Duties

Summary

You will serve as a Contract Specialist and may support any of the following programs: FHWA, FMCSA, Build America Bureau, or ITACE. You will award, administer and closeout contracts to support these programs and may procure complex studies; technical & professional services; professional training services; specialized equipment; or IT supplies/services. These programs administer large dollar, multiyear contracts; task/delivery orders; inter/intra-agency agreements; and purchase orders.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

As a Contract Specialist, you will:

• Be responsible for the full range of pre-award functions involving procurements (including assistance agreements), typically involving technical services or programs of research and development, specialized equipment or systems. Be responsible for the solicitation, analysis, evaluation, and negotiation of proposals and budgets.
• Perform acquisition planning, scheduling procurement from time of acceptance in the Division through award. Develop procurement objectives for the requirement in terms of competition and price range, and constructs the considerations. Prepare and maintain current acquisition plans, appropriate milestone charts, and related schedules.
  
• Perform detailed analyses of all elements of cost in contractor and applicant proposals and budget applications, and make competitive range determinations.
  
• Conduct pre-proposal conferences with prospective offerors and applicants to arrive at a clear understanding of what is required under the proposed procurement. Obtain appropriate data from technical officials. Issue solicitations, with amendments as necessary, to clarify questions concerning such topics as specification changes, language ambiguities, or clarification of contract clauses.
  

The ideal candidate for this position will have a solid background and experience in the award and administration of contracts using the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) specifically Parts 8, 12, 13, 15 and 16. He or she would possess expertise in the award of a wide variety of contract types to include firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials and cost reimbursement for the acquisition of professional and technical services, as well as research and development, and in conducting price analysis and detailed cost analysis. It is recognized that the breadth and depth of experience will vary by grade level of the candidate. It is considered favorably although not required for the individual to have knowledge and familiarity working with interagency acquisitions and/or grants and cooperative agreements.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Position requires occasional travel.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen & meet specialized experience to qualify.
• Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.
• Provide all required documents by closing date.
• Direct Hire Authority will be used to fill this position.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

• SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
• DEU REQUIREMENTS: Applicants selected under delegated examining procedures may be required to successfully complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
• CONFIDENTIAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REPORT: The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter.

Qualifications

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.

To qualify on Experience for the GS-11, you must have one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-09, which includes:

• Experience awarding and administering Delivery/Task Orders and Purchase Orders.

To qualify for the Grade-11 on Education alone, you must have:

• 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.

You can also qualify based on a combination of education and experience.

To qualify on Experience for the GS-12, you must have one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-11, which includes:

• Experience awarding, administering and closing out a variety of contract types to include firm-fixed-price, time-and-material and cost reimbursement type contracts using acquisition regulations as a regular and recurring part of your job.

You cannot qualify on education at this level, you must have experience.

To qualify on Experience for the GS-13 (in addition to the GS-12), you must have one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-12, which includes:

• Experience independently awarding, administering and closing out multi-million dollar contracts to include firm-fixed-price, time-and-material and cost reimbursement type contracts using acquisition regulations as a regular and recurring part of your job.

You cannot qualify on education at this level, you must have 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.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4


Students enrolled in a qualifying degree program can apply if the anticipated graduation date is within six months of closing date of the announcement. Graduation transcript must be received before start date.

Other applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

MANDATORY EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR GS-9-12:

A. 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. Applicants who meet the criteria for Superior Academic Achievement qualify for positions at the GS-9 level.
B. Graduate Education: To qualify for GS-1102 positions on the basis of graduate education, graduate education in one or a combination of the following fields is required: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management.
Note - For positions at GS-9 through GS-12, applicants who are qualifying based on experience must possess at least one year of specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level, that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position, in addition to meeting the basic requirements in paragraph A or B, above.
C. Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. Employees who occupy GS-1102 positions at grades 5 through 12 will be considered to meet the basic requirements for other GS-1102 positions up to and including those classified at GS-12. This includes positions at other agencies and promotions up through grade 12. However, employees must meet specialized experience requirements when seeking another position.
D. 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 A and B 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 D, 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.

MANDATORY EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR GS-13 and above:

A. Completion of 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. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position, and must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position. AND
B. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, that included or was supplemented by 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.
C. 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 D.
D. 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 A and B 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 D, 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.

Additional information

Displaced employees may be eligible for ICTAP or CTAP priority consideration. For more information, please review the OPM Employee's Guide to Career Transition .

EEO STATEMENT: The Department of Transportation (DOT) maintains a model federal work environment that is free of discrimination. DOT ensures equal employment opportunity for employees and applicants for employment, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), genetic information, age, disability, sexual orientation, or protected activity.

PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy may be used to fill similar positions within 60 days for this location.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

For this announcement, all applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational and specialized experience requirements.

Applicants will not be rated or ranked. Veteran's Preference does NOT apply.

All applications that are verified to meet the basic qualifications will be referred to the selecting official.

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. All answers provided in the on-line process must be substantiated by a resume. If, upon review, it is determined that your resume and/or supporting documents do not support your answer choices, your application may be removed from consideration.

Ultimately, the Automated Staffing Office is responsible for determining an applicant's eligibility. Please ensure that your resume provide enough detail to support your answers to the Vacancy Specific Questions.

* PLEASE NOTE: This announcement establishes an open continuous (12 month) vacancy announcement for Contract Specialist GS-1102- 11/12/13. Given our continuing need for top professionals in this field, we will review applications after 1/22/2019. The final review will be on the closing date.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

ALL Applicants must provide a resume that fully supports the required specialized experience and was created within USA Jobs Resume Builder and respond to the vacancy questions by the closing date of the vacancy.

The following is a list of documents that are only required based on the type of position and consideration for which you are applying. Please review each of the following sections to determine which, if any, additional documents you need to provide with your application.

TRANSCRIPTS - Transcripts as there is a stated education requirement for the series. The transcripts need not be official, but must show that you meet the stated education requirements, including specific major or class requirements.

• If you have previously held a government position in the same series as this position, you may be able to provide an SF-50 showing that you have already qualified and worked in the federal service in this series.

VETERANS: Your last DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty, that shows the type of discharge and all dates of active duty is required to verify your eligibility. it need not be official.

• If you are applying to a vacancy opened to all US Citizens under category rating and wish to be considered as a preference eligible, you need to submit a copy of your DD214.
• If you are claiming preference eligibility as a disabled veteran, you must submit proof of entitlement of this preference which is normally a valid letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs certifying to the present existence of the service-connected disability and indicating the percentage of your disability. An SF-15 is desired, but not required.
• If you are applying to a vacancy opened Status and you are requesting consideration under Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) ( https://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/shav/#veoa ), you need to provide a copy of your last DD214, which verifies your military service dates, reason for separation, OR certification of separation that shows a discharge date within 120 days of the closing of this announcement, and eligibility for consideration under the Veterans Employment Opportunity Act.

STATUS APPLICANTS: If seeking eligibility consideration as status/agency/DOT employee, you must provide proof of eligibility in the form of an SF-50. Your SF-50 must verify the highest grade held competitively, full performance level of position, and eligibility as a status applicant. Please do not submit an Award SF-50, as these are often incomplete and do not verify grade or status eligibility.

NON COMPETITIVE APPLICANTS: If requesting concurrent consideration for Non-competitive (NC) appointment eligibility, you must provide the appropriate SPECIAL APPOINTING AUTHORITY DOCUMENTS, such as PCS orders (military spouse) describing move & marriage certificate; letter from VA or DD214 describing 100% disability of spouse; letter from State Vocational Office certifying disability (schedule A), etc. For more information, visit military spouse NC appointments or Persons with Disabilities NC appointments.

DISPLACED EMPLOYEES: If requesting consideration under the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency CTAP program (ICTAP), you must meet the well qualified standards for this vacancy (meeting minimum requirements for position and scoring at least an 85 or falling in the Gold Category) and provide all of the following documents:

• your most recent performance appraisal,
• the proof of eligibility letter from the Agency, and
• your most current SF-50, displaying current series and grade.

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents. Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system. You must verify that the documents are in the system with your application prior to final submission.

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.