Duties

Summary

About the Position: Serves as a contract specialist responsible for pre-award and post-award functions, including negotiations, cost/price analysis, contract administration, and closeout for a variety of supply, service, and/or construction contracts for the National Guard Bureau (NGB).
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Responsibilities

• Serves as a contract specialist performing pre-award functions for procurements involving supplies, services and construction of various types.
• Develops various procurement strategies, briefs top management on solicitation and contract problems (both actual and potential), and presents alternative solutions.
• Evaluates responses to solicitations, including price reasonableness, adequacy of competition, compliance with solicitation, and probability of meeting requirements.
• Performs or directs the performance of cost and price analyses and evaluations for adequacy and acceptability of contractor proposals, coordinating these efforts with the project/technical support personnel concerned.
• Analyzes contractor claims and settlement proposals for feasibility brought against the government for payment.
• Conducts negotiations concerning cost, price, and contract terms and conditions.
• Develops cost/pricing data, government objectives, and strategies for use in negotiations.
• Participates in source selections.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
None

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• Employee may be required to obtain a Contracting Officer's Warrant and must be able to meet the requirements stated in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and its supplements necessary to obtain a Contracting Officer Warrant.
• The employee may be required to work an uncommon tour of duty (i.e. evenings, weekends, and/or holidays).
• The employee may be required to work overtime.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities.

• 30 Percent or More Disabled Veterans
• Current Department of Army Civilian Employees
• Current Permanent Department of Defense (DOD) Civilian Employee (non-Army)
• Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS) Interchange Agreement
• Domestic Defense Industrial Base/Major Range and Test Facilities Base Civilian Personnel Workforce
• Executive Order (E.O.) 12721
• Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan
• Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act
• Military Spouses, under Executive Order (E.O.) 13473
• Non-Appropriated Fund Instrumentality (NAFI)
• Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer
• Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Interchange Agreement Eligible
• People with Disabilities, Schedule A
• Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Spouse Preference (MSP) Eligible
• Reinstatement
• Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) of 1998

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 .

Basic Requirements for Contract Specialist
Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) from an accredited educational institution and 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. (The 24 semester hour requirement can be obtained within the bachelor's degree OR in addition to the degree.) NOTE: You MUST provide transcripts showing 24 hours of business related courses. Failure to do so will render your application ineligible.

OR

Exemption: You are exempt from the education requirements above if (A) you are a current DoD employee, in any occupational series, who has served on or before September 30, 2000, as follows: (1) Served as a GS/equivalent-1102 position or contracting officer position with authority to award or administer contracts above the SAT in any Federal agency, OR (2) Served as a military member in a comparable military occupational specialty; OR (B) you are a current member of the armed forces who occupied a position within an occupational specialty similar to the GS-1102 series on or before September 30, 2000.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:

Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes experience with pre and post award functions such as: contract formation, solicitations, cost and price analysis, closeout of contracts; negotiates with contractors to ensure all contracts are fair and reasonable and a wide range of contract methods and contract types; assist with preparing contracts for awards and make sure all applicable Federal and Department of Defense regulations and statutes are met for services, commodities or construction contracts. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (NH-02 or GS-11).

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:

• Contracting/Procurement
• Planning and Evaluating
• Preparation and Negotiation
• Procurement Analysis

This is a DOD Demonstration Project position. Under the Defense Authorization Act, personnel management demonstration programs are operating in numerous Army activities and various other organizations supported by Army civilian personnel centers. Under the streamlined personnel operations for the demonstration projects, the familiar 15 General Schedule grade structure is replaced with broad pay bands that typically encompass a range of grades. For example, acquisition jobs in level NH-III of broad banding encompass the traditional GS-12 through GS-13 grades. Other initiatives under the demonstration projects include simplified job classification, streamlined hiring processes, and expanded developmental opportunities.

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.
• This position requires you to submit a Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE 278) or a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE450) upon entry, and annually thereafter.
• 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) 14 - Contracting position.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• 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 is not authorized, based on a determination that a PCS move is not in the Government interest.
• This is a Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act Career Field Position. Per DOD Position Certification Level and Training Requirements, All Acquisition Workforce Positions Mandated in Title 10, USC, Section 1723. DOD 5000.52-M, DOD Acquisition Career Development Program, contains specific requirements for acquisition categories and grades/levels. Current requirements are available at the https://asc.army.mil. Upon entry into an Acquisition position, the incumbent has 24 months to complete the position requirements without needing to obtain a waiver. Selectees must meet position requirements for certification at Level II in Acquisition Career Field Contracting within 24 months of entrance on duty. Level 2 or 3 certification in contracting is preferred.
• Relocation/Recruitment Incentive MAY be authorized based on the needs of the government.
• Situational/Adhoc Telework permitted in accordance with agency policy.
• Telework may be authorized in accordance with agency policy.
  

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

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.

Although there is no limitation on the number of pages that your resume may contain, it is highly recommended that you limit your resume to 5 pages or less. Exceeding 5 pages will not affect your qualifications or eligibility for this position.

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.
• This position has an individual occupational requirement and/or allows for substitution of education for experience. If you meet this requirement based on education you MUST submit a copy of your transcript with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses

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.