Clarification from the agency

This position is being advertised through the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Delegated Direct-Hire Authority and is open to all U.S. citizens. Under this authority, competitive rating, ranking and veterans' preference procedures do not apply. All applicants who meet the basic qualification requirements will be forwarded to the Selecting Official for consideration.

As a Chemical Engineer (Direct Hire), you will perform the following duties:

• Perform Senior Licensing Officer functions such as adjudicating complex export license applications, from interagency referral, final review and sign off on each assigned case, and managing case workload.
• Recommend amendments to the Export Administration regulations, including recommendations to add or remove export license requirements to certain items and transactions. Determine applicability of novel and innovative processes, techniques, and equipment for the processing of chemical or biological weapons.
• Advise division and BIS management on U.S. and other country Australia Group proposals and decisions, particularly with respect to Australia Group technical definitions and the scope of licensing requirements.
• Draft responses to appeals of license denials, and technical and policy analyses of biological/chemical export controls.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation. This may include a credit check, a review of financial issues, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use of possession of drugs.
• A probationary period may be required.
• Selective Service: Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see https://www.sss.gov/).
• If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application.
• All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
• Security Clearance: You will be required to obtain and maintain a Top-Secret security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) eligibility. Failure to obtain and maintain the required level of clearance may result in the withdrawal of a job offer or removal.
• Drug Test: Yes. Except as prohibited by law, all applicants tentatively selected for this position ·will be required to submit to a urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment, and if appointed the incumbent will be subjected to random drug testing procedures. In addition, the applicant will be notified that appointments to the positions will be contingent upon a negative drug test result. Failure of the vacancy announcement to contain this statement notice will not preclude applicant testing if advance written notice is provided to applicants in some other manner.
• License required: No
• Pre-employment physical required: No
• Bargaining Unit Position: No
• Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE form 450): Yes
• Permanent Change of Duty Station (PCS) Expense: will not be paid

Qualifications

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/

Basic Requirements:

A. Degree in 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)1 , 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.

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.

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.

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

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. To qualify at the GS-13 level, you must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as:

• Providing technical and policy support by preparing briefing materials, policy position papers, testimonies, fact sheets, decision memoranda and other analytical materials on chemical and biological export control issues; AND
• Processing export license applications relevant to biological/chemical commodities and providing technical expertise to the export control policy process.

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.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation will be reviewed to determine if you meet the minimum qualification requirements for the position. Under the provisions of the Direct-Hire Authority (DHA), rating, ranking and veterans' preference does not apply; therefore, your responses to the questionnaire will not be used to determine a scored rating. All applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements, as defined in the job opportunity announcement, will be referred for selection consideration. While veterans' preference does not apply in DHA, preference eligibles are encouraged to submit their supporting documentation (DD-214 stating disposition of discharge or character of service, VA letter, SF-15, etc.).

Applicants applying as CTAP or ICTAP candidates, and are determined CTAP or ICTAP eligible, must exceed the minimum qualification requirements to be referred under this selection priority placement program by attaining at least a rating of 85 out of 100. For those deemed eligible and who meet the minimum qualifications, we will compare your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation to your responses on the scored occupational questionnaire (True/False, Yes/No, Multiple Choice questions). Your resume and/or optional cover letter must support your responses to the scored occupational questionnaire, or your score may be lowered. CTAP/ICTAP eligibles who are not determined well-qualified by scoring at least 85 will not be referred under the CTAP/ICTAP selection priority placement program; however, will be referred for selection consideration with other minimally qualified applicants.

• Technical Competence
• Problem Solving
• Decision Support
• Written Communication

• Classified or government sensitive information
• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Photos of yourself
• Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.