Duties

Summary

This Direct-Hire position is in the Food and Drug Administration and is located in the Office of Food Safety, Division of Seafood Safety, Seafood Processing and Technology Policy Branch which examines and appraises the implementation of seafood regulations, domestic and foreign programs and bilateral agreements.
Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Provides policy, scientific and technical advice, and assistance related to the safety of seafood.
• Performs analyses and evaluation on data, samples, and documented information gathered during inspections and investigations in order to ensure that documentation and practices are in compliance with Federal laws, rules and regulations.
• Prepares and makes presentations at professional meetings and serves on agency, governmental, and national and international committees to promote agency goals and programs on food safety issues related seafood safety.
• Contributes to the development and evaluation of compliance strategies and policies, field programs and targeted surveys for contaminants to assess the quality and safety of domestic and imported seafood.
• Prepares and replies to correspondence from the regulated community and other groups on food safety issues related to industry-wide contaminants or those that have broad health implications and concern precedent setting interpretations of FDA policy.

Travel Required

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

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Citizenship Requirement: You must be a U.S. Citizen to be considered for this advertisement unless explicitly stated otherwise.
• Direct Deposit: You will be required to have all federal salary payments electronically deposited into a bank account with a financial institution of your choice.
• Background Investigation Requirement: All employees must pass a security investigation. Failing to pass the background check may be grounds for removal or legal action. If hired, you may be subject to additional investigations at a later time.
• FDA participates in e-Verify: All new hires must complete the I-9 form; this information will be processed through e-Verify to determine your employment eligibility. If a discrepancy arises, you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.
• Certification of Accuracy: All information concerning eligibility and qualification is subject to investigation and verification. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration, non-selection, or appropriate legal action.
• You may be required to serve a one-year probationary period.

Qualifications

The position of Biologist falls under the 0401 occupational series. To qualify for this position at grade GS-11/12, you must meet the following:

Basic Requirements

Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position
OR
Combination of education and experience such that when the two are combined the total is 100%: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

NOTE: Applicants must submit all relevant transcripts that demonstrate you possess the required education to meet the Basic Qualifications.

AND

Minimum Qualifications
Specialized Experience. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

GS-11: To quality for the GS-11 grade level, you must possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 in the Federal service, public or private sectors that includes experience:

• Providing technical assistance on seafood safety projects and programs; AND
• Generating analytical and statistical reports using biological and/or chemical studies data OR

Education: Have 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR
Combination of Graduate Education and Professional Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience may be used to meet total experience requirements. Only graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be combined with experience. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate experience equivalent to GS-7 (50 percent of the experience requirement for GS-9) and 27 semester hours of appropriate graduate education (50 percent of the education requirement for GS-9, in excess of that required for GS-7) would be qualified for a GS-9 position (assuming that there is no evidence that the attended college or university requires more than 18 semester hours as equivalent to a year of graduate study).
GS-12: To qualify for the GS-12 grade level, you must possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 in the Federal service, public or private sectors that includes experience:

• Writing reports or publications of scientific findings; AND
• Conducting, reviewing, or analyzing biological studies.

All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 10/26/2020. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible or your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your skills and abilities. You must continue to meet all requirements through the hiring process.

You may be asked to provide additional information at a later time. All interview requests and selection decisions are at the full discretion of the hiring office.

NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date . To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login , select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

Education

If you are claiming education as any part of your qualifications for this position, you must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that 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. For further information, click on foreign education .

Submitting Your Transcripts: Positions which are scientific or technical in nature often have very specific educational requirements. A transcript is required to verify educational achievement. Pay careful attention to the Qualifications and Education sections to identify vacancies where a transcript is required. Even if you hold a similar position or are a current employee, you are not exempt from transcript requirements.

Electronic Transcript Caution: If you have obtained your transcripts electronically, the file might contain security measures that could prevent our application system from reading the file. Therefore, you should consider asking the institution to provide the file in a non-secured electronic format. Alternatively, you could scan or take a photo of the printed copy of the transcript. If your uploaded transcript cannot be read by our system, you may only receive consideration and credit for the information we can access.

See the Application Manager Documentation for tips on submitting your paper-based documents.

Additional information

For some advertisements, the Food & Drug Administration receives hundreds, even thousands, of applications from job-seekers. Because of this high level of interest in positions with the FDA, the agency reserves the option of setting an application number limit.

When an application limit is set, USAJOBS will close the vacancy at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on either :
(A) the day the limit is reached,
-OR-
(B) the pre-defined closing date of 10/26/2020, whichever comes first.

If the limit is reached before 11:59 pm ET, all applications in excess of the limit will continue to be accepted until 11:59 pm ET.

The application limit, if applicable, for this advertisement is: 200.

For more information about announcement closing, see: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/job-announcement/expiration/

Additional Conditions of Employment:

• Pre-employment physical required: NO
• Drug testing required: NO
• License required: NO
• Mobility agreement required: NO
• Immunization required: NO
• Bargaining Unit Position: YES, 3591
Telework eligible position: YES

Additional Information:

• Additional selections may be made for similar positions across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) within the local commuting area(s) of the location identified in this announcement. By applying, you agree to have your application shared with interested selecting official(s) at HHS. Clearance of CTAP/ICTAP will be applied for similar positions across HHS.
• If you are serving, or have served in the last 5 years (from 10/26/2020) as an Executive Branch political, Schedule C, or Non-career SES appointee, HHS/FDA may be required to obtain approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prior to beginning employment. You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed. If you have served or are currently serving, you must provide a copy of your SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, documenting this appointment. In addition, you will be required to respond to the question in the assessment and certify your responses to the questionnaire. See Political Appointee FAQ - OPM for more.
• Reasonable Accommodation: This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please contact the Bethesda Center Help Desk (888) 478-4340; TTY/TDD: (866) 539-4484; or by email quickquestions@fda.hhs.gov . The decision on granting reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. See the Reasonable Accommodation Policy for more information.
• Equal Employment Opportunity: The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor See the EEO Policy for more information.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

This is a direct hire announcement. Traditional rating and ranking of applications, and veterans' preference does not apply to this vacancy. We will evaluate you against the basic qualifications. Qualified applicants will be referred for consideration in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management direct hire guidelines. Note: Volunteer experience can also be used as qualifying experience.

Once the job opportunity announcement closes (at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on 10/26/2020), a review of your résumé and supporting documentation will be conducted, the information will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your eligibility for Federal employment, and then whether you are qualified for this particular position. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible.

If you are referred to the hiring manager for consideration, you may be further evaluated based on an interview; review of requested work samples, writing samples, most recent performance evaluation(s), or professional references; or results of an oral presentation or work-related test. Failure to comply with any of the additional assessment requirements will result in removal from further consideration. These assessment methods/tools may also be listed under Key Requirements.

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

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

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

• Resume
• Transcript

A document that is required must be submitted by all applicants because the document is needed to verify your qualifications, education, or other eligibility information. Failure to provide one of the documents in the list below may result in your application being considered incomplete.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Other supporting documentation not listed above
• PCS Orders
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

These documents may be required for some applicants . Applicants relying on education to qualify, those seeking consideration under a special hiring authority, or those who need to verify a license or certification, will need to submit appropriate supporting documentation from this list. RESUME REQUIREMENTS:
The federal government has very specific resume requirements. If you have not written a federal resume before, you should watch this Resume Writing Tutorial video on the USAJOBS YouTube channel , or read through a helpful Resume Writing FAQ on the USAJOBS Help Site to learn what details you should, and should not, include in your resume.

At a minimum your resume should list the position title, employer, start and end dates (including month and year), salary (or grade and step), hours worked per week, and a list of duties performed or accomplishments, for EACH position listed. A CV (curriculum vitae) may not contain enough information to meet these resume requirements.

Learn more about supporting documents and documentation requirements on USAJOBS:

• How to Understand the Required Documents Section
• What Types of Documents May I Need?
• How to Manage Your Documents on USAJOBS

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.