Duties
If selected for this position, you will join a well-respected team to serve as a district Information Technology (IT) Specialist responsible for providing technical, advisory, and/or analytical assistance in a variety of IT specialty areas, which support the information management needs of the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Northern District of New York. The IT environment includes personal computers, routers, switches, bridges, a wide area network and local area network, operating systems, case management systems, and litigation support operations. Typical work assignments will include performing essential IT tasks associated with day-to-day operation of systems utilizing network hardware and software capabilities to meet information needs, such as:
- Customer Support: Planning and delivering customer support services at the point of computer user/specialist interface including installation, configuration, troubleshooting, customer assistance, and training.
- IT Systems/Network Administration: Testing, quality assurance, configuration, installation, implementation, integration, maintenance, and management of networked systems used for the transmission of information in data, voice, and/or video format.
- Systems Security: Ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of systems, networks, and data through the planning, analysis, development, implementation, maintenance, and enhancement of systems, programs, policies, procedures, and tools.
- Internet: Performing routine assignments and segments of projects related to technical planning, design, development, testing, implementation, and management of internet, intranet, and extranet activities, including systems/applications development and technical management of websites.
- Litigation Support Servies: Coordinating litigation support and case management services (including trial preparation and presentation) in response to customer needs in conjunction with the district's designated "Litigation Support Coordinator."
- Policy and Planning: Providing input to IT planning and policy activities within the parameters of guidance and directives.
Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.
Requirements
Conditions of employment
- You must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
- Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory pre-employment adjudication. This includes fingerprint, credit and tax checks, and drug testing. Continued employment is subject to a favorable adjudication of a background investigation.
- You must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable.
- If selected, you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.
- You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.
Qualifications
To be qualified at the GS-09 and/or GS-11 level, you must possess:
Basic Requirements: Information Technology (IT)-related experience, obtained through paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training, demonstrating each of the following competences:
- Attention to Detail: Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. Examples of proficiency may include: monitoring network capacity and performance; ensuring compliance with appropriate standards.
- Customer Service: Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work until 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. Examples of proficiency may include: providing customer support services including installation, configuration, troubleshooting, customer assistance, and training in response to user requirements; assessing and providing feedback on problematic trends and patterns in customer support requirements.
- 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. Examples of proficiency may include: implementing and explaining policies and procedures to ensure information systems' reliability and accessibility and prevent and defend against unauthorized access to systems, networks, and data; providing customer training, including orientation for new users.
- Problem Solving: Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. Examples of proficiency may include: resolving hardware/software interface and interoperability problems; diagnosing and resolving problems in response to customer reported incidents.
AND
To be qualified at the GS-09 level, you must also possess:
Specialized Experience: One (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least work at the GS-07 level in Federal service in or related to work in the Information Technology (IT) field, which has equipped you with the competencies to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing following types of duties: performing routine and recurring assignments in any one of a variety of IT specialty areas, such as customer support, systems/network administration, systems security, internet/intranet/extranet, or litigation support services; identifying and resolving routine IT issues and problems; providing technical information and advisory assistance to customers on a variety of IT systems, applications, products, and/or services; evaluating established methods, approaches, and procedures; and applying appropriate systems security measures.
OR
Education: A Master's or equivalent graduate degree in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics, or technology management or degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaptation of applications, systems, or networks; OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Master's degree or equivalent graduate degree. All academic degrees and coursework must be from an accredited or pre-accredited institution.
To be qualified at the GS-11 level, you must also possess:
Specialized Experience: One (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least work at the GS-09 level in Federal service in or related to work in the Information Technology (IT) field, which has equipped you with the competencies to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing following types of duties: assisting in the development, configuration, installation, and maintenance of networked information technology systems; performing routine and recurring assignments in a wide range and variety of IT specialty areas, such as customer support, systems/network administration, systems security, internet/intranet/extranet, or litigation support services; identifying and resolving more difficult and complex IT issues and problems; providing technical information, advisory, and analytical assistance to customers on a variety of IT systems, applications, products, and/or services; evaluating established methods, approaches, and procedures to prepare recommendations for change when needed; and applying appropriate security principles and methods to test and implement information security programs.
OR
Education: A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics, or technology management or degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaptation of applications, systems, or networks; OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. All academic degrees and coursework must be from an accredited or pre-accredited institution.
Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): The ICTAP provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in the announcement; and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide proof of eligibility to receive selection priority. Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of ICTAP eligibility or a copy of your separation personnel action form. Additional information about ICTAP eligibility is at:
http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.
Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP): The CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility, 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application. Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at
http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.
Education
All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, see http://www.ed.gov
OR
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the above education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to timely provide such evidence by submitting proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency with your application materials. More information may be found at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html. All documentation must be in English or include an English translation.
Additional information
Relocation: The payment of relocation expenses will not be authorized.
Benefits: The Department of Justice offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, paid vacation; sick leave; holidays; telework; life insurance; health benefits; and participation in the Federal Employees Retirement System.
Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See www.sss.gov.
Reasonable Accommodation Statement: Federal Agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities, where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the hiring agency directly. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
EEO Statement/Policy: The United States government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service or other non-merit factor. More information can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/jmd/media/1425556/dl?inline.
Political Appointees (Current or Former): The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C or Non-Career SES employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the HR Office. Failure to disclose this information could result in disciplinary action including removal from Federal Service.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Your complete application package (resume/supporting documentation, online questionnaire, and USA Hire Competency Based Assessment) will be evaluated and rated using DOJ's Category Rating and Selection Procedures. Your resume and supporting documentation will be used to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed on this announcement. If you are basically qualified for this job, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses on the online questionnaire. If you rate yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job. If it is determined you meet minimum qualification requirements, your application will then be placed in one of three categories: Best Qualified, Highly Qualified, or Qualified. Within these categories, applicants eligible for Veterans' Preference will receive selection priority over non-veteran preference eligibles. In addition, qualified veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 10% or more are placed at the top of the highest quality category (i.e., Best Qualified).
You will be rated on the following Competencies (see The OPM Website for definitions): Accountability; Attention to Detail; Customer Service; Flexibility; Integrity/Honesty; Interpersonal Skills; Learning; Self-Management; Stress Tolerance; Teamwork; Decision Making; Reading Comprehension; and Reasoning.
To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
The 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.
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.
Required Documents
To apply for this position, you must submit a complete Application Package, which includes:
- Required: Your responses to the Online Occupational Questionnaire (This is completed automatically during the apply online process).
- Required: Your resume cannot exceed two pages - you will be deemed ineligible and receive no further consideration if your resume exceeds two pages - see USAJOBS for formatting requirements. Include relevant employment history as outlined below for each job:
- Official position title (if Federal, include series/grade);
- Employer name and contact information;
- Start and end dates (for full consideration you must include month, day, and year);
- Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time; and
- A list of duties performed and accomplishments.
- 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; religious; 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
- Required if you meet qualifications based on education: An unofficial college transcript. Note: If you are selected for this position, official transcript will be required prior to your first day, and foreign education evaluation documentation, if applicable, as described under the "Qualifications" section of this vacancy announcement.
- Required, if applicable: CTAP/ICTAP documentation. A copy of a separation notice or other proof of eligibility for priority selection; a copy of an SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, showing current position, grade, promotion potential, and duty location; AND a copy of your most recent performance appraisal.
- Required, if applicable: Veterans' Preference documentation. If you are entitled to Veterans' Preference, you must indicate the type of preference you are claiming in your application and submit the appropriate documentation, as specified below.
In order to verify your Veterans' Preference entitlement, please submit a copy of the Member Copy 4 of your DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty); or if you are a current Active Duty member you must submit a certification on appropriate military branch letterhead that indicates: 1) your service dates, 2) expected discharge or release date from active duty with a release/discharge date no later than 120 days from the closing date of this announcement, and 3) the character of service (e.g., Honorable); or other official documentation (e.g., documentation of receipt of a campaign badge or expeditionary medal) that shows military service was performed under honorable conditions.
In addition, if you are a disabled veteran, a Purple Heart recipient, or widow/widower if a veteran, the spouse of a disabled veteran or the parent of a disabled or deceased veteran, you must submit a Standard Form (SF) 15, "Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference" dated October 2013 and all the other required documentation identified on the reverse side of the SF-15 to support your preference claim.
If you are requesting a reasonable accommodation to the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you must submit documentation to support your request, including the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form found at: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire
Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office by providing a copy of your applicable SF-50, along with a statement that provides the following information regarding your most recent political appointment:
- Position title;
- Type of appointment (Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee);
- Agency; and
- Beginning and ending dates of appointment.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from
schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.