Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.
Basic Requirements:
- United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
- Education, Experience, or Certification.
- Associates or higher degree in the biomedical technology or biomedical engineering field; OR
- Associates or higher degree in electronics, a field of information technology, or engineering (other than biomedical engineering) AND 1 year of creditable experience; OR
- Completion of the Department of Defense (DOD) biomedical equipment technician training program; OR
- Completion of a DOD training program in repair and maintenance of electronic systems or information technology AND 1 year of creditable experience; OR
- Completion of a biomedical engineering technician or Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) certificate program that included an internship or apprenticeship; OR
- Completion of biomedical engineering technician or HTM certificate program that did not include an internship AND 1 year of creditable experience; OR
- Hold or having ever held certification as a Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET), Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist (CRES), Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist (CLES), or Certified Healthcare Technology Manager (CHTM). Continuous maintenance of certification is not required throughout VHA employment.
- Grandfathering Provision. Employees in VHA in this occupation, under a permanent, appropriate, and legal placement on the effective date of the qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade and assignment held including positive education and certification. For employees who do not meet all the basic or assignment-specific requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply:
- Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or be changed to a lower grade within the occupation, but they may not be promoted beyond the journey level or be newly placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
- Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
- Employees retained in this occupation under this provision who subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.
NOTE: This provision is not intended to regularize appointments/placements.
- Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.
- English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).
Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, candidates must meet the following grade-determining criteria for placement at grade levels specified.
(1) Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.
(2) Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
- Knowledge of standards including National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Joint Commission (TJC), and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) for safe operation of medical equipment and clinical systems.
- Skill in using test and calibration equipment including digital multi-meters, electrical safety analyzers, defibrillator analyzers, patient simulators, manometers, tachometers, and Local Area Network (LAN) analyzers.
- Skill in interpreting a variety of technical data including schematic drawings and wiring diagrams.
- Skill in applying networking principles, such as Access Control List (ACL), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN).
- Ability to perform advanced testing to troubleshoot medical equipment and clinical system interfaces.
- Ability to maintain medical computers and software.
- Ability to manage projects involving medical equipment and clinical systems.
(3) Assignment. Employees in this assignment serve as full performance level (FPL) BESSs responsible for managing multiple assignments, organizing, and independently prioritizing their work with minimal supervision. At this level, BESSs manage medical equipment and clinical systems including installation, planned maintenance, troubleshooting, repair, calibrations, electrical safety inspections, patient safety, cybersecurity, and decommissioning. They plan, implement, and provide technical and project oversight for medical equipment and clinical systems. BESSs develop technical requirements, draft requests for proposal (RFP) language, sole-source justifications, and statements of work (SOW). They conduct market research, product evaluations, evaluate contractor performance, and conduct pre-procurement assessments. They serve as a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) or Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) to purchase medical equipment, maintenance and repair contracts, and facility projects as needed. BESSs conduct pre-purchase evaluations and address pre-implementation security issues to ensure medical device isolation architecture (MDIA) requirements are met. They consult with and advise clinical and administrative staff in evaluating medical equipment and clinical systems proposed for purchase. BESSs perform incoming inspections on medical equipment and systems to determine that all safety regulations, manufacturer's specifications, contract requirements, and needs of users are met, and they initiate corrective action when necessary. They provide instruction and guidance to end users on proper use and care of equipment including operator-level maintenance of equipment and accessories. BESSs partner with customers to determine the nature and scope of the customer's issues and needs, provide an appropriate response and applicable solutions, and ensure the customer is apprised of delays and significant steps until completion. They ensure inventory accuracy of networked medical equipment and clinical systems to identify and mitigate cybersecurity vulnerabilities. BESSs are responsible for monitoring system backups; data integrity; ensuring network connectivity between systems, servers, databases, and the electronic medical record; and maintain systems security and standards. In the event of a system failure, BESSs reload operating systems and clinical application software and interface with the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) to keep systems operational. They use schematic drawings, wiring diagrams, and manufacturer service literature as guidelines to accomplish work. BESSs use specialized electronic test equipment or software to analyze, evaluate, diagnose, troubleshoot, calibrate, or repair analog and digital microprocessor controlled, computerized, or networked digital systems.
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