Summary
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Acquisition Management Office is hiring highly motivated and skilled procurement professionals. Join us in supporting one of the most important missions of the U.S. government - the administration of justice - and work with a team of professionals at the forefront of procurement, leveraging cutting edge technology, and innovative process improvement to provide best-in-class acquisition customer service to the entire judicial branch.
This job is open to
Internal to an agency
Current federal employees of the hiring agency that posted the job announcement.
Clarification from the agency
This vacancy announcement is open to current employees of the federal judiciary (AO or U.S. Courts) nationwide. This position allows for recurring and situational telework, but does not qualify for full-time or remote telework.
Duties
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO), Department of Administrative Services, Acquisition Management Office (AMO), Procurement Management Division, DAS Contracting Branch is seeking a talented Lead Contract Specialist to join its team. AMO provides acquisition program management and oversight, policy guidance and support, and conducts procurement activities on behalf of the AO and federal judiciary organizations nationwide.
The Lead Contract Specialist works with a high-degree of independence while performing the full range of acquisition activities. Our contract specialists and contracting officers rely on a combination of the judiciary's unique procurement authorities and policies, and on FAR-based procedures to conduct procurements for a wide-range of supplies and services, including complex information technology, digital, and cloud-based services to support the administration of justice. This position reports directly to the Contracting Branch Chief in the AMO.
If you have a passion for procurement, a commitment to providing excellent customer service, and the ability to think creatively, we are interested in you joining our team. Don' t miss out on this exciting opportunity to make a real impact by empowering the administration of justice through procurement.
Candidates holding a FAC-C Professional Certification, FAC-C Contracting Officer's Representative Certification, or a comparable DAWIA or industry certification are encouraged to apply.
The duties of this position include, but are not limited to:
- Performing senior-level contract specialist pre-award, post-award, and contract close out activities.
- Leading a team of one or more contract specialists of varying skill levels responsible for the completion of acquisition actions, projects, and issues.
- Serving as a contracting officer.
- Identifying, distributing, and balancing the team's tasks and workload based on priorities, workflow, and skill level to ensure timely accomplishment of tasks.
- Performing the full range of contract specialist duties to award, administer, and close out activities for a variety of contract types, including firm fixed price, cost, labor hours, and time and materials.
- Overseeing and reviewing the team's work products, ensuring priorities, methods, deadlines, and quality standards have been met and conform with policies and regulations.
- Performing contracting functions for complex agency acquisitions involving diverse supplies and services, e.g., IT services, hardware, and software, telecommunications, and other electronic systems and subsystems, including negotiating complex modifications to contract vehicles.
- Preparing pre-award and post-award documents, e.g., solicitations, market research reports, pre-negotiation and post-negotiation memoranda, responsibility determinations, waivers, justifications, and approvals for other than full and open competition, determinations and findings, protest responses, debriefings, cure notices, and terminations.
- Monitoring contractors' performance, evaluating and negotiating change orders and contract modifications, and resolving post-award performance or payment problems.
- Utilizing in-depth price/cost analysis techniques for the development of pre-negotiation and award price determination documents.
- Serving as an advisor to customers at the AO and the courts nationwide.
Requirements
Conditions of employment
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
- All information is subject to verification. Applicants are advised that false answers or omissions of information on application materials or inability to meet the following conditions may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.
- Selection for this position is contingent upon completion of OF-306, Declaration of Federal Employment during the pre-employment process and proof of U.S. citizenship for competitive status positions or conversion to a competitive status position with the AO. If non-citizens are considered for hire into a temporary or any other position with non-competitive status or when it is confirmed by the AO Human Resources Office there are no qualified U.S. citizens for a competitive status position (unless prohibited by a law or statue), non-citizens must provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. and proof of entitlement to receive compensation. Additional information on the employment of non-citizens can be found at USAJOBS Help Center | Employment of non-citizens/. For a list of documents that may be used to provide proof of citizenship or authorization to work in the United States, please refer to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
- All new AO employees will be required to complete an FBI fingerprint-based national criminal database and records check and pass a public trust suitability check.
- New employees to the AO will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights/responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
- All new AO employees are required to identify a financial institution for direct deposit of pay before appointment.
- You will be required to serve a trial period if selected for a first-time appointment to the Federal government, transferring from another Federal agency, or serving as a first-time supervisor. Failure to successfully complete the trial period may result in termination of employment.
- If appointed to a temporary position, management may have the discretion of converting the position to permanent depending upon funding and staffing allocation.
Qualifications
Applicants must have demonstrated experience as listed below. This requirement is according to the AO Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment Systems which include interpretive guidance and reference to the OPM Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions.
Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experiencewhich is in or directly related to the line of work of this position. Specialized experience must demonstrated experience in ALL areas defined below:
- Leading a team of one or more contract specialists responsible for the completion of acquisition actions, projects, and issues.
- Applying contracting principles and procedures to the planning, award, and management of contracting actions for a wide range of products and services.
- Using in-depth price/cost analysis for the development of pre-negotiation and award price determination documents.
Applicants with the following certifications are highly desired:
- Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting Professional Certificate (FAC-C)
- Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting Officer's Representatives (FAC-COR)
- Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers (FAC-P/PM)
- Digital IT Acquisition Professional Program (DITAP) certification
Certification: Applicants without FAC-C certification may still apply and be selected but must achieve
certification within 24 months of appointment. To validate that you meet the preferred training, experience, and certification requirements for this position, please submit a copy of applicable FAC-C certificates and/or Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certifications.
Education
In addition to meeting the specialized experience described above, applicants must meet the following educational requirements to be placed in this job series at this level.
Basic Requirement: A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management.
NOTE: To validate that you meet the educational requirement for this job series, please submit a copy of your transcript. Your transcript must reflect that you are seeking and/or possess a 4-year degree along with the 24 successfully achieved credit hours in the fields mentioned above. Failure to submit your transcript will make you ineligible for this position.
Exceptions: Federal employees classified within the 1100 family as of January 1, 2000 are deemed to have met the basic qualification requirements for all 1102 Contract Specialist positions.
Additional information
The AO is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
We will review your resume and supporting documentation and compare this information to your responses on the occupational questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for this job. If you meet the minimum qualifications for this job, we will evaluate your application package, to assess the quality, depth, and complexity of your accomplishments, experience, and education as they relate to the requirements listed in this vacancy announcement.
You should be aware that your ratings are subject to evaluation and verification. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume and/or narrative responses, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Failure to submit the mandatory narrative responses will result in not receiving full consideration and/or rating credit. Deliberate attempts to falsify information may be grounds for not selecting you, withdrawing an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.
Required Documents
For this job announcement the following documents and/or information are required:
- Resume - Any written format you choose to describe your job-related qualifications.
- Citizenship - Include country of citizenship on resume.
- Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) - All applicants outside of the AO must submit a copy of your latest SF-50 to verify current or former Federal employment status.
- Veterans Preference documentation - Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD Form 214), if applicable Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference (SF-15) and an official statement, dated 1991 or later, from the Department of Veterans Affairs or from a branch of the Armed Forces, certifying to the veteran's present receipt of compensation.
- Transcripts - To validate any education qualifications you claim.
How to Apply
To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
The complete application package must be submitted by 09/10/2026 to receive consideration.
To begin, click
- Apply Online to access an online application. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account or you may need to create a new account.
- You will be taken to an online application. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation, and submit the application.
- You will receive an email notification when your application has been received for the announcement.
- To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Application Status page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and your responses submitted to the online application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
- Click the following link to view and print the occupational questionnaire https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13045848.
Next steps
After a review of your complete application is made, you will be notified of your rating and referral to the hiring official if determined qualified. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted.