Duties

• Advises approving officials and purchase card holders on purchase card program, procurement procedures and responsibilities.
• Answers telephones and refers calls.
• Conducts follow up action on undelivered orders and aged purchase card transactions to close our purchase orders.
• Provides clerical support and coordination to approving officials and administrators.
• Responds to requests or complaints.
• Conducts purchasing under the micro purchase threshold.
• Coordinates sources of supplies and acceptable substitutions.
• Initiates and provides training to acquisition and technical staff on the procurement process.
• Makes purchases involving specialized requirements and/or commercial requirements.
• Provides procurement support throughout the procurement cycle.
• Conducts open market research for purchases of routine equipment, supplies, and services.
• Examines incoming procurement requests for completeness.
• Performs program analysis function.
• Utilizes departmental software to produce printouts for logistic and medical staff.
• Utilizes various web-based applications to identify required sources of supply.
• Collects data to determine price reasonableness.
• Identifies factors to determine the best offer applicable for procurement.
• Maintains accountable procurement records and auditing information.
• Maintains inventory of supplies or equipment.
• Obtains facts for making decisions or recommendations.
• Monitors purchase requests and active and delinquent invoices, and processes receipts.
• Monitors purchases and reconciles credit card billing statements.
• Maintains catalogs, contract files, and lists of firms offering specific equipment, supplies, and services.
• Develops reports and spreadsheets, obtains and organizes files, and retrieves reports for briefings and presentation purposes.
• Reviews, assembles, and maintains procurement related files and related systems.
• Analyzes descriptions and characteristics to identify problem areas.
• Applies conventional practices to solve problems in a procurement transaction.
• Resolves minor disputes and informal complaints.
• Identifies needs or problems and determines recommended corrective actions, alternatives or solutions.
• Plans and coordinates actions to prevent, correct, or resolve delays or misunderstandings in the purchasing process.

Work Schedule: 7:45AM - 4:30PM / Monday - Friday (Eastern Standard Time)
Compressed/Flexible: Not Available
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD99896-S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Personnel

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/07/2021.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-6 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.

Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience at the GS-05 level or equivalent for this position. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. This position primarily performs Purchasing Agent work to acquire supplies, services, and construction by purchase, rental, or lease through (a) delivery orders and/or (b) small purchase procedures. The work requires knowledge of policies and procedures for delivery orders and small purchases. This work also requires knowledge of commercial supply sources and common business practices related to sales, prices, discounts, units of measurement, deliveries, stocks, and shipments. This position will become a purchase card holder who fulfills acquisition requests under the federal micro purchase threshold, ensuring these purchases are procured in accordance with Federal and VA regulations, policy and procedures. Maintains responsibility for work leading to the purchase of a wide variety of complex and highly specialized services, supplies, equipment, and systems that support the full range of programs and activities at a VA Health Care System and supported catchment area. This position performs procurement duties such as preparing, controlling, and reviewing procurement documents and reports; verify or abstract information contained in documents and reports; contact vendors to get status of orders and expedite delivery; maintain various procurement files; resolve a variety of shipment, payment, or other discrepancies; or perform other similar work in support of procurement programs and operations. The work requires a practical knowledge of procurement procedures, operations, regulations, and programs; OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed six (6) months or nine (9) semester hours of graduate education in a degree program directly related to the work of the position as a substitution for specialized experience. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. Transcripts (unofficial) are required at time of application. A transcript or course listing must be submitted if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Applications submitted without this information will not be considered. As a general rule, education is not creditable above GS-5 for most positions covered by this qualification standard; however, graduate education may be credited in those few instances where the graduate education is directly related to the work of the position. Education at the graduate level in an accredited college or university meets the requirements for positions at the GS-6 grade level. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. In order to be creditable under this provision, the graduate education must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled. As such, course work in fields closely related to those specified include may be accepted if it clearly provides applicants with the background of knowledge and skills necessary for successful job performance. Examples (not all inclusive) of closely related graduate level coursework include business, healthcare, and/or public administration or comparable major of study; OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate education and specialized experience, as described above, that meets the requirements for this position. If education is used to meet specialized experience requirements, then such education must include courses directly related to the work of the position (copy of unofficial transcripts required at time of application). Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for all grade levels and positions for which both education and experience are acceptable. Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements and may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. When crediting education that requires specific course work, prorate the number of hours of related courses required as a proportion of the total education to be used.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Customer Service
• Technical Competence
• Reasoning
• Manages and Organizes Information
• Manages Resources
• Decision Making

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; religions; 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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: Requires some physical effort such as standing, sitting, walking, or bending. There are no special physical demands.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/ .

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ . 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, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html .

Additional information

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified : applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ .

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

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 .