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Regulatory Economist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
National Forest System
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The Regulatory Economist for the US Forest Service's National Forest System Office of Policy, provides professional advice, technical leadership, and economic analyses to support regulatory and policy development in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies, including the APA, RFA, Executive Order 12866, NEPA, National Forest Management ActFMA, and OMB Circulars.


For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Kawa Ng at kawa.ng@usda.gov.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
03/07/2023 to 03/21/2023
Salary
$82,830 to - $128,043 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12 - 13
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Location Negotiable After Selection
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - For training, meetings and site visits.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
13
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
23-NFS-11841387-G-DRW
Control number
710209400

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Current permanent federal employees with competitive status, Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP and VEOA eligibles, Farm Service Agency permanent county employees, 30 percent or More Disabled Veterans, Certain Former Overseas and Foreign Service Employees, Military Spouses, Interchange Agreement and Other Miscellaneous Authorities, People with Disabilities, Peace Corps and VISTA, and Reinstatement.

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Duties

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  • Duties are at full performance level.
  • Completing economic and related analyses and documentations to support regulation and policy development in compliance with the APA, RFA, Executive Order 12866, NEPA, NFMA, OMB Circulars, and other applicable laws, regulations, and policies.
  • Providing advice and program development on benefits and costs to support regulations and other decisions affecting National Forest management.
  • Obtain, compile, organize, and analyze economic data.
  • Conceive, design, perform and document a broad range of economic analyses and research assignments involving conditions and problems pertaining to natural resource management and bring such studies to meaningful conclusions.
  • Providing economic, distributional, and financial advice, analyses, and reports that focus on the natural resource aspects of the economy.
  • Preparing reports, briefing materials, or similar presentation materials that include or require economic analysis for staff at various levels of the agency as well as external audiences.
  • Consulting with other economic experts at various levels of the agency to contribute to economic initiatives.
  • Collaborating in the development of products and tools to further the consideration and incorporation of economic issues and concerns in agency decision-making processes.
  • Procure and/or manage contracts for economic services to assist with duties above on a periodic basis.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • 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.
  • 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 e-verify.gov

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

Basic Requirement:

GS-0110

Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that included a major field of study in economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus.

Or

A combination of education and experience with courses equivalent to a major described above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. My resume reflects the experience used to meet this requirement.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

GS-12: At least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level that includes: providing expert advice on the application of natural resource economic theory and analysis to program US Forest Service staff or similar natural resource or environmental management situations. Additionally, the candidate should have experience completing economic analyses, such as benefit-cost analysis and, economic impact or distributional analyses, for projects in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents, regulatory impact analyseis, regulatory flexibility analyseis, or similar natural resource or environmental management legislation, regulation, and policy applications. Ability to identify and evaluate significant factors, solve complex problems, and draw rational inferences based on analytical findings. Plan or design methods and approaches to meet unanticipated or variable conditions and recommend further analysis based on findings and observations, when appropriate. Identifying, implementing, and monitoring funding and budgets, as well as contracts, agreements, or other external sources of economic analysis or consultation services to support natural resources or environmental management and decision-making.

GS-13: At least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level that includes: providing expert advice on the application of economic theory and conducting economic efficiency assessments such as cost-benefit analysis or distributional impact analysis to support rulemaking and regulatory development consistent within natural resources or environmental management legislation, regulation, and policy. The role includes reviewing and analyzing proposed regulations, specifically focusing on the potential economic impact on small businesses under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, as well as regulatory impact analyses as required by Executive Order 12866; responsibilities include responding to public comments on proposed regulations and regulatory analses, including regulatory impact analyses as required by Executive Order 12866. Communicating economic analyses of federal policies and regulations to leadership and staff. Analyzing economic data sets from government and non-government sources to provide insights into regulatory impacts on the public, including small business issues and trends. Identifying and evaluating significant factors to solve complex problems and draw rational inferences based on analytical findings. Ability to plan or design methods and approaches to meet unanticipated or variable conditions and to recommend further analysis based on findings and observations, when appropriate. Identifying, implementing, and monitoring funding and budgets, as well as contracts, agreements, or other external sources of economic analysis or consultation services to support natural resources or environmental management and decision-making.

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.

TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

Please see above.

Additional information

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP 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/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Veterans who are preference eligible or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after three years or more of continuous active service are eligible for consideration under the Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA).

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) provides current or former temporary or term employees of federal land management agencies opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Part-time and intermittent service will be credited only for time actually worked. Non-pay status such as leave without pay is credited for up to six months in a calendar year; anything beyond six months is not credited. Applicants are responsible for providing sufficient information/documentation to determine if the 24 month criteria is met.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Employees: Permanent County employees without prior Federal tenure who are selected for a Civil Service position under Public Law 105-277 will be given a career-conditional appointment and must serve a 1-year probationary period.

For more information on applying under special hiring authorities such as the Veteran's Recruitment Act (VRA), 30 percent disabled veterans, certain military spouses, Schedule A Disabled, etc., explore the different Hiring Paths on the USAJOBS website.

PROMOTION POTENTIAL: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied or guaranteed.


This position may be eligible to telework up to four days per week, based upon the duties of the position.

The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional information is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-and-leave-flexibilities-for-recruitment-and-retention/

This is a non-bargaining unit position.

Position(s) will be located at a Forest Service office. Final determination of the duty station will be made by the selecting official at the time of the job offer. To see where these Forest Service Offices are located click here. Click each region to see the different locations. Pay rates vary depending on location, the salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.

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 competencies listed below:

  • Economics and Accounting
  • Partnering
  • Planning and Evaluating
  • Technical Writing


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.

If you meet the qualification requirements and are determined to be among the best qualified, you will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Noncompetitive candidates and applicants under some special hiring authorities must meet minimum qualifications to be referred.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. 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.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11841387

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