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Operations Specialist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position works for R5, Fire and Aviation Management Staff, duty location can be any Forest Service office in California. Final duty location to be determined at time of job offer.

Incumbent serves as the Emergency Fire Contract Administrator of an Interagency Emergency Fire Equipment Contract Program, working in a variety of Incident Management assignments.

For additional information please contact Yolie Thomas at 707-562-8835 or email at yolanda.thomas@usda.gov

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
08/01/2022 to 08/15/2022
Salary
$44,740 to - $86,074 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 7 - 11
Location
3 vacancies in the following location:
Location Negotiable After Selection, United States
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
50% or less - You may be expected to travel to meetings and trainings. Frequent travel to incident camps and other locations for inspections and program related work.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
22-0556-11587984-G-NT
Control number
668522700

Duties

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  • Assist the supervisor to coordinate and implement cooperative fire agreements and activities with government/non-government entities.
  • Serve as a Contracting Officers Representative (COR) or similar position for emergency incident related contracts including equipment, services, and materials.
  • Conduct contract reviews to evaluate contractor performance on incident management related contracts.
  • Review statements of work and contract specifications for incident management related contracts
  • Work with supervisor to provide contractor evaluations/inspections.
  • Prepare written evaluations, compliance notifications, and recommendations.
  • Develop contract specifications, manuals, handbooks, training curriculum and course design.
  • Work with the supervisor to be a contact for incident management personnel in resolving issues and concerns with contracted resources.
  • Recommend actions to be taken for contractors not adhering to or meeting required standards.
  • Resolve issues and concerns related to contracted incident management personnel.
  • Work on Incident Management assignments such as a trainee Emergency Fire Contract contact of an Interagency Emergency Fire Equipment Contract Program.
  • Coordinate the inspection of contractor provided equipment for an emergency incident, Unit(s), or organization
  • Provide oversight of contractor provided training to ensure contractors are meeting National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) requirements.
  • Assist Units, Dispatch Centers, Fire Caches and Fire Incident Management Teams to provide contract compliance, ordering protocols, payment inquiries during and after wildland and other emergency assignments.
  • Review fire qualification documents of contracted personnel to ensure employees possess required fire qualifications.
  • Perform inspections of emergency incident related equipment

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Successful completion of one year probationary period, unless previously served.
  • Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

For the GS-07: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-5 grade level. Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following:Worked on incident procurement such as micro-purchasing on a buying unit team; and/or processed incident payments on ordering and bills; and/or assisted in coordinating fire training courses. OR 1 full year of graduate level education OR an appropriate combination of graduate level education and specialized experience; OR Superior Academic Achievement (go to this site determine if you are eligible: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/policy/ApplicationOfStds-04.asp). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

For the GS-09: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level. Specialized experience is defined as three or more of the following: Assisted with the review of statements of work and contract specifications; and/or assisted with contract reviews to evaluate contractor performance; and/or assisted with the inspections of equipment, materials, processes, procedures, etc. to ensure contract compliance; and/or assisted with purchasing supplies and services following ordering protocols and addressing payment inquiries during and after wildland fire and other emergency assignments. OR Master's or equivalent graduate degree OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree OR LL.B. or J.D.,if related.

GS-11: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-9 grade level. Specialized experience is defined as three or more of the following: Worked with incident management resources to provide contract compliance and assistance; and/or performed project management support work directly related to emergency incident management projects; and/or served as a Contracting Officers Representative (COR) or similar position for emergency incident related contracts including equipment, services, and material; and/or conducted inspections of equipment, materials, processes, procedures, etc. to ensure contract compliance. OR Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related; OR an appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.).

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.

TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

Please see Qualifications section.

Additional information

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Veterans who are preference eligible or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after three years or more of continuous active service are eligible for consideration under the Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA).

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) provides current or former temporary or term employees of federal land management agencies opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Part-time and intermittent service will be credited only for time actually worked. Non-pay status such as leave without pay is credited for up to six months in a calendar year; anything beyond six months is not credited. Applicants are responsible for providing sufficient information/documentation to determine if the 24 month criteria is met.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Employees: Permanent County employees without prior Federal tenure who are selected for a Civil Service position under Public Law 105-277 will be given a career-conditional appointment and must serve a 1-year probationary period.

PROMOTION POTENTIAL: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied or guaranteed.


This position may be eligible to telework up to four days per week, based upon the duties of the position. This position may also be eligible for flexible work arrangements as determined by agency policy and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.

The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional information is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-and-leave-flexibilities-for-recruitment-and-retention/

Salary wage as shown is for Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management,
Salary and Wages web page.

This is a bargaining unit position and is represented by either NFFE, AFGE, or NAGE.

Forest Service daycare facilities are not available.

Government housing is not available.

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 your qualifications for this position as evidenced by the experience, education, and training you described in your application package, as well as the responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine the degree to which you possess the competencies listed below:

  • Contracting/Procurement
  • Problem Solving
  • Project Management
  • Technical Competence
  • Writing


Your application, including the online Assessment Questionnaire, will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position.

If you meet the qualification requirements and are determined to be among the best qualified, you will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Noncompetitive candidates and applicants under some special hiring authorities must meet minimum qualifications to be referred.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11587984

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