Clarification from the agency

This is a Direct Hire Public Notice.

About the Position - Portland
This position is located in Portland, OR which boasts huge spans of amazing trees, foliage, landscape, and everywhere you look you can appreciate beautiful greenery! It is known as the most bike-friendly city in America, has a train system that greets you at the airport spanning across the city, and is home to the Portland International Rose Garden, the oldest in the country! Portland is the one place where you will find lively festivals, energetic music, mouthwatering food, and for you basketball fans, the Portland Trail Blazers are a 7 minute walk from the HQs building! There is always something new to experience in this eco-friendly town!

As an Industry Economist, you will:

• Initiate, formulate, plan, and execute broad or in-depth economic studies based on analysis of loads associated with a subset of requirements customers (including customers with dispatchable generation), and representing those customers with the most complex issues.
• Support revenue forecasting, rates, and power and transmission planning, and for interactions with customers regarding these aspects of utility operations.
• Provide timely and high quality subject matter expertise and support as requested on Customer Core Teams and periodically attending Core Team meetings as needed.
• Develop load forecasting models for Medium Term (hourly, out 18 months); and, Long-Term (monthly, out 20 years) for the incumbent's assigned customers.
• Research and analyze regional, market, business entity, or consumer behaviors and actions that drive electricity use on an hourly basis and develop electricity forecasting models that incorporate this information to reflect changing electricity patterns over time and the impact on BPA practices and or policies to drive cost effective and/or efficiency improvements to keep BPA as a low cost provider in the northwest.
• Provide Customer Service Engineers, system planners, systems operations, and others with timely and high quality load analyses to ensure system availability and reliability and cost-effective capital investments.

Conditions of employment

In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answer to these questions is not scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration.

When you apply you will be asked a series of questions to determine your eligibility for employment and your qualification for this position specifically. You must answer all of these questions completely and truthfully.

Key Requirements:

• You must be a United States Citizen.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males must abide by Selective Service registration requirements.

• Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by a background investigation.
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period.
• You will be required to report in person to the official duty location.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENT:

A. Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus.

- OR -

B. Have a combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Examples of qualifying experience include:
1. Individual economic research assignments requiring planning, information assembly, analysis and evaluation, conclusions and report preparation;
2. Supervisory or project coordination assignments involving a staff of professional economists, and requiring the evaluation and interpretation of economic information; or
3. Teaching assignments in a college or university that included both class instruction in economics subjects and one of the following (1) personal research that produced evidence of results, (2) direction of graduate theses in economics, or (3) service as a consultant or advisor on technical economics problems.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

GS-11: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-09, in the Federal service.

Specialized Experience at the GS-11 grade level is defined as: 1) Assisting with economic analysis of electrical consuming equipment, consumer behaviors, and economic theory to support revenue forecasting, rates, and planning across sectors; and 2) Developing and maintaining economic data using secondary research and advanced analytics (e.g., machine learning, statistical modeling) to identify trends, monitor consumption effects, and contribute to load forecasting models.

GS-11: You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows:

• Three years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree, or Ph.D., or equivalent doctoral degree; your education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

• Combination of education and experience as described above. Less than one year of specialized experience may be combined with graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level (i.e., credit hours beyond the first two years of full-time study may be credited).

GS-12: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-11, in the Federal service.

Specialized Experience at the GS-12 grade level is defined as: 1) Performing economic analysis by evaluating, modeling, and statistically describing how economic factors and choices impact electricity load, creating or verifying models to explain cause-and-effect relationships; and 2) Developing and maintaining economic data using secondary research and advanced analytics (e.g., machine learning, statistical modeling) to identify trends, monitor consumption effects, and recommend model inclusions.

There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-12 grade level.

GS-13: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-12, in the Federal service.

Specialized Experience at the GS-13 grade level is defined as: (1) Perform complex economic analysis on varying conditions to track developments affecting related organizations (e.g. regulatory body) and customers with most complex problems, and to enhance reliability of utility services; and (2) Develop database and forecasting models, using existing approaches and by developing novel approaches, to determine load forecasting performance and efficiency, prepare a variety of interpretive reports and make recommendations as required.

There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-13 grade level.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations. 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.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

This position is announced under a government-wide Direct-Hire Authority (DHA) for Industry Economist positions in the 0110 series. Under the DHA, all applicants who meet the Education and Qualification requirements listed in this announcement, at the grade level they are applying, will be forwarded to the Selecting Official for consideration. Veteran's Preference, category rating, and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply under the DHA process.

Minimum Qualifications: Once the application process is complete, the Human Resources Offices or Subject Matter Expert (SME) will review your two-page resume and supporting documentation to determine whether you meet the minimum job qualifications.

If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses you provided in your online questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation before the vacancy closes, you may be rated 'ineligible' or 'not qualified'.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

• Arithmetic/Mathematical Reasoning
• Attention to Detail
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Self-Management
• Teamwork

To apply for this position, you MUST provide a complete application package which includes:

• Your two (2) page RESUMEshowing all relevant work experience (paid and unpaid) including: duties performed; full name and address of each employer; start and end dates (month/day/year); work schedule (part-time, full-time, number of hours if intermittent); salary; and any completed education and training (program title, subject area, number of hours completed, and completion date).
  • Information on how to create a federal resume https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/account/documents/resume
• Cover Letter, optional, expressing additional information not covered in your resume.
• Transcripts, if specific educational requirements are indicated in this job announcement.Unofficial transcripts or any report listing institution, course title, credits earned (semester or quarter hour) and final grade is acceptable. It is your responsibility to provide adequate proof that you meet the educational requirements.
• Career Transition Assistance Program/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program documentation, if applicable(e.g., Certification of Expected Separation, Reduction-In-Force Separation Notice, or Notice of Proposed Removal; SF-50 that documents the RIF separation action; and most recent performance appraisal.) For more information see the OPM Guide to Career Transition.

Failure to submit any of the above mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

Next steps