OIG is organized into seven operational units: the Immediate Office of the Inspector General, Office of the Counselor, Office of Audits and Evaluations, Office of Healthcare Inspections, Office of Investigations, Office of Management and Administration, and Office of Special Reviews. In addition to the Washington, DC, headquarters, OIG has offices located in more than 60 locations throughout the country.
OIG is organized into seven operational units: the Immediate Office of the Inspector General, Office of the Counselor, Office of Audits and Evaluations, Office of Healthcare Inspections, Office of Investigations, Office of Management and Administration, and Office of Special Reviews. In addition to the Washington, DC, headquarters, OIG has offices located in more than 60 locations throughout the country.
All candidates who are: Current or former federal employees qualifying as Status Candidates, Federal employees currently serving on a VRA, VEOA eligibles, CTAP/ICTAP eligibles, eligible for special hiring authorities (e.g., the Schedule A appointment for persons with disabilities, or covered by an Interchange Agreement), or VRA eligibles or Land Management employees eligible under Public Law 114-47.
The VA Office of Inspector General's Office of Audits and Evaluations (OAE) performs audits and inspections to help ensure that veterans receive the medical care and benefits to which they are entitled. OAE staff perform audits, evaluations, and inspections of VA programs, functions, and facilities to ensure the integrity of its programs and operations. OAE comprises four cohorts performing these reviews in health care; benefits; financial management and information technology; and acquisitions, contracting and construction. The reviews encompass program results, economy and efficiency, finance, fraud detection, and compliance. We report on current performance and accountability to foster good program management ensuring effective government operations. In addition, staff perform Congressionally mandated annual reviews of areas such as purchase cards and improper payments, and may also examine issues or allegations referred by VA employees, members of Congress, or other stakeholders.
The OAE Benefits Cohort helps ensure our nation's veterans receive timely and accurate benefits and services by performing audits and evaluations focusing on the effectiveness of benefits delivery to veterans, dependents, and survivors. These audits and evaluations identify opportunities for enhancing the management of program operations and provide VA with constructive recommendations to improve its delivery of benefits and services.
The following are the duties of this position at the GS-13. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties, and will receive training to help you grow in this position.
- Prepare and conduct performance audit surveys and program evaluations, which focus on specific performance audit objectives
- Develop new lines of inquiry and potential audit areas, ensuring that work papers are prepared in accordance with OIG audit procedures and Government Accountability Office (GAO) Yellow Book Standards
- Draft surveys and audit debriefs describing results of work and prepare draft audit reports
- Provide on-the-job training while coaching and mentoring junior staff
- Research and prepare proposals for future department-wide performance audits
Duty Location: This is not a 100 percent telework position, nor is it a remote location position. While we are currently allowing maximum flexibilities for telework during the COVID Pandemic, under non-pandemic circumstances employees are required to report to their duty location, at a minimum, twice per biweekly pay period in accordance with the VA OIG's telework policy. Supervisors may require you to report to your duty station more than twice a pay period. These vacancies can be filled in ANY of the following VAOIG locations: Arlington, VA; Decatur, GA; Aurora, CO; Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Bay Pines, FL; Bedford, MA; Dallas, TX; Hines, IL; Kansas City, MO; Los Angeles, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; San Diego, CA; Seattle, WA; or Washington, DC. Location is negotiable once selected.
The experience may have been gained in either the public, private sector or volunteer service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week on your résumé.
Key Requirements:
You must meet the following requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
Specialized Experience: For the GS-13, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-12grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience or General experience for this position includes:
- Interviewing employees, managers, and other officials involved with a program, activity or function being reviewed; AND
- Reviewing work or reports of junior staff to ensure it includes evidence to support findings; AND
- Preparing and presenting reports, briefings, and testimony that cover management issues.
Specialized Experience: For the GS-12, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-11grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience or General experience for this position includes:
- Collecting, analyzing, and summarizing audit data to support conclusions; AND
- Researching laws, regulations, guidelines, and approved procedures to support or provide findings; AND
- Participating in pre-audit meetings and post-audit debriefs; AND
- Identifying controls over operations and writing segments of draft reports with summaries, conclusions, and recommendations.
Specialized Experience: For the GS-11, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience or General experience for this position includes:
- Collecting, analyzing, and summarizing audit data to support conclusions; AND
- Researching laws, regulations, guidelines, or approved procedures to support or provide findings; AND
- Assisting with writing audit reports or evaluations, recommending best practices, and preparing audit work papers.
OR You may substitute specialized experience for the GS-11 as follows:
In addition to the above requirements, you must meet the following time-in-grade requirement, if applicable:
Time After Competitive Appointment: Candidates who are current Federal employees serving on a non-temporary competitive appointment must have served at least three months in that appointment.
To be qualified for this position, you must meet the basic educational and/or work experience requirements for professional auditing positions in the federal government. For this position these minimum requirements include:
1. Degree: A degree in auditing or a related field such as business administration, finance, public administration, or accounting; OR
2. A combination of education and experience: At least four years of experience in performance auditing, or an equivalent combination of performance auditing experience, college-level education, and training that provided professional auditing knowledge. The applicant's background must also include one of the following:
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Your application includes your résumé, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your résumé includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a "not qualified" determination.
Rating: Your application will be evaluated on the following competencies: analytical, communication, leadership and technical.
Your application will be rated and ranked among others, based on your responses to the online questions, regarding your experience, education, training, performance appraisals and awards relevant to the duties of this position. Your rating may be lowered if your responses to the online questions are not supported by the education and/or experience described in your application.
Referral: If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview and/or a writing assessment. Applicants who are selected for an interview may ask questions about the evaluation process at the time they are contacted for an interview.
If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)) you must receive a score of 92 or better to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.
A complete application includes 1. A résumé, 2. Vacancy question responses, and 3. Submission of any required documents. Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible).
It is anticipated that there will be significant interest in the announcement. As a result, the announcement will close at 11:59 p.m. ET on the date of receipt of the 100th application or at 11:59 p.m. ET on 04/01/2022; whichever occurs first. Any required documents should be submitted at the time that you apply as documents will not be accepted after the vacancy closes.
All applicants are required to submit a résumé either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. (Cover letters are optional.) To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/date/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your résumé. We suggest that you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your résumé to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view résumé tips.
CURRENT AND FORMER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES -- Documentation Relating to Your Federal Employment:
- Submit a copy of your SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, which shows your current (or most recent) grade and competitive service status. (The "position occupied" block on the SF-50 should show a "1" and your "tenure" block should show a "1" or "2".)
- If you are currently on a Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA), submit a copy of an SF-50 showing that. Also, you must submit a copy of your DD214 or other documentation showing dates of service and type of discharge and any other applicable documents such as SF-15, VA letters, etc.- Indicate on your application the highest permanent grade you have held; if this grade is different from your current grade, submit a copy of an additional SF-50 showing this grade.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: Submit a copy of your most recent completed annual performance appraisal which includes the final rating. If you have not received a performance appraisal, please explain why in your application.
If you are applying under a special hiring authority (e.g. Military Spouses, Interchange Agreement, VEOA, VRA, Schedule A Disability, etc.), please see applicant guide for required documentation. In order to be eligible under one of these authorities, you must submit all required documentation as outlined in the applicant guide.
EDUCATION DOCUMENTATION: For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. An official transcript will be required if you are selected. A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to the OPM instructions.Recommended Documents: In addition, we recommend that you submit copies of the following:
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
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.
VAOIG has partnered with the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service to provide certain personnel services to its organization. Fiscal Service's responsibilities include advertising vacancies, accepting and handling applications, and extending job offers.
The following instructions outline our application process. You must complete this application process and submit any required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, please contact us by noon ET on the announcement's closing date.
The Bureau provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us if you require this for any part of the application and hiring process.
Once the online questionnaire is received, you will receive an acknowledgement email that your submission was successful. We will review your resume and transcript(s) (if appropriate) to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. We will evaluate each applicant who meets the basic qualifications on the information provided and may interview the best-qualified applicants. After making a tentative job offer, we will conduct any required suitability and/or security background investigation.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
