IT Specialist (PLCYPLN)

Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.201) for this occupation.

• Coordinates national level projects which span geographically dispersed areas and lead project staff which the employee may not have direct supervision over.
• Leads collaborative efforts with other organizational entities to enable an end-to-end engineering approach for optimal technological solutions.
• Provides engineering services and technical oversight to critical, national initiatives related to enterprise platform, storage, database, and data center infrastructure solutions and associated issues and contributes to the mission of providing complex services by shaping the underlying IT architecture.
• Performs enterprise platform, storage, database, and data center infrastructure needs assessments to proactively assess the Department's evolving business needs and develops short-term and long-term growth plans to ensure the organization's future needs are met in a reliable, secure, and cost-effective manner.
• Ensures studies and analyses are appropriately conducted and recommendations are provided on architectural solutions.
• Provides senior-level technical, enterprise level, expertise, guidance, direction, and project
  management.
• Develops complex guidance to allow technically sound IT investment decisions and steer capital planning decisions.
• Initiates and provides technical oversight to engineering studies and analyses (including modeling and simulation efforts) concerning the introduction of new technologies, products, and topologies, and to find solutions to critical problems in design of solutions that have a national impact.
• Responsible for developing standards, baselines, deployment procedures, and automation for enterprise IT infrastructure.

This is a Non-Bargaining Unit Position.

This position is primarily aligned to the following NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework work roles:

NCWF Code: 651 Category. Work in this category includes performing OPM GOS Cybersecurity Category I Specialty Area: Research and Development Specialist [SP-TRD-001] tasks, as defined by the NIST SP 800-181 National Cyberskills Workforce Framework (NCWF). Develops and maintains business, systems, and information processes to support enterprise mission needs; develops information technology (IT) rules and requirements that describe baseline and target architectures.

NCWF Code: 752 Category - Cyber Policy & Strategy Planner. Develops and maintains cybersecurity plans, strategy, and policy to support and align with organizational cybersecurity initiatives and regulatory compliance

For more information about these work roles, where they fit within the larger Cyber Workforce, and how they can support your unique career journey, please visit the Cyber Career Pathways tool on the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies website: https://niccs.us-cert.gov/workforce-development/cyber-career-pathways

Position Description/PD#: IT Specialist (PLCYPLN)/PD10346A
Travel Required: Occasional travel may be required as needed for this position.
Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8 am-4:30 pm
Compressed/Flexible: As determined by the Agency Policy
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Telework: Ad Hoc, as determined by Agency Policy.

Physical Demands: The work is primarily sedentary, but there may be occasional walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items. The work may require some physical effort, such as standing, walking, bending, or sitting. The work often requires long hours to meet project deadlines and to devise corrective action and solutions to unexpected technical and/or management crises resulting in sometimes highly stressful work situations. The work requires almost constant use of a video display terminal.

Working Conditions: The work is usually performed in an office setting involving everyday risks or discomforts. Normal safety precautions are adequate. Position is in a virtual organization. This position requires extensive travel to VA headquarters and other VA installations

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.
• Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required.
• To be considered for this position, applicants must complete all required steps in the process.
• 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.
• As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:- your performance and conduct;- the needs and interests of the agency;- whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and- whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/20/2026.

Applicants must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below at a proficiency level equivalent to the next lower grade level in federal service.

You must meet both the Basic Requirement and the Specialized Experience to qualify for this series as described below.

1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
3. Oral Communication - 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 oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

AND

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-14 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Engineering, design, and evaluation of enterprise data center and telecommunications facilities-covering structured cabling, power distribution, cooling, space layout, and rack elevations-per multiple industry standards (ANSI/TIA, BICSI, ASHRAE, NFPA, Uptime Institute); CFD modeling for airflow and cooling, technical review of design and contract documents, development of procurement requirements aligned with FAR, NIST SP 800-53 PE controls, FISMA, and supply chain risk management, plus capacity planning using DCIM tools across multiple sites.

AND

• Selective Placement Factor: In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must meet the following requirement(s) to be considered qualified for the position: Experience within the last three (3) years performing data center and telecommunications space engineering, including cabling, power, cooling, space design, and CFD analysis, at a large federal agency or enterprise (with at least 100 distinct data center and/or telecommunications spaces) applying ANSI/TIA-942, BICSI, and NIST SP 800-53 PE controls

Evidence of the Selective Placement Factor must be reflected in your resume.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

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):

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

The USA Hire Assessment includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. 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 the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

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.

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. College transcripts, if qualifying based on education.
6. 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.
7. If your application is rated as well-qualified (score 85 or above) and you are claiming special priority selection rights under the Career Transition Assistance Program (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.

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