Criminal Investigator (Open Continuous) Job in Washington, DC

Vacancy No. OIG-24-ST-1246010PK Department U.S. Agency for International Development
Salary $117,962.00 to $153,354.00 Grade 13 to 13
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 5/24/2024 Close Date 12/31/2024
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Status Candidates
Locations:
Washington, DC


Job Description (Please follow all instructions carefully)

Summary

You are encouraged to read the entire announcement before you submit your application package.

OIG is responsible for preventing and detecting fraud, waste, abuse, and violations of law, and for promoting economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of USAID programs. OIG provides oversight of the U. S. African Development Foundation (USADF), the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Status Candidates (on career or career-conditional appointments), including former Federal employees with reinstatement eligibility, and those eligible for CTAP; ICTAP; VEOA; special hiring programs under a non-competitive appointment authority such as Schedule A; Executive Order 12721, employees eligible under the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act and individuals on interchange agreement with Other Merit Systems.

Duties

As a GS-13 Criminal Investigator you will:

  • Conduct complex and large-scale criminal, civil, and administrative investigations.
  • Plan, conduct and coordinate sensitive and significant domestic and overseas criminal investigations affecting the integrity and efficiency of USAID, ADF, IAF, MCC and OPIC-financed activities and personnel in an assigned geographic region.
  • Plan, organize or direct investigations, determine scope and possible ramifications, develop methods, procedures and techniques to be followed. Conduct research, data collection and analysis of information related to programs and projects that are subject to investigative oversight.
  • Oversee the gathering and development of technical/administrative evidence relating to phases of investigations, and utilize a broad range of investigative techniques such as interviews, subpoenas, search warrants, electronic surveillance, financial analysis, document examination and the use of expert witnesses.
  • Lead teams or work directly with employees and other federal agencies' experts to complete investigations.
  • Prepare investigative reports and other written documentation for action officials, Congress, prosecutorial bodies and OIG management.
  • Brief and advise management/leadership, congressional staffers, prosecutors and law enforcement teams on various investigative matters/results.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • United States Citizenship is required.
  • Relevant experience (see Qualifications below).
  • Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI)
  • Time in grade must be met by the closing date of the vacancy announcement.
  • Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered with the Selective Service.
  • Designated and/or random drug testing is required.
  • Regular domestic and overseas travel is required.
  • Medical and Physical Examinations are required in accordance with OIG policy.
  • Must be proficient in the use of assigned firearms/weapons, pass an initial qualification, and must continually qualify in the use of firearms/weapons.
  • Must meet the Lautenberg Amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968. Persons convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence are not eligible for this position.
  • Must possess and maintain a valid state driver's license.
  • Relocation expenses are not authorized on initial appointment.
  • Must agree to work an annual average of two hours extra per day to meet the requirements of law enforcement availability pay (LEAP) as described in Title 5 U.S.C 5545A (d) (1).

Qualifications

INPORTANT INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS OPEN CONTINUOUS VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT:
  • This is an open continuous vacancy announcement that will be used to fill vacancies as they occur.
  • To receive consideration for vacancies, applicants must submit a complete application prior to the established cut-off date(s).
  • Cut-off dates will take place every 30 days beginning on June 07, 2024. Applications received after the initial cut-off date will be considered upon receipt before the next cut-off date.
  • Submitted applications expire 60 days after date of submission. In order to be eligible for consideration after the 60 days mark, applicants will need to reapply.

NOTE: Applicants will be referred periodically throughout the announcement period at any time a vacancy becomes available and selections may be made at any point during the announcement open period. The agency will issue a list of eligible applicants to hiring officials within the period of eligibility. Applicants may make changes to applications to ensure experience is current.

MEDICAL REQUIREMENTS: The duties of this position require moderate to arduous physical exertion involving walking and standing, use of firearms, and exposure to inclement weather. Manual dexterity with comparatively free range of motion of fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, and knee joints are required. Arms, hands, legs, and feet must be sufficiently intact and functioning in order that applicants may perform the duties satisfactorily. Sufficiently good vision in each eye, with or without correction, is required to perform the duties satisfactorily. Near vision, corrective lenses permitted, must be sufficient to read printed material the size of typewritten characters. Hearing loss, as measured by an audiometer, must not exceed 35 decibels at 1000, 2000, and 3000 Hz levels. Since the duties of this position are exacting and responsible, and involve activities under trying conditions, applicants must possess emotional and mental stability. Any physical condition that would cause the applicant to be a hazard to himself/herself, or others is disqualifying.

Applicants must be at least 21 years of age at the time of appointment. Applicants that have no prior series 1811 criminal investigator experience must meet the maximum age for entry into a covered position which is the date immediately preceding the applicant's 37th birthday and must be able to retire at the mandatory age of 57 years with 20 years of service as an 1811 criminal investigator. Hiring exceptions may be made for certain eligible veterans.

Must agree to work an annual average of two hours extra per day to meet the requirements of law enforcement availability pay as described in Title 5 U.S.C 5545A(d)(1).

Specialized Experience:

To qualify for the GS-13 grade level, you must have one year of specialized experience at the GS-12 grade in the Federal service or equivalent. Specialized experience is defined as: (1) Planning, organizing, and conducting highly complex criminal, civil and/or administrative investigations, (2) Reviewing and analyzing contracts and business records, and (3) Applying appropriate legal/ regulatory guidelines and standard investigative techniques/procedures.

Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable) as it relates to this job opportunity. 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). Your resume must include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year).

Time in Grade Requirement: Time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date. This means that you must have served at least 52 weeks at the next grade level (or equivalent) below the grade advertised on this vacancy announcement.

Selective Placement Factor:

(1) Applicants must have experience conducting investigations of Title 18, False Claims Act and investigations involving contractual remedies.

(2) Applicant must have satisfactorily completed the Criminal Investigator Training Program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, or any one of the following equivalent programs: Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Academy; Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) (proof of completion must be provided at time of application).

CTAP/ICTAP candidates will be referred to the selecting official if they are found well qualified. Well-qualified means an eligible employee who possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities that clearly exceed the position's minimum requirements. A well-qualified employee must meet the qualification and eligibility requirements of the position, including any medical qualifications, suitability, and minimum education and experience requirements, meet all selective factors (where applicable); meet quality ranking factors and are assigned a score of 85 or higher; be physically qualified with reasonable accommodation to perform the essential duties of the position; meet any special qualifying U.S. OPM-approved conditions; AND be able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry without additional training.

A well-qualified candidate will not necessarily meet the definition of highly or best qualified when evaluated against other candidates who apply for a particular position. Selecting officials will document the job-related reason(s) for qualification determinations in the absence of selective and quality ranking factors.

Education

This position does not have a positive education requirement. Therefore, no transcripts are required.

Additional information

Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP): LEAP in the amount of 25% has been approved for this position. However, the biweekly maximum earnings limitation for LEO's in 5 U.S.C. 5547(c) applies.

Time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date. This means that you must have served at least 52 weeks at the next grade level (or equivalent) below the grade advertised on this vacancy announcement.

USAID is an independent Federal Government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. With headquarters in the District of Columbia, we operate in more than 100 countries worldwide, playing an active and critical role in the promotion of U.S. foreign policy interests. When crisis strikes, when rights are repressed, when hunger, disease, and poverty rob people of opportunity, USAID acts on behalf of the American people to help expand the reach of prosperity and dignity to the world's most vulnerable people. USAID employees and contractors must commit to maintaining a workplace free of sexual misconduct, including harassment, exploitation, and abuse, and adhere to USAID's Counter-Trafficking in Persons Code of Conduct. For information on the effort to counter all forms of human trafficking, including the procurement of commercial sex acts and the use of forced labor, visit http://www.state.gov/g/tip. For more information about USAID, visit http://www.usaid.gov.


This announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

These are Testing Designated Positions (TDP's) under the Agency's approved Drug-Free Work Place Program. All applicants selected for this position will be subject to random drug testing once they begin working for the Agency.

Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer is required.

Moving and relocation expenses are not authorized.

Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies: https://hru.gov/Studio_Recruitment/tools/Mythbuster_on_Federal_Hiring_Policies.pdf.

EEO Policy: EEO Policy Statement.

Veterans' Information: Veterans Information.

Telework: https://www.telework.gov/.

Selective Service Registration: http://www.sss.gov/.

Reasonable Accommodation Policy:
USAID is committed to equal employment opportunity; therefore, reasonable accommodations are available to applicants and employees with disabilities. If you need an accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the Reasonable Accommodation Division in the Office of Civil Rights at reasonableaccommodations@usaid.gov. Reasonable accommodation decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. To learn more about the Reasonable Accommodation Division, please visit our website at: https://www.usaid.gov/careers/reasonableaccommodations.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

We will review your application package to ensure you meet the job and eligibility requirements, including the education and/or experience required for this position. If you meet the minimum qualifications stated in the vacancy announcement, we will compare your resume, optional cover letter, and supporting documentation to your responses on the scored occupational questionnaire (True/False, Yes/ No, Multiple Choice questions) to determine if your answers to the assessment questionnaire are supported in your resume. If your answers to the online assessment questionnaire are not supported in the resume it will affect your eligibility for further consideration. You may be found "not qualified" if you do not possess the minimum competencies required for the position. If your application is incomplete, we will rate you as ineligible. Candidates rated as Highly Qualified will be referred to the hiring manager and may be invited for an interview.

The scored occupational questionnaire will evaluate you on the following competencies:

Case/Project Management
Investigative Practices and Techniques
Oral Communication
Written Communication
Planning and Evaluating
Problem Solving
Teamwork

It is the Government's policy not to deny employment simply because an individual has been unemployed or has had financial difficulties that have arisen through no fault of the individual. USAID will use information about an individual's employment experience only to determine their qualifications and assess their relative level of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Although an individual's conduct may be relevant in any employment decision, including behavior during periods of unemployment or evidence of dishonesty in handling financial matters, financial difficulty that has arisen through no fault of the individual will generally not be the basis of an unfavorable suitability or fitness determination.

Required Documents

  • Resume showing relevant experience.
  • CTAP; ICTAP Eligibles: Must submit a copy of the appropriate documentation such as a reduction-in-force (RIF) separation notice, an SF-50 reflecting your RIF separation, or a notice of proposed removal for declining a direct reassign or transfer of function to another commuting area.
  • If this position requires proof of higher education, or you are qualifying based on education, you must include a copy of your transcript (unofficial or official) or a list of courses that includes the following information: name of accredited institution, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. Please refer to http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/policy/ApplicationOfStds-04.asp for more information. Please be advised that an official transcript will be required if you are selected for the position.
  • Current Federal Employees: A most recent copy of your SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action); your document must reflect grade, step, tenure code "1" (Career) or "2" (Career-Conditional), and type of position occupied.
  • Veterans' documentation, if requesting consideration under any Veterans' hiring eligibilities (veterans' preference and Veterans Employment Opportunities Act).
  • If seeking eligibility based on any other special hiring authority (e.g., disabled veteran, Schedule A, special hiring programs).
  • Peace Corps letter, if applicable.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

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.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

The following instructions outline our application process. You must complete this online application process and submit any applicable required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. If applying online poses an extreme hardship, you must contact the human resources office no later than two business days before the closing date of this vacancy announcement. Our Office will provide an alternative application method upon approval of the hardship notification. After the advertisement has closed, we will not grant requests to apply via alternative plans.

Please note, we must receive all required documents by the closing date via online or alternative methods. We will determine your eligibility and qualifications based solely on the material received by the closing date.

Step 1 - Review the Job Announcement (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12416010)
Before you apply, we suggest you review the entire job announcement. Pay close attention to the Major Duties section and the How You Will Be Evaluated section, where you will see the areas upon which an HR Specialist or Subject Matter Expert will evaluate your application and a link for previewing online questions.

Step 2 - Create or Upload a resume with USAJOBS (www.usajobs.gov)
Create or upload a resume in USAJOBS. You may wish to customize your resume to ensure it supports your responses to the online questions and addresses the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of the job announcement. For resume tips, click here.-Although you must enter your Social Security Number (SSN) for USAJOBS, we will only see the last four digits for identification purposes.

Step 3 - Apply Online
Click the "Apply Online" button on this announcement and then select the resume you wish to submit with your application. You will be redirected to the OPM's USA Staffing website to complete the application process.

Step 4 - Answer the Online Questions and Submit Your Online Application
If this is your first time on OPM's USA Staffing website, the system will prompt you to register by answering questions about your eligibility for Federal employment. Select "Take me to the assessment" and click on the "Next" button to answer the job-specific questions. The system will save these responses and take you back to the main screen so that you can answer the job-specific questions. You must answer all the questions and click the "Finish" button.

Step 5 - Review and Confirm Your Submission
You will now have the option to upload a document or print fax cover sheets for documents (see Step 6 for details). Once you click "Done," you will see a summary of your application for your review, and you may also print a copy for your records. When you click "Finish" at the bottom of the page, our system will then direct you back to USAJOBS, where you can confirm that you correctly submitted your application, and you can track your application status.

Step 6 - Submit Documents
You can submit any applicable required or optional documents (see below) by document upload, fax, or e-mail. Whichever method you choose, please include the job announcement number with your records. To protect your privacy, we encourage you to remove your SSN from any documents that you submit.

Document Upload: You may upload documents in one of two ways:

  1. Once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement, the system will prompt you to upload your document(s) to your application. You will be given a choice to either upload the document as part of the application process or select a copy that you've already loaded on USAJOBS. Or
  2. You can upload a document to an existing application by logging into your USAJOBS account profile. Click on "My Applications" and search for the vacancy. Once you've located the vacancy, click on the vacancy and select "Apply Online." Move through your existing application to the Documents page and select upload to add a document to your application. Be sure to review your complete application for confirmation that you uploaded the document.

Agency contact information

OIG HR Operations Washington

Address

OIG - Office of Investigations
1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20523
US
Learn more about this agency

Next steps

You must complete the online application/Occupational Questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below to apply for this position.

You must submit a complete application package by 11:59 PM (EST) on the announcement's closing date to receive consideration.

To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you must create one before beginning the application.

Follow the prompts to select your resume and other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.

After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.

Our automated system will take you to the online application you must complete to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and apply.

To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.


Note: We cannot accept applications on behalf of Federal Agencies. Application instructions are listed within the Job Description.