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Program Support Assistant (OA)

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Veterans Health Administration - Neurology

Summary

This Program Support Assistant position is located in the Neurology Service at the Murfreesboro campus of Tennessee Valley Healthcare System. The Program Support Assistant provides program support assistance to the Sleep Lab. The position includes a broad range of administrative support responsibilities, and serves as a liaison between the Nashville and Murfreesboro campuses and its affiliates.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Posted this week · Apply by 06/05/26
Due by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 5, 2026
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$45,409 - $59,031 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 6
Promotion potential
None
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time - M-F 7:30 a - 4 p
Travel Required
Not required
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
Yes
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Financial disclosure required
No
Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
Announcement number
CBTG-12968311-26-AZ
Control number
871054200

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Open to ALL current permanent Department of Veterans Affairs (Agency--VHA, VBA, NCA) Employees. A current (2026) non-award SF50 must be submitted for verification.

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Duties

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The Program Support Assistant for the Sleep Lab specialty service within the Neurology Department will need to have Medical Center and Sleep Service knowledge to succeed in this position. The Sleep Program at TVHS runs a very busy service with over 5000 consults a year and over 2400 newly diagnosed sleep apnea patients a year. As such, the Program Support Assistant will receive 100-200 Sleep Study Reports via fax weekly, and 100-200 patient calls a week requiring a response. The Sleep Program provides a crucial service and is continuing to grow every year. The Program Support Assistant will operate independently of the sleep technicians, and will need strong inter-personal skills and will report directly to the Sleep Lab Director for items involving the Sleep Program.

Major duties for the Administrative Support Assistant (OA) include (but are not limited to):
The employee is required to handle a wide variety of complex, technical and non-technical duties requiring a vast knowledge of the service and the medical center as a whole; and must exercise considerable initiative, judgement, tact and care in dealing with staff of the Neurology Service, as well as staff of the medical center. The employee organizes the work based on emergent and non-emergent work of Neurology Service and is free to make independent judgements about organizing and prioritizing workload, and works independently in solving most conflicts. Guidelines include a large body of unwritten policies, precedents, and practices which are not completely applicable to the work or are not specific and which deal with matter relating to judgment, efficiency, and relative priorities rather than with procedural concerns. The Program Support Assistant applies and adapts guidelines to specific problems for which guidelines are not clearly applicable. Creates Sleep Lab Processes and Procedures; working with each individual Sleep Lab personnel to create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for each position, implement flow charts for each step, and provide insight into areas of improvement to better serve the veteran. Contacts include the administrative and professional staff within the System, as well as counterparts at the affiliates. Contacts with vendors, patients, VA headquarters, and clinical and administrative staff throughout the System and affiliate Medical Schools are an integral part of this position.

Other duties as outlined in the Position Description.

Work Schedule: M-F 7:30 a - 4 p
Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: OA /PD706750
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
  • To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the 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, 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 by the closing date of this announcement, 06/05/2026.

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 6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS 5. 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.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below.

TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION AT THE GS-6 LEVEL YOU MUST MEET ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

GS-6 SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Qualifying specialized experience is defined as:
  • Utilizing Microsoft products (i.e., Word, Excel, Power Point, Teams) and Adobe Pro.
  • Developing executive-level correspondence, professional reports, and is responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of submissions of all correspondence.
  • Receiving and reviewing incoming and outgoing suspense and correspondence for quality, consistency, grammatical, and procedural correctness.
  • Developing performance monitor reports for quality assurance and ensuring the facility is meeting deadlines.
  • Serving as a government purchase card holder for service.
  • Posting Time and Attendance in VATAS.

Proficiency Requirement: In addition to meeting time in grade and experience requirements, applicants for this position must show possession of the following skills: 40 words per minute typing speed.

Preferred Experience:
Administration and Management, Analysis and Problem Solving, Computer Skills, Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)

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 primarily sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts, or driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

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/.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional 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.

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. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position:

  • Accountability
  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Decision Making
  • Flexibility
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork


Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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.
IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Veterans Health Administration

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans?

VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS) is an integrated tertiary health care system comprised of two hospitals, the Alvin C. York VA Medical Center in Murfreesboro and the Nashville VA Medical Center, as well as 21 outpatient clinics located in middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky. TVHS provides ambulatory care, primary care, and secondary care in acute medicine and surgery, specialized tertiary care, transplant services, spinal cord injury outpatient care, and a full range of extended care and mental health services. More than 146,000 Veterans in middle Tennessee, southern Kentucky, and northern Georgia trust VA TVHS for their health care needs. TVHS is the seventh largest VA medical center system in the nation serving roughly 75 counties with robust research and development, health care innovation, and more. Middle Tennessee offers an abundance of entertainment such as historic music venues, NFL Titans and NHL Predators, recreational activities, and natural sceneries ideal for any individual. Additionally, Tennessee does not have state taxes making the area more attractive to high-quality candidates.

Agency contact information

Arti Zepeda
Phone
406-373-3319
Email
Arti.Zepeda@va.gov
Address
Tennessee Valley HCS - Nashville
1310 24th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37212
US

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