Positions are available in the Governmental Affairs and the External Affairs Branches in the External and Governmental Affairs Division (EGA) of the Food and Nutrition Service. EGA is the Agency's designated liaison with Congress, other governmental entities, and external stakeholders in support of FNS' mission-responsible for communicating with Congressional offices, advancing the Agency's legislative priorities, and developing and executing stakeholder engagement strategies.
Summary
Positions are available in the Governmental Affairs and the External Affairs Branches in the External and Governmental Affairs Division (EGA) of the Food and Nutrition Service. EGA is the Agency's designated liaison with Congress, other governmental entities, and external stakeholders in support of FNS' mission-responsible for communicating with Congressional offices, advancing the Agency's legislative priorities, and developing and executing stakeholder engagement strategies.
Collaborate across the agency and Department to develop and execute comprehensive strategies for engaging stakeholders to support critical Administration and agency priorities and goals.
Advises Division and Office leadership on external stakeholders concerns about agency actions, opportunities, and strategy for external engagement.
Represents external stakeholder and Congressional perspectives in internal decision-making. May be asked to brief Agency leadership.
Serves as a representative of the agency on FNS initiatives and priorities, and as a liaison to external partners on matters on mutual interest.
Supports policy officials and agency leaders in their interactions with external stakeholders and Congressional offices.
Coordinates sensitive tasks across organizations or offices to ensure timely and appropriate action.
Composes well-written, concise briefing materials, talking points, remarks, or memoranda for senior leadership.
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.
Direct Deposit - 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 https://www.e-verify.gov/.
Qualifications
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.
Time in grade:
Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying). You must include an SF-50 (you may need to submit more than one) that supports meeting this requirement with your application package.
To qualify at the GS-13 you must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level GS-12 or pay band in federal service or equivalent non-federal experience. Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following:
1. Researching, analyzing, and supporting development of legislation related to nutrition, public health or public assistance programs;
2. Drafting and reviewing responses to Congressional inquiries or correspondence, and/or creating reports, testimony, talking points, or briefing materials for external stakeholders;
3. Drafting talking points, speeches, briefing materials, and/or published materials related to nutrition, public health or public assistance programs; and
4. Developing or executing strategic stakeholder engagement, legislative, or communications campaigns or strategies on issues related to nutrition, public health or public assistance programs.
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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Education
There is no substitution of education at this grade level.
Additional information
Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL): Visit the OPM website for information on how to apply as a CTAP, RPL eligible. To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP 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 applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.
This position is being concurrently announced under Delegated Examining Announcement Number DE-11671646-22-NM. This announcement is open to all qualified candidates. Applying to both announcements may expand the possibilities of consideration since different referral criteria apply to each type of announcement. See the above announcement for more information.
USDA is offering a variety of strategic workplace flexibilities which allow us to recruit and retain the best talent that reflects the diversity of our country, improve employee morale, and make USDA an employer of choice.
In support of this commitment, this position is remote work and telework-eligible as determined by Departmental and Agency policy.
Positions are available in the Governmental Affairs and the External Affairs Branches in the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), External and Governmental Affairs Division (EGA). EGA is the Agency's designated liaison with Congress, other governmental entities, and external stakeholders in support of FNS' mission. This position is remote work and telework-eligible as determined by Departmental and Agency policy.
The Governmental Affairs Branch is FNS's liaison with Members of Congress and their staff, responsible for maintaining effective relationships and communications with Congressional offices, supporting and representing FNS executives and program offices, advancing the Agency's legislative priorities, and leading preparation for hearings and other interactions. The Branch monitors and analyzes legislation and advises FNS leadership on high-profile issues.
The External Affairs Branch is responsible for devising and executing strategic stakeholder engagement and communications, external partnerships, and crosscutting efforts that support the Agency's goals.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
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 knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies listed below:
Interpersonal Skills -Treats others with courtesy, sensitivity, and respect. Considers and responds appropriately to the needs and feelings of different people in different situations.
Organizational Awareness - Knows the organization's mission and functions, and how its social, political, and technological systems work and operates effectively within them; this includes the programs, policies, procedures, rules, and regulations of the organization.
External Awareness - Identifies and understands economic, political, and social trends that affect the organization.
Manages and Organizes Information - Identifies a need; gathers, organizes, and maintains information; determines its importance and accuracy, and communicates it by a variety of methods.
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. Applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements and are determined to be among the best qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Noncompetitive candidates and applicants under some special hiring authorities need only meet minimum qualifications to be referred.
Note: If after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities, or you may be found ineligible. 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 up to including removal from the Federal service.
Clicking the link below will present a preview of the application form; i.e. the online questionnaire. The application form link below will only provide a preview and does not initiate the application process. To initiate the online application process, click the "Apply" button to the right.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the major duties including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) other qualifications.
Current and former Federal employees:
Most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) showing you are/were in the competitive service, highest grade held (or promotion potential) on a permanent basis, position title, series and grade AND
Most recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable. A performance plan is not an acceptable substitute.
Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.
Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m., Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing.
This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact the Agency Contact to request this.
To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents.
NOTE: Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded resumes must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable.
Food and Nutrition Service
1320 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA 22314
US
Next steps
Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.
Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the major duties including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) other qualifications.
Current and former Federal employees:
Most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) showing you are/were in the competitive service, highest grade held (or promotion potential) on a permanent basis, position title, series and grade AND
Most recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable. A performance plan is not an acceptable substitute.
Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.
Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m., Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing.
This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact the Agency Contact to request this.
To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents.
NOTE: Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded resumes must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable.
Food and Nutrition Service
1320 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA 22314
US
Next steps
Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.
Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
