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Quality Assurance Specialist (Project Quality Assurance)

Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is with the Quality Assurance Team in the Office of Engineering of Western Federal Lands Highway Division. The position will be responsible for development, implementation, and monitoring of the Project Delivery Quality Assurance (PDQA) Plan for the delivery of roadway construction projects and engineering services under the direction of the Supervisory Quality Assurance Specialist.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
09/03/2024 to 10/03/2024
Salary
$93,543 to - $121,601 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
2 vacancies in the following location:
Vancouver, WA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—The position may be eligible for telework. This is not a full-time telework position and is not approved as a remote work position.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional travel will be necessary for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes— Relocation expenses may be authorized for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Full Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
12
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
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
FHWA.WFL-2024-0044
Control number
807533100

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Duties

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As a Quality Assurance Specialist (Project Quality Assurance), you will:

  • Be responsible for developing, monitoring and maintenance of the WFLHD Project Delivery Quality Assurance (PDQA) Plan for the delivery of roadway construction projects and engineering services. The candidate establishes administrative methods to carry out the PDQA Plan to provide confidence that the projects designed and built and/or the engineering services rendered conform to sound engineering principles and meet the needs of our partners and the public.
  • Work closely with the Supervisory Quality Assurance Specialist and staff to recommend continuous improvements to the quality control, quality assurance processes and procedures.
  • Work with project managers, technical specialists, project engineers, partner agencies, engineering consultants, construction contractors, materials suppliers, and others to determine the compliance of the actual project delivery process.
  • Provide leadership and guidance to staff to ensure the final products meet quality assurance standards and the needs of our partners and the public.

The ideal candidate for this position is a mid-career professional with excellent communication skills and the ability to work well in a team environment. They will have practical experience in performing quality control activities on roadway projects. Experience in highway design projects from preliminary design stages through construction of the project is desired.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen and eligible for consideration.
  • You must meet specialized experience to qualify.
  • Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
  • Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

  • SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
  • BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: You will be required to complete a background/security investigation and meet preliminary requirements prior to onboarding.
  • PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
  • GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel.  A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
  • PCS/RELOCATION/RECRUITMENT:  Permanent Change of Station (PCS), Relocation, and Recruitment Incentive authorization varies by position/selection and a service agreement may be required.
  • TIME-IN-GRADE: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade in the competitive or excepted service in the executive branch to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.
  • DEU REQUIREMENTS: Applicants selected under delegated examining procedures may be required to successfully complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
  • TELEWORK ELIGIBILITY: This position may be eligible for occasional and/or regularly scheduled telework.  The number of telework days approved will be determined by your immediate supervisor or manager following the agency’s telework policy and guidance. If participating in the telework program, you will be required to sign a telework agreement detailing agency telework policy requirements, working conditions, and expectations for the position.

Qualifications

To determine grade eligibility, review the following grade specific details.  You will be asked a few questions as part of your application but make sure to verify how you meet this experience in your resume, or you may be deemed ineligible.

For the GS-12: 

You qualify for this grade level if you have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-11 grade level, which included:

  • Experience participating in or familiarity with quality assurance/control processes and activities aimed at enhancing process improvements to support project objectives, program effectiveness and operational goals, OR
  • Experience with developing, creating, or reviewing transportation construction-related documents, such as, plans, specifications, and engineer’s estimates to ensure they meet relevant standards.

You cannot qualify on education at the GS-12 level, you must meet the specialized experience for each grade, which is cited above.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will also be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

  1. Quality Assurance - Knowledge of the principles, methods, and tools of quality assurance and quality control used to ensure a product fulfills functional requirements and standards.
  2. Oral Communication- Express information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); make clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
  3. Written Communication - Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.
  4. Teamwork - Encourage and facilitate cooperation, pride, trust, and group identity; foster commitment and team spirit; work with others to achieve goals.
  5. Project Management - Knowledge of the principles, methods, or tools for developing, scheduling, coordinating, and managing projects and resources, including monitoring and inspecting costs, work, and contractor performance.

For all types of consideration, 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.

Additional information

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Transportation and its Operating Administrations from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance to Compete Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint to the Department of Transportation by email at, FairChanceAct@dot.gov. To learn more, please visit our page at: The Fair Chance to Compete Act | US Department of Transportation

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

How you will be evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level. 

To compete with U.S. Citizens:  If you meet the qualification requirements, your application will be placed in one of two categories: Qualified and Well Qualified which is based upon your responses to the vacancy questions. Within these categories, applicants eligible for veteran's preference that have provided supporting documents will receive selection priority over non-veterans. The top rated applications will be reviewed for the quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position.

To compete with other competitive status government employees: If you meet the qualification requirements, your application will be scored based upon your responses to the vacancy questions. The top rated applications will be reviewed for the quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position. If referred, all relevant documents including performance appraisals and awards submitted with your application package will be forwarded to the hiring official for review.

Eligible Federal employees also seeking consideration for noncompetitive reassignment for this position must indicate interest in the assessment. Noncompetitive federal candidates must have competitive status on a SF-50, meet minimum qualifications, have served at the same grade or higher, and held or exceeded the promotion potential of this position.

All applicants:  Your application will be rated on the extent and quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position. The answers you select in the on-line process must be substantiated in your application package.  If upon review, it is determined that your described work history, competencies, and/or supporting documents do not support your answer choices, your application may be updated on your behalf or you may not be referred to the selecting official. Please ensure that your work history provides enough details to support your answers. The Automated Staffing Office is ultimately responsible for determining your final rating.


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