Clarification from the agency

This position is open to the current employees of the San Francisco VAMC only.

This position utilizes knowledge of policies and procedures for delivery orders and small purchases and knowledge of commercial supply sources and common business practices related to sales, prices, discounts, units of measurement, deliveries, stocks, and shipments. The Purchasing Agent maintains responsibility for work leading to the purchase of a wide variety of complex and highly specialized services, supplies, equipment, and systems that support the full range of programs and activities. Major duties and responsibilities include:

• Purchasing Support - Conducts purchasing under the micro purchase threshold; reviews and edits purchase requests; resolves issues to ensure requests and bills are processed accurately and in a timely manner; identifies needs or problems and determines corrective action; utilizes federal and agency acquisition regulations to identify possible sources and other pertinent information related to purchases; tracks obligations/commitments and monitors expenditures to support recurring budget forecasts and identify potential fraud, waste and abuse based on procurement history and purchase trends; and,
• Procurement Support - Procures supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of the organization; develops unique selection criteria for each purchase; Prepare and issue contract modifications for changes in delivery schedule and sends formal correspondence to a variety of customers such as inventory management specialists, other service line contacts, and contracting officers as appropriate for the purposes of auditing documents, processing receiving reports, and payments.; conducting open market research and sole source small purchases for highly specialized medical items with critical product requirements; and,
• Administrative Support - Serves as the first line of contact for medical staff and customers in regard to procured items; develops reports and spreadsheets, obtains, organizes, files and retrieves reports for briefing and presentation purposes; performs a variety of receptionist, timekeeping, record keeping and miscellaneous duties in medical facility; and,
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday, 7:00am-3:30pm
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD99896A

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• 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 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)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/07/2025.

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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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/or education as described below: You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

GS-6 SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-05) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties as Purchasing Agent. Qualifying specialized experience includes interpreting prescriptions and requests for medical equipment and services; maintaining regular contact with vendors, contractors, medical center professionals and staff; utilizing a variety of databases and computer systems; purchasing equipment, supplies and services using an agency/organization purchase card; and reconciling charges and preparing and submitting reports.

• Analysis and Problem Solving
• Computer Skills
• Control of Funds
• Veteran and Customer Focus

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: 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: Work is primarily sedentary when conducting purchasing functions for PSAS. However, while conducting inventory management functions, the incumbent may work comfortably in a warehouse environment, sitting, standing, walking, bending, lifting, carrying, retrieving and managing inventory. Prolonged periods of working at a computer terminal is required. Ability to retrieve equipment from a storage room is required. Climbing associated with stocking of equipment and other items in storage areas is necessary. Incumbent may carry/lift items weighing up to twenty-five (25) pounds. Normal safety precautions are adequate. The work involves moderate discomfort when visiting sites away from the office. At times, the employee may be required to wear protective clothing when visiting the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Fabrication Laboratory. Often, walking between the main medical center and other parts of Prosthetics to conduct professional duties.

Work Environment: The incumbent works in a health care office with the possibility of contact with ill and diseased patients. Normal duties are performed in an office setting, which has adequate heat, light, and ventilation; however, the incumbent must retrieve prosthetic items from various storage areas daily. The incumbent may on occasion, accompany the Site Manager and/or Prosthetic Representative on visits to the patients' homes or to a vendor for shop inspections. Incumbent has direct daily contact with patients and may handle equipment returned from Veterans with contagious diseases; hence, the incumbent is required to practice universal precautions in observance of normal safety practices with office equipment, prosthetics equipment & supplies; avoidance of trips and falls, and observance of fire regulations is required. The area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated.

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.

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. Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.
Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.