Clarification from the agency

First AOC (Area of Consideration) is Facility employees; Second AOC is VA Agency; Third AOC are all other eligible applicants. Special authorities include: Former overseas employees and foreign service employees. Clarification for these authorities is provided in the questionnaire.

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Major duties include:

• Identify long and short range goals, and formulate policies independently and/or jointly with other BVAMC management staff.
• Plans and initiates improvement actions on a progressive basis.
• Implement and maintain a sound environmental sanitation program; an effective infection prevention program; a cost-efficient laundry, linen, uniform operation; integrated pest management, and wide-ranging recycling programs including a waste management program consisting of solid waste, regulated medical waste, RCRA, non-RCRA waste, and medical sharps.
• Formulates program policy; plans, organizes, directs, staff and budgets; and coordinates a comprehensive Environmental Management Service (EMS) program for this affiliated Medical Center.
• Responsible for making decisions and taking actions that have substantial impact on facility program objectives, goals, funding, scheduling, organizational structure, and allocation of resources.
• Responsible for the comprehensive planning, direction, and coordination of the entire EMS operation, as well as the evaluation of the Medical Center's Environmental Management Service programs and functions.
• Analyze the broad implications of higher levels of authority, laws, regulations, policies, as well as managerial, administrative, and technical trends.
• Contracts with private janitorial, pest control, and data privacy companies to augment in-house staff operations for the facility and for remote CBOCs.
• Routinely reviews and appraises the effectiveness of each phase of EMS activities.
• Serves as a member of the Environment of Care Rounds throughout the medical center complex, reporting, and directing the follow up of EMS issues to ensure timely correction of any identified deficiencies.
• Develops standards for the handling of toxic, and highly contagious bio-hazardous waste and sharps to assure the Medical Center complies with Local, State, and Federal regulations.
• Serves as a member of the Infection Control Committee and is responsible for recommending policies, procedures and products relative to the infection control responsibilities of Environmental Management Service, along with the infection control policies of the Infectious Disease department of the facility.
• Responsible for the Medical Center's Waste Management and Recycling Programs and the required compliance reporting.
• Responsible for directing efforts to meet regulatory goals for reducing solid waste disposal.
• Responsible for maintaining and managing various contracts as a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) for Regulated and Non- regulated waste, and Hazardous waste, tracks waste management and recycling; maintains records; and acts as point of contact for all environmental contracting issues.
• Serves as the facility Textile Care Officer (TCO) and oversees the Textile Care Processing Facility.
• Responsible for all activities related to linen, uniforms, and laundry functions, including determining the type of linen and uniforms to be used, overseeing the purchasing of the linen and uniforms, overseeing and managing the laundry department, determining stock level, distributing linen, assuring linen and uniforms are properly laundered, overseeing the transportation of clean and dirty items, determination of when linen is no longer usable, disposal of unusable linen, conducting annual linen inventories, and all other functions related to linen, uniform, and laundry management.
• Responsible for the planning, controlling, and directing the service to include budget development, staff needs, equipment needs, and utilization of all available resources to ensure adequate supplies of linen for a multi-facility operation.
• Serves as the facility Pest Management Officer directly responsible for the management of the Integrated Pest Management Program for the BVAMC, to include planning, organizing, directing, controlling, and evaluating the effectiveness of the program..
• Develops and maintains a continuing strategic plan for all patient and staff areas throughout the BVAMC to provide an aesthetically pleasing, appropriate, and safe environment.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 07:30 am - 4:00 pm (MST).
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Hospital Housekeeping Officer/PD603820
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required.

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
• 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)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 10/20/2025.

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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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.

Selective Placement Factor(s): Selective placement factors are applied in the same manner as minimum qualification requirements. Failure to meet a selective placement factor will result in you not receiving further consideration. In addition to the minimum qualifications described below, you must meet the following selective placement factor:

• Applicants must possess a valid state's driver's license.

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-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Your experience must be in two or more of the following areas, or other work related to the position to be filled:
  • Experience that demonstrated a practical working knowledge of the basic principles of chemistry, biology, and bacteriology as applied to environmental sanitation, infection control, and to the choice and use of antimicrobial agents in the disinfection, sanitization, and/or sterilization of surfaces and equipment.
  • Experience in laundry and linen management.
  • Experience that demonstrated a knowledge of waste management, including the requirements relating to hazardous, toxic, and infectious wastes and provisions for their final disposition.
  • Experience that demonstrated a knowledge of pest management, including alternative methods of control and the selection and application of chemicals.
• Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: knowledge of the range of administrative laws, policies, regulations, and precedents applicable to the administration of an environmental management program; analyzing and measuring the effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of an Environmental Management Service and administrative programs; planning, organizing, and directing team work; establishing personnel management policies; and training, facilitating, and managing cross disciplinary teams.

Preferred Experience: One year specialized experience in hospital sanitation and textile care and one year experience in a supervisory role.

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

• Communication
• Decision Making
• Hazardous Materials
• Infection Control
• Planning and Evaluating
• Quality Assurance

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: Incumbent is required to walk constantly, must climb stairs and ladders. Incumbent must be able to bend, stoop, crawl, for extended periods of time. Incumbent must be able to work with arms extended over head for extended periods of time. Incumbent must be able to lift 50+ pounds to shoulder height repeatedly. Incumbent must travel from building to building (30+ buildings on facility and 27 acres of improved grounds) in extreme weather conditions, in order to direct work of the programs assigned.

Work Environment: Incumbent's work is primarily conducted in air conditioned office or building space, but due to the physical layout of the facility, incumbent is be required to travel out of doors 11 while moving from building to building to direct the work of the programs assigned to the position. Incumbent's work requires the handling and use a variety of industrial strength cleaning chemicals, which creates a potential for exposure to hazardous chemicals, fumes, and vapors. Incumbent handles medical center waste, contaminated linen, waste receptacles, sharps containers, etc., all of which have a potential for exposure to infectious or pathological waste (as defined by CDC). Incumbent may also be exposed to carcinogenic substances because of this same reason. Incumbent operates a variety of industrial type equipment, including gasoline or diesel powered motor vehicles with weight ratings up to 2 ½ tons, aerial high lifts, pallet jacks and fork lifts, air compressors, steam generating cleaning equipment, ultra-high speed buffers, large industrial scrubbers, etc. Incumbent is exposed to a variety of loud noises generated by industrial grade equipment, i.e., industrial vacuum cleaners, floor burnishing or scrubbing equipment, carpet extraction systems, miscellaneous types of hydraulic, steam, mechanical and electrical equipment, gasoline and diesel powered motors, etc.

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)

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.