Serves as a Contract Specialist within the Procurement Office located at Marshall Space Flight Center or the NASA Shared Services. Contracting/Procurement duties will vary depending on role and responsibility to the mission and the needs of the organization.
Due to USAJOBS outage on 09/02/2020, this vacancy has been amended to extend the closing date to 09/03/2020.
Summary
Serves as a Contract Specialist within the Procurement Office located at Marshall Space Flight Center or the NASA Shared Services. Contracting/Procurement duties will vary depending on role and responsibility to the mission and the needs of the organization.
Due to USAJOBS outage on 09/02/2020, this vacancy has been amended to extend the closing date to 09/03/2020.
Serves as contract specialist responsible for all aspects of the contracting transactions from initiation to recommendation of award to procure items or services with specialized requirements.
Performs pre-award functions such as preparing solicitation documents (e.g. waiver, Justification and Approval Other than Full and Open Competition, D/Fs, etc.) incorporating provisions, such as cost accounting standards, and cost data requirements.
Analyzing proposals for conformance with the solicitation; obtaining required pre-award surveys to establish contractor responsibility, and, audits and pricing reports to develop negotiation strategy.
Assist in performing contract administration activities for highly specialized procurements, including incremental funding, option <br>exercises, redirection of effort, coordination of time extension.
The specialist is responsible for incorporation of change orders, issuance of stop work orders, approval of progress payments, and final payment to the contractor; and, negotiates contract modifications and the terms and costs of contract changes.
Research, learn and apply a wide range of qualitative and/or quantitative methods to identify, assess, analyze and improve products and services.
Provide written and oral communication techniques sufficient to develop and deliver briefings, project papers, status/staff reports, and correspondence to managers to foster understanding and acceptance of findings and recommendations
Duties described above are at the full-performance level. Duties assigned at a lower grade level will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity; duties will be commensurate with the grade of selected employee.
This position is open to U.S. citizens, nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
A one-year probationary period may be required
Position subject to pre-employment background investigation
Selectee must complete a financial disclosure statement
The final salary will be based on the duty location of the selectee within the range listed on the vacancy announcement.
Selectee(s) will be required to work onsite at the duty location selected.
Qualifications
Applicant must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade, which has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies needed to successfully perform the duties of the position described above.
To qualify for the GS-07:
Specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-05) includes (1) applying knowledge of pre-award and post-award procedures to understand and plan and conduct the contracting processes (2) applying knowledge of negotiation techniques for price and performance terms; OR
One (1) full academic year of graduate education or law school or superior academic achievement
To qualify for the GS-09:
Specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-07) includes includes (1) performing pre-award and post-award procedures to plan and conduct the contracting processes (2) utilizing negotiation techniques for price and performance terms (3) utilizing price analysis techniques to evaluate price proposals, contract changes, repricing actions and final contract pricing; OR
Two (2) full academic years of progressively higher level graduate education or masters or equivalent graduate degree or LL.B. or J.D.
Applicants must meet the basic education requirements for the GS-1102 series:
a. 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field, OR
b. At least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods or organization and management.
Graduate Education. To qualify for GS-1102 positions on the basis of graduate education, graduate education in one or a combination of the following fields is required: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management.
Exception: Employees who occupied GS-1102 positions on January 1, 2000 at grades 5 through 12 will be considered to meet the basic requirements for other GS-1102 positions up to and including the GS-12 level.
Federal Acquisition Certification-Contracting (FAC-C) Level II or Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certification Level II certification is preferred, but not required.
Your resume must include coursework, degree and certification information. If this information is not provided, you may lose consideration for this position.
Ensure you have completed the Education section of the USAJobs Resume Builder. If you have a degree, provide your degree information. If you have coursework that meets the requirements above, provide a list in the Relevant Coursework section. Include the title, course code, and number of semester, quarter or classroom hours for each course (i.e., BUAD- 101-Introduction to Business, 3 Semester hours).
If you have earned certification, state your FAC-C or DAWIA certification level and date of certification.
Your resume must include a clear and detailed narrative description, in your own words, of how you meet the required specialized experience. Experience statements copied from a position description, vacancy announcement or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job.
Please spell out all acronyms.
Education
See Qualifications Section for the education requirements for this position.
Additional information
ANNOUNCEMENT EXTENDED TO CLOSE SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 DUE TO SYSTEM OUTAGE.
This position is announced under Direct Hire authority. Recruitment for this position will follow guidelines established by the Office of Personnel Management for use of Direct Hire authority.
If you have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP), you must:
Indicate your eligibility when applying for a position. The USAJOBS resume asks you to identify your ICTAP eligibility; the NASA Supplemental Information asks you to identify your CTAP eligibility.
Be well qualified for this position to receive consideration. See 'How You Will Be Evaluated' for NASA's definition of well qualified.
Be prepared to submit proof that you meet the requirements for CTAP/ICTAP if you are selected for the position. This includes copies of your agency notice, most recent Performance Rating and most recent Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) noting current position, grade level, and duty location.
As identical vacancies are identified, additional selections may be made.
You must meet qualifications requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
Duty location will be determined upon selection and will be at the following NASA locations: Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville, Alabama) or NASA Shared Services Center (Bay St. Louis, Mississippi).
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.
This position is announced under Direct Hire authority. A Human Resources Specialist will review your resume to determine if you meet the qualifications and eligibility requirements as listed in 'Requirements'.
CTAP and ICTAP candidates will be assessed using NASA STARS, an automated system that matches the competencies extracted from your resume to the competencies identified by the selecting official for the position. Based on the competencies you match, you are placed in one of three categories identified as 90, 80, or 70 point quality categories, which are defined as:
90 pt. Category - Tentatively meets (until subsequent confirmation upon referral) the basic qualification requirements identified in the vacancy announcement and has experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated superior proficiency in the primary requirements of the position.
80 pt. Category - Tentatively meets (until subsequent confirmation upon referral) the basic qualification requirements identified in the vacancy announcement and demonstrates satisfactory proficiency in the primary requirements of the position.
70 pt. Category - Fails to meet criteria described in the 80 pt. category.
For the purpose of the CTAP and ICTAP, candidates rated in the top quality (90 pt.) category are considered well-qualified.
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.
NASA's application process has been specifically developed to ensure that we only ask you for the information we absolutely need to evaluate your qualifications and eligibility. In order to apply for this position, you only need to submit your resume and answer the screening questions and supplemental information. No additional documentation is accepted at the time of application. (For example you need not submit narrative 'KSA' statements; they are not required and will not be evaluated.) In this way we allow you to focus on preparing a resume that best describes your background and abilities. For assistance in preparing your resume, consult the Applicant Guide. Nothing further is required until requested by the Human Resources Office. At that point, we may ask you to submit documentation to support statements made in your resume. For example, we may ask you to provide academic transcripts or proof of Federal employment status. If you fail to provide the required documents within the stated time period, we may withdraw a job offer and/or remove you from further consideration.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Before you begin the application process, please read the vacancy announcement carefully and have all required information available. Failure to submit a resume that contains all of the required information may result in loss of consideration. Your application must be received no later than midnight Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement.
You may begin the process of submitting your resume by clicking on the 'Apply Online' link. In order to be considered, you must submit a resume completed on the USAJOBS site. When completing your USAJOBS resume, please remember that NASA limits resumes to approximately 32,000 characters including spaces.
NASA does not accept uploaded resumes created outside of the USAJOBS resume builder process. Additionally, NASA does not accept documents attached through the USAJOBS' document attachment feature.
Once you submit your resume to NASA, you will be transferred to a NASA website and asked to complete a short series of NASA-specific questions. Your answers will not be saved unless you finish the entire application. You may edit a previously-submitted application, if the announcement is still open.
If you successfully apply, USAJOBS will show your application status as 'Received'. If your status is 'Unavailable', you have not successfully applied. Do not rely on a USAJOBS email to confirm successful application. Only an email from NASA confirms a successful application.
Due to COVID-19, we are unable to take hard copy applications at this time. If you are having issues applying, please reach out to msfc-staffing@mail.nasa.gov and let them know the announcement number and issue BEFORE the announcement closes. The NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) staffing unit will review the request and, if accepted, The NASA Resume Operations Center (ROC) will work with you to have your resume and supplemental information scanned into the system.
If you are a first time applicant, we recommend that you review NASA's Applicant Guide to ensure that you are providing a complete resume. Failure to submit the supplemental data and a resume that contains all of the required information may result in loss of consideration for positions. All applications must be received no later than midnight Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement.
NASA's Resume Operations Center
4200 Rideout Road, Mailstop HS50
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
US
Next steps
If you are found to meet the qualification and eligibility requirements, you will be referred to the selecting official for further consideration. (In some cases, individuals with priority for special consideration must be considered and selected before other candidates.) Whether or not you are contacted for an interview depends upon the location of the position and the judgment of the selecting official. At NASA, we pride ourselves on efficient and timely recruitment actions, and you can normally expect to learn the outcome of the selection process in a fairly short period of time. In addition, to ensure that you can measure progress for yourself, NASA provides you with regularly updated information on the status of the vacancy announcement.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
NASA's application process has been specifically developed to ensure that we only ask you for the information we absolutely need to evaluate your qualifications and eligibility. In order to apply for this position, you only need to submit your resume and answer the screening questions and supplemental information. No additional documentation is accepted at the time of application. (For example you need not submit narrative 'KSA' statements; they are not required and will not be evaluated.) In this way we allow you to focus on preparing a resume that best describes your background and abilities. For assistance in preparing your resume, consult the Applicant Guide. Nothing further is required until requested by the Human Resources Office. At that point, we may ask you to submit documentation to support statements made in your resume. For example, we may ask you to provide academic transcripts or proof of Federal employment status. If you fail to provide the required documents within the stated time period, we may withdraw a job offer and/or remove you from further consideration.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Before you begin the application process, please read the vacancy announcement carefully and have all required information available. Failure to submit a resume that contains all of the required information may result in loss of consideration. Your application must be received no later than midnight Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement.
You may begin the process of submitting your resume by clicking on the 'Apply Online' link. In order to be considered, you must submit a resume completed on the USAJOBS site. When completing your USAJOBS resume, please remember that NASA limits resumes to approximately 32,000 characters including spaces.
NASA does not accept uploaded resumes created outside of the USAJOBS resume builder process. Additionally, NASA does not accept documents attached through the USAJOBS' document attachment feature.
Once you submit your resume to NASA, you will be transferred to a NASA website and asked to complete a short series of NASA-specific questions. Your answers will not be saved unless you finish the entire application. You may edit a previously-submitted application, if the announcement is still open.
If you successfully apply, USAJOBS will show your application status as 'Received'. If your status is 'Unavailable', you have not successfully applied. Do not rely on a USAJOBS email to confirm successful application. Only an email from NASA confirms a successful application.
Due to COVID-19, we are unable to take hard copy applications at this time. If you are having issues applying, please reach out to msfc-staffing@mail.nasa.gov and let them know the announcement number and issue BEFORE the announcement closes. The NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) staffing unit will review the request and, if accepted, The NASA Resume Operations Center (ROC) will work with you to have your resume and supplemental information scanned into the system.
If you are a first time applicant, we recommend that you review NASA's Applicant Guide to ensure that you are providing a complete resume. Failure to submit the supplemental data and a resume that contains all of the required information may result in loss of consideration for positions. All applications must be received no later than midnight Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement.
NASA's Resume Operations Center
4200 Rideout Road, Mailstop HS50
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
US
Next steps
If you are found to meet the qualification and eligibility requirements, you will be referred to the selecting official for further consideration. (In some cases, individuals with priority for special consideration must be considered and selected before other candidates.) Whether or not you are contacted for an interview depends upon the location of the position and the judgment of the selecting official. At NASA, we pride ourselves on efficient and timely recruitment actions, and you can normally expect to learn the outcome of the selection process in a fairly short period of time. In addition, to ensure that you can measure progress for yourself, NASA provides you with regularly updated information on the status of the vacancy announcement.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
