Duties

Summary

Why work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons?

You can have a meaningful career with an agency that truly values a diverse workforce. You will find a diverse workforce employed from entry level jobs to senior management positions. We protect public safety by ensuring federal offenders serve their sentences of imprisonment in facilities that are safe, humane, and provide reentry programming. Employees at correctional facilities perform correctional work regardless of their specific occupation.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

Serves as Section Chief in the Administration Division, Procurement Executive's Office, Acquisitions Branch, Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Serves as a Supervisory Contract Specialist for all Central Office acquisitions, to include major acquisitions for the Bureau of Prisons.

Oversees and ensure accountability for all contractual work involving acquisitions such as Information Technology, service contracts, and my other acquisitions essential to meeting the Bureau of Prisons' Mission.

Serves as lead negotiator and independently develops negotiation strategies which often include innovative contracting approaches.

Provides direction to technical evaluation and source committees in procedures of contract award.

Serves as liaison to numerous Central Office Divisions which may include assistance in evaluating award fee terms, cost adjustments, schedules extensions and contractor progress.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Travel may be required for training and/or work related issues.

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
14

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship is Required.
• See Special Conditions of Employment Section.

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP eligibility, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement; and 3) you are found well qualified for this vacancy. To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and score 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application. Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at: Click Here

Qualifications

To be considered for the position, you must meet the following:

A. Completion of all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 (the Bureau of Prisons has defined mandatory training to be FAC-C Level II or a BOP Level III warrant) or higher level contracting positions, including at least 4-years of experience in contracting or related positions. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the GS-13 level of the position, and must have provided the qualifications to perform successfully the work of the position.

AND

B. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester or 36 quarter hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management.

NOTE: There is no substitution of education for specialized experience at this level.

NOTE: ALL applicants MUST submit a legible copy of their FAC-C Level II or a BOP Level III warrant. The FAC-C Level II or BOP Level III warrant MUST be uploaded and electronically linked from USAJOBS at the time you apply.

NOTE: Applicants are responsible for submitting appropriate documentation when requesting certification for GS-1102 positions at grades GS-13 and above, e.g. college transcript, course syllabus, etc.

NOTE: When academic credit is expressed in contract months, units, or other terms that differ from conventional semester or quarter hours, it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide an interpretation of such credits from the appropriate institution in order to equate them to the semester or quarter hours specified in the standard .

A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is defined as possession of a bachelor's degree conferred or approved by an accredited U.S. College or university based on a 4-year course of study. Simply being enrolled and working toward a degree does not meet the qualification standard.

Examples of qualifying experience for the GS-14 level are:

• Experience performing pre award and post award functions involving highly specialized procurements of significant importance to an agency.
• Experience as a lead negotiator, planning the negotiation strategy, coordinating strategy with negotiation team, and leading the negotiations with the contractor to develop the contract prices and terms and awarding the contract.
• Experience in providing direction to technical evaluation and source selection committees in procedures of contract award and providing technical direction and guidance to lower graded contract negotiators.

C. Exceptions: Employees currently occupying a GS 1102 position at certain grade (i.e., GS 13 or higher) since January 1, 2000, is considered to have met the basic requirements for other GS 1102 positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met. However, they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade, unless granted a waiver under Paragraph D.

NOTE: Current federal employees not employed by the Bureau of Prison and former Bureau of Prison Employees MUST submit documentation (i.e., SF-50(s) covering the period from January 1, 2000) for verification of the above referenced exception criteria to receive consideration. Failure to provide these documents will result in non-consideration for this vacancy.

D. Waiver: When filling a specific vacant position, the Senior Procurement Executive of the selecting agency (agency is defined as Department of Justice), at his or her discretion, may waive any or all of the requirements of Paragraphs A and B above if the Senior Procurement Executive certifies that the applicant possesses significant potential for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority, based on demonstrated analytical and decision making capabilities, job performance, and qualifying experience.

NOTE: The Agency has made a determination that a waiver may be granted for education only as described in Paragraph B.

Bureau of Prisons employees currently occupying a Contract Specialist position on an approved waiver MUST upload a copy of the waiver at the time you apply.

Contract Specialists who do not possess a four year degree and the required 24 semester hours, may apply and be considered for a waiver of the educational requirements in order to be selected. The waiver is discretionary tool available to the Procurement Executive as such does not constitute automatic approval. If you have any questions about the waiver process, please contact the BOP Procurement Executive at (202) 307-3067.

Acceptability of Higher Education: Education such as foreign education, home study and correspondence courses, academic credit for work experience, military education, continuing education units, life experience, etc., is acceptable to the extent that it is determined to be equivalent to conventional higher education programs of U.S. institutions. Such education must be accepted for college level credit by an accredited U.S. college or university.

If applicable, credit will be given for paid and unpaid experience. To receive proper credit, you must show the actual time (such as the number of hours worked per week) spent in activities.

**Your eligibility for consideration will be based on your responses to the questions in the application.**

Education

See Qualifications Section for education requirements, if applicable.

ONLY if education is a requirement/substitution for specialized experience, applicant MUST upload legible transcripts as verification of educational requirement. Transcripts MUST be uploaded and electronically linked from USAJOBS at the time you apply and MUST include identifying information to include School Name, Student Name, Degree and Date Awarded (if applicable). All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, Click Here .

Foreign Education: For information regarding foreign education requirements, please see Foreign Diploma and Credit Recognition at the U.S. Department of Education website: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications .

If you are selected for this position and qualified based on education (i.e. basic education requirement and/or substitution of education), you will be required to provide an OFFICIAL transcript prior to your first day on duty.

Additional information

This position IS NOT included in the bargaining unit.

The representative rate for this position is $133,447 per annum ($63.94 per hour).

Special Conditions of Employment Section:

Initial appointment to a supervisory/managerial position requires a one-year probationary period.

The incumbent is subject to geographic relocation to meet the needs of the agency.

Appointment is subject to satisfactory completion of a urinalysis, physical, and background investigation. All applicants are subject to National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and credit checks.

The addresses listed on the USAJOBS account/resume must be the primary residence at the time of application. You may be required to provide proof of residence.

Additional selections may be made if vacancies occur within the life of the certificate.

Current Federal Law Enforcement Employees:

Individuals selected who are under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and who have not had three years "primary" law enforcement retirement coverage, will not be covered by law enforcement retirement while in this position. To regain coverage, individuals must return to a position with "primary" coverage.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

If your composite score exceeds the average score for this job, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your online assessment questionnaire responses and utilized to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed in this announcement. If you rate yourself higher than what is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job. If you are found to be among the top candidates, you will be referred to the selecting official for employment consideration.

There are several parts of the application process that affect the overall evaluation of your application:

• Your resume, which is part of your USAJOBS profile;
• Your responses to the eligibility questions;
• Your responses to the online assessment questionnaire;
• Your supporting documentation, if required.

Time-in-Grade: Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements for consideration. You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.

What Competencies/Knowledge, Skills and Abilities are Required for this Position?

The following Competencies/Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA's) are required:

• Ability to analyze information and make recommendations, particularly in regards to formulation of policy, plans and/or programs.
• Knowledge of procurement techniques and contract formulation/administration.
• Ability to research, interpret and apply procurement regulations.
• Ability to make decisions regarding contracts.
• Ability to analyze cases.
• Ability to supervise and develop the potential of subordinates.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

• Resume showing relevant experience (cover letter optional)
• In order to receive credit for experience contained in a resume, your employment history must be documented in month/year format (MM/YYYY), reflecting starting date and ending date and include the number of hours worked per week. Failure to follow this format may result in disqualification.
• Current or former Federal employees NOT employed by the Bureau of Prisons MUST submit a copy of their SF-50 Form which shows competitive service appointment, tenure group, and salary. If you have promotion potential in your current position, please provide proof. If you are applying for a higher grade, and your experience was gained at a Federal agency other than the Bureau of Prisons, you MUST provide the SF-50 Form which verifies the length of time you have been in your highest grade and supports your claim for time in grade.
• Employees applying with an interchange agreement must provide proof of their permanent appointment.
• Current federal employees NOT employed by the BOP and former federal employees MUST submit a copy of their latest yearly performance appraisal/evaluation.
• CTAP, Click Here , if applicable.
• A college transcript which includes the School Name, Student Name, Degree and Date Awarded, if applicable. (Note: If you are selected for this position, official transcript(s) will be required prior to your first day.)

Failure to provide these documents could possibly result in removal from consideration for this vacancy. If uploading documentation, do not identify/save your documents utilizing a special character such as %, #, @, etc. Documentation should be identified/saved as VA Letter, DD214, or Transcripts.

We cannot be held responsible for incompatible software, delays in mail service, applicant application errors, etc.

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.