Clarification from the agency

This Merit Promotion position is open to Current Federal Employees and Former Federal Employees with permanent status or reinstatement eligibility. Individuals who are eligible for a special appointing authority may also apply such as Individuals with Disabilities (Schedule A), former Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Vista volunteers; certain Military Spouses, or individuals eligible under various programs for Veterans (VRA, VEOA, 30% disabled).

The Fire Protection Engineer will operate and maintain all buildings and spaces to protect Smithsonian employees, property, and mission from losses that may be incurred in the event of a fire.

In this position, you will:

• Review design and construction project drawings and specifications to evaluate adequacy of both fire protection and life safety to a wide variety of building and occupancy types.
• Apply current national building and fire codes in developing prescriptive and performance-based approaches to solving various fire protection and life safety issues. 
• Develop fire protection and life safety policies and programs based on established standards and tailored to the needs of an organization or jurisdiction.
• Provide fire protection/life safety training and presentations to diverse groups, both large and small.
• Prepare reports using proper grammar and context. Prepare technical reports at the conclusion of inspections of SI facilities.

Conditions of employment

• Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation
• May need to complete a Probationary Period
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Conditions of Employment

Qualification requirements, including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates, must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date. See the 'Required Documents' section for additional information.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on OPM Website.

Qualifications

Basic Education requirement

1. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor’s degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET as a professional engineering curriculum; 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

1. 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 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.

In addition to the basic Education requirement above:

Experience: 

GS-11: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-9 level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system. For this position specialized experience is defined as performing activities such as applying fire protection engineering principles in design review and construction oversight, conducting risk assessment surveys, performing, or evaluating performance-based engineering analyses, and preparing fire protection engineering reports.

Or Education: Three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree directly related to this position may be substituted to meet the experience requirements.

Or a Combination: Education and experience may be combined to meet the basic qualifications. For a full explanation of this option please see the Qualification Standards. Special Instructions for 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. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

GS-12: You qualify for this position if you possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system.  For this position specialized experience is defined as: conducting fire safety surveys of a variety of buildings; applying a broad range of fire and building codes and standards to various types of facilities; developing risk assessments; applying fire protection principles and techniques, including the use of performance-based engineering analysis to solve complex fire protection issues; reviewing drawings and specifications for building construction and renovation to ensure compliance with current standards for fire protection and life safety.

GS-13: You qualify for this position if you possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system.  For this position specialized experience is defined as: conducting fire safety surveys of a variety of buildings; applying abroad range of fire and building codes and standards to various types of facilities; developing risk assessments; applying fire protection principles and techniques, including the use of performance-based engineering analysis to independently solve complex fire protection issues; reviewing drawings and specifications for building construction and renovation to ensure compliance with current standards for fire protection and life safety; and serving as a consultant on fire protection and prevention to upper levels of management, engineers, and other personnel.

Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages and should clearly demonstrate how your experience aligns with the responsibilities and specialized experience required for this position. Do not copy language directly from the vacancy announcement, as you will be deemed ineligible for consideration. Instead, provide detailed, descriptive information about your actual 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; 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.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above.  The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

1. Skill in the application of fire protection engineering principles, practices, and techniques to independently solve complex fire protection problems.
2. Ability to interpret and apply established codes and standards, and utilize performance-based engineering methods, to a wide variety of situations. 
3. Ability to communicate orally, articulating complex engineering ideas with diverse groups.
4. Skill in technical writing to produce comprehensive investigative reports and similar written documents, with analyses and recommendations for diverse groups.

BASIS OF RATING:  Once the announcement closes, your application will be automatically evaluated and rated by the system and a Human Resources Specialist. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your application 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 the Human Resources Specialist reviews your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that the score you have received is not a true reflection of your qualifications and/or experience, your score can and will be adjusted to more accurately reflect the information you provided that support your abilities. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA):  If you are applying for a VEOA appointment, you must be a veteran and must be honorably separated and either a preference eligible or have substantially completed 3 or more years of active service. ("Active Service" under this law means active duty in a uniformed service and includes full-time training duty, annual training duty, full-time National Guard duty, and attendance, while in the active service, at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary concerned.) A veteran who is released under honorable conditions shortly before completing a 3-year tour is also eligible.

Noncompetitive Appointment Authorities:  The following links contain information on the eligibility requirements to be considered under a noncompetitive appointing authority:

• Primary Appointing Authorities for Career and Career-Conditional Appointments
• Hiring Authorities for Veterans
• People with Disabilities

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be reviewed by a Subject Matter Expert (SME). If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours worked per week, and hours worked per week, for each employment period.  It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position.

• For assistance with creating a resume, please click USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job?
  

• Current and former employees MUST submit a copy of their Standard Form (SF)-50, “Notice of Personnel Action,” that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. The SF-50 must include your position title, series, grade, step, salary, type of service (competitive or excepted in block 34), and tenure (1 or 2 in block 24). Please provide a SF-50 that shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade level.  Examples of appropriate SF50s include: Appointments, Reassignments, Within-grade/range increases or Promotion actions.  NOTE: Pay adjustments and award SF-50s do not include the length of time in your current position, therefore, they are NOT acceptable SF-50’s on their own. You may need to provide more than one SF-50. Failure to provide the appropriate SF-50(s) may prevent you from receiving consideration for this position.  

• Unofficial school 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.
• Proof of Veteran's Preference - DD214 (Member 4 Copy) if you are requesting a special appointment authority, such as VRA or VEOA
• Proof of severe disability if you are requesting special placement consideration.
• Proof of eligibility for a military spouse appointment, such as a permanent change station military order.
• Proof of eligibility for any other special appointing authority not specifically mentioned here.

Next steps