Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to U.S. Citizens or Nationals; and Career transition eligibles (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL).

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This position is located within the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Great Plains Region, Resource Management Division in Billings, Montana.

At the full performance level (GS-11) the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

• Is the primary functional specialist for all National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) compliance activities, including the preparation of appropriate cultural resource and historic property related documents.
• Identifies existing and potential cultural resource impacts associated with planning, construction, operation, and maintenance activities of Reclamation projects for the Montana Area Office (MTAO).
• Collaborates with engineers, hydrologists, planners, facility managers, environmental specialists, natural resource specialists, and other professionals and specialists to identify, minimize, or mitigate adverse impacts to cultural resources and/or historic properties.
• Provides assistance and serves as MTAO's cultural resource liaison to other Federal agencies, Indian tribes, as well as State and local entities to ensure that outside customers have a clear understanding of NHPA and Reclamation's responsibilities for compliance.
• Prepares other special technical reports, such as museum and historic properties and lends technical assistance to Government or contracting personnel involved in preparing such reports and/or permits. Reviews and interprets reports received to ensure they meet Reclamation standards.
• Interprets and provides advice on the National Historic Preservation Act and regulations of 36 CFR Part 800, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Archaeological Resources Protection Act, and other cultural resources legislation to Area Office staff and management.

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 www.dhs.gov/EVerify/.
• Must have and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
• You may be required to travel overnight away from home for field work, meetings, and training as necessary.
• You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and/or purchase authority.
• You must be at least 18 years of age or older to operate government vehicles.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

This probationary 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 probationaryperiod 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 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-11/09/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

To receive credit for experience, 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. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

Basic Qualification Requirement: Archeologist: Applicants must possess the basic requirement for an Archeologist. If qualifying based on education, transcripts MUST be submitted and include your name, school name, credit hours, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. We cannot determine eligibility without this information. (A copy of your official transcripts will be required before entrance on duty, if selected). The Basic Requirement may be met in one of the following ways:

Education:

1. Degree that included 3 semester hours each in the following course areas:

• History of archeology.
• Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa.
• Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development.
• Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques.
• Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work.

-AND-

Six semester hours of related course work in:

• geography, geology, or cultural geography;
• history, historiography, or historical archeology;
• environmental studies;
• scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or
• surveying;

-AND-

Archeological field school.

2. Related Curriculum: degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in 1 above (including archeological field school).

-OR-

• Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education.

-OR-

• Experience: Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project.

In addition to meeting the basic requirements listed above for this position, applicants must also meet the minimum qualifications outlined below:

Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-11 level, you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the difficulty and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equipped you with the particular competencies needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Examples of specialized experience may include: planning and conducting archeological investigations; conducting or overseeing work in support of historic preservation; conducting cultural resource fieldwork such as surveys and excavations; and performing field inspections, research, or assessments. You must include hours worked per week in your resume.

-OR-

Education: Successful completion of 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. To be qualifying, graduate study must have been in archeology, anthropology, or other closely related field. The total education offered to meet this provision must have provided you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform the work of this position. To receive credit, you should describe how your specific course work, research projects, dissertation, theses, etc. demonstrate the ability to perform the duties of this position (18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study is considered to be equal to one full year of graduate education). If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts.

-OR-

Combination of Education and Experience: Successful completion of an equivalent combination of education and graduate experience as described above. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate experience equivalent to GS-9 (50 percent of the experience requirement for GS-11) and 27 semester hours of appropriate graduate education (50 percent of the education
requirement for GS-11, in excess of that required for GS-9) would be qualified for a GS-11 position (assuming that there is no evidence that the attended college or university requires more than 18 semester hours as equivalent to a year of graduate study). If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. To calculate experience, take the number of months of full-time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total combination of education and experience must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.

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 any additional assessment(s) required for this position.

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.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. These procedures place candidates with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Veterans with a service-connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher. Under Category Rating, candidates will be rated and ranked into the following categories:

• Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position

• Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job

• Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.

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

• History and Archaeology
• Interpersonal Skills
• Technical Competence
• Writing

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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. This assessment measures the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

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.

Providing false or misleading information on your resume or supporting documentation may result in removal from consideration or other action consistent with applicable federal hiring regulations. Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.