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General Engineer (Medical AutomatedTransport Engineer)

Department of Veterans Affairs
Office of the Secretary
Office of Construction & Facilities Management, Consulting Support Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The incumbent serves as a General Engineer (Medical Automated Transport Engineer), within the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Office of Construction & Facilities Management (CFM), Consulting Support Service (CSS), which has primary responsibility for architectural, engineering, and risk management services to all VA facilities. CSS maintains experts in engineering, architectural and provides consulting services to resolve the technical facility problems and offers options to facilities.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
10/31/2024 to 11/18/2024
Salary
$139,395 to - $181,216 per year

Salary is based on Washington DC Metro area. The actual salary will be based on the geographic location of the individual selected for the position.

Pay scale & grade
GS 14
Locations
1 vacancy in the following locations:
District of Columbia, DC
Location Negotiable After Selection
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
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
CCLQ-12594902-25-SMF-DHA
Control number
816869800

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.201) for this occupation.

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Duties

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CSS supports all components of VA nationwide including professionals within CFM, including but not limited to, providing support on building project design issues, subject matter expertise in all matters pertaining to VA's major design and construction programs, and serving as VA's authoritative source for advice on issues at existing VA Medical Centers. The incumbent also serves as the Departmental expert in all areas related to code compliance, construction issues, and building commissioning requirements.

Engineering and Architectural expertise covers architectural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, fire & safety, automated transport, structural/seismic systems, and other specialty expertise.

Medical Automated transport systems include various conveyances systems such as material delivery systems within medical facilities, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), pneumatic tube systems (PTS), pneumatic chute systems (PCS), as well as elevators/vertical lifts, escalators, and moving walkways.

The major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Contacts Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN)/Medical Center personnel to discuss problems and situation with various medical automated transport systems.
  • Conducts field visits and meets with the medical center executives and engineering personnel to determine the expectations of the client.
  • Reviews documented performance problems and provides on-site testing and evaluation of existing systems.
  • Develops overview of findings with recommendations on maintenance, replacement, modernization, or other alternatives.
  • Assists with the evaluation of A/E consultant qualifications to perform the work.
  • Evaluates automated transport consultant's fee proposals based on seasoned expertise in the industry and submits recommendations for approval or disapproval.
  • Meets with private sector contractors, architectural and engineering consultants to explain technical findings and items that pertain to elevator and other automated systems certification and safety requirements.
  • Reviews submittals and provides authoritative interpretation on governing codes and safety issues to meet certification standards.
  • Reviews the technical aspects of VA design manuals, standards, and specifications to ensure that all guides reflect the current VA standards for Medical Automated Transport Systems.
  • Keeps up to date on state-of-the art equipment, changes in standards, codes, and requirements.
  • Participates in post occupancy evaluation of the facility to determine the validity and efficiency of present and applications and investigates means of improving future designs.
  • Provides guidance and implements policy directives on medical automated transport systems issues in support of VA's Construction Program.
  • Develops and presents written and oral reports and briefings on a variety of complex automated transport systems issues and problems.
  • Provides professional expertise to professional engineers, architects, and field operations personnel on difficult problems as they occur
    during and after design or construction.
  • Develops and conducts training sessions to various project stakeholder groups to communicate developments in automated transport systems and evolving requirements.
Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible: May be Available
Telework: Available
Remote/Virtual: This position may be filled at the facility where the position is located (VA Central Office, Washington, DC) or in person - telework authorized (e.g., the employee may work at a VA facility or other VA-leased space other than the facility that is hiring the employee)
Recruitment/Relocation Incentives: Not Available
Position Description Title/PD#: General Engineer (Medical AutomatedTransport Engineer)/PD100080
Financial Disclosure: Not Required

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary with travel required to conduct training and field investigations, as well as attending meetings.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
  • Subject to a background/suitability investigation
  • May serve a probationary period
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
  • A complete application package; Resume, Transcripts, etc.
  • Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
  • Obtain and maintain related nationally recognized elevator inspection certifications [e.g., ASME Qualified Elevator Inspector (QEI-1)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date 11/18/2024 of this announcement.

You must possess at least one (1) year of specialized experience as described below:

***NOTE: Applicant must have demonstrated knowledge and working experience in the medical automated transport systems.***


GS-14 grade level: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. To qualify at the GS-14 level, applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in Federal Service. The specialized experience must demonstrate one year of full-time work experience, or the equivalent if part-time (for example, an employee working 20 hours per week for a 12-month period should be credited with 6 months of experience.) Experience may have been obtained in either the federal service or its equivalent with state or local government, the private sector, or nongovernmental organizations. Examples of specialized experience include: [NOTE: Evidence of this specialized experience must be supported by detailed documentation of like duties performed in positions held on your resume. You will also need to provide work experience information such as hours per week, salary, and starting/ending dates of employment (month and year format) to establish you have one (1) full year of specialized experience at the required grade level].

  • Providing consultation and expert advice on a variety of material delivery systems within medical facilities including but not limited to: automated guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), pneumatic tube systems (PTS), pneumatic chute systems (PCS), as well as elevators/vertical lifts, escalators, and moving walkways;
  • Conducting field visits to determine expectations from client about future and current projects;
  • Providing on-site testing of material delivery systems within medical facilities.
This position includes a Quality Ranking Factor (QFR) - are knowledge, skills, and abilities/competencies that could be expected to significantly enhance performance in a position but are not essential for satisfactory performance. Applicants who possess such KSAs/competencies may be ranked above those who do not, but no one may be rated ineligible solely for failure to possess such KSAs/competencies.

The Quality Ranking Factor (QFR) is current professional certification/registration relevant to medical transport systems/elevators.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
  • Analysis and Problem Solving
  • Communications
  • General Engineering
  • Technical Competencies
To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-14. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

There is no educational substitution for the GS-14 level.

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; religions; 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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Education

There is no educational substitution for this position; however, you must meet Basic Occupational Requirement for the General Engineering series 0801

A. Degree:
Professional Engineering. To be acceptable, the curriculum must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; 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) statistics, 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. [COPY OF BACHELOR'S DEGREE TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED WITH APPLICATION] 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. [COPY OF REGISTRATION/LICENSE REQUIRED]

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. [COPY OF TEST REQUIRED]

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. [COPY OF TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED]

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]. [COPY OF TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED]

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

If you are unable to apply online and request information about the Alternate Application process, please contact the Agency Contact listed for this Job Opportunity Announcement (JOA).

How you will be evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Applicants will be referred in the order in which they were received.

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