Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.
Basic Requirements:
- United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
- English Language Proficiency. Healthcare Engineer candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
- Education.
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering or Architecture. To be acceptable, the curriculum must be from a school with at least one 3 curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Engineering Accreditation Commission (excludes engineering technology) or National Council of Architectural Registration Boards curriculum. Examples of acceptable engineering and architectural degrees include, but are not limited to: Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Architecture, and Architectural Engineering. Titles may vary from educational institutions and change over time; OR
- Evidence of passing the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination with a bachelor's degree. Evidence can be in the form of an Engineering in Training certificate issued from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico, or test results from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) identifying a passing score; OR
- Evidence of current professional registration or licensure as a Professional Engineer or Architect. Evidence of current professional registration or licensure can be from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.
Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates:
Healthcare Engineer, GS-13
Experience - Must have one year of experience equivalent to the next lower
(GS-12) grade level.
GS-12 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to meeting the experience requirements for this grade level, the candidate must fully demonstrate the following KSAs:
- Knowledge of mechanical, electrical, structural, civil and other engineering/architectural principles, practices and their applications in the healthcare environment.
- Knowledge of healthcare industry standards and related regulatory agency and organization (including, but not limited to The Joint Commission (TJC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), etc.) regulations, requirements, guides, policies, procedures, directives, standards and general medical program requirements as they relate to healthcare engineering.
- Knowledge of construction standards, methods, practices and techniques, materials and equipment to determine compliance with engineering regulations and standards.
- Skill in researching and analyzing information, conditions, human factors and projections to make sound engineering and business recommendations and decisions to proactively identify problems and develop innovative solutions within the context of applicable rules, regulations and procedures.
- Ability to plan and execute complex, multi-faceted projects and inspections while prioritizing resources against approved scopes of work, contract documents and budgets.
- Ability to organize and lead multi-disciplinary task forces with members from different departments and divisions, as well as design and construction firms.
AND
GS-13 Healthcare Engineer. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must fully demonstrate ALL the following KSAs.
- Knowledge of current and evolving concepts and principles of general engineering to resolve novel or obscure problems; extend and modify techniques; develop new approaches that guide other engineers who solve a variety of technical problems; and/or apply new, innovative or experimental advanced engineering theories, developments or practices.
- Skill in construction, capital planning and multiple healthcare system portfolio management inclusive of budget development and tracking.
- Skill to collaborate with persons having different viewpoints, goals or objectives to achieve a common understanding of the problem and a satisfactory solution by justifying, defending, negotiating or settling controversial and far-reaching matters through active participation in conferences, meetings or presentations.
- Ability to interpret broad guidelines and exercise considerable judgment and ingenuity in interpreting and adapting existing guides, developing new and improved hypotheses, concepts or approaches to previously tested or reported and/or in developing new policies that advance the organization.
- Ability to coordinate and interact with regional facilities, national and corresponding staff for the implementation and coordination of policies and program plans to apply prioritization methodologies that align facilities' capital asset requests and develop infrastructure options that result in the efficacious use of regional level capital strategic plans.
- Ability to adapt and apply trends in healthcare delivery systems that impact long-term capital assets (such as aging equipment and physical plants) for regionally integrated healthcare systems.
- Ability to consult and collaborate with all organizational levels in a national healthcare organization, outside organizations and businesses regarding both strategic and financial activities of a regional healthcare organization.
- Ability to implement and/or sustain a capital asset and construction program that meets healthcare facility related standards, codes, policies and regulations inclusive of state and local codes.
Assignment. For all assignments above the journey level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. At this level, employees are non-supervisory and are typically found at the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) or national program office level, however, employees may be located at the facility level with VISN or national assignments. Healthcare Engineers are the project managers for all VISN or some national level operations, accreditation, construction (major, minor and nonrecurring maintenance) and capital planning activities. At this level, Healthcare Engineers are advanced engineers overseeing engineering and project design programs for several VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) and Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs). They implement value engineering theories and principles and assure the most economical methods of construction or construction materials are utilized and achieve cost efficiency for the Federal Government. They coordinate VISN capital investment project submissions and provide guidance on investment categories, strategies, financial planning and budgeting. Healthcare Engineers evaluate and establish VISN-wide cost estimating strategy. They assist facility management when developing strategies to address the correction of space, functional and operational deficiencies and provide guidance, direction and policy interpretation on sensitive and complex issues in support of the acquisition and administration of all construction projects and capital planning.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit
https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13.
Physical Requirements: Have the mental, emotional, and physical ability to satisfactorily perform the duties of the proposed assignment and to pass the requisite laboratory and other screening as required by Federal regulatory agencies.