Clarification from the agency

U.S. Department of State CTAP employees

• Collaborate with planning and design managers and OBO construction project executives on the planning, design, and construction of specific projects, ensuring that timely and accurate information is available to top management officials in OBO.
• Provide professional advice on-site at various overseas posts to render technical assistance on engineering problems including new design work, redesign work, minor improvements, and analysis of a wide variety of malfunctioning equipment.
• Serve as a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), with responsibility for assisting the Contracting Officer in the administration of contracts for the design, construction, and testing of overseas facilities or support programs.
• Travel to construction sites throughout the world, performing intermediate and final inspections of telecommunications, radio frequency and acoustical shielding, and sophisticated engineering capability or adequate construction capability.
• Negotiate with the host countries to obtain commercial power and telecommunications services for new embassy compounds.

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement. If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application.

NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements, by the closing date of this announcement.

Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F.

Applicants MUST meet one of the following Basic Requirements, per OPM's Professional Engineering Positions Individual Occupational Requirements:

A. Bachelor’s or Higher Degree: The program must be (1) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience: College-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying professional engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering.

The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by ONE of the following:

1. Professional Registration or Licensure: Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.

2. Written Test: Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

3. Specified Academic Courses: Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the Basic Requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.

4. Related Curriculum: Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor’s degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

Notes:

     1) Applicants who meets the Basic Requirements in A or B above, except as noted under B.1., may qualify for positions in any branch of engineering unless selective factors indicate otherwise;

     2) Professional engineering experience required for grades GS-7 and above is defined as non-routine engineering work that required and was characterized by professional knowledge of engineering, professional ability to apply such knowledge to engineering    
          problems, and positive and continuing development of professional knowledge and ability;

     3) To be considered, applicants MUST submit transcripts and copies of professional registration and/or licensure to verify Basic Requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

IN ADDITION to the Basic Requirements above, you MUST also have 1 year of specialized experience that is related to the work of the position, is equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal service, and demonstrates the following:

• Experience designing electrical distribution systems using traditional (utility, generators, etc.) and alternative (solar, battery energy storage systems, microgrid, etc.) sources, lighting, and/or telecommunications distribution systems.
• Experience testing and troubleshooting electrical and/or telecommunications systems.
• Experience advising stakeholders on established electrical design criteria and specific design issues for diverse locations.

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 resume limited to two pages will be conducted and evaluated by an HR specialist to determine if you are qualified for this job. Resumes longer than two pages will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered further.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies:

• Knowledge of electrical standards and codes in order to perform inspections.
• Knowledge of design and construction codes and standards in order to effectively manage projects.
• Ability to design and lay out electrical systems.
• Ability to design and lay out telecommunications cabling systems.
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing.

Agency Career and Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP and ICTAP) candidates must be rated "Well Qualified" and submit the supporting documents listed under the required documents section of this job to receive consideration for selection priority. To be considered well-qualified, in addition to meeting minimum qualifications, candidates must demonstrate proficiency in some, but not all of the major aspects of the position.

All required documents listed below, that are applicable to you, must be submitted to our automated system by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.

1.  Resume limited to two pages showing relevant work/volunteer experience, education and training. Include the start and end dates (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours per week worked/volunteered. Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must support your answers to the completed online assessment questions. Resumes longer than two pages will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered further.

2. Most recent SF-50s (Notification of Personnel Actions) that show: effective date, position title, series, grade, salary, tenure, position occupied, full promotion potential, and name of agency. Multiple SF-50s may be needed to show all required information (e.g., promotion, within-grade increase, and separation SF-50s). Award SF-50s often do not show the required information. 

3. Transcripts, if applicable and you are qualifying based on education.  See the Qualification and Education sections of this announcement for more information. If selected, an official/sealed college transcript(s) will be required to verify education prior to employment.

4. Other Qualification Documentation (e.g. certificates, certifications, etc.), if applicable.  See the Qualification section of this announcement for more information.

5.  Performance appraisal. Submit your most recent (i.e., usually within the last 18 months) final (not a mid-year review) official (i.e., signed by the rating official and in original format) annual performance appraisal.

6.  CTAP eligibility documentation (e.g., reduction-in-force (RIF) separation notice, certification of expected separation, etc.).

Next steps