Clarification from the agency

Facility Only: These positions are open to current, permanent Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction, VA Office of Procurement Operations; Regional Procurement Office Central employees within Network Contracting Offices 9, 10, 12 and 15; Regional Procurement Office East employees within Network Contracting Offices 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8; Regional Procurement Office West employees within Network Contracting Office 21, and CTAP eligible applicants only.

Major duties and responsibilities include:

• Responsible for supervising and distributing workload and ensures work assignments are carried out; tracks work assigned; provides status reports to the Director of Contracting (DoC) and/or Deputy Director of Contracting (DDoC).
• Establishes guidelines and performance expectations; observes workers' performance; demonstrates and conducts work performance critiques.
• Responsible for supervising employees from the GS-5 through GS-12/13 level.
• Hears and resolves group grievances or serious employee complaints.
• Supports development and execution of customer satisfaction surveys.
• Assist in the development of new and innovative procedures and policy to improve efficiency, quality and effectiveness; assures reasonable equity.
• Provide or arranges for specific technical training necessary for accomplishment of individual and team tasks to include oversight of Contracting Officer Representative training.
• Recommends NCO policies that enhance and support effective acquisition operations, supply chain management and facilitates national VA initiatives.
• Provide advice on work methods, practices and procedures; assist teams in identifying parameters of a viable solution.
• Participates in the assessment and formation of VHA acquisition policies and procedures.
• Interacts between contracting activities at various levels within VA and is knowledgeable of business and trade practices to identify long-range trends.
• Implements best practices, finds and implements ways to eliminates or reduce significant bottleneck and barriers, promotes team building.
• Serves as a direct communication conduit between facilities, VISN, and DoC, and Service Area Office (SAO).
• Conducts meetings, conferences, briefings, speeches, presentations or oversight hearings.
• Serves as the business advisor to the Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) personnel for acquisition matters. Schedules, directs, and manages staff involved in providing a variety of acquisition services to the VISN.
• Improve the acquisition support of customers, meet all procurement regulations and guidance, and all performance metrics associated with the VA acquisition program.

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#: PD12002A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Required
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

This recruitment is for several positions with the Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction, VA Office of Procurement Operations.

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.
• 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.
• 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a one year probationary period or two 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 one year probationary period or two year trial 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, 08/31/2026.

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 some 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.

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.

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.

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/.

Specialized Experience GS-14: Applicants must also meet the specialized experience for the GS-14 grade. You may qualify based on your experience described below for the GS-14 Supervisory Contract Specialist position:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-13) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience includes experience with: Supervising and distributing workload, tracks work assigned and provides status reports to the Director of Contracting (DoC) and/or Deputy Director of Contracting (DDoC). Establishing guidelines and performance expectations, observing workers' performance, demonstrates and conducts work performance critiques. Providing directions to the teams in selection and application of appropriate problem-solving methods and techniques. Advising on work methods, practices and procedures. Training subordinates in methods and techniques of performing contract actions. Improving the acquisition support of customers, meets all procurement regulations and guidance, and all performance metrics associated with the acquisition program. Experience finding and implementing ways to eliminate or reduce significant barriers and promoting team building.

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: Resume must include job title and employer name, number of hours worked per week, start and end dates (including month and year), list of duties and responsibilities for each position held. In addition, if the experience was a federal position, you must list series and grade for each position held. Failure to include this information may result in an ineligible rating. A full year of work is considered to be 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.


The 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. 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/.

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.

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

• Acquisition Operations: Ability to manage the acquisition operations that support, advance and accomplish the patient care mission of the Network.
• Business Practices: Knowledgeable of business and trade practices to identify long range trends and resolves problems not resolved by accepted methods in the private sector.
• Direct Administrative Activities: Ability to direct supervisory and administrative activities, including budget, management analysis, auditing, assessing employee performance and responding to grievances.
• Policy Formulation: Ability to recommend appropriate VA and VHA level policy formulation connected with changes to VA, VHA, and RPO level acquisition programs.
• Goals and Objectives: Ability to determine the methodologies to use in achieving work goals and objectives and make determinations as to the propriety of decisions on acquisition actions.

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.

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.

Referral: Candidates will be referred 50 applicants at a time based on earliest submission date. Additional candidates may be referred based on hiring needs.

The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.