Clarification from the agency

This job is open to current permanent competitive service Defense Microelectronics Activity employees; Veterans eligibilities include Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA); Military Spouse Preference (MSP), Retained Grade Preference (RGP), and Military Reserve and National Guard Technician eligibles may also apply.

As a Contract Specialist at the NH-1102-2 some of your typical work assignments may include:

• Performs preaward functions for procurements and assistance awards involving complex requirements of highly specialized, extensive, new or innovative research, related materials and services of significant importance to the agency.
• Ensures appropriate funding and required waivers, certifications, approvals and compliances have been obtained for purchase requests. Coordinates with responsible officials to obtain funding, waivers, certifications and approvals that are lacking.
• Selects appropriate award mechanisms, contract types, methods of solicitation and options. Determines, options, milestones, and sources to be solicited. Develops and issues solicitations with appropriate provisions and well-defined statements of work, broad agency announcements, research announcements and structures appropriate award factors.
• Evaluates responses to solicitations, including price reasonableness, adequacy of competition, compliance with solicitations, and probability of meeting requirements. Negotiates prices, terms, and conditions.
• Performs cost and price analyses and prepares price negotiation memoranda. Makes awards consistent with established award factors. Prepares award documentation, including delineation of responsibilities of Government officials (CORs, ACO, etc).
• Provides guidance and assistance to peers and lower level employees. Serves as point of contact for assigned procurements. Promotes teamwork and total quality customer services on a continuing basis.
• Develops alternatives to produce best value supplies and services, as well as manage all aspects of the life cycle of a contract or other vehicle (e.g. orders, basic ordering agreements etc.) Administers long-term, complex contracts and assistance awards for procurements of extensive, highly specialized new or innovative research, and related materials and services affecting major agency programs and having significant impact on recipients' operations and on local geographic areas. Can differentiate between guidelines that are and are not directly applicable.
• Develops systems for evaluating and monitoring performance of contractors. Develops plans with milestones for administration of each assigned contract. Monitors contractors' performance for compliance with terms and conditions of contracts. Issues delivery orders as provided in contracts. Determines extent to which subcontracting plans comply with regulatory guidelines.
• Requests and evaluates proposals. Performs cost and price analyses. Assures compliance with cost accounting standards. Identifies potential funding and production problems and initiates remedial or corrective actions. Resolves and dispositions contract audit recommendations in a timely manner, while fully protecting the Government's interest. Negotiate settlements of disputes. Negotiates proposals and executes modifications; documents actions.
• Analyzes and evaluates cost and pricing data to determine price reasonableness when relevant historical data and pricing precedents are generally not available or require extensive adaptation. Develops cost/pricing data, proposals and counter-proposals for use in negotiations. Analyzes contractor proposals to determine reasonableness, allowability, and allocability of costs. Determines appropriateness and reasonableness of proposed labor and overhead rates and labor escalation factors based on audit reports or other available sources. Documents results of cost and price analyses and market surveys.
• Resolves and dispositions contract audit recommendations in a timely manner, while fully protecting the Government's interest. Negotiates cost, price, and related factors. Presents price information and proposals at negotiation sessions. Develops data for use in pricing trends analyses. Promotes teamwork and total quality customer services on a continuing basis.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a US citizen
• Selective Service requirements apply. Please visit http://www.sss.gov for more information
• Suitable for Federal employment determined by required background investigation
• Must obtain/maintain Secret security clearance
• Drug Testing Designated position: Yes
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period
• FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: Required
• FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA): Non-Exempt

Qualifications

You may qualify at the NH-02 if you fulfill the following qualifications:

A. One year of specialized experience equivalent to the NH -1 / GS-4 grade level in the Federal service:

1. Utilizing Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), or applicable acquisition regulations supplement and local policies in the planning, administration, selection, and/or negotiating strategy of a contract, procurement, or body of micropurchases;
2. Compiling and evaluating service, requirements, and/or cost data for a variety of preaward and postaward procurement activities to negotiate and/or arrange procurements of a new or innovative research, related materials, equipment and/or service;
3. Evaluating bid/quote responsiveness and contractor performance;
4. Performing a range of pre and post award procurement actions required in the procurement of services and supplies utilizing negotiated and/or simplified acquisition procedures.

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.

In addition to meeting qualifications, your application package must reflect the applicable experience to meet the Individual Occupational Requirements for the 1102 series.

Basic Contracting Requirement: A.) Bachelor's degree from an accredited educational institution authorized to grant baccalaureate degrees. OR B.) Current civilian employee in DoD, who occupied a GS-1102 position or contracting position with authority to award or administer contracts above the simplified acquisition threshold in an Executive Department on or before September 30, 2000. SF-50s must be provided to show applicant is a current 1102 and has been in this series since October 1, 2000 if using this exception. OR C.) Current civilian employee in DoD, who served as a military member in a similar occupational specialty to the GS-1102 on or before September 30, 2000.

*NOTE: Failure to provide transcripts will result in you being rated ineligible for this position.

How you will be evaluated

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

Once the application process is complete, a review of your application will be made to ensure you meet the job requirements. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. The numeric rating you receive is based on your responses to the questionnaire. The score is a measure of the degree to which your background matches the knowledge, skills and abilities required of this position. If, after reviewing your resume and or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, your score can and will be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

• Arithmetic/Mathematical Reasoning
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

Military Spouse Preference: If you are entitled to military spouse preference, in order to receive this preference you must choose the spousal eligibility in your application package referencing MSP Military Spouse Preference. Your preference entitlement will be verified by the employing agency. If you are claiming military spouse preference and qualified for the position, your name will be placed below preference eligible veteran candidates and above non-preference candidates on a list sent to the hiring manager for employment consideration. To claim Military Spouse Preference (MSP) please complete the Military Spouse PPP Self-Certification Checklist, save the document and attach it to your application package.

Priority Placement Program (PPP) DoD Retained Grade Preference (RGP): In order to receive this preference, you must choose to apply using the "Priority Placement Program, DoD Retained Grade Preference (RGP)" eligibility. If you are claiming RGP and are determined to be Well Qualified (score of 85 or above) for the position, you will be referred to the hiring manager as a priority applicant. Information and required documentation for claiming RGP may be found at the General Applicant Information and Definitions link below. To be eligible as a RGP, you must submit the following supporting documents with your application package: a signed Retained Grade PPP Self-Certification Checklist (DD3145-1 (whs.mil)); a copy of your Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) effecting the placement in retained grade status; or a copy of the notification letter you received regarding the RIF or classification downgrade.

The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc.). Your complete application includes your COMPLETE resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

The following documents are REQUIRED

1. Your resume:

• IMPORTANT UPDATE: Your resume must not exceed two (2) pages. If your resume exceeds the two-page limit, you will be removed from consideration for this announcement. The resume and required supporting documentation should provide the minimum qualifications and relevant experience for the announced position. Must include the work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment, and duties performed. If multiple resumes are submitted by an applicant, only the last resume submitted will be reviewed for qualifications and referred for selection consideration, if eligible. The resume must not be more than 5MB and should be saved and uploaded as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. Page margins should be 0.5 inches, and font styles must be legible. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text. We recommend using a font like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans.
• Additional guidance on writing a federal resume can be found at: USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job? The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.

2. Transcripts:

• This position has a degree or education requirement so you are required to submit a copy of your transcripts.

3. SF50

• All current and former civilian Federal employees must submit a copy of your MOST RECENT SF50 (Notification of Personnel Action) showing your tenure, grade and step, salary, and type of position occupied (i.e., Excepted or Competitive); or similar Notification of Personnel Action documentation, i.e., Transcript of Service, Form 1150, etc. This is also a requirement to verify your Time in Grade (TIG).

4. Veteran's Documents:

• If applying using veteran's preference or under a Veteran's hiring authority you must submit the following documents: DD214 showing character of service, SF-15 Form and VA letter showing final percentage, or certification of expected discharge or release from active duty.

PLEASE REVIEW THE BELOW LINK FOR OTHER SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS needed for proof of eligibility:
https://www.dla.mil/Portals/104/Documents/Careers/downloads/DODCustomersRequiredSupportingDocumentation.pdf?

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