Contract Specialist - Direct Hire

Clarification from the agency

United States Citizens

This position is located in the Office of Enterprise Services (ENT), Acquisition Services Division. It is the responsibility of the Office of Enterprise Services to procure directly for all Programs. The incumbent serves as a Contracting Specialist in the role of warranted Contracting Officer (CO) in support of EXIM's Acquisition Programs. This position reports to a warranted Contracting Officer Lead. Functions as a project manager for the acquisition process and has responsibility for agency wide procurement.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Assist a Contracting Officer (CO) providing quality control reviews and negotiates and administers contracts for the agency, ensuring compliance with federal regulations, Bank policies and office Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Assist with administrating and overseeing Contracting Officer's Representatives (COR's) for single and multi-year contracts and agreements involving goods and services.
• Responsible for closeout of contracts.
• Assist the CO with contract negotiator in all phases of pre-award and contract administration.
• Assist the planning and overseeing the execution of negotiation strategies.
• Assist with negotiations which are conducted with contractors to develop contract terms and prices and presents appropriate pre-award and post-award briefings.
• Assist with conducting negotiation meetings and briefings with senior staff members of private sector firms such as CEOs, Presidents, Vice Presidents and Senior Partners, as well as briefing senior EXIM staff.
• Help to develop, maintain and report planning and performance results to the CAO on contracting operations and other appropriate data to support contracts (e.g., past performance, award and reporting data, socio-economic achievements, contractor's responsibility, etc.).

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship
• Background and Security/Suitability Investigation
• May be required to serve a one-year probationary period
• Specialized experience MUST be documented on your resume
• Current or Former Political Appointees: If you are, or have been employed in the last 5 years, you must disclose this information. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action including removal from Federal Service.
• May require financial disclosure of personal and immediate family financial holdings, outside positions, and interests.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

A. Degree: A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field;

OR

B. Industry-Specific Coursework: At least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management. (You must submit transcripts.)

OR

C. Exception for Contract Series (1102): Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. Employees who occupy GS-1102 positions at grades 5 through 12 will be considered to have met the basic requirements for other GS-1102 positions up to and including those classified at the GS-12. This includes positions at other agencies and promotions up through grade 12. However, employees must meet specialized experience requirements when seeking another position.

In addition to the Basic Requirements noted above, applicants must also meet and demonstrate the specialized experience listed below:

Specialized Experience (Credit for Specialized Experience on resume must reflect 40 hours/Full-time per week for each period of work):

GS-11: You must have one (1) year of specialized experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform 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 GS-09 level in the Federal Government or other equivalent pay systems. Specialized experience includes:

• Experience assisting with overseeing pre- and post- award procurement and contract actions for various supplies, services, and equipment of a Federal agency;
• Experience assisting with implementing processes and policy improvements for contract operations, administration of various contract types, monitoring and evaluating contract performance.
• Experience assisting with negotiating and administering contracts while ensuring contracts are in compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), federal laws, guidelines, executive orders; and
• Experience assisting with evaluating bids and proposals, recommending contract awards, preparing award documents, and negotiating contract modifications.

OR

If you are substituting education for experience to qualify for at this level, you must have 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in one of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management. (You must submit transcripts.)

OR

If you are combining both education and experience to qualify for this level, equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level.


For qualification determinations, your resume must contain the following for each work experience listed:

• Organization/Agency's Name
• Title
• Salary (series and grade, if applicable)
• Start and end dates (including the month and year)
• Number of hours you worked per week
• Relevant experience that supports your response to the specialized experience that is stated in the job announcement

If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.

NOTE: Do not copy and paste the duties or specialized experience from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications and your application may be marked as incomplete/ineligible and you will not receive consideration for this position.

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.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. Please visit the following links for more information:

• http://www.naces.org
• http://www.fceatlanta.com

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined here.

All requirements must be met by 07/15/2026, the closing date of the announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

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

This position is processed under a Direct Hire authority; therefore, veteran's preference and Category Rating procedures do not apply.

Your resume and supporting documentation will be used to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified for this position, your resume and supporting documentation will be referred to the selecting official for employment consideration.

You will be notified by email if your application is forwarded to the hiring official for further consideration.

If it is determined that your technical competencies do not meet the proficiency requirements for this position to move forward to the next evaluation stage, you will be notified by email.

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Your Resume (applicants are required to submit a resume with job title, series/grade (if federal employee), duties and accomplishments, employer's name, starting and ending dates of employment, number of hours worked per week, and annual salary). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.
  • Effective September 27, 2025, federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in accordance with the Merit Hiring Plan. If you have not already done so, please update your resume under your profile before applying for any federal job. For additional details, visit click the following link.
• Unofficial Transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.
• Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.
• Special Priority Selection rights under CTAP or ICTAP:
  • Copy of your agency notice (RIF Separation Notice, Notice of Proposed Removal, etc);
  • Copy of your most recent performance appraisal (with at least a satisfactory rating),
  • Most current SF-50 showing career/conditional tenure competitive status, position title, grade level, and duty location.
• Proof of Veteran's Preference - DD-214 (Member 4 Copy), if you are a veteran. Additionally, applicants claiming 10-point preference must complete Standard Form (SF)15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, as well as additional documentation required by the SF-15, such as a VA letter, if applicable. If a DD-214 (Member Copy 4) is not available, other documentation listing the beginning and ending dates of active service and the type of discharge must be submitted to verify eligibility.
• Submission of any required documents listed in vacancy announcement, if applicable.

Please note that if you do not provide all required information/documents, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible).

Next steps