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Forest Products Resource Specialist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located in the Northern Region, Region 1 on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest with duty locations of Butte, Dillon or Helena, MT.

The incumbent provides subject matter expertise in the business administration and financial management functions required to support forest management's forest product sales program.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Russell Walker at russell.walker@usda.gov

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
01/30/2024 to 02/12/2024
This job will close when we have received 50 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$72,553 to - $94,317 per year

Salary wage as shown is for Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.

Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Locations
1 vacancy in the following locations:
Butte, MT
Dillon, MT
Helena, MT
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Travel may be required for training, meetings, field work, and/or site visits.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Supervisory status
Yes
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
24-R1SV-12293049-G-PCW
Control number
773414500

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Duties

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  • Duties listed are at the full performance GS-11 level.
  • Lead the business review of planned timber sale stewardship contract or agreement pre-sale packages after line officer approval and prior to advertisement for bid.
  • Conduct bid openings and auctions for both oral and sealed bid offerings.
  • Conduct audits of a wide variety of business and financial functions related to timber sale contract administration, permanent and trust funds, and cash management.
  • Responsible for accuracy and proper execution of a wide variety of tasks related to the financial administrative aspects of preparation, solicitation, administration, modification and closure of the full range of forest products.
  • Interpret and provide advice on laws and regulations concerning revenue accounting and use of federal funds.
  • Provide expertise and advice on the proper application of financial transactions on the forest product and core financial systems.
  • Routinely interact with timber sale purchasers, contractors, partners, and permittees to interpret and explain all financial aspects of contract and permit administration.
  • Maintain and operate one or more existing forest product or financial management databases.
  • Discuss audit findings and recommends corrective actions in order to formulate conclusions and prepare responses accepting or rebutting agency management decisions.
  • Performs supervisory duties 20% or less of the time.

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
  • Level I Forest Products Resource Specialist certification is required. You must submit documentation prior to the announcement close.
  • A Level II Forest Products Resource Specialist certification is required. Incumbents must complete the requirements for this certification within 1 year of appointment to the full performance level of this position.
  • New supervisor training must be completed within first year.

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.

Incumbent must be a certified Level I Forest Products Resource Specialist in order to qualify for this position. The following is required for Level I certification:

  1. Thirty-two hours of Forest or Region level Timber Information Manager training.
  2. Twenty-four hours of formal Timber Sale Financial Management training.
  3. Twenty-four hours of formal Basic Sale Administration training.
The duties and experience acquired in this position will be applied to the requirements for certification as a Level II Forest Products Resource Specialist.

To obtain Level II certification, the incumbent must have met all of the requirements for Level I certification (Thirty-two hours of Forest or Region level Timber Information Manager training; Twenty-four hours of formal Timber Sale Financial Management training; Twenty-four hours of formal Basic Sale Administration training) plus obtain a minimum of an additional two years of experience.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

For the GS-09 level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience are two or more of the following:
  • Provided and maintained timber sale accounts and timber sale contracts;
  • Maintained financial management of timber sales;
  • Interacted with timber sale purchasers, contractors, and permittees to interpret and explain all financial aspects of contract and permit administration; and/or
  • Ensured the financial system is applied in a manner to ensure accuracy and proper procedures.

-OR-

Two full years (36 semester/54 quarter hours) of successfully completed graduate level education or Master's degree if the coursework is directly related to the work of the position;

-OR-

A combination of graduate level education that is directly related to the position (in excess of 18 semester/27 quarter hours) and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

For the GS-11 level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience are two or more of the following:
  • Ensured the correction of scale tickets and final corrections to the edit files until all entries are valid;
  • Ensured all timber sale financial collections were processed in databases;
  • Performed work related to the input, output, review, and analysis, posting, and adjustments to accounts;
  • Analyzed timber sale contracts and audited timber sale statements of account to assure documents comply with appraisal, current direction, procedures, laws, and regulations; and/or
  • Conducted bid solicitations and openings.

-OR-

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-

An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a Master's degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.).


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.

Work Experience: Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience; the beginning day, month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary, or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time. Incomplete, inaccurate, or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.

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

See above for education that may be qualifying.

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.

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. This position may also be eligible for flexible work arrangements as determined by agency policy and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.

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.

Forest Service daycare facilities are not available.

Government Housing may be available.

We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy is limited to the first 50 applications received and will close at 11:59 pm ET on the closing date identified above or the day we receive the 50th application, whichever occurs first. We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

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:

  • Financial Management
  • Forest Management
  • Oral Communication
  • Supervision
  • Technical Competence
  • Workforce Environment


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/12293049

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