Duties

Summary

About the Position: This position is located at the Armed Services Blood Bank Center (ASBBC), WRNMMC, Bethesda, MD. Incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the Chief of Blood Services. Work hours are day shift with rotating Saturdays.

This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD Workforce to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service.
Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Responsible for Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QA/PI) oversight and support. Ensure for the Safety, Quality, and Purity of blood products collected, manufactured, and distributed.
• Perform nonstandard laboratory techniques not covered by Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), originate policy guidance, and develop SOPs. Provide diagnostic reference services involving non-routine highly complex testing procedures.
• Assure compliance with quality control and proficiency testing programs, safety requirements, and standards set by accrediting and regulatory agencies.
• Validate the effective application of current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), the capture of Biological Product Deviation reports (BPDs), and all other elements unique to the Blood Services area.
• Advise personnel in other health care facilities within the Department of Defense (DoD) on various aspects of laboratory quality management and testing.
• Instruct various types and levels of students and staff in the theoretical and practical aspects of laboratory science and in unique specimen handling and analytical procedures appropriate to Blood Service functions.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
None

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• This position requires the incumbent be able to obtain and maintain a determination of eligibility for a Tier 3 security investigation or access for the duration of employment. A background investigation and credit check are required.
• This position requires the incumbent to have tuberculosis testing.
• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• This position has mandatory seasonal influenza vaccination requirements and is subject to annual seasonal influenza vaccinations unless otherwise exempted for medical or religious reasons (documentation or exemption must be provided upon hire).
• This position requires the completion of pre-employment Physical Examination and an annual examination thereafter to ensure the continued, required level of physical health and ability or fitness to perform the duties of the position.
• This position may require the incumbent to work on any day or shift, including PMs, nights, weekends, holidays, or on an "on call" basis, necessary to meet mission requirements.
• This position has been designated "Mission Essential". In the event of sever weather conditions or other such emergency type situations the incumbent is required to work or remain at work as scheduled to support mission operations.
• This position requires that you obtain and maintain a Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and 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 Clinical Laboratory Scientist:

A. A Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree from a regionally accredited college/university including courses in biological science, chemistry and mathematics, AND successful completion of a Medical Laboratory Scientist/Clinical Laboratory Scientist program accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) or an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

OR

B. A full 4-year course of study that included 12 months in a college or hospital-based medical technology program or medical technology school approved by a recognized accrediting organization. The professional medical technology curriculum may have consisted of a 1-year post- bachelor's certificate program or the last 1 or 2 years of a 4-year program of study culminating in a bachelor's in medical technology.

OR

C. A Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree from an accredited college/university, including 16 semester hours (24 quarter hours) of biological science (with one semester in microbiology), 16 semester hours (24 quarter hours) of chemistry (with one semester in organic or biochemistry), one semester (one quarter) of mathematics, AND five years of full time acceptable clinical laboratory experience in Blood Banking, Chemistry, Hematology, microbiology, Immunology and Urinalysis/Body Fluids. This combination of education and experience must have provided knowledge of the theories, principles, and practices of medical technology equivalent to that provided by the full 4-year course of study described in A or B above. All science and mathematics courses must have been acceptable for credit toward meeting the requirements for a science major at an accredited college or university. Acceptable experience is responsible professional or technician experience in a hospital laboratory, health agency, industrial medical laboratory, or pharmaceutical house; or teaching, test development, or medical research program experience that provided an understanding of the methods and techniques applied in performing professional clinical laboratory work. Certification/licensure as a medical technologist (generalist) obtained through written examination by a nationally recognized credentialing agency or State licensing body is a good indication that the quality of experience is acceptable.

Employees currently assigned to positions in this occupational series as of September 2017 will be considered to have met the basic requirements for the position occupied (you must still provide a copy of your transcripts with your application package).

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

Experience required: To qualify based on your work experience, your resume must describe at least one year of experience which prepared you to do the work in this job. Specialized experience includes experience in blood donor center operations which may include collection, manufacturing, testing, processing, lot release, quarantine verification, and distribution areas; experience in quality assurance systems and measures to include the AABB Quality System Essentials; coordinating mobile blood drive operations; and experience with the allogenic blood collections and manufacturing process. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-11).

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.

Selective Placement Factor: Certification from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), American Medical Technologist (AMT) or other board or registry deemed comparable by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (OASD(HA)) or their designee as a Medical Technologist (MT) or Medical/Clinical Laboratory Scientist (MLS/CLS) is required.

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

• You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
• Direct Deposit of Pay is required..
• 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.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• 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.

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, 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.

Veterans and Military Spouses will be considered along with all other candidates.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist (External).

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 may be marked as incomplete and you may 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
• If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements: You MUST submit a copy of your transcript if you want to substitute your education for experience. If you claim qualifications based on education, and do not submit a transcript, your education will not be used in making a qualification determination and you may be found "not qualified." See: Transcripts and Licenses .
• License/Certification: If the position has a license/certification requirement, you MUST submit a copy of your current, active, valid, unrestricted license/certification. 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.