responsible for sharing authorization quality trend information with management on an ongoing basis and with the VSRS during training sessions.
• Reviews products or activities for quality of performance and enters the results into the on-line Systematic Technical Accuracy Review (STAR) checklists.
• Evaluates and identifies deficiencies of all elements of a claim from evidence development, income and dependency issues, to award processing and authorization. Provides an explanation of errors and includes comments where attention is warranted.
• Prepares and conducts formal training sessions; including but not limited to training for newly hired personnel, refresher training and other necessary training due to changes in procedures, regulations, or law.
• Prepares STAR data reports and provides to personnel in the regional office who are authorized to request and receive such reports.
• Develops various quality assurance processes with emphasis on work procedures and techniques that address unique work conditions and practices.
• Ensures all program requirements imposed by Compensation Service and/or the Pension and Fiduciary Service and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims are met or implemented.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• You must meet all requirements and qualifications by the closing date of this announcement.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/30/2021.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. The grade may have been in any occupation but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50). You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status, and shows Time in Grade (for example, you were a career or career-conditional employee) and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). If the most recent SF -50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must also submit your most recent promotion or within-grade increase in addition to your recent SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade. DO NOT submit Award SF-50's and/or General Adjustment SF-50's as they cannot be used to prove time-in-grade. Grade Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

AND

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience must include experience in work that involves functioning in either a capacity performing training, analyst or information systems duties pertaining to claims management process. The experience should be substantive and relevant and may have been gained in the federal, military, or private sector. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to the following: Conducting focused evaluations and reviews to determine authorization quality and accuracy; Providing advisory services to management via preparation and presentation of quality trend information; Developing training strategies and materials to address deficiencies and/or conducting training activities; Analyzing performance deficiencies and quality trends to identify knowledge/skill gaps; and Providing quality-review services, feedback, and guidance to staff in order to correct unsatisfactory performance. B. My experience is not described in statements A above; therefore, I am not qualified for this position.

Education: There is no education substitution for GS-12.

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; religions; 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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: The work normally involves mental rather than physical exertion. The work is mostly sedentary. However, there may be some walking, standing, and carrying of light items such as papers, books, claims folders, and files from one desk to another or for returning to storage. Carts are utilized to carry large number of claims folders. This will require the incumbent to push or pull the cart from one area to another.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

How you will be evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Read and interpret federal compensation and pension laws, regulations, policies, and procedures in order to analyze and evaluate the accuracy of claims decisions.
• Knowledge of veteran-based state and federal laws (dependency status, social services programs, Medicaid, special income-based programs), to include legal opinions from (1) the court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims (CAVC) and (2) state and federal courts having a relationship to VA programs.
• Utilize training techniques and claims processing knowledge in order to provide authoritative consultation and troubleshooting services and carry out extremely complex and precedent setting training administration.
• Accurately reviews, compiles, and analyzes information and data.
• Communicates orally to conduct one-on-one training & feedback as well as group presentations and training sessions.
• Communicates in writing to prepare correspondence and reports as well as convey feedback and other information to management and lower-graded employees.