Duties

Summary

About the Position: As an Army employee, position may be filled as a temporary promotion, temporary reassignment or change to lower grade Not-To-Exceed (NTE) 1 Year with possibility to extend and can be terminated at any time at management's discretion and may be made permanent without further competition.

If a candidate is not a current permanent Army employee, this appointment cannot be converted to a career or career conditional appointment but may be extended at management's discretion.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Serves as senior Contract Specialist/Contracting Officer, responsible for performing the full range of contracting and Information Technology(IT) functions involving highly specialized procurement for studies.
• Conducts pre-solicitation, pre-negotiation and pre-award conferences, as necessary.
• Issues adjustments to procurement solicitation documents to clarify intent, requirements and assists in preparation of statements of work scope, fair cost estimates, etc.
• Reviews requests for the procurement of more complex studies, equipment or services; analyzes requirements, recommends revisions to Statement of Work/Specifications, and determines types of contract and procurement plans.
• Reviews or prepares Request for Proposal (RFP) including statement of work, general and specific clauses and provisions, Contract Data Requirements List and contract pricing form, as required, and evaluation factors in descending order of importance.
• Obtains required pre-award surveys to establish contractor responsibility, develops cost and fee objectives, and obtain audits to develop negotiation strategy. Makes competitive range determinations and develops a pre-negotiation position.
• Makes recommendation for award and prepares required pre-award documentation.
• Prepares initial agency position on protest from unsuccessful offerors and prepares decision rational and supporting documentation on claims arising under the contract.
• Administers contracts including resolving problems with quality control, progress payments, security, delivery schedules, tooling, acceptance criteria, waivers, incremental funding, preparation of rate, cost adjustments and negotiation changes.
• Monitors of Government property reporting, approval of progress payments, final payment, etc.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• Financial Disclosure Statement OGE Form 450 is used to assist agencies and employees to avoid conflicts between duties and financial interest. This position requires pre-employment financial disclosure and annually thereafter.
• This is an Army Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Workforce position. The employee must meet Department of Defense Instructions (DoDI) 5000.66 requirements applicable to the duties of the position.
• Selectee must possess at least an acquisition Level II certification in Contracting at time of applying for this position.
• Selectees must meet position requirements for certification at Senior Level III in Contracting (Acquisition Career Field 14) within 24 months of entrance on duty.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities.

• Current Department of Army Civilian Employees
• Current Permanent Department of Defense (DOD) Civilian Employee (non-Army)
• Domestic Defense Industrial Base/Major Range and Test Facilities Base Civilian Personnel Workforce
• Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan
• Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act
• Military Spouses, under Executive Order (E.O.) 13473
• Non-Appropriated Fund Instrumentality (NAFI)
• Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer
• Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Spouse Preference (MSP) Eligible
• Reinstatement

In order to qualify, you must meet the experience requirements described below. 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; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document .

Basic Requirement for Contract Specialist:
Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) from an accredited educational institution authorized to grant baccalaureate degrees.

OR

Exemption: You are exempt from the education requirements above if (A) you are a current civilian employee in DoD who occupied GS-1102 positions or contracting positions with authority to award or administer contracts above the simplified acquisition threshold in an Executive Department on or before September 30, 2000; OR (B) you are a current military member who occupied a similar occupational specialty to the GS (or equivalent)-1102 on or before September 30, 2000.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:

Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes: developing, preparing, and presenting terms and conditions in bids or proposals related to the award of contracts and negotiating and awarding contracts, contract modifications, and/or subcontracts; administering contracts by assuring compliance with the terms and conditions and terminating contracts by analyzing, negotiating, and settling claims and proposals; and analyzing and evaluating cost/price proposals and planning, establishing, or reviewing contracts, programs, policies, or procedures. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-12).

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:

• Acquisition Strategy
• Contract Administration
• Oral Communication
• Preparation and Negotiation
• Written Communication

Time in Grade Requirement: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-12).

Education

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show 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; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.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.
• Two year trial/probationary period may be required.
• Direct deposit of pay is required.
• This position requires you to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE450) upon entry, and annually thereafter.
• Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees.
• 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) 14 - Contracting and Acquisition position.
• You may claim military spouse preference (MSP).
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). If you are a Federal employee in the competitive service and your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority for this position. To receive selection priority, you must: (1) meet ICTAP eligibility criteria (2) be rated well-qualified for the position and; (3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your ICTAP eligibility. To be considered well-qualified and receive selection priority applicants must satisfy all qualification requirements for the position and receive a score of 90 or above. Additional information about the program is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website .
• 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 .
• Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is not authorized, based on a determination that a PCS move is not in the Government interest.
• Current, permanent Army employees selected for temporary promotion or temporary reassignment or temporary change to lower grade retain placement rights at the end of the position change action.
• If not an Army employee, there are no guaranteed placement rights for status candidates given a temporary appointment.
• For more information on HECSA, please visit http://www.usace.army.mil/HECSA.aspx .

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your résumé and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your résumé and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
No

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

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc). Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Merit Checklist and Proof of Eligibility .

As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

1. Your resume:

• Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
• 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.
• For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application will be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.
• For additional information see: What to include in your resume .

2. Other supporting documents:

• Cover Letter, optional
• Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
• Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy. The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority. You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration.
• Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old).
• This position has an individual occupational requirement and/or allows for substitution of education for experience. If you meet this requirement based on education you MUST submit a copy of your transcript with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses
• This position requires a job-related license or certification. You MUST submit a copy of your license or certification with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses

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