Clarification from the agency

Current permanent VA Office of Procurement employees located within Regional Procurement Office Central Network Contracting Office 9, Regional Procurement Office Central Network Contracting Office 10, Regional Procurement Office East Network Contracting Office 2, Regional Procurement Office East Network Contracting Office 7, and CTAP eligibles

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Major duties and responsibilities include:

• Provides the overall supervision of staff within the Network/Program Office.
• Serves as a Network/Program point of contact with the vendor community and provides ongoing supervision of acquisition activities within the Network/Program.
• Identifies and develops both technical and generalized education and training requirements for all acquisition staff, to include COR training and specialized training for leasing, clinical contracting, and other internal and external customers
• Provides significant recommendations to the RPO on proposed VA and VHA level policy formulation connected with changes to VA, VHA, and RPO level acquisition programs.
• Develops and implements Network level administrative and procurement related policies and procedures require to effect efficient operations.
• Participates in VHA, regional, multi-network, and network level work groups.
• Develops, implements, and coordinates program activities.
• Provides feedback on proposed legislation affecting acquisition; recommends VHA, RPO, local NCO policies that enhance and support effective acquisition operations, supply chain management, and facilitate national VHA initiatives.
• Develops, disseminates, interprets, monitors, and enforces acquisition policies and procedures as they relate to the Network/Program acquisition activity.
• Facilitates standardization in terms of both local and national programs and initiatives such as eCMS, FPDS, purchase card program, Integrated Product Teams, Contract Review Boards, and others.
• Keeps local vendors and suppliers informed of VHA business opportunities.
• Coordinates, negotiates and assesses the NCO socio-economic goal program. Conducts site visits at the medical centers within the Network/Program that host functions and purchasing staff to assess performance in this area.

The DoC must meet all eligibility requirements to receive and maintain a FAC-P certification prior to placement in the position.

Supervisory Probationary Period: Applicants selected for this position may be required to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period. Failure to successfully complete the supervisory probationary period will result in the employee being reassigned to a position in the agency of no lower grade and pay than the one the employee left to accept the supervisory or managerial position.


Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible: May be available
Telework: This position may be authorized for ad hoc telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Ad hoc is defined as occasional, non-recurring telework.
Virtual: This position may be authorized for Virtual Work. Virtual Work eligibility is for current VA Employees that are already subject to the return to in-person work mandate in their current position. Applicants without an existing assigned VA Staff Office must be located within 50 miles of a VA-owned or leased space. This is not a remote position.
Definition of Virtual Work: Employee works outside of original hiring duty station at a VA-owned or leased space.
Return to Office (RTO): RTO mandates are in effect and selectees will be required to report to in-person work unless they are approved for an exception or an exemption. Any approval for an RTO exception, exemption, or extension will happen after a tentative job offer, but before a final job offer.
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Contract Specialist (Director of Contracting)/PD06067A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Required
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Physical Demands: 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. Applicants selected for this position may be required to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period. Failure to successfully complete the supervisory probationary period will result in the employee being reassigned to a position in the agency of no lower grade/pay than the one the employee left to accept the supervisory or managerial position.

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
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• 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.
• 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 may 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, 07/30/2026.

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-15 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-14. 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.

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

Basic Requirements: Applicants must meet the basic requirement for this position. To meet the basic requirement for Contract Specialist GS-13 and above positions, applicants must have:

• 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. AND,
• 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.

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.

Waiver: When filling a specific vacant position, the senior procurement executive of the selecting agency, at his or her discretion, may waive any or all of the requirements of Paragraphs A and B above if the senior procurement executive certifies that the applicant possesses significant potential for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority, based on demonstrated analytical and decision making capabilities, job performance, and qualifying experience. With respect to each waiver granted under this Paragraph D, the senior procurement executive must document for the record the basis of the waiver. If an individual is placed in a position in an agency on the basis of a waiver, the agency may later reassign that individual to another position at the same grade within that agency without additional waiver action.

Note: The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) does not grant Academic degrees; therefore courses completed at the DAU are not creditable towards meeting the 24 semester hour requirement, in the fields identified above, unless the coursework has been evaluated by an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and appears on a college or university transcript.

Specialized Experience GS-15: Applicants must also meet the specialized experience for the GS-15 grade. You may qualify based on your experience described below for the GS-15 Contract Specialist position:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-14) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience includes experience with: Knowledge of Government contracting laws and policies, including techniques of contracting operations, detailed procedures of departments' contracting requirements, and familiarity with the practices of business and industry sufficient to develop policies and provide guidance to subordinate activities. Experience coordinating acquisitions to establish and implement both national and Network goals and objectives. Experience developing, interpreting, monitoring, and enforcing acquisition policies and procedures as they relate to the Network. Experience supervising multiple personnel in varied locations and manage multiple complex program activities. Experience evaluating database information, audit reports, regulations, and other relevant materials as a basis for developing and implementing departmental guidelines and procedures.
• Education: There is no education substitute for the GS-15 grade.

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/.

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:

• Knowledge of Policy: Knowledge of Government contracting laws and policies, including techniques of contracting operations, detailed procedures of departments' contracting requirements, and familiarity with the practices of business and industry sufficient to develop policies and provide guidance to subordinate activities.
• Interpersonal Effectiveness: Ability to effectively supervise multiple personnel in varied locations and manage multiple complex program activities.
• Effective Communication: Ability to communicate, both orally and in writing, to present ideas, data, and recommendations, and to facilitate effective communication between facilities, the VISN, and VA Central Office. Skill in written communications sufficient to develop and publish VISN policy and other material.
• Organizational Stewardship: Analytical skill sufficient to evaluate database information, audit reports, regulations, and other relevant materials as a basis for developing and implementing departmental guidelines and procedures.

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.