Duties

• Perform a full range of complex procurement activities for contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements in support of USAID/W bureaus, offices, and overseas Mission programs worldwide.
• Provide expert procurement advice to senior officials on all acquisition matters, ensuring actions are executed in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, accounting standards, pricing practices and current business methods.
• Negotiate procurement of products and services under a variety of contract/assistance mechanisms.
• Manage procurement planning activities such as preparing and maintaining current acquisition plans, appropriate milestone charts, and related schedules.
• Participate in strategy and planning phases, evaluation of offers, negotiations, contract award, and contract administration.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• United States Citizenship is required.
• Relevant experience (see Qualifications below).
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret clearance.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered with the Selective Service.
• You may be required to serve a one year probationary period.
• Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer is required.

Qualifications

DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using 5 U.S.C., Section 3304 and 5 CFR Part 337, Subpart B, which is the OPM approved government-wide direct-hire authority.

SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR:
This position includes a Selective Placement Factor (skill, knowledge, ability or other worker characteristic basic to - and essential for - satisfactory performance of the job). Selective Placements Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration.

Selective Placement Factor:
Performed pre-award, post-award and staff contracting work involving the procurement of diverse customer requirements.
NOTE: Experience must be documented in your resume.

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Education Requirement for the series, (2) provide a copy of transcripts for verification, AND (3) meet either the education or specialized experience requirements for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.

Basic Requirements for GS 11/12/13:

A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field;

OR

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.

Specialized Experience:

GS-11 : In addition to the basic requirement, you must, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. One year of specialized experience which includes: (a) leading a new award from solicitation through completion; (b) conducting relevant research and analysis to correctly apply regulations and policies; (c) analyzing and evaluating cost and pricing data for proposed and ongoing procurements; and (d) participating as an active team member for a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) or for a competitive Request for Application (RFA)/Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), or an equivalent/similar process.

Substitution of Education for Experience:
The experience requirements for the GS-11 level may be met by successful completion of three (3) full academic years of progressively higher-level graduate education in an accredited college or university, in one or a combination of the following fields: accounting, business finance, law contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management.

OR

Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. A year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours which the school attended has determined to represent one (1) year of full-time study. If that information is not available, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the one (1) year of full-time study requirement.

GS-12 : In addition to the basic requirement, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. One year of specialized experience which includes: (a) awarding and administering a variety of contract types using acquisition regulations; (b) analyzing and evaluating cost and pricing data for proposed and ongoing procurements; and (c) leading a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) or for a competitive Request for Application (RFA)/Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), or an equivalent/similar process.

Basic Requirements for the GS-13:
In addition to meeting the basic qualification requirements, applicants must have one (1) year of specialized experience at or equivalent to at least a GS-12 and complete 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.

GS-13 : One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. One year of specialized experience which includes: (a) leading a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) or for a competitive Request for Application (RFA)/Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), or an equivalent/similar process.

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, unless granted a waiver under Paragraph three.

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 one and two 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, 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.

Applicants cannot be promoted to the GS-13 without meeting all educational and experience qualifications for the GS-13.

CTAP/ICTAP candidates will be referred to the selecting official if they are found well qualified. Well-qualified means an eligible employee who possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities which clearly exceed the minimum requirements of the position. A well-qualified employee must meet the qualification and eligibility requirements of the position, including any medical qualifications, suitability, and minimum education and experience requirements, meet all selective factors (where applicable); meet quality ranking factors and are assigned to the Silver Category or higher Category; be physically qualified with reasonable accommodation to perform the essential duties of the position; meet any special qualifying U.S. OPM-approved conditions; AND be able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry without additional training.

A well-qualified candidate will not necessarily meet the definition of highly or best qualified when evaluated against other candidates who apply for a particular position. Selecting officials will document the job-related reason(s) for qualification determinations in the absence of selective and quality ranking factors.

You must meet the qualifications for this position no later than the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

Education

This position has a positive education requirement. Therefore, transcripts are required.

Please be advised that an official transcript will be required if you are selected for the position. Please include a copy of your transcript (unofficial or official) that demonstrates that you meet the education requirement listed above prior to the closing date of the announcement. If you do not include this information prior to the closing date of the announcement, your application will be marked as incomplete unless your SF-50 shows that you were/are already in the 1102 job series.

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, relevant to the duties of the position to be filled, including volunteer experience.

Additional information

USAID is an independent Federal Government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. With headquarters in the District of Columbia, we operate in more than 100 countries worldwide, playing an active and critical role in the promotion of U.S. foreign policy interests. When crisis strikes, when rights are repressed, when hunger, disease, and poverty rob people of opportunity, USAID acts on behalf of the American people to help expand the reach of prosperity and dignity to the world's most vulnerable people. USAID employees and contractors must commit to maintaining a workplace free of sexual misconduct, including harassment, exploitation, and abuse, and adhere to USAID's Counter-Trafficking in Persons Code of Conduct. For information on the effort to counter all forms of human trafficking, including the procurement of commercial sex acts and the use of forced labor, visit http://www.state.gov/g/tip. For more information about USAID, visit http://www.usaid.gov.

This announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

These are Testing Designated Positions (TDP's) under the Agency's approved Drug-Free Work Place Program. All applicants selected for this position will be subject to random drug testing once they begin working for the Agency.

Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer is required.

Moving and relocation expenses are not authorized.

M ythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies: https://hru.gov/Studio_Recruitment/tools/Mythbuster_on_Federal_Hiring_Policies.pdf .

EEO Policy: EEO Policy Statement .

Reasonable Accommodation Policy: USAID is committed to equal employment opportunity; therefore, reasonable accommodations are available to applicants and employees with disabilities. If you need an accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the Reasonable Accommodation Division in the Office of Civil Rights at reasonableaccommodations@usaid.gov. Reasonable accommodation decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. To learn more about the Reasonable Accommodation Division, please visit our website at: https://www.usaid.gov/careers/reasonable-accommodations

Veterans' Information: Veterans Information .

Telework: https://www.telework.gov/ .

Selective Service Registration: http://www.sss.gov/ .

It is the Government's policy not to deny employment simply because an individual has been unemployed or has had financial difficulties that have arisen through no fault of the individual. USAID will use information about an individual's employment experience only to determine their qualifications and assess their relative level of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Although an individual's conduct may be relevant in any employment decision, including behavior during periods of unemployment or evidence of dishonesty in handling financial matters, financial difficulty that has arisen through no fault of the individual will generally not be the basis of an unfavorable suitability or fitness determination.