Clarification from the agency

This job is open to current permanent Technology Acquisition Center (TAC) staff office employees only and CTAP eligible applicants. You must be a TAC employee within OALC to be considered. See the eligibility section in the questionnaire for a list of all eligible candidates and the How You Will Be Evaluated section below for more details.

Major Duties:

• Distributes and tracks work assignments within the team and ensure work assignments are carried out at various stages of completion, to assure compliance with Federal and VA acquisition regulations, VA policies, VA directives, VA information letters, and VA Handbooks.
• Supervise a group of employees performing work at the GS-03 through GS-13/14 level. Exercise supervisory authorities and responsibilities involving work assignment and review, as well as the administrative and personnel management functions relative to the staff supervised.
• Serves as a point of contact for internal and external customers. Incumbent is a working Contract Specialist and maintains up to 20% of the normal production workload of a senior contract specialist on the team thereby handling the most complex and highly visible actions.
• Performs the administrative and personnel management functions relative to staff supervised. Establishes guidelines and performance expectations for staff, which are clearly communicated through the formal employee performance management system. Observes workers' performance; demonstrates and conducts work performance critiques. Provides informal feedback and periodically evaluates employee performance. Resolves informal complaints and grievances.
• Responsible for furthering the goals of equal employment opportunity (EEO) by taking positive steps to assure accomplishment of affirmative action objectives by adhering to nondiscriminatory employment practices regarding race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or handicap.
• Perform a variety of leadership functions to ensure the work of the organization is carried out in support of the organization's strategic plan, mission, vision and values, assignment, project, problem to be solved, actionable events, milestones, and/or program issues under review, and deadlines and time frames for completion.
• Monitor and report on status and progress of work, check on work in progress and review completed work to see that instructions on work priorities, methods, deadlines, and quality have been met.
• Maintain program and administrative reference materials, project files and relevant background documents and make available policies, procedures and written instructions from the supervisor.
• Report to the contracting office Director periodically on team and individual work accomplishments, problems, progress in mastering tasks and work processes, and individual and team training needs, including findings and recommendations from meetings and dealings with other team leaders, program officials, public, and other customers on issues related to or that have impact on the team's objectives, work products and/or tasks.
• Plan, develop and establish contractual strategy for acquisitions, supporting major projects or programs of critical importance to VA and other Government agencies; this includes: developing acquisition strategies, use of a wide variety of acquisition methods, determining pre-negotiation positions, determining the type of contracts and negotiation authorities, and preparing justifications. Direct a full range of contract administration actions.
• Serve as principal contracting advisor to management for all contracting matters supporting VA's mission and representing the Department as a contractual authority at interagency/interagency conferences, meetings, and other forums; these may include both public and private sector participants. Lead for critical acquisition programs.
• Conduct conferences and oral presentations with prospective contractors to arrive at a clear understanding of solicitation requirements.
• Incumbent is assigned projects and establishes priorities and milestones. Consideration must be given to program and political issues, market trends, and commercial practices.
• The incumbent exercises a great deal of authority and responsibility. Sound judgment is required in the decision process and incumbent must use good judgment as to when to involve the Director, or other managers within VA and in other Government agencies.

Conditions of employment

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• 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, 04/10/2026.

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-14 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. 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:

1. Completion of all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher level contracting positions, including at least 4-years experience in contracting or related positions. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position, and must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position.

2. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, that included or was supplemented by 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.
3. Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. This also applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met. However, they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade.

• Acquisition Strategy
• Communications
• Contracting/Procurement
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Leadership

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 subject position is primarily of an administrative nature in an office setting. However, where travel to work sites is required there may be light physical work required, such as walking over uneven surfaces or assisting technical personnel in taking measurements or elevations. Government travel for training, meetings, or customer interactions will be required in this position.

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/.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced 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 must meet the following qualifications: Demonstrate a full range of contract administration actions such as contract modifications, negotiation of changes, exercising of options, resolution of delays, disposition of claims, tracking contractor performance, and other related matters. Perform duties such as developing acquisition strategies, determining pre-negotiation positions, and determining the types of contracts and negotiation authorities.

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 Eatontown, NJ . This includes all locations that fall within a 50-mile driving distance from Eatontown, NJ.

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.

Job Knowledge Test: A portion of your assessment is a Job Knowledge Test that will occur during the application. 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) and the 10 responses you provide on the application questionnaire. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Acquisition Strategy
• Communications
• Contracting/Procurement
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Leadership

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

• All current, permanent VA Employees in the Technology Acquisition Center (TAC).