Duties

Summary

Department of the Interior structures its SES positions into categories to determine the minimum pay for each position. This is a Category 3 position. The minimum pay for this position is $166,500.00. Pay is set based on consideration of the selectee's current salary and other factors. This position is only eligible for situational tele-work only.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

The Department of the Interior:

• **Awards more than $ 5 billion annually in financial assistance across 10 bureaus.
• **Manages one in every five acres of land in the United States.
• **Operates more than 800 dams and irrigation facilities.
• **Oversees water projects that irrigate lands generating 60 percent of our Nation's vegetables.
• **Manages lands and waters that generate one-third of the Nation's domestic energy supply.
• **Undertakes research and provides scientific information to advance our knowledge of our surroundings.
• **Serves American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities.
• **Works with States to restore abandoned mine land sites and protects communities.
• **Manages 388 national park units and 542 wildlife refuges.
• **Employs over 75,000 individuals at approximately 2,400 locations across the United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, and freely associated states who work with thousands of state, local, and public interest groups to help cities and towns address their natural resource needs.

The security clearance requirement is not a prerequisite to apply for this position. The incumbent of this position, must possess the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance. This position requires pre and post employment drug screening.

Veterans preference does not apply to the Senior Executive Service (SES).

This position is located in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary - Budget, Finance, Grants, and Acquisition. The Office of Grants Management provides leadership, guidance, and consulting services for the Department of the Interior (DOI) on grants management, cooperative agreement, and financial assistance policies and initiatives. The Office has responsibility for financial assistance initiatives and also assists DOI offices and bureaus in conducting self-assessments using an adaptation of OMB's Executive Branch standards. The Office develops departmental directives, policy, and manages the Department's directives, grants management, and financial assistance program.

Duties and Responsibilities Include:

• As the Director and the Department's senior technical expert in grants and cooperative agreement management, the incumbent complements the technical knowledge of program officials with expertise in business, financial, and other non-programmatic areas of financial assistance administration. Provides direction and advice, and assists departmental officials, bureau headquarters and regional staff concerning all aspects of administration in dealing with a complex and diverse financial assistance program.
• Incumbent is responsible for ensuring the integrity of the Department of the Interior's financial assistance management operations by establishing and maintaining organizational arrangements that do not compromise or have the potential to compromise the financial assistance management function, and periodically assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of these arrangements by auditing bureau compliance with established post-award monitoring and reporting policy. Oversees and directs the establishment of methods and practices to ensure grantees and cooperators fulfill requirements of laws, regulations and formally established policies.
• Provides guidance to bureaus on how to shape pre-award activity consistent with authorizing statutes and Secretarial priorities. Manages the Department's implementation of GrantSolutions. Directs a staff of grants management and cooperative agreement specialists, who perform the analytic, technical, evaluative, interpretive and other operations required in the mechanics of the negotiations, administration, and termination and processing of grants thereby strengthening the grantee's and cooperator's capacity to plan and manage their financial assistance to best serve the department's mission.
• The Director analyzes, determines the need for and, formulates financial assistance policy, procedures, standards, and guidance applicable to discretionary and formula grants, and cooperative agreements. Additionally, the Director implements and adapts policies and regulations in accordance with statutory authorities of the various components of the Department of the Interior and interprets OMB Circulars and directives that pertain to the financial assistance management function.
• Directs the formulation, interpretation, and clarification of policies, instructions and procedures pertinent to the effective administration, management, and fiscal review of DOI financial assistance.
• Provides authoritative interpretation and clarification addressing Departmental financial assistance administrative regulations and procedures as specified in the Grant Policy Administration Manual and Uniform Guidance document codified by the Department as 45 CFR Part 75 to operating program managers and grantee organizations.

This is a Category 3 position.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - 1 to 5 days per month, may be required.

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
00

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. citizenship is required
• Occasional travel may be required
• Participation in direct deposit is required
• Ability to obtain and maintain the clearance level required by the position
• Ability to pass pre and post employment drug screens

As a basic requirement for entry into the SES, applicants must provide evidence of progressively responsible executive leadership and supervisory experience that is indicative of senior executive level management capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under Executive Core Qualifications and Technical Qualifications listed above. The ideal candidate will have experience supervising employees through subordinate supervisors and have experience hiring, developing, and evaluating employees. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at or above the GS-14/15 grade level in the federal service or its equivalent in the private sector or non-governmental organizations. Failure to meet this basic qualification requirement and all executive and technical qualification factors automatically disqualifies an applicant.

Applicants who meet all the mandatory executive and technical qualifications will be evaluated by a panel of SES members to determine the degree to which they possess each of the listed qualifications. This evaluation will determine which applicants are best qualified. Total background, including experience, education, awards, self-development, and training will be reviewed. This information will be obtained from the application package, including the required narrative statements for the technical and Executive Core Qualifications described in this vacancy.

As such, your resume should demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully fulfill responsibilities inherent in most SES positions such as:

• Directing the work of an organizational unit;
• Ensuring the success of one or more specific major programs or projects;
• Monitoring progress toward strategic organizational goals, evaluating organizational performance and taking action to improve performance; and
• Supervising the work of employees; and exercising important policy-making, policy determining, or other executive functions.

If your resume does not include these basic qualifications, you will not be determined qualified for this position.

We recommend that your resume addressing the ECQs include examples that are clear, concise, and emphasize their level of responsibilities, the scope and complexity of the programs, activities, or services managed; program accomplishments; policy initiatives undertaken; level of contacts; the sensitivity and criticality of the issues addressed; and the results of actions taken.

Qualifications

Executive Core Qualifications:

ECQ 1 - LEADING CHANGE: You must have demonstrated an ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.

Leadership Competencies: Creativity & Innovation, External Awareness, Flexibility, Resilience, Strategic Thinking, Vision

ECQ 2 - LEADING PEOPLE: You must demonstrate the ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts.

Leadership Competencies: Conflict Management, Leveraging Diversity, Developing Others, Team Building

ECQ 3 - RESULTS DRIVEN: This core qualification involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.

Leadership Competencies: Accountability, Customer Service, Decisiveness, Entrepreneurship, Problem Solving, Technical Credibility

ECQ 4 - BUSINESS ACUMEN: This ECQ involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.

Leadership Competencies: Financial Management, Human Capital Management, Technology Management

ECQ 5 - BUILDING COALITIONS: This ECQ involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals.

Leadership Competencies: Partnering, Political Savvy, Influencing/Negotiating

FUNDAMENTAL COMPETENCIES: The following competencies are the foundation for success in each of the Executive Core Qualifications: Interpersonal Skills, Oral Communication, Integrity/Honesty, Written Communication, Continual Learning, Public Service Motivation

Mandatory Technical Qualifications:

1. Demonstrated senior technical expert knowledge in grants and cooperative agreement management.

2. Demonstrated experience directing a staff of grants management and cooperative agreement specialists, who perform the analytic, technical, evaluative, interpretive and other operations required in the mechanics of the negotiations, administration, and termination and processing of grants thereby strengthening the grantee's and cooperator's capacity to plan and manage their financial assistance to best serve the department's constituencies.

3. Demonstrated experience coordinating financial assistance activity within all elements of an organization and any external organization requiring assistance.

4. Demonstrated experience conducting reviews of reports and grantee correspondence relative to grants management and all aspects of financial assistance.

Education

There is no positive education requirement for this position.

Additional information

The applicant selected for this position will be required to file a Financial Disclosure Report, SF-278, and the supplemental form, Confidential Statement of Employment and Financial Interest, DI-278. All forms must be filed within 30 days after the selection for this position

The sensitivity level of the position requires completion of a successful background investigation of the selectee. Prior to appointment, all applicants tentatively selected for this position may be required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use.

Effective January 1, 2010, OPM must authorize any employment offers we make to current or former (within the last 5 years) political Schedule A, Schedule C, or Non-career SES employees in the executive branch. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, or Non-career SES employee in the executive branch, you must disclose that to the Human Resources Office.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

You will be evaluated based on the information you provide. Verification of performance, suitability, and security information from reference checks will be taken into consideration when making an offer of employment.

You will be evaluated on the quality and extent of your total accomplishments, experience, and education. Your application will be evaluated by a rating and ranking panel, and highly qualified candidates may undergo an interview and reference checks. The Department of the Interior's Executive Resources Board (ERB) will review results and make recommendations on final selection to the appointing authority. Unless you have already been certified by a Qualifications Review Board (QRB) in the past, your ECQs must be certified by a QRB after selection and before appointment can occur.
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Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Top Secret

Drug test required
Yes

Required Documents

1. REQUIRED Your resume - it must contain information sufficient to make a valid determination that you fully meet the specialized experience requirements as stated in this vacancy announcement. Insufficient information will result in a not qualified rating. It is recommended that you include the following information:

• Full name, mailing address, and day and evening telephone numbers
• Educational information, including the name, city and state of colleges or universities you attended, as well as the type and year of any degrees received
• Information about your paid and nonpaid work experience related to this position including:
• Job title (include series and grade if Federal job)
• Duties and accomplishments
• Employer's name and address
• Supervisor's name and phone number
• Starting and ending dates of employment (month and year)
• Salary
• Indicate if we may contact your current supervisor
• Information about honors, awards, and special accomplishments

2. REQUIRED A narrative statement addressing each of the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ) and Technical Qualifications - experience (paid and unpaid), education, training, awards, and/or self-development activities as related to each. Each ECQ and each technical qualification must be addressed separately. The narrative addressing ECQ's must follow the format provided at http://www.opm.gov/ses/references/GuidetoSESQuals_2010.pdf (Adobe Acrobat required). Narrative statements must not exceed 2 pages for each individual technical qualification(s). However, the submission of your entire ECQ package (i.e., all five ECQ's narrative statements) may not exceed 10 pages in its totality. IF YOU EXCEED THESE LIMITS, YOU WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

OR

If you are a graduate of an approved SES Candidate Development Program, you must include a copy of the OPM certification of eligibility and a narrative statement addressing only the technical qualifications.

OR

If you are a current or former SES member, you must submit documentation of your SES status (i.e., SF-50 appointing you into the SES) and a narrative statement addressing only the technical qualifications.

This document MUST be submitted using "Qualifications" as Document Type.

3. REQUIRED If you are a current Federal employee, a copy of a recent SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, that indicates Federal status, grade, tenure, and type of service. Please remove your social security number and date of birth.

4. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED A copy of your most recent annual performance appraisal (from either the Federal or private sector). Please remove your social security number.

5. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Candidates are requested to complete the DI-1935, Applicant Background Survey, on a voluntary basis. Information will be used solely to review compliance with Federal law. Failure to complete this form will not affect consideration. The form can be found online at http://www.doi.gov/diversity/di1935.pdf

All of the documentation listed above is required to be attached to your application, if it is applicable to your candidacy. Failure to attach any of the documentation listed above which proves your candidacy for this position will result in disqualification/non-consideration for this position.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED DOCUMENTATION:

1. A Copy of your most recent annual performance appraisal (from either the Federal or private sector). Please remove your social security number.

2. Candidates are requested to complete the DI-1935, Applicant Background Survey, on a voluntary basis. Information will be used solely to review compliance with Federal law. Failure to complete this form will not affect consideration. The form can be found online at http://www.doi.gov/diversity/di1935.pdf

To begin, click the Apply Online button near the bottom (or right) of this screen and follow the prompts to register, answer a few questions, and submit all required documents. To return to your saved application, log in to your USAJOBS account at http://www.usajobs.gov and click on "My Applications". Click on the position title, and then select Apply Online to continue.

The following categories of applicants but MUST address the Technical Qualification factors. These Categories include:

• Applicants who are currently serving under a SES career appointment (must provide a copy of Standard Form 50-Notification of Personnel Action that documents career appointment to the SES), or

• Applicants who are eligible for reinstatement to the SES (must provide a copy of Standard Form 50-Notification of Personnel Action that documents career appointment to the SES), or

• Applicants who are graduates of OPM-approved SES Candidate Development Programs (must provide proof of OPM Qualifications Review Board certification).

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.