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Program Specialist (Fire Support)

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service

Summary

This position is assigned to a Forest Service Region 6 office.

This position works with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Interagency Fire and Aviation Unit and is responsible for oversight of contract resources utilized in fire suppression and provides interagency coordination.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Jason Heinz at jason.heinz@usda.gov or Colleen Kingsbury at colleen.kingsbury@usda.gov.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
03/30/2026 to 04/09/2026
Salary
$106,437 - $138,370 per year

Salary range as shown is the locality pay area of Rest of U.S. (RUS). For more information, refer to the opm.gov - Salary and Wages web page.

Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Region 6
Location Negotiable After Selection
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for site visits, inspections, and/or meetings.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Supervisory status
Yes
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
26-EHT-FIRENC2-FS6106-13G
Control number
862763200

Videos

Duties

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  • Serves as the Fire and Aviation Management program manager and Contracting Officer's Representative for regional emergency Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements, contracts (exclusive of aviation), and Memorandums of Understanding.
  • Serves as the technical expert for the Region in all aspects of development and administration of firefighting agreements to include equipment in direct support of firefighting operations and support equipment.
  • Provides leadership and support to all federal, state, and local agencies in the utilization of contract resources.
  • Responsible for reviewing statements of work and contract specifications, ensuring they are vetted through appropriate Fire and Aviation Management operational and contracting personnel.
  • Represents the agency on contract/vendor opportunities, issues, and conflicts.
  • Identifies and implements necessary actions related to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of Federal Excess Personal Property programs and projects.
  • Addresses issues and provide solutions to the Washington Office Contract Operations staff when agreement specifications are not in alignment.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served. Refer to the Next Steps section for more information.
  • Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements.

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). 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 on Experience: Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience; the beginning day, month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time. Incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as four or more of the following: Serving as a contracting officer's representative for regional emergency Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements, contracts (exclusive of aviation), and Memorandums of Understanding with third party vendors; and/or Interpreting policies, laws, and regulations to provide support for Fire and Aviation Management operations; and/or Providing oversight to a contract resource program area; and/or Adapting or modifying contract specification guidance provided to equipment inspectors to ensure consistency; and/or Applying technical expertise on all phases of the acquisition, use, and disposal of vehicles, aircraft, and other necessary equipment to support firefighting.

TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

To receive consideration for this position, you must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

Position(s) will be located at a Forest Office within Region 6. Final determination of the duty station will be made by the selecting official at the time of the job offer.

Pay rates vary depending on location. The salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.


Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Veterans who are preference eligible or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after three years or more of continuous active service are eligible for consideration under the Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA).

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) provides current or former temporary or term employees of federal land management agencies opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Part-time and intermittent service will be credited only for time actually worked. Non-pay status such as leave without pay is credited for up to six months in a calendar year; anything beyond six months is not credited. Applicants are responsible for providing sufficient information/documentation to determine if the 24 month criteria is met.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Employees: Permanent County employees without prior Federal tenure who are selected for a Civil Service position under Public Law 105-277 will be given a career-conditional appointment and must serve a 1-year probationary period.

For more information on applying under special hiring authorities such as certain military spouses, explore the different Hiring Paths on the USAJOBS website.

This is a non-bargaining unit position.


This position is not eligible for telework. This position may be eligible for flexible work arrangements as determined by agency policy.

Government housing and federal day care facilities may be available. Availability as it relates to this be position may not be determined until time of selection.

We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated based on your qualifications for this position as evidenced by the experience, education, and training you described in your application package, as well as the responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine the degree to which you possess the competencies listed below:

  • Administration and Management
  • Oral Communication
  • Project Management


Your application, including the online Assessment Questionnaire, will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position.

If you meet the qualification requirements and are determined to be among the best qualified, you will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Noncompetitive candidates and applicants under some special hiring authorities must meet minimum qualifications to be referred.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12879460

Forest Service

A career with the Forest Service will challenge you to manage and care for more than 193 million acres of our nation's most magnificent lands, conduct research through a network of forest and range experiment stations and the Forest Products Laboratory, and provide assistance to State and private forestry agencies.

It's an awesome responsibility - but the rewards are as limitless as the views.

Agency contact information

HRM Contact Center
Phone
1-877-372-7248 X2
Email
HRM_Contact_Center@usda.gov
Address
USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US

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