Clarification from the agency

The area of consideration is current, permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs and CTAP eligibles. First area of consideration is facility employees.

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Duties may include but not limited to:

• Develops the local privacy strategy that integrates the VHA Medical Center or Healthcare System with data governance program goals, national strategic priorities, and VA core values.
• Develops and executes strategic management initiatives that establishes areas of control of information within the facility and interfaces with all business operations across service lines/departments.
• Systematically approves all facility policies and reviews business practices to ensure appropriate use and protection of information specific to each functional area.
• Strengthens and sustains the operational life cycle of the privacy/FOIA program by developing a communication strategy that fosters awareness for both internal and external partners to improve compliance, provide training, and engage the public.
• Provides subject matter expertise directly and independently with senior leadership, local and facility Law Enforcement, Office of Chief Counsel in the District, VHA Central Office, and VISN leadership regarding data governance.
• Serves as a senior team leader and independently plans, coordinates and administers major, high priority privacy investigative cases which are integral to agency data governance objectives.
• Independently analyzes all of the interrelated issues that affect the privacy/FOIA program.
• Creates a communications process and tools that are flexible, customizable, and interactive to address the VHA Medical Center or Healthcare System's unique compliance challenges and educational/training needs.
• Teaches and trains employees on general data protection procedures and detailed service specific practices for daily operations.
• Develops and integrates policy based processes, roles, and controls that influences how data is created, collected, used, stored, and destroyed throughout the organization.
• Performs assessment of privacy-related risks associated with business activities that involve processing of personal and sensitive data.
• Independently investigates non-compliance of privacy related issues at all levels of the organization and outside of the organization when VHA information is involved.
• Adjudicates complex privacy and FOIA decisions that affect employees, Veterans, patients, and commercial businesses in the absence of supervision.
• Manages a system-wide communication strategy as it relates to the request timely release and amendment of records from the facility.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday; 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Government Information Specialist/PD08365O
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required.

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.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/21/2022.

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. 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 provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-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.

Specialized Experience Requirement: You must have one (1) 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of all data governance related federal legislation and implementing regulations, Executive Orders, federal and agency policies and procedures, case law and precedent decisions related to information disclosure, security, privacy, and protection in order to manage a facility Privacy and FOIA program; Knowledge of data quality improvement practices and the ability to develop a system of internal monitoring that identifies potential organizational risks through trending and severity unique to the facility; able to establish and maintain good working relationships with senior leadership and staff throughout the facility; effective oral and written communication and presentation skills in order to respond to requests, explain data governance requirements and procedures to senior leadership and staff, defend findings and recommendations to senior leadership and prepare written responses, reports, and information materials for a variety of audiences; strong organizational, forecasting and strategic planning skills as well as the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously with limited to no oversight.

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

• Compliance
• Interpersonal Skills
• Knowledge Management
• Technical Credibility

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 is primarily sedentary. There will be episodes of moderate lifting or prolonged periods of standing and bending in searching various files. There is lifting and carrying of such items as record boxes and bulky files. The work involves considerable walking, standing and bending conducting rounds, auditing and providing training to both on-site and off-site personnel. There is also occasional lifting and carrying of such items as boxes and files, weighing up to 30 lbs.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://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.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.