Major duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Participates in acquisition planning, pre-award responsibilities and contract awards for all major contracting elements for the National Acquisition Center (NAC)
• Serves as the contracting officer, contract negotiator, and contract administrator for high dollar value, contracts with a national scope
• Makes final determinations relative to price adjustment, deviations from contract terms and conditions, delivery schedules and changes, supplemental agreements, change orders, disclosures, and other related contract matters upon analysis
• Conducts negotiations that are precedent-setting, involve large sums of money, involve factual or legal disputes and/or are characterized by a strong lack of cooperation and/or display of hostility on the contractor's part
• Resolves disagreements between auditors and contractors involving audit findings
• Develops realistic and attainable milestones for the NAC's complex projects
• Monitors work in progress and assures timely accomplishment of assigned workload
• Takes appropriate action to fulfill requirements of contracts and/or agreements
• Closes out contracts and/or agreements, in a timely manner
• Conducts initial conferences with contractors to provide information and clarify special provisions of the contract
• Remains cognizant of socioeconomic contracting goals and accomplishments
• Explores initiatives which increase socioeconomic accomplishments for the NAC
• Preparing proposals, conducting evaluations, and resolving contractual issues
• Reviews and approves small and disadvantaged business subcontracting plans
• Establishes a negotiation position based on technical reviews and extensive knowledge of contractor's operations
• Negotiates directly with contractor personnel to obtain final settlements
• Prepares negotiation memoranda to explain rationale and methods used in arriving at the final settlement
• Participates in conferences and meetings with customers, industry, and various Government agencies and officials
• Provides detailed explanation of Federal Contracting procedures in relationship to contracts and agreements established and administered by the NAC
• Meets with contractors to explain the ramifications of various Public Laws.

Conditions of employment

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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

• 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/01/2026.

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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level. 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. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade.



You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

Individual Occupational Requirements:

1. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field; OR

2. At least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management.

• 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Participating in acquisition planning, pre-award responsibilities and contract awards for major contracting elements; Serving as the contracting officer, contract negotiator, and contract administrator for high dollar value, contracts with a national scope; Making final determinations relative to price adjustment, deviations from contract terms and conditions, delivery schedules and changes, supplemental agreements, change orders, disclosures, and other related contract matters upon analysis; Resolving disagreements between auditors and contractors involving audit findings; Preparing proposals, conducting evaluations, and resolving contractual issues; Resolving complex procurement problems and providing expert advice on contractual matters.

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Compliance
• Contract Administration
• Critical Thinking
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork
• Writing

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: The work is sedentary in nature.

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

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be found well qualified, applicants' specialized experience must demonstrate the following::

• Collaborating effectively across departments, external agencies, and with contractors to generate innovative ideas and streamline processes
• Drives continuous improvement initiatives, identifying opportunities for efficiency and innovation across organizational boundaries and long-standing policies and procedures
• Demonstrates exceptional problem-solving skills with minimal supervision, consistently proposing creative and non-traditional solutions
• Negotiating tough agreements successfully, leveraging strategic thinking and persuasive communication
• Conducting award and post-award negotiations, such as supplemental agreements or settlement actions, and to ensure compliance with all relevant guidelines and regulations
• Preparing contractual documents for higher-level review
• Conducting meetings, negotiations, and providing guidance to management officials, contract administrators, and subordinate contract specialists
• Resolving complex procurement problems and providing expert advice on contractual matters

Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Local Commuting Area: The local commuting area for this position is defined as a radius of 50 miles from the locations listed for this vacancy. This includes all locations that fall within a 50-mile driving distance from the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Acquisition Center offices at those locations.

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.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position.

The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be contacted 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.

Area of Consideration: Eligible applicants will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

• All current, permanent VA Employees in the Office of Procurement, Acquisition & Logistics
• All other current, permanent VA employees
• All other applicants (if status)

Applicant Count: This announcement will remain open until the closing date, April 1, 2026, or when the applicant count is reached, whichever is earlier. The applicant count is the point at which the first 100 applications are received. All applications submitted that day up to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the date the applicant count is reached will be accepted and considered.