Congressional Liaison Representative

Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open ONLY to current, permanent VA employees and current/former VA employees who are CTAP eligible. For the purpose of this job announcement, Fiduciary Hub bargaining unit employees in the commuting area are considered facility employees.

Major Duties:
The Congressional Liaison Representative works in the Veterans Service Center at the VBA Regional Offices and is responsible for processing responses on behalf of the Regional Office Director. Specific duties include:

• Independently analyzes correspondence and requests for information, researches, expedites action, and responds or prepares written responses.
• Prepares executive correspondence with appropriate professional formatting according to VA Executive Secretariat Style Guide and Templates.
• Evaluates problems and issues for trends and recommends improvements to operations.
• Monitors work for timely and accurate response and ensures that work is properly counted and controlled, making day to day adjustments in accordance with the established priorities.
• Reviews cases in order to determine the priority in which they will be worked.
• Functions as an authoritative consultant on the technical aspects of claims processing.
• Reviews all Congressional, White House, Secretary, and other special inquiries received by letter, fax, email, and telephone to determine the proper disposition of these inquiries.
• Discusses inquiries and VBA benefits with Congressional Aides as well as inquiries received from the Office of the Director, Veterans Service Center (VSC), and other Division Managers of the Regional Office (RO).

Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday 8:00am-4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible: Not Applicable
Telework: Yes. Ad-hoc telework may be permitted in accordance with agency policy. Employees are required to report to their assigned duty station unless telework has been explicitly approved in advance by their supervisor. Eligibility for ad-hoc telework may be addressed during the interview process. Telework is a discretionary privilege, not a right, and may be granted or denied based on performance, operational needs, and other relevant considerations. Approval is not guaranteed and may be changed or revoked at any time.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Congressional Liaison Representative, 39706A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Bargaining Unit: Yes

Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the Agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the Agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Additional Conditions of Employment are as follows:

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a 1- year probationary or trial period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements I-9 Acceptable Documents.
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Incumbent must be willing to report to the duty station indicated for this position.

Qualifications

• For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level.
• If you are a current VBA employee requesting a reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS-09 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-09.

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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level. The grade may have been in any occupation and must have been held in the Federal service. A SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status (career, career-conditional, or excepted service), time in grade requirements have been met, and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate possession of time in grade requirements. In this instance, you must also submit your most recent Promotion or Within Grade Increase SF-50, or a Promotion or Within Grade Increase SF-50 that indicates the highest grade/step previously held. DO NOT submit Award SF-50s and/or General Adjustment SF-50s as they cannot be used to verify time in grade.

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

GS-09 Grade Level:

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level or higher in the federal service. Specialized experience is defined as work that involves researching, developing and analyzing customer claims. Examples include:

• Analyze correspondence and requests for information, researches, works with the appropriate service areas to expedite actions.
• Responds or prepares written responses on behalf of Leadership for review and signature.
• Provides administrative guidance and support to Veterans and their representatives.
• Coordinates with various areas of VA and VBA to resolve delayed issues affecting a Veteran's inquiry.
• Monitoring and maintaining various databases to track inquiries and workload.

OR

Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education you must have:

• A master's or equivalent graduate degree in an accredited or pre-accredited college or university;

OR

• 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; or possession of an LL.B. or J.D degree, if related. Graduate-level education must demonstrate the competencies necessary to do the work of the position.

Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information.

Volunteer Experience: 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.

Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week.

Physical Requirements:The work normally involves mental rather than physical exertion. The work is mostly sedentary; however, there may be some walking, standing, and carrying of light items.

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

How you will be evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.
You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position.
You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• TECHNICAL COMPETENCE: Knowledge of pertinent laws, regulations, policies and procedures pertaining to a wide range of Veterans Compensation and Pension Benefit Programs.
• ORAL COMMUNICATION: Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
• WRITTEN COMMUNICATION: Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience on a wide range of subjects pertaining to VA benefits.
• INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: Ability to research and analyze a subject, collect pertinent information and prepare an appropriate analysis or recommendation.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

To preview the application questionnaire, click the following link:https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12976964

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package to include the documents detailed below.
Failure to submit the required documents may result in your application being considered incomplete and you being deemed ineligible. It is your responsibility to ensure your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. We will not request additional documentation or accept late or missing documents after the announcement has closed.

• Resume, limited to 2 pages, detailing specialized experience and competencies as they relate to this position.
  • For each position in your resume, you must specify the start and end dates (month/year) and a description of duties. If the position was Federal, you should also indicate the grade level. Resumes containing a general summary of all positions held, not specifying start/end dates, and/or not including documentation supporting Federal grade level(s) are insufficient to determine basic qualifications.
• Your most recent NON-AWARD OR GENERAL ADJUSTMENT SF-50. The SF-50 must indicate proof of status and should identify your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted).
• Your SF-50 reflecting when you entered your highest grade (e.g. Promotion, Appointment, etc.) in order to verify time-in-grade requirements.
• Transcript if you are using education to qualify.
  • Your transcript must show coursework and the total number of credits earned to include graduation date and degree. A diploma is NOT sufficient to determine qualifications.

Additional Documents accepted:

• Most recent Performance Appraisal (VA Form 0750)
• CTAP documentation - RIF notice, SF-50 showing VA employee, and performance appraisal
• Documentation to be considered under non-competitive eligibility (if applicable) such as a member-4 DD-214, civil service preference letter, or Schedule A letter.

Please use this checklist to make sure you have included all documents required for your application. You will not be contacted for additional information.

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
• An SF-50 showing 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
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions at the highest grade held

Next steps