Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to all qualified candidates, U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

As the DARPA General Counsel, you will be responsible for the following duties:

• Serves as the principal legal advisor to DARPA clients on the full range of legal issues and matters relevant to DARPA operations and programs.
• Subject to DLSA policy, the incumbent recruits, hires, and assigns attorneys and administrative personnel to support program managers and personnel who execute approved programs. Supervises personnel to ensure that the goals and milestones of the office are met. Mentors, trains, and provides the professional development of assigned legal personnel to maintain the highest quality legal service for DARPA clients.
• Regularly consults with the Office and staff of the DoD General Counsel-notably, with the DoW Deputy General Counsel (Acquisition and Logistics)-the DoW Components, and other government agencies regarding DARPA legal issues. Responsible for all legal matters at DARPA, including practice areas such as federal procurement law, intellectual property law, federal fiscal law, environmental law, civilian personnel law, government ethics, international law, space and cyber law, privacy law, and all other practice areas necessary to support DARPA clients and the Agency's mission.
• Responsible for administering the Agency's ethics program. Ensures DARPA complies with government ethics laws and regulations, including federal ethics laws in Title 18 of the United States Code and Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the DoW Joint Ethics Regulation, and implementing policies. Advises and manages DARPA personnel on compliance with ethics laws, regulations, and policies.
• Responsible for all litigation matters at DARPA. The incumbent possesses prior litigation experience to effectively lead DARPA's participation in adversary proceedings, including hearings before the Government Accountability Office, Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, Merit Systems Protection Board, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Assures timely preparation and filing of pleadings, litigation reports, the gathering of evidence, and the identification of witnesses. Assists the Department of Justice (DOJ) in litigation before federal courts and tribunals and serves as DARPA's point of contact with and maintains direct, continuing liaison with DOJ. Determines DARPA's position on proposed settlements of all pending litigation.
• Supervises the investigation, negotiation, and settlement of patent infringement claims, copyright claims, and other intellectual property disputes against DARPA under statutory authority and negotiation for the acquisition of rights to inventions and copyrights. The incumbent manages DARPA's trademark registration and enforcement program.
• Advises DARPA clients on federal procurement law, policy, and procedures. Provides contract drafting and interpretation services and negotiates special contract terms and conditions. Advises DARPA contracting clients regarding the administration of DARPA contracts, including contract interpretation, terminations, review of claims, proposed settlements, and disputes. Provides similar legal services for non-procurement instruments such as Other Transaction Agreements, grants, cooperative agreements, Cooperative Research and Project Agreements, and Partnership Intermediary Agreements.
• Subject to DoW international agreements policy, the incumbent participates in DoW negotiations conducted with foreign governments to establish policies and procedures for allied foreign government participation in the Agency's research programs. Advises DARPA clients on acquisition law and related policies and, as appropriate, presents the government position to foreign government representatives.
• Responsible for the DARPA program for detection, reporting, investigation, prosecution, administrative action, and remedial action concerning procurement fraud and antitrust violations involving DARPA programs and projects.
• Subject to DoW legislative policy, the incumbent assists the Agency's Legislative Affairs office in conducting the Agency's legislative program, which may include drafting proposed legislation, developing the Agency's position on pending legislation and Executive Orders, preparing reports to Congress on legislative proposals, and advising on the implementation of new statutes. The incumbent may communicate with the Office of the DoW General Counsel, Pentagon legislative officials, the Office of Management and Budget, and other federal government agencies on assigned legislative proposals with congressional committee staff and, consistent with relevant DoW policy, members of Congress.

Conditions of employment

• Work Schedule: Full Time
• Must be a U.S. citizen
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Resume and supporting documents (See How To Apply)
• Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation
• Veteran preference is not applicable to the Senior Executive Service
• Must be able to obtain/maintain Special Sensitive/Top Secret SCI clearance
• Designated and/or random drug testing is required
• Mobility Agreement: All newly appointed Career SES leaders must sign the Reassignment Rights obligations Agreement as a condition of appointment into the SES.
• Probationary Period: You will serve a one-year Senior Executive Service (SES) probationary period unless you previously completed the probationary period in the SES.
• Financial Disclosure: Senior Executives are required to comply with the provisions of the Ethics in Government Act, PL 95-521, which requires the submission of a financial disclosure statement (OGE-278), upon assuming an SES position.
• Senior Executives are required to complete a "Declaration of Federal Employment," (OF 306), prior to being appointed to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background check.
• Overtime: None
• Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Exempt
• Tour of Duty: Set Schedule
• Telework: Situational telework eligible
• Work Schedule: Full Time

Qualifications

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs) and TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs):

There is NO requirement to prepare a narrative statement specifically addressing the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) or the Technical Qualifications (TQs). However, to meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you must show that you possess the ECQS and TQS within your resume - NOT TO EXCEED 2 PAGES. Resumes over the 2-page limit, will be disqualified.

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs):

ECQ 1 - Commitment to the Rule of Law and the Principles of the American Founding: This core qualification requires a demonstrated knowledge of the American system of government, commitment to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, and commitment to serve the American people.

ECQ 2 - Driving Efficiency: This core qualification involves the demonstrated ability to strategically and efficiently manage resources, budget effectively, cut wasteful spending, and pursue efficiency through process and technological upgrades.

ECQ 3 - Merit and Competence: This core qualification involves the demonstrated knowledge, ability and technical competence to effectively and reliably produce work that is of exceptional quality.

ECQ 4 - Leading People: This core qualification involves the demonstrated ability to lead and inspire a group toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals, and to drive a high-performance, high-accountability culture. This includes, when necessary, the ability to lead people through change and to hold individuals accountable.

ECQ 5 - Achieving Results: This core qualification involves the demonstrated ability to achieve both individual and organizational results, and to align results to stated goals from superiors.

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs):
1. Substantive knowledge and experience with advising senior level clients on ethics laws, and conflict of interest laws and regulations.
2. Substantive knowledge and experience with the following areas of law: acquisition and fiscal law, with knowledge and experience in one or more of the following areas of the law: intellectual property, Equal Employment Opportunity, civilian personnel law, and laws relating to the Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act, Substantive knowledge of Department of War policies and procedures, and of Congress and the legislative process.

DoD Joint Enterprise-Wide Experience Statement:

In addition, DoD requires an Enterprise Perspective. This individual must have the ability to apply a broad point of view and an awareness and understanding of individual or organizational responsibilities in relation to DoD or government-wide strategic priorities is required. Executives must demonstrate the ability to work with internal and external partners to support national security objectives. This perspective is typically gained through a variety of diverse work experiences. A separate narrative statement is not required. This information should be within the resume.

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 resume and supporting documents, for the quality and extent of your total accomplishments, experience and education as it relates to the fundamental competencies, identified below. Your application will be evaluated by an Executive Evaluation Panel rating and ranking panel, and highly qualified candidates may be contacted for an interview and to provide reference checks. The Office of the Secretary of Defense Executive Resources Board will review results and make recommendations on final selections to the appointing authority.

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.

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

• 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).

Next steps