Clarification from the agency

Open to current permanent Department of Veteran Affairs employees, current permanent Federal employees of other agencies and all US Citizens. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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

• Oversees, directs, and manages the lifecycle management of the facility's medical equipment and clinical systems.
• Collaborates with other departments and service lines, clinical and administrative staff, and executive leadership at the medical center, VISN, and national levels, as needed.
• Directs work on all aspects of medical equipment and clinical systems support to include technology assessments, acquisition, and implementation; planned and corrective maintenance; upgrades and modifications; and end of life tasks to include decommissioning, data sanitization, and technical evaluation for condition prior to disposal.
• Establishes workload distribution and revises work schedules to meet workload priorities, challenges, and issues.
• Establishes and maintains the medical equipment management program and completes annual evaluations of the program's effectiveness.
• Develops and implements policies and procedures to ensure compliance with established standards and regulations.
• Establishes and monitors metrics, and initiates performance improvement activities.
• Defines, evaluates, and enhances subordinate staff's competency to perform the duties and responsibilities for their respective roles. Develops individual and/or departmental training plans that address gaps in staff and departmental competencies.
• Develops, delivers, and evaluates performance plans for subordinate staff.
• Recognizes deserving staff for exceptional performance.
• Addresses performance problems and conduct issues in accordance with established labor union agreements, human resources guidance, and policies.
• Requests and develops recruitment packages to fill/backfill any open or vacant positions. Screens and interviews applicants, conducts reference checks, and selects only qualified candidates.
• Employs available resources to retain talent. Develops and implements succession planning.
• Forecasts and develops departmental budgets utilizing available data. Manages fund control points and ensures all purchases and expenditures are completed in accordance with applicable federal laws. Serves as a Government Purchase Card (GPC) holder, approving official, or alternate approving official.
• Serves as a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). Develops documentation to purchase commodities and/or vendor services. Manages, monitors, and evaluates contractor performance and addresses issues or deficiencies.
• Regularly solicits and reviews feedback from customers to monitor the quality of the program. Identifies opportunities to improve customer service and satisfaction, and addresses customer feedback effectively and in a timely manner.
• Manages, responds to, and remediates hazard alerts, recall notifications, and incidents concerning medical equipment and clinical systems. Documents all actions in the appropriate system.
• Plans, leads, and/or manages projects for medical equipment and clinical systems.
• Oversees the facility's medical device protection program. Ensures networked medical equipment and clinical systems are inventoried, tracked, and patched. Validates identified cybersecurity vulnerabilities are addressed.
• Serves as a subject matter expert on assigned committees, projects, and workgroups.
• Troubleshoots medical equipment and clinical systems using a variety of technical data and completes corrective action.
• Performs incoming inspections and planned maintenance on medical equipment and clinical systems.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 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 trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Education, Experience, or Certification:
  • Associates or higher degree in the biomedical technology or biomedical engineering field; OR
  • Associates or higher degree in electronics, a field of information technology, or engineering (other than biomedical engineering) AND 1 year of creditable experience; OR
  • Completion of the Department of Defense (DOD) biomedical equipment technician training program; OR
  • Completion of a DOD training program in repair and maintenance of electronic systems or information technology AND 1 year of creditable experience; OR
  • Completion of a biomedical engineering technician or Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) certificate program that included an internship or apprenticeship; OR
  • Completion of biomedical engineering technician or HTM certificate program that did not include an internship AND 1 year of creditable experience; OR
  • Hold or having ever held certification as a Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET), Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist (CRES), Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist (CLES), or Certified Healthcare Technology Manager (CHTM). Continuous maintenance of certification is not required throughout VHA employment.
• Foreign Education: To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Supervisory Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, GS-13.
(1) Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

(2) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to meeting the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Skill in managing workflow by directing the work of others to accomplish program goals and objectives.
(b) Skill in developing policies to oversee medical equipment and clinical systems.
(c) Skill in managing interpersonal relationships between employees, team leaders, and managers.
(d) Skill in applying standards for safe operation of medical equipment and clinical systems including National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Joint Commission (TJC), and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).
e) Ability to supervise subordinate staff (for example, plan, organize, delegate, direct, control, and review activities and performance).
(f) Ability to provide guidance on multiple types of medical equipment and clinical systems.
(g) Ability to analyze data to optimize quality, efficiency, performance, and productivity.

Grandfathering Provision:

• Employees in VHA in this occupation, under a permanent, appropriate, and legal placement on the effective date of the qualification standard (11/26/2024) are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade and assignment held including positive education and certification. For employees who do not meet all the basic or assignment-specific requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply:
  • Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or be changed to a lower grade within the occupation, but they may not be promoted beyond the journey level or be newly placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
  • Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
  • Employees retained in this occupation under this provision who subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.

Creditable Experience. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current health care industry and required using knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) directly applicable to the assignment and associated within the scope of the BESS profession. Experience is only creditable if it was acquired in the health care industry and is either directly related to the position to be filled or a related field (for example, Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, Biomedical Equipment Technician, Field Service Engineer, Medical Equipment Repairer, or Information Technology (IT) Specialist). Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid or non-paid employment as a BESS.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-13.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

How you will be evaluated

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

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:
1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility.
2. All other VA employees.
3. Current permanent Federal employees of other agencies.
4. All other applicants.

Note: Veterans' Preference is not applicable to VA employees or employees of other Federal agencies.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

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.

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.