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Civil Engineer

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Reclamation
Technical Service Center, Civil Engineering Divisions #1 and #2
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Reclamation is seeking a career professional looking for an opportunity to capitalize on their expertise as a Civil Engineer. Make a difference in the West by assisting in meeting increasing water demands while protecting the environment.
Duty Location: Lakewood, CO

A detailed description of each group can be found here: Civil Engineering Division #1 and Civil Engineering Division #2.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Posted 08/03/22
Location
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$94,963 - $112,054 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 11
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Announcement number
BOR-DO-OCA-11594029-JS
Control number
669487200

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This position will be filled under the Office of Personnel Management's Direct-Hire Authority and is open to All United States Citizens and U.S. Nationals. Veterans' Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applications do not apply. Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

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Duties

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Plant Structures Group:
Specialized Experience Required: Prepares structural and functional designs for industrial and commercial building features such as hydroelectric powerplants, pumping plants, water treatment plants, switchyards, office and O&M buildings, visitor centers, structural components of various types of industrial systems and other similar structures.
Duties: Preparation and review of structural analysis and designs performed in accordance with a national model building code, material codes, and internal policy documents. Analysis and design to be completed using Finite Element Modeling (FEM) and other structural analysis tools. Develop structural models using Building Information Modeling (BIM) software, such as Revit, to create construction drawings, organize building information into schedules for quantity estimates, and create 3D models and walkthroughs of finished designs.

Water Conveyance Group:
Specialized Experience Required: Prepares hydraulic design and technical analysis of closed conduit and open channel water transmission and distribution systems. This would include design of large and small diameter pipelines, canals, transient analysis, tunnels, facility and site grading and layout. Project management of multi-discipline teams for large water distribution systems.
Duties: Design/analysis of pipe transmission and distribution networks in accordance with national standards such as AWWA and ASTM; operation controls for canals and open channel flow; design of surface water and storm water discharge. Utilizes AutoCAD Civil3D, Bentley WaterGEMS, HEC-RAS.

Civil Structures Group:
Specialized Experience Required: Prepares structural and functional designs for fish facilities, canal structures, pipeline structures, bridges, and roads.
Duties: Use Autodesk Civil 3D and Revit to generate site layout, general arrangement, and structure detail drawings for planning and final design purposes. Conduct structural analysis using Finite Element Modeling software and check design against all appropriate codes; as well as perform open channel and closed conduit hydraulic analysis.

Water Treatment Group:
Specialized Experience Required: Provides civil engineering services associated with water and wastewater treatment in support of Reclamation project and research programs. Prepares civil engineering designs and develops research plans for complex water and wastewater treatment projects. Performs special studies to provide guidance, recommendations, and strategies for addressing water treatment issues for Reclamation client offices. Prepares civil engineering designs and develops research plans for complex water and wastewater treatment projects.

Waterways & Concrete Dams Group #1, #2 and #3:
Specialized Experience Required: Provides detailed analyses and preparing designs of dams and/or their appurtenant structural features or other heavy civil works involving complex reinforced concrete structures.
Duties: Prepare, check and review structural and hydraulic design calculations, drawings and documentation for concrete dams and appurtenant features. Participate in technical meetings, prepare technical documentation and perform technical reviews associated with the design and risk-related tasks. Prepare, check and review linear and nonlinear, simple and complex structural finite element modeling and analysis, and technical documentation

Construction Management & Specifications Group:
Specialized Experience Required: Provides engineering and contract engineering service to include construction scheduling, construction management, and construction contract administration.
Duties: Review design team submittal and RFI responses for conformance to the contract, specification references, and completeness and distribute recommended responses to the design and construction team. Develop and create theoretical construction schedules based on design documentation in Primavera P6 and MS Project scheduling software. Analyze, review, and approve contractor baseline and monthly updated construction schedules.

Estimating Services Group:

Specialized Experience Required: Prepares all levels of cost estimates (planning through completion) for the construction of large heavy/civil and power generation projects for one or more of the following features: pumping plants, power plants, earthen dams, concrete or dams, pipelines, canals, water treatment plants, buildings, roads, or hazardous waste remediation projects.
Duties: Prepares/reviews construction cost estimates at various levels such as appraisal, feasibility, percent final design, Preval, and IGCE for heavy civil water resource and power projects. Prepares operations, maintenance, and replacement cost estimates for special studies and life cycle cost estimate analyses. Analyzes bids received from contractors for construction projects to evaluate reasonableness of bids and to compare against the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

You must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National.
You must be suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation.
You must submit a resume and supporting documentation (see Required Documents).
You must meet any minimum education and/or experience requirements (see Qualifications).
You must submit transcript(s) to verify education requirements (see Qualifications/Education).

***A referral bonus may be granted to a current Department of the Interior employee for recommending applicants that will be new to the Department of the Interior and subsequently selected for a hard-to-fill position. If you were referred by a current employee, please ensure you inform the employee when your application was successfully submitted as they must notify the servicing Human Resources Office of the referral to be considered for the referral bonus.

***This is an open continuous vacancy announcement opening. Applicants will be referred periodically throughout the announcement period until the positions are filled. The initial cut-off date for referral consideration is August 17, 2022 and as needed thereafter.

***Update: The next cut-off date for referral consideration will be October 24, 2022.


Applicants will receive updates on eligibility and referral status as applications are reviewed; however, final determinations will not be sent out until the announcement closes.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for the Civil Engineer GS-0810-11, you must meet BOTH the Basic Qualification Requirement and the Additional Requirements. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience. A copy of your unofficial transcripts must be provided with your application.

BASIC QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT

A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.
-or-
B. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:
1. Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
-or-
2. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
-or-
3. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
-or-
4. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all inclusive.)

-AND-

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT. In addition to meeting the basic education requirement, you must also meet one of the following for the GS-11 grade level.

A. Specialized Experience: One full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Examples of specialized experience for each group is noted under 'Duties' listed above. You will have the option to select which group(s) you are interested in; however, you must meet the specialized experience requirement noted for each group you have selected. This information can be found under the 'Duties' listed above.
-or-
B. Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: engineering, engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, geology or other related field of study.
-or-
C. Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience (see A above for more information) may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience. One year of specialized experience is equivalent to 12 months at 40 hours per week. Part-time hours are prorated. You will not receive any credit for experience that does not indicate exact hours per week or is listed as "varies".

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, 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.


You must meet all Eligibility and Qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors if applicable, by 11/03/2022.

Education


This vacancy announcement allows substituting higher education (education above the minimum requirement) for experience at the GS-11 grade level. You must submit a copy of college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not-qualified for the position.

This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. Non-submission will result in being rated not-qualified for the position.

You will be required to provide official college transcripts to verify educational qualifications, if selected. An official transcript must be sent directly from the University's Registrar's office and must be provided from the institution awarding the degree. Academic transcripts certified by notary publics are NOT official. Official transcripts must be submitted prior to reporting to work as a condition of employment. Failure to submit official transcripts may be grounds for dismissal or rescission of the job offer.

Accreditation: Only education from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education is acceptable to meet education requirements or to substitute for experience, if applicable. For additional info, refer to the Office of Personnel Management and U.S. Department of Education.

Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For additional info, refer to the U.S. Network for Education Information.

Additional information

Initial consideration will be given to candidates whose applications have been received before the first cut-off date. Qualification requirements must be met for those applications submitted by the first cut-off date.

You may be required to serve an initial probationary period. Current, permanent Federal employees who are selected from this announcement may be required to serve a probationary period.

Reclamation has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and you may be allowed to telework with supervisory approval.

If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information, visit: Recruitment Incentive or Relocation Incentive.

If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may request consideration for a Superior Qualifications Appointment. For information, visit: OPM Fact Sheet.

Related non-Federal experience or related experience as retired members of the uniformed services may be credited towards computing entitlement to leave accrual, at managerial discretion, providing that experience meets certain criteria. This provision allows new employees to earn annual leave at a higher rate than would otherwise be allowed. (5 Code of Federal Regulations, 630). For information, visit: Creditable Service for Annual Leave

DOI uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including applicant rights and responsibilities, please visit https://www.e-verify.gov/

This position is designated as a LOW RISK position. It requires a fully completed and favorably adjudicated SF85 Background Investigation (T1 or equivalent) that is current (within the last 5 years). This is a condition of employment.

You will be scored and placed onto a register, from which selections will be made as the workforce demands. Both permanent and temporary positions are filled from this register as well as full-time, part-time and intermittent work schedules.

Male applicants born after December 31, 1959 must certify registration with the Selective Service System or that the applicant is exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Go to: https://www.sss.gov

Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement.

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 application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents) and the responses you provide to the application questionnaire. The application questionnaire can be previewed here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11594029

Your answers will be verified against information provided in your resume. Your resume must clearly support the responses to all the questions by addressing experience, education, and/or training relevant to this position. You must make a fair and accurate assessment of your qualifications. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than what is apparent in the description of your experience, competencies, skills, and/or education/training (or that your resume/application is incomplete), you could be rated ineligible or your score could be lowered.

Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other Bureaus/Offices within the Department of the Interior (DOI) who have vacancies with the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s). Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration. You may choose to opt in of having your information shared with other agencies when applying for this position. If an agency requests a copy of a certificate you are on, you will be notified.

Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation is a contemporary water management agency best known for constructing dams, powerplants, and canals in the 17 western United States, having constructed more than 600 dams and reservoirs. We are the largest wholesaler of water and the second-largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States.

Our mission is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. We place great emphasis on fulfilling our water delivery obligations, water conservation, water recycling and reuse, and developing partnerships with our customers, states, and Native American Tribes. We also find ways to bring together various interests to address the competing needs for limited water resources.

Our core values are professional excellence, safety, and respect. We are results-oriented. We share a personal commitment to protecting the safety of each other, contractors, customers, as well as the people and communities served by our projects. We embrace a culture of respectfor people through our ethical behavior and with clear, effective communication.

The Department of the Interior places a high value on diversity of experience and cultural perspectives and encourages applications from all interested eligible candidates. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility are fundamental principles that guide the Department and allow us to successfully achieve our mission.

Agency contact information

Jennifer Smith
Email
jjsmith@usbr.gov
Address
Technical Service Center
Bureau of Reclamation
Denver Federal Center
P.O. BOX 25007
Denver, CO 80225-0007
US

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https://www.usbr.gov

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