Duties

Summary

The incumbent serves as a Management and Program Analyst (Strategy, Legislative Development and Implementation Team) assigned to Education Service Central Office, within the Program Management Division. The incumbent develops effective long-term strategies for meeting the needs of the Education business line customer. The incumbent reports to the Supervisory Management and Program Analyst, Strategy, Legislative Development and Implementation Team.
Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Develops legislative proposals for the President's legislative agenda and maintains knowledge of current trends in higher education, and reviews decisions of the Court of Veterans Claims and General Counsel opinions to decide if corrective legislative action is needed.
• Monitors and tracks legislation introduced in Congress that would impact VA education programs.
• Gathers information, collects data, and works closely with the Office of Resource Management Benefits Budget staff to develop cost estimates.
• Estimates the amount of General Operating Expense funds needed to implement proposed legislation.
• Prepares draft testimony on VA education benefit programs for congressional hearings before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs and House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
• Identifies and integrates internal and external issues affecting the immediate organization, such as those involving technical and administrative factors.
• Manage and coordinates projects to ensure the timely implementation of enacted legislation and other initiatives.
• Advises on work methods, practices, and procedures, and assists the other team members in identifying the components of a viable solution.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Travel Required

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

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/05/2020.

Time-in-grade: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the close of this announcement.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. The grade may have been in any occupation but must have been held in the Federal service. Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

GS-11: 52 weeks at the GS-09 level.
GS-12: 52 weeks at the GS-11 level.
GS-13: 52 weeks at the GS-12 level.

An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials.

NOTE: To support your claim that you have the required time-in-grade, you must submit your most recent promotion, within-grade increase, or appointment SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade.

AND

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience analyzing, interpreting, and applying laws, policies, and regulations; developing legislative proposals; gathering information, collecting data, and working with staff to determine or develop an outcome; awareness of education programs; experience preparing reports, document drafts, and summaries of research; coordinating and managing projects; reviews decisions to determine if corrective action is needed; establish and maintain memorandums and agreements between multiple entities; identify, analyze, and develop recommendations when issues arise; plan and conduct research and development projects.

OR

GS-11 Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. Transcripts (official or unofficial) must be submitted when using any part of education to qualify.

GS-12 Education: No educational substitute at the GS-12 grade level.

GS-13 Education: No educational substitute at the GS-13 grade level..

OR

GS-11 Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned. When substituting you can use graduate level education you have earned beyond a Bachelor's Degree. Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-11. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position.

• A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

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; religions; 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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/ .

Education

There is no educational substitution at the GS-12 and GS-13 grade level.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education for the GS-11 grade level.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ . If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html .

Additional information

VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

Relocation Expenses: Relocation expenses are authorized for this position. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers Permanent Change of Station (PCS) relocation services. Permanent Change of Station is the relocation of a household due to government convenience in connection with the transfer between duty stations or facilities. In consideration of the payment of expenses for travel and transportation, the selectee agrees to remain in federal service for twelve (12) months following the date of transfer. Failure to complete all conditions of the obligated service may result in repayment of travel/transportation expenses. For more information go to http://vaww.fscdirect.fsc.va.gov/pcs.asp .

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

If you are unable to apply online view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

You will be rated on the following competencies based on your application for this position:

• Knowledge of laws, policies and regulations.
• Ability to interpret laws, policies, and regulations.
• Skill in organizing and communicating ideas and thoughts effectively through written correspondence, oral presentation.
• Knowledge of education programs,
• Knowledge of administrative laws, policies, regulations and precedents applicable to the administration of one or more public programs.
• Ability to perform and evaluative work associated with business lines and/ or program activities.

If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job-related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview.

Your résumé and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

Trust determination process

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume

Review the information below and submit any additional documents (as needed) to demonstrate your eligibility and/or qualifications for the position:
Current Federal Employees:

• If you are applying using your status as a current federal employee or as a VEOA candidate (who is a current federal employee) you must submit an SF-50.
• To support your claim that you have the required time-in-grade, you must submit your most recent promotion, within-grade increase, or appointment SF-50 (not an award or general adjustment SF-50). Some applicants may have to submit more than one SF-50 in order to demonstrate their eligibility.
• If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit an SF-50 showing that grade.

Resume

• Your resume may be submitted in any format, however we strongly recommend using USA Jobs resume builder as it contains all of the information required on federal resumes.
• For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week, the dates of employment, and the level of your experience. If your resume does not contain this information you will not receive consideration for this position.
• If you submit more than one copy of your resume, only the most recent version will be reviewed. The latest timestamp will be used to determine which version of your resume is "most recent." It is your responsibility to check the status and timestamp of all documents you submit as part of your application.
• 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.

Applicants claiming CTAP/ICTAP eligibility must also submit:

• Certification of expected separation, reduction-in-force separation notice, or notice of proposed removal; and your most recent performance evaluation; and an SF-50 demonstrating your separation or the position you will be separated from. Or
• Worker's compensation separation: agency certification of inability to place employee and notification of separation or a separation SF-50. Or
• Disability annuity termination: Notification from OPM of disability annuity termination and separation SF-50 of the last position held. Or
• Military reserve or National Guard technician special disability retirement annuity under 5 U.S.C. 8337(h) or 8456: Certification of special disability retirement annuity from a military department or National Guard bureau and separation SF-50 of the last position held

Failure to submit any of the above mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted. You will not be contacted for additional information.

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please use this checklist to make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.

• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (VA)
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/vetpref/index.aspx .

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.