Duties

Summary

The incumbent serves as a Environmental Protection Specialist for the Assoc Adm For Planning And Environment, Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

As Environmental Protection Specialist, you will:

1. Guide the FTA regional offices and grant applicants in fulfilling their NEPA and NEPA-related responsibilities for proposed transit projects and transportation plans by providing guidance and advice on procedural and technical matters, by performing FTA reviews of complex impact assessments and analyses, and by preparing return correspondence on project-related environmental issues directed to FTA headquarters.

2. Provide leadership in developing and implementing agency-wide regulations, policies, procedures, and guidelines related to the analysis and mitigation of the environmental and community impacts of proposed transit projects and transportation plans, including assessment of impacts in the following areas: land use, displacement of businesses and residences, noise and vibration, air quality, wetlands and water quality, ecologically sensitive areas and endangered species, historic and archeological resources, parklands, contaminated soil or property, safety and security, secondary development, and community disruption. Direct the agency's efforts in a few of these impact areas as the FTA lead person.

3. Review and critique congressional and departmental legislative proposals and regulatory proposals related to environmental issues, and prepares the written recommendations and comments of the office. Meets and negotiates with staff of other Federal agencies regarding these proposals, comments, and recommendations. Prepares oral or written briefing material and decision documents for use by senior officials. Assists FTA legal staff in preparing briefs and consulting on litigation related to the environment.

4. Recognize the need for, initiates, and guides the preparation of environmental guidance documents and memoranda, website material, and training courses on environmental analysis methods and procedures for transit project development and transportation planning, for use by environmental and planning staff throughout the country. Direct the office's efforts in developing guidance and training for the impact areas in which the person has been assigned lead responsibility.

5. Perform other activities of the office related to its environmental responsibilities, such as developing and managing environmental research and oversight projects, and developing the office's program plans and budgets. Serve as the contracting officer's representative (COR) on assigned projects and, as such, prepares technical justifications and statements of work, serves as a panel member for the review of proposals, and manages the contract throughout its life. Identify tasks related to environmental responsibilities that are appropriately contracted out, and prepares budget recommendations to seek financial resources for these tasks.

6. Actively represent FTA and the office in interagency environmental activities and workgroups with other DOT Administrations and with other Federal, State, and local agencies, for the primary purpose of developing improved interagency relationships and consultation procedures, improved environmental review and analysis methods, and improved mitigation concepts, and thereby streamlining the environmental review process while maintaining appropriate environmental protections.

Travel Required

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

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

• SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
• GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel. A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
• TIME-IN-GRADE: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

Key Requirements:

You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.

You must meet specialized experience to qualify.

Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.

Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.

To qualify for a GS-12, based on experience, you must have at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11, it must include:

• Experience reviewing and analyzing assessment methods especially those related to the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 4(f) Requirements for the types of environmental and community impacts that occur with transportation projects, and experience in mitigating those impacts.
• Experience applying environmental statutes, rules, regulations, and guidelines related to analyzing environmental impacts, protecting the environment, and preparing environmental documents for Transportation or Transit projects.

To qualify for a GS-13, based on experience, you must have at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12, it must include:

• Experience with providing guidance on Federal statutes, rules, regulations, and guidelines relating to analyzing environmental impacts, protecting the environment, and preparing environmental documents.
• Experience conveying technical information to a variety of audiences in meetings, presentations or briefings

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

• FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND PROGRAMS
• ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS
• PROBLEM SOLVING
• ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

For all types of consideration, 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). 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 additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4
Other applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

Additional information

Displaced employees may be eligible for ICTAP or CTAP priority consideration. For more information, please review the OPM Employee's Guide to Career Transition .

EEO STATEMENT: The Department of Transportation (DOT) maintains a model federal work environment that is free of discrimination. DOT ensures equal employment opportunity for employees and applicants for employment, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), genetic information, age, disability, sexual orientation, or protected activity.

This vacancy may be used by any DOT agency to fill similar positions within 90 days.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level.

To compete with other competitive status government employees: If you meet the qualification requirements, your application will be scored based upon your responses to the vacancy questions. The top rated applications will be reviewed for the quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position.

To compete with other competitive status government employees: Your application will be rated on the extent and quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position. The answers you select in the on-line process must be substantiated in your application package. If upon review, it is determined that your described work history, competencies, and/or supporting documents do not support your answer choices, your application may be updated on your behalf or you may not be referred to the selecting official. Please ensure that your work history provides enough details to support your answers. If referred, all relevant documents including performance appraisals and awards submitted with your application package will be forwarded to the hiring official for review. The Automated Staffing Office is ultimately responsible for determining your final rating.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
No

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

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

ALL Applicants must provide a resume that fully supports the required specialized experience and was created within USA Jobs Resume Builder and respond to the vacancy questions by the closing date of the vacancy. The following is a list of documents that are only required based on the type of position and consideration for which you are applying. Please review each of the following sections to determine which, if any, additional documents you need to provide with your application.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS/INCENTIVE AWARDS: lf applicable, performance appraisals and/or Incentive award documentation may be submitted and will be forwarded to the selecting official as support in consideration of your application in the evaluation process. To receive due weight, you must submit a recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable (do not submit a performance plan) and/or incentive award documentation dated within the last 18 months (i.e. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increases, etc.).

VETERANS: Your last DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty, that shows the type of discharge and all dates of active duty is required to verify your eligibility. It need not be official.

• If you are applying to a vacancy opened to all US Citizens under category rating and wish to be considered as a preference eligible, you need to submit a copy of your DD214.
• If you are claiming preference eligibility as a disabled veteran, you must submit proof of entitlement of this preference which is normally a valid letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs certifying to the present existence of the service-connected disability and indicating the percentage of your disability. An SF-15 is desired, but not required.
• If you are applying to a vacancy opened Status and you are requesting consideration under Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) ( https://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/shav/#veoa ), you need to provide a copy of your last DD214, which verifies your military service dates, reason for separation, OR certification of separation that shows a discharge date within 120 days of the closing of this announcement, and eligibility for consideration under the Veterans Employment Opportunity Act.

STATUS APPLICANTS: If seeking eligibility consideration as status/agency/DOT employee, you must provide proof of eligibility in the form of an SF-50. Your SF-50 must verify the highest grade held competitively, full performance level of position, and eligibility as a status applicant. Please do not submit an Award SF-50, as these are often incomplete and do not verify grade or status eligibility.

NON COMPETITIVE APPLICANTS: If requesting concurrent consideration for Non-competitive (NC) appointment eligibility, you must provide the appropriate SPECIAL APPOINTING AUTHORITY DOCUMENTS, such as PCS orders (military spouse) describing move & marriage certificate; letter from VA or DD214 describing 100% disability of spouse; letter from State Vocational Office certifying disability (schedule A), etc. For more information, visit military spouse NC appointments or Persons with Disabilities NC appointments.

DISPLACED EMPLOYEES: If requesting consideration under the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency CTAP program (ICTAP), you must meet the well qualified standards for this vacancy (meeting minimum requirements for position and scoring at least an 85 or falling in the Gold Category) and provide all of the following documents:

• your most recent performance appraisal,
• the proof of eligibility letter from the Agency, and
• your most current SF-50, displaying current series and grade.

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents. Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system. You must verify that the documents are in the system with your application prior to final submission

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.