Duties

Summary

This position is located in the Headquarters (HQ), Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA),Office of General Counsel (OGC). The primary purpose of this position is to serve as a legal assistant to all components of the General Council. The incumbent is responsible for coordinating, reviewing and processing of legal and administrative support activities in accomplishing the assigned mission of the OGC.
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Responsibilities

• Responsible for coordinating, reviewing and processing of legal and administrative support activities in accomplishing the assigned mission of the Office of General Counsel (OGC)
• Provide a wide-range of legal and administrative support. services to the Office of General Counsel (OGC)
• Function as primary assistant to the Freedom of Information Act Officer, under his/her direct supervision, and receives, evaluates, researches and gathers requested information and drafts responses to individual requestors in accordance with current regulation for review and approval by the Freedom of Information Officer.
• Compose and prepare correspondence, not requiring legal interpretation, but requiring knowledge of legal procedures and specialized terminology, in all manner of legal correspondence including but not limited to Freedom of Information/Privacy Act, Federal Tort Claims, personnel law, commercial law, and all nature of legal business routinely addressed by the Office of General Counsel (OGC)
• Perform general administrative support duties of the GC in coordination with other administrative support personnel.

Travel Required

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

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
None

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Must be a United States Citizen
• Application materials must be received by 11:59 EST On the closing date.
• Work Schedule: Full time
• Tour of Duty: NO irregular schedule, nights and/or weekends are required
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Costs: Not authorized
• Position Sensitivity Non-Critical sensitive
• Overtime: Occasionally
• Temporary Duty (TDY) Travel: Occasionally
• Fair Labor Standards Act: (FLSA): non exempt
• Bargaining Unit Position:
• Drug Testing: Not Required
• Physical Requirement: n/a
• Obligated Position: NO
• Selective Service Requirement: All male applicants born after December 31, 1959 must be registered with the selective service system or exempt from Selective Service. Please visit https://www.sss.gov/ for more information.

Qualifications

In accordance with the Group Coverage Qualification Standards for Clerical and Administrative Support Positions, http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/Standards/group-stds/gs-cler.asp.applications

To qualify for this position you must possess One year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-7 grade level that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to perform successfully the duties of the position, and is directly in or related to this position. To be creditable, specialized experience must be at GS-7 or equivalent under other pay systems in the Federal service, military, or private sector.

Examples of specialized experience include:

• Review various requests for completeness, supporting documentation and mathematical correctness and draft replies for pertinent attorney. These requests include but are not limited to Permanent Change of Station (PCS) entitlements (real estate claims), requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act, etc. Creates, maintains and monitors Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act case files.
• Clerical and administrative support duties performed within the Office of General Counsel (OGC) include but are not limited to incoming and outgoing mail; routing of legal questions and inquiries within the Office; general correspondence; general filing and file maintenance; establishing, maintaining, and closing case files or systems of legal records; annotating indices and status records; compiling workload and status reports; monitoring and keeping up suspense and case dockets; and locating and abstracting data from files and records
• Creates, maintains and monitors Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act case files.

Volunteer Experience: Your experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through a National Service program (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, and 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 qualifications determinations your resume must contain your name, a description of your duties, the number of hours worked per week and the beginning and ending dates (month/year) for each position. Resumes that do not contain this information will be marked as insufficient and applicants may not receive consideration for this position.

Time after competitive appointment: Candidates applying under merit promotion must have completed three months of civilian service after a competitive appointment by the closing date of the announcement. (5 CFR 330.501)

Time-in-Grade: Current or previous federal employees must have held a permanent appointment in the competitive or excepted service for a minimum of 52 weeks at the GS-07 (or equivalent) level to be eligible for the position by the closing date of the announcement.

All current DeCA employees regardless of your location or human resources service provider must submit a copy of a recent SF50 showing your current position title, pay plan-series-grade, tenure and position occupied.

Documents to verify time-in-grade.
Current DeCA employees receiving human resources services from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA): You do not need to submit documents to verify you meet time-in-grade requirements UNLESS the documents are not in your eOPF. It is your responsibility to ensure the required supporting documents are in your eOPF before you complete the application process. We will review your eOPF to verify education (if you are using it to qualify), time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment. If these documents are not in your eOPF, you must submit them with your application or risk automatic disqualification. We do not use eOPF to determine or verify your qualifications. Qualifications information must be in your resume.

Current DeCA employees serving overseas and former federal employees: You must submit sufficient documents (i.e., SF 50s) to verify you meet time-in-grade requirements. Some SF 50s dated within the last 52 weeks do not demonstrate you meet time-in-grade on their own (e.g., Gen Adj from the current year). You may need to submit two (2) or more SF 50s to show you meet this requirement. Examples of appropriate SF 50s include Promotion, Reg WRI, and SF 50s effective more than 52 weeks ago. If you are applying for a higher grade than you currently hold you must show you held the next lower grade for at least 52 weeks.

All current Department of Defense (DoD) employees can access MyBiz and/or eOPF to obtain copies of their SF 50s.

Education

Education may not be substituted for specialized experience at this grade level.

Additional information

REGARDING INTERVIEWS: Interviews may be required for this position. Accommodations may be made to conduct telephonic interviews to preclude travel hardships for applicants.

Re-employed Annuitant: A former Federal employee who has retired under either the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) is an Annuitant. An annuitant cannot be hired (i.e. re-employed) unless the vacant position meets the criteria in the Department of Defense (DOD) policy on employment of annuitants issued December 10, 2008.
The DoD criteria for hiring Re-employed Annuitants can be found at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/1400.25-V300.pdf .

Re-employed Annuitant: This position Does not meet criteria for re-employed annuitant.

Other Notes:

• Financial Difficulty: https://chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/Mythbuster_on_Federal_Hiring_Policies_0.pdf
• Deliberate attempts to falsify your application information, such as copying portions of this job announcement into your resume, may result in you being removed from consideration for this position.
• Additional vacancies may be filled from this announcement upon its closing for up to 90 days.
• Applicants selected from this announcement may be required to serve a Two Year probationary period.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Specifically you will be evaluated on the following competencies:

• Clerical
• Manages and Organizes Information
• Minimum Qualifications GS-08 (One-Grade Interval- No Education Substitution)
• Writing

REVIEW OF APPLICATION DOCUMENTS (FOR ALL APPLICANTS): To determine if you meet the qualifications, requirements and quality of experience required for this position, we review your resume, supporting documents and responses to the questionnaire. The score you receive is a measure of the degree to which your background matches the competencies required. Please follow all instructions carefully as errors or omissions may affect your rating.

Applicants must choose ALL APPLICABLE ELIGIBILITIES in order to receive consideration for this announcement. Failure to choose any eligibility or select the wrong eligibility will result in non-consideration for this position. If you are unsure as to your eligibility, please select ALL Eligibilities.

Understanding Eligibilities and Qualifications as Part of the Application Process:

http://www.dla.mil/Portals/104/Documents/Careers/downloads/Eligibilities%20and%20Qualifications-CCP.pdf?ver=2018-10-16-084128-890

Military Spouse Preference: If you are entitled to military spouse preference, in order to receive this preference you must choose the spousal eligibility in your application package referencing MSP Military Spouse Preference. Your preference entitlement will be verified by the employing agency. If you are claiming military spouse preference and qualified for the position, your name will be placed on a list sent to the hiring manager for employment consideration. See the Required Documents section for information regarding documents you must submit to apply for this position and to claim your Military Spouse Preference (MSP).

A update by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to the USA Staffing system requires you submit an SF50 when you choose certain eligibilities.

During the application process, you select one or more eligibilities. Please read the information within that eligibility carefully as it will tell you if any documents are required to support the eligibility or eligibilities you select. When you choose a reassignment, change to lower grade (CLG), promotion or re-promotion eligibility, you must now submit a SF50. This SF50 is a required document. When you do not submit this SF50, USA Staffing notifies you that your application is incomplete, but it does not prevent you from completing the application process. Should you not submit this required document, the USA Staffing system will screen you out of consideration.

CRITICAL INFORMATION: If you do not submit a SF-50 when Applying, the USA Staffing system will screen you out and you will not be considered for the position.

You can obtain your SF50s through MyBiz ( https://compo.dcpds.cpms.osd.mil/ ) or your eOPF ( https://eopf.opm.gov/dla ). Access is possible via CAC or a login and password.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

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

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

Application packages should include the following documents:

• Questionnaire: Required
• Transcripts: Required if using education to qualify. See Education section for more information
• Resume: Required **To ensure full consideration of your experience and education we encourage you to use the USAJOBS resume builder to prepare your resume or to guide you in preparing your resume.

For qualifications determinations your resume must contain the following:

• Applicant's full legal name and contact information
• Description of your duties
• Number of hours worked per week
• Beginning and ending dates (month/year) for each position

To ensure full consideration of your experience and education we encourage you to use the USAJOBS resume builder to prepare your resume or to guide you in preparing your resume. Applicants who fail to provide the required information on their resume will not receive consideration for this position. See https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/application/documents/resume/what-to-include/ for more information.

If you are claiming Veterans' Preference, you must submit supporting documents with your application package. These documents must provide acceptable documentation to verify the type of preference claimed (i.e. 5-point, 10-point, etc.) and the character of the service (i.e. Honorable Discharge). A copy of your DD214, "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty," showing your Character of Service is required when claiming Veterans' Preference. The member 4 copy of your DD214, "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty," is preferable. If unable to verify Character of Service, you will not receive veteran's preference.

If claiming 10-point preference, you will need to submit a Standard Form 15, "Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference," http://www.opm.gov/Forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf . If selected, additional documentation may be required prior to appointment.

If claiming 10 point preference, you will need to submit a Veteran Disability (VA) Letter. If you need assistance in obtaining a VA Letter please visit https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/homepage .

If you are currently serving on active duty and expected to be released or discharged within the next 120 days, you must submit written documentation from the armed forces that certifies you are expected to be discharged or released from active duty service in the armed forces under honorable conditions not later than 120 days from the date the written documentation is signed. If selected, additional documentation may be required prior to appointment.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Programs: This program applies to employees who have been involuntarily separated from a Federal service position within the competitive service or Federal service employees whose positions have been deemed surplus or no longer needed. To receive selection priority for this position, you must: 1) meet ICTAP eligibility criteria; 2) be rated well-qualified for the position; Well qualified is defined as possessing the type and quality of experience that exceeds the positions minimum qualifications. and 3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your ICTAP eligibility. For more information: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ .

If you are claiming Military Spouse Preference, you must submit supporting documents with your application package. These documents must provide acceptable information to verify: you reside within the commuting area of your sponsor's permanent duty station (PDS); proof of marriage to the active duty sponsor, proof of military member's active duty status, and other documentation required by the vacancy announcement to which you are applying; and must meet all pre-employment criteria and be eligible for immediate noncompetitive appointment to a position in the competitive service.Documentation required: Marriage Certificate or License, Signed Self-Certification Checklist, Veterans' Preference documentation (e.g., DD-214, VA Letter, Statement of Service, if applicable), Transcripts (if applicable).

MSP CHECKLIST: https://www.secnav.navy.mil/donhr/Documents/CivilianJobs/MSP_PPP_Self-Certification_Checklist_Fillable_Form.pdf

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.