Duties

Major duties include:

• Controls all inventory transactions and purchase decisions which determine the quantity and value of the inventory.
• Utilizes working knowledge of fiscal accounting process to support the Prosthetics program.
• Establishes stock levels, revises reorder frequencies, and forecasts future requirements as necessary to provide continuous support for patient care.
• Plans and initiates requisitions to ensure commitments are within authorized funds and deliveries are phased to correspond with usage requirements.
• Ascertains interchangeability of items or acceptability of substitutions due to cost restraints or availability factors.
• Recognizes the necessity for high priority action when stock levels are too low or when unsatisfactory quality exists.
• Serves a central point of contact and exchange of information for personnel engaged in supply, production, maintenance, and users relative to material support problems affecting the Prosthetics program.
• Employs delegated authority to review and sign as the Accountable Officer for all supply requests and to determine adequate justification, priority of need, availability, locality of purchase, and method of procurement.
• Maintains all due-in records and double checks receipt documents for accuracy.
• Provides indirect patient care services appropriate to the cognitive, emotional, and chronological maturation needs of the Veteran.
• Applies conventional practices to resolve a variety of purchasing problems such as inadequate or restrictive specifications, lack of multiple suppliers, urgent need, or insufficient purchase history.
• Completes a variety of duties including inventory management, control, purchasing, research, delivery and turn-in, requiring a practical knowledge of applicable operations, procedures, programs, policies, and regulations.

Work Schedule: M-F 8am - 4:30pm
Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD512-20019-A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/17/2022.

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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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:

• Specialized Experience: You must have One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: knowledge of procurement regulations, methods, procedures; preparing purchase orders for specialized medical supplies/equipment; knowledge of basic medical terminology to assist clinicians in preparation of prosthetic consults; reviewing prosthetic requests and making eligibility determinations; counseling patients on eligibility and entitlement for medical services/supplies; inventory management; and using an automated procurement program to enter, extract and track data.

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

• Interpersonal skills
• Customer Service
• Attention to Detail
• Teamwork
• Self Management

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. 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. Climbing associated with stocking of equipment and other items in storage areas is necessary. May carry and/or lift items weighing up to twenty-five (25) pounds.

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/ .

Education

Not applicable for this position.

Additional information

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/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. To be well-qualified : applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. 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/ .

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a VA job announcement includes language requiring applicants to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to Executive Order 14043, that requirement does not currently apply to this Job Announcement. VA may request information regarding your vaccination status, if selected, for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

Due to COVID-19, VA is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement. Management officials will provide information about returning to the official, pre-pandemic worksite, when applicable. At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework depending upon the terms of your organization's telework policy and the duties of the position.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .