Clarification from the agency

• Current U.S. Department of Education employees serving under competitive, permanent appointments; and, • Current U.S. Department of Education employees serving under temporary appointments with reinstatement eligibility.

This vacancy announcement will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first.  

We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application.

As a Supervisory Government Information Specialist, GS-306-15, you will be responsible for:

• Overseeing and managing the FOIA Service Center (FSC) eDiscovery Unit (EDU) and the Department's use of its administrative search tools for fulfilling FOIA requests and responding to FOIA litigation.
• Providing leadership direction, evaluation, assessment, and program management by applying a wide range of qualitative and quantitative techniques to ensure Department-level FOIA objectives set by the Chief FOIA Officer are achieved.
• Serving as a recognized authority on FOIA and the Privacy Act, advising the Chief FOIA Officer on FOIA issues and activities.
• Developing and implementing Department-wide strategies for effective management of the FOIA program.
• Serving as a final reviewer on key program work products, including responses to FOIA and Privacy Act requests to ensure high-quality output. 
• Participating in reviewing, analyzing, and developing policies governing the program.
• Overseeing and managing the FSC's use of technologies that make information available to the public through the FOIA.
• Providing leadership in evaluating, assessing, and improving the agency's FOIA-related technologies and making recommendations to the Chief FOIA Officer.
• Exercising supervisory personnel management responsibilities to include advising and providing counsel to employees regarding policies, procedures, and directives.
• Planning work for subordinates' accomplishment, setting and adjusting short-term priorities, and preparing schedules based on consideration of the difficulty of requirements and assignments ensure that the staff's experience, training, and abilities are effectively utilized to meet organization and customer needs.

Conditions of employment

• Relocation will not be paid.
• Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
• You may be subject to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period.
• Must be a US Citizen
• May be required to complete a background investigation.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

If you are a current federal employee, you must meet all time-in-grade and time-after competitive appointment qualifications within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement. To verify that you meet these requirements, we will review your responses to the core eligibility questions on the occupational questionnaire, as well as your submitted resume and required documents. To make an accurate determination, you will need to include on your resume your federal position title, pay plan, occupational series, grade level, agency, dates for which you held the grade level (stated as MM/YYYY to MM/YYYY, OR MM/YYYY to PRESENT), and total hours worked per week. 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).

Conditions of Employment

TELEWORK ELIGIBILITY:

• You may be eligible for occasional telework in which you are required to report to the office on a regular basis. Participation must be requested and approved by the supervisor and there must be a signed telework agreement. The number of telework days approved is determined by the agency policy, emergency situations, the approval of your immediate supervisor. You must have access to high-speed internet and cell phone service meeting current Agency policy from the approved work location.  

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements
You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-15, if you possess the specialized experience.

Specialized Experience for the GS-15

One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-14 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:

1. Experience managing the use of administrative search tools/e-Discovery for the fulfillment of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and litigation.
2. Experience with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act (PA) principles to make program determinations in preparing requested agency records for release in response to incoming requests.
3. Experience managing technology solutions in a government agency's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).

1. Skills applying a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess and improve privacy-related programs, processes, and systems.
2. Knowledge in gathering, assembling, interpreting, and analyzing a vast amount of privacy and security related technical data and materials.
3. Skills in administrative search (eDiscovery) software to make decisions and recommendations regarding implementing these tools and changing, interpreting, or formulating policies or programs for their use.
4. Knowledge of Federal and agency regulations, the specific organization's programs, missions, and pertinent laws, regulations, and policies related to the program/operations area to consider their impact on programs.

How you will be evaluated

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

We use a multi-step process to review and evaluate applicants:

1. Eligibility and Minimum Qualifications

Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will review your submitted resume and documents to determine if you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, including any required education, experience, and/or selective placement factors. You will be rated as ineligible if you are outside of the area of consideration (i.e., who may apply) or your application is missing any required documents. You will be rated as not qualified if you do not possess the minimum qualification requirements.

2. Rating and Ranking

If you are found to meet both the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, we will assess the quality of your experience and the extent to which you possess the required KSAs by comparing your submitted resume and documents against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. (The occupational questionnaire is the list of questions in the automated system that you will have an opportunity to answer once you apply for the position). Based on the outcome of this evaluation, you will be assigned a numerical score (out of 100 possible). If your responses to the occupational questionnaire are not substantiated by your submitted resume, you may be eliminated from receiving further consideration.

3. Referral and Selection

If you are found to be amongst the most highly qualified applicants, you will be referred to the selecting official. As part of the assessment and selection process, the selecting official may invite you to participate in a structured interview, check your references, and/or request that you submit a writing sample or complete a written assessment or exercise to further evaluate your qualifications for this position.