Clarification from the agency

Special authorities include: Former overseas employees and foreign service employees. Clarification for these authorities is provided in the questionnaire.

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Duties include but are not limited to:

• Advises approving officials and purchase card holders on purchase card program, procurement procedures and responsibilities.
• Coaches and problem solves with team members.
• Delegate follow up action on undelivered orders and aged purchase card transactions to close out purchase orders.
• Provides advice on work methods, practices and procedures.
• Instructs Purchasing Agents in specific tasks and job techniques and make available written instructions, and reference materials.
• Ensures timely purchasing under the micro purchase threshold.
• Leads the coordination for sources of supplies and acceptable substitutions.
• Initiates and provides training to acquisition and technical staff on the procurement process.
• Makes purchases involving specialized requirements and/or commercial requirements that have unstable price or product characteristics, hard-to-locate sources, or similar complicating factors.
• Provides procurement support throughout the procurement cycle.
• Conducts open market research for purchases of routine equipment, supplies, and services.
• Examines incoming procurement requests for completeness.
• Recommends or makes decisions based on analysis of various trade-offs (e.g. cost of renting vs. purchasing, free services included, vendor reputation or past performance).
• Reviews completed work to see that instructions on work sequence, procedures, methods and deadlines have been met.
• Identifies training needs and gives on the job training.
• Distributes and balances workload among employees and assure completion of assigned work.
• Identifies factors to determine the best offer applicable for procurement.
• Maintains accountable procurement records and auditing information.
• Instructs employees in specific tasks and job techniques and provide written instructions, reference materials and supplies.
• Estimates and reports on expected time of completion of work.
• Monitors purchase requests and active and delinquent invoices, and processes receipts.
• Utilizes Microsoft Office to create, edit and aggregate data necessary for expense tracking and Supply Chain management reporting.
• Maintains catalogs, contract files, and lists of firms offering specific equipment, supplies, and services.
• Develops reports and spreadsheets, obtains and organizes files, and retrieves reports for briefings and presentation purposes.
• Compiles, consolidates, organizes, and summarizes specific procurement information to support efforts related to annual budget estimates and a variety of one-time and recurring reports.
• Analyzes descriptions and characteristics to identify problem areas.
• Develops recommended alternatives or solutions prior to completion of the procurement action when problems are encountered and/or deviations are required.
• Resolves disputes and informal complaints among medical staff and customers.
• Assesses urgency of patient needs and recommends source adjustments to meet patient and medical center needs.
• Plans and coordinates actions to prevent, correct, or resolve delays or misunderstandings in the purchasing process.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7am-3:30pm
Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Lead Purchasing Agent/PD99879S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 07/02/2025.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.


You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: procuring supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of an organization; assisting in training new employees and answering questions on purchasing/procurement procedures, policies, etc.; purchasing various equipment, supplies, and services through the use of a purchase card; working with medical staff to determine procurement needs and priorities; resolving a variety of shipment, payment, or other discrepancies in support of procurement programs and operations; and, assembling and/or summarizing information from files and documents as required to create reports utilizing automated computerized supply/inventory management systems and Microsoft Office software programs such as MS Word and Excel.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Decision Making
• Manages and Organizes Information
• Manages Resources
• Reasoning (Clerical/Technical)
• Technical Competence

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.

Physical Requirements: Requires some physical effort such as standing, sitting, walking, or bending. There are no special physical demands.
Working Conditions: The work is performed in an office setting involving everyday risks or discomforts. Normal safety precautions are adequate.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

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.

Resume Reminder - Your resume must include the following information for each job listed:

• Job title Duties (be as detailed as possible)
• Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008)
• Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week)
• Series and Grade, if applicable, for all Federal positions you have held
• Please be aware that your answers will be verified against information provided on your resume. Be sure that your resume clearly supports your responses to all of the questions by addressing your work experience in detail.

Recommended: Even though we do not require a specific resume format, your resume must be clear so that we are able to fully evaluate your qualifications. To ensure you receive appropriate consideration, please list the duties you performed under each individual job title. If we are unable to match your experiences with the positions held, you may lose consideration for this vacancy. We cannot make assumptions regarding your qualifications.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.