The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducts audits, investigations, and other reviews of NASA programs and activities to prevent and detect crime, fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The Counsel to the Inspector General acts as the primary official responsible for providing legal services and policy advice to the Inspector General (IG) and staff in connection with audits, investigations, projects, legislation and regulations, ethics, and internal OIG operations and litigation.
Summary
The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducts audits, investigations, and other reviews of NASA programs and activities to prevent and detect crime, fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The Counsel to the Inspector General acts as the primary official responsible for providing legal services and policy advice to the Inspector General (IG) and staff in connection with audits, investigations, projects, legislation and regulations, ethics, and internal OIG operations and litigation.
Utilizes a wide range of legal subject matter practices, laws, regulations, policies, and precedents and uses a range of analytical methods to identify, evaluate, and recommend appropriate solutions.
Provides written and oral communication techniques to develop and deliver status reports, presentations, and correspondence to attorney staff to foster understanding and acceptance of findings and recommendations.
Conducts studies and develops recommendations using the application of appropriate methodologies within the legal specialty fields.
Researches learns and applies a wide range of qualitative and/or quantitative methods to identify, assess, analyze and improve legal work products and services.
Resolves a range of legal administrative subject matter problems that require the application of logical thinking in order to break down the problem into its component parts.
Maintains legal records and database systems for accuracy and tracks dockets and logs for timely filings and actions.
This announcement is open to individuals who live within the local commuting area of Washington D.C.
A one-year probationary period may be required.
Qualifications
GS-9
A. Education: Possession of a 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.
OR
B. Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-9 level, your resume must reflect one year specialized experience demonstrating (1) administrative office support to attorneys, such as arranging for travel and court reporters, providing customer service to clients, etc. (2) preparing and maintaining internal business and litigation case files (3) conducting research using Lexis and/or Westlaw; (4) proficiency using Microsoft Office suite and other software programs to support and manage administrative activities, including developing website content, preparing reports and briefs, and developing professional PowerPoint presentations; and (5) updating and maintaining logs, spreadsheets, and automated records management systems, such as FOIA Express.
OR
C. A combination of education and experience.
GS-11
A. Education: Possession of a 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
B. Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-11 level, your resume must reflect one year specialized experience demonstrating (1) substantive experience supporting attorneys in Federal criminal, civil or administrative law (to include, but not limited to, -- ethics, personnel law, regulatory reviews, Whistleblower matters, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Equal Employment Opportunity, Merit Systems Protection Board cases) (2) experience analyzing evidence and data and applying the relevant regulations and statutes to summarize the information and make recommendations to attorneys; (3) drafting routine legal documents and correspondence for review by attorneys; (4) providing assistance at depositions, hearings and other proceedings (5) conducting research using Lexis and/or Westlaw research systems; (6) proficiency using Microsoft Office suite and other software programs to support and manage administrative activities, including developing website content and preparing reports and briefs, and developing professional PowerPoint presentations; (7) updating and maintaining an automated records management system, such as FOIA Express.
OR
C. A combination of education and experience.
NASA OIG prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion in the recruiting, hiring, developing, and management of the workforce to foster an inclusive workplace where NASA OIG employees are valued and respected.
Education
There are no education requirements for this position.
Additional information
A NASA term employee who meets the basic eligibility requirements may be non-competitively converted to a permanent position within NASA if that position is in the same geographic location, the same occupational series, and has no greater promotion potential than the employee's term position.
A NASA term employee may be competitively converted to any permanent position for which qualified at any Center within NASA provided he or she meets the basic requirements and competes successfully for the permanent position under internal competitive procedures.
Individuals who have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) must be well qualified for the position to receive consideration for special priority selection. See 'How You Will Be Evaluated' for definition of well qualified. Federal employees seeking CTAP/ICTAP consideration must indicate their 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. If you are selected for the position, you must be prepared to submit proof that you meet the requirements for CTAP/ICTAP. This includes a copy of the agency notice, a copy of their most recent Performance Rating and a copy of their most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location.
Qualified NASA term employees who have term conversion eligibility under the NASA Flexibility Act of 2004 will be referred and considered equally with other NASA permanent employees under internal competitive placement procedures.
Your USAJOBS account asks you to assign a name to each of your resumes. When you apply to a NASA position, we will show you the text of the resume you have submitted, but we do not maintain the name you have assigned to that resume. If you wish to keep track of that information, we recommend you make note of it at the time you apply.
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.
Resumes will be rated by an automated system (Resumix) that matches the competencies extracted from the candidate's resume to the competencies identified by the selecting official for the position. Candidates will be evaluated on the competencies they possess that are directly related to the duties of the job, as described in this announcement. Candidates should refer to NASA's Applicant Guide for assistance in developing a complete resume. NASA will not accept separate KSA statement.
A category rating method will be used to evaluate candidates. All candidates will be assigned to either a 70, 80, or 90 pt. quality category based on the degree to which their competencies meet the position requirements. All candidates in the 90 pt group, which is the highest quality category, may be referred for consideration. A human resources specialist will validate the qualifications of those candidates eligible to be referred to the selecting official. In certain instances when a large candidate pool exists within the highest quality category, additional weighting of scores may occur to further distinguish best qualified candidates. For the purpose of the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) and the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP), candidates rated in the top quality 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.
We may ask you to provide academic transcripts, proof of Federal employment status, and prior employment appraisals.
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 are claiming veterans' preference, we may ask you to submit proof of veterans preference (DD-214, and, if claiming 10-point preference, SF-15 plus proof required by that form). 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
Candidates for NASA positions are evaluated using our automated staffing and recruitment system, NASA STARS, which compares your skills and experience as described in your resume with the requirements of the position. If you are found to be a highly qualified candidate, 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. If you are a current federal employee and are contacted for an interview, you may be asked to provide a copy of your most recent performance appraisal narrative summary. 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.
We may ask you to provide academic transcripts, proof of Federal employment status, and prior employment appraisals.
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 are claiming veterans' preference, we may ask you to submit proof of veterans preference (DD-214, and, if claiming 10-point preference, SF-15 plus proof required by that form). 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
Candidates for NASA positions are evaluated using our automated staffing and recruitment system, NASA STARS, which compares your skills and experience as described in your resume with the requirements of the position. If you are found to be a highly qualified candidate, 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. If you are a current federal employee and are contacted for an interview, you may be asked to provide a copy of your most recent performance appraisal narrative summary. 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.
