Clarification from the agency

Open to the Department of Veterans Affairs CTAP eligible applicants in the local commuting area only.

OIT Mission: The mission of the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) is to collaborate with our business partners to create the best experience for all Veterans.

OIT Vision: To become a world-class organization that provides a seamless, unified Veteran experience through the delivery of state-of-the-art technology.

Major Duties:

• Lead the development of test scenarios and test cases, support of customer acceptance testing, monitoring of test sites, provision of warranty support following product release.
• Compile and write documentation of program development and subsequent revisions, inserting comments in the coded instructions so others can understand the program
• Analyze information to determine, recommend and plan the development of a new application or modification of an existing application.
• Performs unit testing of developed software testing to include adherence to standards, debugging and validation of features developed and defect remediation applied.
• Testing ensures that relevant standards, conventions, methods and techniques are appropriately applied as part of the development unit testing of the software solutions
• Responsible in conducting consultations, installations and evaluations of software modules
• Optimizes and integrates legacy system components using current and emerging software principals, methods and approaches to meet technical and functional requirements
• Ensures that organization programming standards, quality standards, tools, techniques and processes are defined and implemented across the system with the goal of ensuring uniformity and consistency of work products.
• Demonstrate leadership, initiative, self-motivation and strong communication skills
• Must possess strong interpersonal skills to facilitate interchange and communication among staff members, field users, focus groups and senior management.

Position Description/PD#: IT Specialist (Appsw)/PD18165A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Travel Required: Occasional travel may be required as needed for this position.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8AM-4:30PM; Tour of duty will be determined based on organizational needs.
Compressed/Flexible: As determined by the Agency Policy
Virtual: This is NOT a virtual position.

Physical Demands: The work is sedentary. Some work may require walking and standing in conjunction with travel and to attendance at meetings and conferences away from the work site.

Working Conditions: Work is performed in a typical computer operations environment. Rooms are well-lighted, air-conditioned office spaces with moderate noise from common office equipment. Computer equipment on the operations floor involves the use of high voltage electricity.

Designated Drug Testing Position: Not Applicable

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Selectee is subject to background/suitability investigation
• Selected applicant will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• This position is subject to pre-employment and random drug testing.
• Complete the initial online assessment.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, all qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement 11/24/2025.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For the GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.

Applicants must meet all requirements when a request is received to fill a vacancy. You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

Experience: The position requires a high level of technical expertise in software development, database management, and secure coding practices to ensure the development of robust, efficient, and secure applications. Applicants should demonstrate their capability to handle complex technical challenges and maintain high standards of software quality and security. Preferred applicants possess specialized experience in several key areas. Technical skills include proficiency in developing and maintaining applications using ASP.NET, C#, .NET Core, Angular, and SQL Server, along with experience in SQL Server queries, stored procedures, triggers, SSIS packages, and Jobs. Security expertise requires knowledge of secure coding techniques and the ability to develop secure software. Strong programming knowledge involves understanding programming language structures and logic, as well as proficiency in writing code in current languages such as ASP.NET,C#, .NET Core, Angular, and SQL. In terms of software engineering, knowledge of development models like Waterfall and Spiral, along with software quality assurance and debugging principles, is essential. Analytical skills are crucial and include the ability to tailor code analysis for application-specific concerns, use code analysis tools, and conduct thorough software debugging. Lastly, validation requirements encompass understanding the organization's evaluation and validation needs and possessing the skill to design secure test plans for unit, integration, system, and acceptance testing.

Basic Requirements

• Software Development- Knowledge of the principles, methods and tools for designing, developing and testing software in a given environment.
• Information Resources Strategy and Planning- Information Resources Strategy and Planning: Knowledge of the principles, methods and techniques of of information technology (IT) assessment, planning, management, monitoring and evaluation, such as IT baseline assessment, interagency functional analysis, contingency planning and disaster recovery
• Software Testing and Evaluation- Knowledge of the principles, methods and tools for analyzing and developing software test and evaluation procedures .Expresses information (for example ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example technical, sensitive, controversial) ; makes clear and convincing presentations, listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately

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; religions; 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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of additional assessments, including a Structured Resume Review.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration.

Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

To apply for this position, you must submit a complete Application Package which includes one or more of the following documents. Please use this checklist to make sure you have included documents required for your application. You will not be contacted for additional information:

1. Resume which includes a list of all significant jobs held and duties performed, dates specified in month and year format, and the two-page resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. If military or civilian, please include your rank and/or grade. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position.
2. Complete All Required Assessments.
3. SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):
   • Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
   • An SF-50 showing your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade
   • Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
   • Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
     • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
     • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
     • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.
   • If you are a former Federal employee who previously held a career or career-conditional position in the competitive service and separated from the Federal Government over a year ago and you are requesting non-competitive consideration you must submit a copy of your last SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action that demonstrates your eligibility for consideration and a copy of your last Federal Performance appraisal with a rating of at least Fully Successful (or equivalent).
4. Documentation that you meet Selective Placement Factors, if applicable.
5. Veterans' Preference documentation, if applicable (e.g., DD-214 Member Copy 4 showing type of discharge/character of service, SF-15 Form and related documentation, VA letter, etc.) Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/vetpref/index.aspx.
   • When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.).
   • If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active-duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation.
   • Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form.
6. If your application is rated as well-qualified (score 85 or above) and you are claiming special priority selection rights under the Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Program (I/CTAP) submit:
   • a copy of your agency notice,
   • a copy of your most recent performance rating, and
   • a copy of your most recent SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, noting your current position, grade level, and duty location.

Next steps