Duties

Summary

This Business Opportunity Specialist is responsible for developing and administering the portfolio by providing support to address the firm's gaps in areas such as contract sourcing, business capture and marketing assistance, financial consultation, and providing guidance regarding business growth and development.

This position is located in the Small Business Administration, Office of Field Operations - Region III in Washington DC.
Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Provide business development assistance to small businesses regarding federal socioeconomic government contracting programs requiring certification actions.
• Represent the organization at a variety of public functions through outreach/presentations/trainings in order to educate the small business, lender and contracting community about programs and services, and other small business-relevant topics.
• Develop and deliver training related materials to meet the needs of small businesses and Small Business Administration (SBA) organizations/agencies.
• Coordinate with the Office of Government Contracting Business Development as appropriate to meet compliance requirements. Support certification reviews and actions in accordance with Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Program guidance.

Travel Required

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

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
12

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen
• You must successfully complete a background investigation
• You may be required to serve a one-year probationary period
• This is a bargaining unit position.
• Must have a valid Driver's License.
• Due to COVID-19, the SBA is currently in an expanded telework status. If selected, you may be permitted to temporarily telework from a location outside the official duty station described in this announcement.
• Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed in this announcement. At that time, you will be eligible to request telework in accordance with the SBA's telework and office policies.
• The position requires extensive travel throughout the District, including frequent early morning, evening and occasional weekends and overnight travel; may require travel outside the District.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for this Business Opportunity Specialist position, you must meet the Basic Requirement, Specialized Experience, and Selective Placement Factor:

BASIC REQUIREMENT:

A. Have a 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field. Note: You must submit your transcripts.
OR
B. Have at least 24 semester 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: You must submit your transcripts.

*AND*

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:

A. Have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following: (1) providing business development assistance to small businesses regarding federal socioeconomic government contracting programs; (2) conducting outreach and/or marketing functions to educate others on the organization's programs or services; (3) developing/delivering training related materials to meet the needs of small businesses; (4) coordinating contract administration actions in accordance with federal laws, regulations, and guidance.
OR
B. I currently occupy a Business Opportunity Specialist, GS-1101 position and have continuously occupied GS-1101 positions since January 2, 2013. This applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met.

*AND*

SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR: This position requires a special qualification that has been determined to be essential to perform the duties and will be used as a screen out element. Those who do not provide evidence they possess the following selective factor(s) will be rated not qualified.

A. Have a Level 1 Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) or the equivalent Department of Defense Certification.
OR
B. Do not have the required certification, but agrees to complete the training program required to obtain Level I FAC-C certification, as a current or future employee of the SBA within one calendar year after the date appointed. NOTE. You will be required to sign a training agreement if selected.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on OPM's Qualifications web site: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/

TIME-IN-GRADE: If you are a current career or career-conditional federal employee applying for promotion under Merit Promotion you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks in positions at the next level lower than the position being filled. One year at the GS-11 level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-12 level. (Must submit your SF-50 that shows Time-in-Grade eligibility and reflects your title, series, and grade. No award SF-50 will be accepted).

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.

All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 07/29/2021.

Education

TRANSCRIPTS: To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of unofficial or official transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), type of degree awarded (if applicable) and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you can begin work.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

APPLICANTS PLEASE NOTE: 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 (particularly positions with a positive education requirement.) Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Verify School accreditation . All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. *** If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. *** For further information, click on: Foreign Education .

Additional information

SUITABILITY, CLEARANCE & REQUIREMENTS: A background investigation may be required for all new hires. Appointment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination.

Career and Interagency Career Transition Assistance Programs: If you are applying for a special selection priority under SBA's Career Transition Assistance Plan (open to surplus SBA employees only) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (open to surplus and displaced Federal employees), you must:

meet CTAP eligibility criteria;

be rated well-qualified for the position with a rating of 85 or above based on the competencies listed below; and

submit the appropriate documentation to support your CTAP eligibility. For more information: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/

Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. For additional information visit www.sss.gov .

Consistent with work requirements and current SBA Policy, and all applicable provisions of the collective bargaining agreement with AFGE the SBA offers employees opportunities to perform work at an alternative location (e.g. home).

Telework may be available. Due to COVID-19, the SBA is currently in an expanded telework status. If selected, you may be permitted to temporarily telework from a location outside the official duty station described in this announcement. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed in this announcement. At that time, you will be eligible to request telework in accordance with the SBA's telework and office policies.

Additional vacancies may be filled from this vacancy announcement if additional vacancies occur within 180 days of the date the certificates were issued.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Applicants meeting basic eligibility requirements will be further evaluated based on the information provided in the Occupational Questionnaire. You will be rated based on your responses to the Occupational Questionnaire. To preview this questionnaire, click on the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11155122 .

The occupational questions relate to the following Competencies required to do the work of this position:

• Compliance Inspection
• Contracting/Procurement
• Education and Training
• Oral Communication
• Writing

All qualified Non Competitive applicants and the best qualified Merit Promotion applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration.

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

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date/time 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.

1. Your Resume - must contain the following information:

• Name, address, telephone number, email address;
• Supervisor's contact information, if available (indicate if you would prefer to be notified before your supervisor is contacted);
• Job Title (if Federal Service, provide series and grade; if not in GS plan, provide GS equivalent grade);
• If qualifying based on related unpaid (e.g. volunteer service) experience, you must provide hours worked per week and beginning/ending dates (mm/dd/yyyy to mm/dd/yyyy);
• If other than full time you must provide hours worked per week.
• An integral part of our selection process includes the completion of reference checks. Please provide the names and telephone numbers of three professional references (e.g., current and/or former supervisors, college or university professors, managers or coordinators of volunteer activities, etc.) who know your qualifications relative to this position and who we can contact to verify your credentials. Do not list personal friends or relatives.
• 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 (mm/dd/yyyy - mm/dd/yyyy) 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.
• Should you submit multiple resumes, only the latest uploaded resume will be reviewed.

2. A complete Occupational Questionnaire. To preview this questionnaire, click here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11155122

3. In addition to the online application (resume and responses to the occupational questionnaire), you are required to submit the following forms, if applicable . It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure all documents are legible:

• Current Federal employees must submit proof of your permanent career/career-conditional competitive status ("1" or "2" in Tenure, block 24 and "1" in Position Occupied, block 34). Submit SF-50 showing current grade and tenure and an SF-50 showing highest (permanent) grade ever held, if different. NOTE: An award or detail SF-50 will not be accepted as proof of status.
• Former Federal Employees separated from Federal Government over a year ago: Your separation Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50 or equivalent) showing your permanent, competitive status and your last Federal performance appraisal plan/rating. You must submit an SF-50(s) that shows permanent career or career conditional (Tenure Field 1 or 2) and competitive service eligibility (Position Occupied field is 1) to be considered (No award SF-50 will be accepted). Your last Federal performance appraisal plan must reflect a rating of Fully Successful or equivalent.
• If you are using education as a substitution for experience (the announcement will state whether this is allowed), or if there is an educational requirement for this position, you must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial or official) that clearly describes your qualifying education. If selected, official transcripts will be required;
• If you are claiming Veteran status, you must submit a copy of all required documents to support your claim (including a DD-214 showing character of service)--see VetGuide ;
• To receive consideration for a special appointment authority (30%, severely disabled, Peace Corps, ICTAP, VRA), you must submit all required documentation supporting your claim for Special Appointing Authorities ;
• Veterans who are still in the service may be granted tentative preference on the basis of information contained in their applications, but they must produce a DD-214 (showing the character of service) or other proof of service to receive consideration for veterans' preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit FedsHireVets.gov .

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.