Duties

Summary

About the Position: These 2 Attorney-Adviser (General) positions are with the Office of Chief Counsel, US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) located on Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. One position will be in the legal specialty focus area of Contracts and Acquisition Law and the second will be in Ethics and Fiscal Law. Placement and determination for either of these positions will be based on experience in these legal specialties.
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Responsibilities

• Applies a broad knowledge of directives, laws, policies, and regulations relating to Army, Department of Defense and Federal procedures to provide guidance and assistance to the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC).
• Provides legal advice, counsel and opinion to the command on the laws, regulations, procedure and precedents on government information management practices.
• Advises the command?s Resource Management concerning all aspects of the resource management mission as it pertains to fiscal law issues involving appropriated funds.
• Serves as legal advisor to and representative of command officials at the highest level on problems arising from law suits, court actions, board hearings within the Executive Department, and other legal proceedings requiring representation.
• Represents the command and provides legal advice to command officials on any matter relating to the administration of command civilian personnel and contractor employees.
• Serves as an Ethics Counselor for the command. Provides oral and written legal advice, assistance, and opinions to the Command and Command personnel on the requirements of the Joint Ethics Regulations (JER), the Standards of Conduct Act.
• Provides legal advice on in the areas of federal acquisition law, intellectual property, non-Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) based transactions and other legal issues including pre-award and post-award litigation.

Travel Required

25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
14

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• Position requires a Secret security clearance be obtained and maintained throughout employment.
• This position requires the incumbent submit a Financial Disclosure Statement, OGE-450, (5CFR Part 2634, Subpart I USOGE, 6/08). Executive Branch Personnel Confidential Financial Disclosure Report upon entering the position and annually.
• Business Travel up to 10% may be required.
• Incumbent must be a current member in good standing (as defined by the pertinent bar) of the bar of a State, Territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
• This position requires the incumbent to possess a Sworn Fitness to Practice Statement.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: Who May Apply: US Citizens

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document .

Education: An applicant must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (Juris Doctorate).

Bar membership: Applicant must be a current member in good standing of the bar of a State, Territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Specialized experience GS-13: To qualify applicants must have two or more years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position; or have graduated from an American Bar Association (ABA) - Accredited Law School in the top 25% of the class; or have an advanced law degree such as an LLM may substitute for one year of the required professional legal experience. NOTE: The experience described in your resume will be evaluated and screened for the basic qualification requirements, and the skills needed to perform the duties of this position as described in this vacancy announcement.

Time in Grade Requirement GS-13: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-12).

Specialized experience GS-14: To qualify applicants must have three or more years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position; or have graduated from an American Bar Association (ABA) - Accredited Law School in the top 25% of the class; or have an advanced law degree such as an LLM may substitute for one year of the required professional legal experience. NOTE: The experience described in your resume will be evaluated and screened for the basic qualification requirements, and the skills needed to perform the duties of this position as described in this vacancy announcement.

Time in Grade Requirement GS-14: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-13).

VETERANS PREFERENCE INFORMATION: There is no formal rating system for applying veteran's preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of the Army considers veteran's preference eligibility a positive factor for attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veteran's preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documents (e.g., DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active duty) to their submissions. Although the point-preference system is not used, applicants eligible to claim a 10-point preference must submit a Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, and supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed. (SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preference and the required supporting documents, is available from the Office of Personnel Management Website at www.opm.gov .

Education

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html .

Additional information

• Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
• You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
• Two year trial/probationary period may be required.
• Direct deposit of pay is required.
• Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees.
• If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.
• This is a Career Program (CP) 56 - Legal position.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• When you perform a Civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) with the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers the majority of your entitlements to be taxable. Visit https://www.gsa.gov/cdnstatic/FTR%20Bulletin%2018_05%20Relocation%20Allowances_0.pdf for more information.
• 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 .
• Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs MAY be authorized, subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations.\
• Relocation/Recruitment Incentives May be authorized.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your résumé and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your résumé and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). If you are a Federal employee in the competitive service and your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority for this position. To receive selection priority, you must: (1) meet ICTAP eligibility criteria (2) be rated well-qualified for the position and; (3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your ICTAP eligibility. To be considered well-qualified and receive selection priority applicants must satisfy all qualification requirements for the position and receive a score of 90 or above. Additional information about the program is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Secret

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc). Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Merit Checklist and Proof of Eligibility .

As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

1. Your resume:

• Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
• If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
• For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you may not receive consideration for this position.
• For additional information see: What to include in your resume .

2. Other supporting documents:

• Cover Letter, optional
• Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
• Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy. The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority. You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration.
• Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old).
• This position requires a job-related license or certification. You MUST submit a copy of your license or certification with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses

• Official law school transcript and an official statement of relative standing in class: Photo static copies of documents are acceptable when applying but certified documents must be furnished before entering duty.
• Official Good Standing Certificate and/or letter: showing that you are a member in good standing at the bar of a state, territory, or Puerto Rico. Certificate must be dated within three months of the date the application is submitted. COPIES OF BAR CARDS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE REPLACEMENTS FOR THE CERTIFICATE AND/OR LETTER; The Certificate of Good Standing must be submitted by all applicants, to include attorneys currently appointed to positions under the ANY qualifying authority of the Army.
• Fitness to Practice Statement: a DATED and SIGNED statement from you that your fitness to practice law or conduct as an attorney has never been challenged in any jurisdiction to the best of your knowledge, or if either has been challenged, a sworn (notarized) statement concerning the facts and circumstances, together with any explanation that you may deem appropriate may be submitted. As an alternative to a sworn (notarized) statement, a declaration under penalty of perjury may be submitted in the following format: "I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct...executed on "(date)...(your signature)." (28 U.S.C. 1746). The statement must be dated within three months of the date the application is submitted. The statement is required to be submitted by all applicants to include attorneys currently appointed to positions under ANY qualifying authority of Army (including active duty Army Judge Advocates).

NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.