Information Technology Specialist

Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS AND CTAP/ICTAP eligible(s) DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.205) for this occupation.

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:

• Utilizes medical information systems expertise to assist national task forces, fact finding groups and committees in determining nation-wide goals, specifications and policy.
• Troubleshoots complex software/hardware problems. Uses a national ticketing system to address site issues. Consistently communicates and treats customers (veterans, their representatives, visitors, and all VA staff) in a courteous, tactful and respectful manner. Provides the customer with consistent information according to established policies and procedures.
• Assists in standardizing the processes and procedures for support. Provides input to request for modifications or new development projects in their area of expertise.
• Manages stressful situations and deal with obstacles within the working environment.
• Handles multiple tasks while remaining flexible, creative and a team player.
• Uses knowledge of management and/or clinical applications in support of VistA Applications throughout the agency.
• Provides subject matter expertise services for assigned projects and independently provides advice and guidance and resolves problem matters.
• Uses oral and written communication skills and manages projects simultaneously are essential.
• Handles multiple concurrent projects with proven excellence in researching, organizing, writing, and presenting technical information.
• Presents findings/recommendations for product/application improvements and on implementation plans to agency officials with both IT and non-IT backgrounds.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible: As determined by the Agency Policy
Telework: Adhoc telework may be authorized at management discretion
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Position Description/PD#: Information Technology Specialist/PD 17270A/14297A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Physical Demands: The work is predominantly sedentary and does not require any special physical effort. Some work may require walking and standing in conjunction with travel and attendance at meetings and conferences away from the work site. Employee may carry light items such as meeting materials and a portable computer, and may be required to drive a motor vehicle to meetings. Since the VA VistA and Enterprise applications are used at VA facilities throughout the nation, considerable travel to facilities and national meetings is required. Incumbent will be required to work off-hours and weekends to ensure continuity of computer operations. The work requires almost constant use of a video display device.

Working Conditions: The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. The work environment involves everyday risks and discomforts that require normal safety precautions. Most work is performed in an office setting. 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. Travel is required for educational and training programs, national and local meetings, consultations, evaluations, installations, and maintenance of systems software and hardware, which may subject the incumbent to various resultant environmental changes. The incumbent may be expected to access remote databases at VA facilities throughout the nation. In doing so incumbent must take all necessary measures to guarantee the integrity and confidentiality of such information. Appropriate security measures must be taken to guard against disclosures of access codes and sensitive data contained on these systems.

Designated Drug Testing Position: Not applicable

This is a bargaining unit eligible position.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• 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 dentification 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.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/10/2026.

You must meet the Basic Requirements Experience and Specialized Experience to qualify for this series as described below:

Basic Requirements Experience: Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the five competencies listed below. The employing agency is responsible for identifying the specific level of proficiency required for each competency at each grade level based on the requirements of the position being filled.

• Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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: Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, Specialized Experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

For the GS-12: You must possess a minimum of one (1) year of experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: experience assisting with Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) and enterprise application software functionality, sustainment maintenance, patch review and release processes, and trouble ticket troubleshooting for VistA and enterprise applications for medical center customers. Experience includes analyzing existing VistA or enterprise applications to isolate problem areas, solving operational problems, identifying new requirements, and testing programs to ensure systems meet business expectations while requiring oversight by a senior support person.

-OR-

For the GS-13: You must possess a minimum of one (1) year of experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: experience providing expertise and technical authority with Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) and enterprise application software functionality, sustainment maintenance, patch review and release processes, and trouble ticket troubleshooting for VistA and enterprise applications for medical center customers. Analyzing existing VistA or enterprise applications to isolate problem areas, solving operational problems, identifying new requirements, and testing programs to ensure systems meet business expectations. Experience with imaging-based medical devices or interfaces between systems such as Health Level Seven (HL7) and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM). Experience with Windows networking and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networking is a plus.

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.

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.

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.

USA Hire Assessments include 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 provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume

Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed.

Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement.

Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.

Other accepted documents:

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Diploma/ GED
• Disability Letter (VA)
• Other (1)
• Performance Appraisal
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Please review the above list(s) to ensure you have included all necessary documents required for your application. Not every applicant will require the same documents, therefore it is the applicants responsibility to ensure that their application package includes all necessary documents to determine qualifications and eligibility for appointment, such as a copy of your SF-50, transcript, ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). Applicants will be deemed ineligible if supporting documentation is not submitted. You will not be contacted for additional information.

Veterans' Preference: Since the Direct-Hire Recruitment Authority is being used, traditional Veterans' Preference rules do not apply. Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

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