Duties

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Distributes and balances the workload among the Travel Assistants in accordance with established workload or job specialization and need of the office.
• Assures timely accomplishment of the assigned workload, and assures that each Travel Assistant has enough work to keep busy.
• Keeps in touch with the status and the progress of work and makes day to day adjustments in accordance with established priorities, responsible to resolve problems that may arise, such as travel claims backlogs, White House inquiries and Congressional.
• Estimates and reports on time of completion of work, and maintain records of work accomplishments and time expended and prepares production reports for Travel Assistants on a regular basis.
• Instructs Travel Assistants in specific tasks and makes available written instructions, reference materials and supplies; gives on-the-job training to new employees in accordance with established procedures and practices.
• Maintains a current knowledge and answers questions of other employees on
  procedures, policies, directives, etc.
• Checks on work in progress or spot checks work not requiring review and reviews
  completed work; amends or rejects work no meeting established standards.
• Recommends new procedures and assures consistent implementation, refers to supervisor for questions or matters not covered by standards and problems in meeting performance standards.
• Monitors working conditions such as seating, ventilation, lighting, safety etc.; informs
  employees of available services and employee activities.
• Resolves simple, informal complaints of employees and refers others to the supervisor.
• Reports to supervisor on performance, progress and training needs of employees and on behavior problems; and provides information to Supervisor as requested concerning promotions, reassignment, recognition of outstanding performance, and personnel needs.
• Process requests for travel reimbursement utilizing various media to determine service connection eligibilities, hardship qualification, appointment verification at local and outside facilities, proof of address, and other criteria.
• Arranges all modes of transportation via air ambulance, commercial air, taxi, ambulance, bus and/or independent transports.
• Corresponds with physician, traveler, and vendor to determine the most dependable and economical mode of transportation. May keep in touch with traveler en-route to resolve potential problems.
• Reconciles vouchers against authorizations for accuracy prior to preparing certification for payments.
• Responsible for balancing, reconciling, and adjusting invoices for payment.
• Prepares daily expenditure reports and manages activities for beneficiary travel control points.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am To 4:30 pm
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Lead Transportation Assistant/: 030660
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, 01/20/2022.

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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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 experience as described below:
Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
Knowledge of regulations, procedures and policies relative to both the Beneficiary Travel and Patient Funds, accounting skills and basic math skills. Knowledge of validation, control and maintaining accounting records.
Skill in both oral and written communication as well as office automation abilities, to include knowledge of email system, MS Office, spreadsheets and other equipment. Basic medical terminology and must have knowledge
of how to extract information and mileage from computerized road atlas and city street maps along with the ability to interpret contracts for transportation services. Knowledge of how to organize and maintain documentation and records.

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

• Accountability
• Cost Benefit Analysis
• Leadership
• Organizational Awareness
• Teaching Others
• Technical Competence
• Veteran and Customer Focus

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: The work is sedentary; however, some walking, bending and standing may be required.

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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

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/ .

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

As required by Executive Order 14043 , Federal employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of the employee's duty location or work arrangement (e.g., telework, remote work, etc.), subject to such exceptions as required by law. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required exception from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

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 .