Clarification from the agency

This is a Merit Promotion announcement for current and former career and career conditional Federal employees, Career Transition eligibles (CTAP & ICTAP) and those who are eligible under the hiring paths listed above. Refer to Required Documents section for more information.

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Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following:

• Serves as an Economist for the Bureau of Reclamation responsible for implementing the economic portions of the Central Valley Project (CVP) Final Cost Allocation Study (FCAS) and other California-Great Basin Region economic and cost allocation studies.
• Responsible for implementing the economic portions of the Central Valley Project (CVP) Final Cost Allocation Study (FCAS) and other California-Great Basin Region economic and cost allocation studies.
• Oversees the implementation of CVP FCAS and Regional cost allocation studies, applying Reclamation's separable costs-remaining benefits method, and leads preparation of Regional economic analyses-including direct and indirect benefit estimation and construction-related economic impacts-in alignment with Reclamation policies, standards, and federal guidelines.
• Assesses the technical scope, level of effort, and funding required for conducting complex economic and financial evaluations.
• Implements the FCAS two-cost/two-period repayment approach and designs research plans supporting cost allocation integration into water rate setting methodologies.
• Conducts quantitative and qualitative economic and financial analyses, including benefit-cost and financial feasibility studies, using advanced economic tools such as SWAP, Reclamation's Farm Budget Tool, optimization models, input-output models, market analyses, and other statistical techniques required for CVP project benefit evaluation.
• Prepares technical reports for planning studies, environmental documents, land classification reports, water service rate setting proposals, water rights settlements, litigation support, legislative proposals, congressional testimony, and other specialized purposes. Reviews economic components of studies prepared by other Federal, State, and local agencies.
• Serves as the Region's subject matter expert supporting the Denver Technical Services Center and Denver Policy Office in developing policy, directives, standards, and guidance related to cost allocation, payment capacity, ability-to-pay, and other economic studies. Develops Regional guidance and contributes to Reclamation-wide policy development.
• Participates in interagency task forces and work groups involving Federal and State agencies on planning, project formulation, and economic evaluations of resource management and development proposals.
• Plans, directs, performs, and reviews complex Regional economic studies forming the technical basis for evaluating economic and financial effects of current and potential water and related land resource programs. Formulates and executes research plans for studies where objectives and solutions have not been predefined, and develops procedures for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting Regional economic and financial data.
• Leads the Region's agricultural economic analyses, including evaluation of water contractors 'payment capacity and ability-to-pay for potential relief from applicable water charges using complex farm budgeting methods. Analyzes agricultural economic conditions, trends, and repayment ability for contractors in the Rehabilitation and Betterment Loan Program, Safety of Dams Program, and during water service and repayment contract negotiations. Conducts agricultural surveys, prepares farm budget studies, designs research plans for payment capacity estimates across land classes, and performs Class I equivalency determinations consistent with Reclamation Reform Act requirements.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
• You may be required to travel occasionally for this position to attend meetings, conferences, or training. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
• You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.
• A financial disclosure report will be required within 30 days of appointment.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trail period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest.

This probationary or trial period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will 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.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary or trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 10/05/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience.

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the basic education requirements and specialized experience:

Basic Educational Requirements: you must meet at least one of the following:
A. Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus. -OR-
B. Combination of education and experience: course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sector). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: conducting complex economic studies involving cost allocation, benefit-cost analysis, financial feasibility, or multi-purpose water/resource projects; Applying advanced economic models and analytical tools, such as agricultural production models, input-output models, optimization techniques, or farm-budgeting methods, to evaluate project costs, benefits, and repayment obligations; Developing and executing research plans to assess economic, financial, agricultural, or water-resource issues where guidelines are limited and significant judgment is required; Preparing authoritative technical reports and recommendations used for planning studies, environmental analyses, rate-setting, legislative or regulatory actions, or interagency coordination; Serving as an economic subject-matter expert, advising leadership, partner agencies, or stakeholders on economic methodologies, policy implications, and analytical findings; Evaluating repayment ability, payment capacity, or ability-to-pay for agricultural or municipal water users using detailed economic and financial analysis.

Volunteer Experience: 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; religious; 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.

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), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessment(s) required for this position. To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

Your resume must not exceed 2 pages. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed.

You will be assessed in the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Compliance
• Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Economics
• Research and Statistics

To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of additional assessment(s), including a structured resume review.These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

All qualified non-competitive applicants and the best-qualified Merit Promotion applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration or your score may be lowered. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.

Current or former displaced Federal employees who are surplus, displaced, or involuntarily separated have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). To be considered under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be well-qualified, score at least 85 (i.e., meet the minimum qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors; education, and experience requirements), and be able to perform the duties of the position upon entry.