Duties

Summary

About the Position: This Attorney-Adviser position for the Army Materiel Command Legal Center - Aberdeen Proving Ground is located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

If you are currently serving in a permanent, competitive service appointment in the Federal service, and are selected for this Excepted Service position, the appointment will remove you from the competitive service while you occupy the position.
Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Serves as acquisition counsel on procurement and contract litigation issues. In this capacity, employee leads and directs the preparation, negotiation, and review of contracts and other legal agreements
• Provide detailed counsel to procurement officials on a broad spectrum of acquisition issues, to include specific high-profile procurements and initiatives.
• Prepare legal opinions, make legal decisions, and take legal actions in all areas of Federal contract law, fiscal law, and on all types of matters pertaining to procurement and other support operations.
• Review contract documents involving pre- and post-award phases of the contracting process for legal sufficiency and business judgment.
• Research, identify, and interpret statutes, courts and Comptroller General decisions, and Government regulations with respect to all procurement actions and issues.
• Provide legal advice to contracting officials, managers, and members of the command group in areas that have direct DA and DoD impact.
• Provide oral and written advice concerning civilian personnel law, employment discrimination law and all labor relations matters.
• Review proposed activity regulations for legal sufficiency and impact on other regulations.
• Practice preventive law by informing management of the impact of changes in civilian personnel and labor law and regulations and advising managers and supervisors on the informal resolution of grievances and discrimination complaints.
• Represent the agency on all aspects of federal employment law, including adverse actions, performance management, and matters before EEOC, MSPB, and other forums.
• Maintain close working relationship with and assists in the training of the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center, G-1 and EEO offices.
• Rendering, counsel, and opinions to agency officials regarding situations requiring an advanced level of experience and specialized knowledge of law, regulations, procedure, and precedents on all general law issues.
• Assignments may involve complex and difficult legal questions requiring extensive research, analysis, and evaluation of information. Cases have an important impact on major private and/or public interests.

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.
• This position requires the incumbent be able to obtain and maintain a determination of eligibility for a Secret security clearance for access for the duration of employment.
• This position requires that the incumbent submit an annual Financial Disclosure Statement, OGE-450 upon entering this position as well as annually.
• The duties of this position require that the incumbent periodically travel up to 10% of the time
• This position may require occasional overtime.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens

Applicants will be evaluated to determine if they meet the minimum qualification requirements and on the extent to which their application shows possession of the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) associated with the position. KSA's:

(1) Skill in identifying and researching highly technical and complex legal issues.
(2) Skill in providing legal, technical, and policy guidance.
(3) Ability to effectively, professionally, and ethically manage a heavy caseload of clients with complex legal needs.

Qualification Requirements: Applicants must meet the following minimum qualification requirements:

1) Education: Assignments require the first professional law degree (Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) or Juris Doctorate (J.D.)). Applicants for initial appointment into attorney positions must be graduates of law schools accredited by the American Bar Association at the time of the applicant's graduation. The Army General Counsel may make an exception upon a showing that a candidate possesses superior qualifications and that no well-qualified candidates from accredited law schools are available.

2) Bar Membership: Applicants must be active members in good standing (as defined by the pertinent bar) of the bar of a State, territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

3) Professional Legal Experience:
For the NH-0905-03 (GS-12/GS-13 equivalent) Level: Applicants must possess more than 2 years of professional legal experience after admission to the bar commensurate with the duties of the position. The Attorney Qualifying Authority may grant an exception to this requirement when an applicant possess special qualifications.

For the NH-0905-04 (GS-14 equivalent) Level: Applicants must possess 3 years of professional legal experience after admission to the bar commensurate with the duties of the position.

4) Time in Grade (current Federal employees): Candidates selected for advancement will normally have completed at least one year of service that is one grade lower than the position to be filled. The selecting official may request a waiver of the one year requirement in cases where hardship or inequity exists.

Education

Only degrees from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education are acceptable to meet positive education requirements or to substitute education for experience. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and U.S. Department of Education websites at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications and http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.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.
• One 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.
• 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) 56 - Legal position.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• When you perform a Civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) with the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers the majority of your entitlements to be taxable. Visit https://www.dfas.mil/civilianemployees/civrelo/Civilian-Moving-Expenses-Tax-Deduction/ for more information.
• 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 .
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS) allowances may be authorized, subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations and an agency determination that a PCS move is in the Government Interest.
• Management has the prerogative to select at any grade.
• If selected at the NH-03 (GS-13 equivalent) grade, after a year or more of service you may be non-competitively promoted to the grade of NH-04 (GS-14 equivalent), if management determines at that time that you meet the qualifications/professional legal experience requirements set forth in relevant regulations, including Army Regulation (AR) 690-300. Promotion to NH-04 (GS-14 equivalent), however, is NOT automatic. You must meet the minimum qualifications set forth in the regulations before you can be considered for promotion.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Your application package (resume and supporting documents) will be evaluated for basic qualification requirements and for the skills needed to perform the duties of the position, as described in this vacancy announcement and identified by the Selecting Official.

NOTICE OF VETERAN'S PREFERENCE: There is no formal rating system for applying veteran's preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of the Defense considers veterans' preference eligibility a positive factor for attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documentation (e.g., DD Form 214, "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty") to their submissions.

Although the point-preference system is not used, applicants eligible to claim a 10-point preference must submit a Standard Form (SF) 15, "Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference", and supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed. The SF 15 will identify the supporting documentation required along with the list of the types of 10-point preference. The SF 15 is available from the OPM at https://www.gsa.gov/portal/forms/type/sf/ .

Veteran's preference requirements do not apply to attorney positions in the excepted service, however the principles of veteran's preference will be followed to the extent which is administratively feasible as defined in DoDI 1442.02.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Secret

Drug test required
No

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

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

Applicants must submit a resume when applying for the position. While any format is allowed, USAJobs resume format preferred.

Applicants selected for interview must submit the following documents within 14 days of request.

1) Official transcript of the applicant's law school record.

2) Official statement of the applicant's standing in law school class. If the applicant's law school does not rank students, and the transcript does not explain that the school does not rank students, the applicant needs to submit an official statement from the school confirming the practice.

3) Good Standing Certificate. Officialcertificate showing the applicant is in good standing with a state bar, dated within three months (before or after) of the date the application is submitted. Good standing status must permit the applicant to engage in the active practice of law in at least one State or jurisdiction in which they are licensed. Active status authorizes an attorney who is a member in good standing to immediately practice law before the highest court of the licensing authority.

4) Fitness to Practice Statement. A sworn (notarized) statement by the candidate that their fitness to practice law or conduct as an attorney has never been challenged in any jurisdiction or; if either has been challenged, a sworn statement giving the facts, circumstances, and any other explanation that the applicant considers appropriate. As an alternative to a sworn statement, a declaration under penalty of perjury may be submitted in the following format: "I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on (date) (your signature)."

5) References: Contact information for three licensed attorneys, preferably prior or current supervisors/employers, who are willing to serve as references for the applicant.

6) SF-50 (Federal civilian attorneys): Copy of SF-50 showing current grade and step.

7) Writing Sample (Optional): Examples of writing skills as demonstrated by legal briefs, memorandum, and/or letters. Regardless of the number of writing samples submitted, the page count of all writing samples combined cannot exceed 10 pages in length. Extracts of selected sections of larger documents are acceptable

NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents 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.