Mechanical Engineer

Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to current federal employees and special hiring authorities under merit procedures.

This position is located in the Facilities Management Division, National Gallery Of Art (NGA), Washington, DC, a organization providing a board range of facilities engineering and support services.  The incumbent provides mechanical engineering advice, guidance, and direction to the Head of Facilities/Engineering on all relevant matters including repair, program planning, alteration, upgrade, and renovation of all aspects of the Gallery mechanical systems and equipment, facilities condition assessments, and maintenance service and repair contracts. 

Duties for this position include: 

• Providing mechanical engineering expertise and recommendations to the Head of Facilities/Engineering in overseeing the Gallery's facilities maintenance management programs.  
• Managing, coordinating and developing design plans, and specifications for the repair, replacement, renovation and maintenance of the Gallery's chilled water distribution system, air handling unit systems (supply/ventilation exhaust air), steam systems, and plumbing (domestic irrigation storm water) systems.
• Preparing the scope of work for architect and engineer (A&E) contracts and reviewing the contractor's designs.  Analyzing bids in the preparation of pre-award documents and providing technical responses to questions from prospective bidders.
• Serving as the technical advisor and expert to Administration - Facilities Management and the Gallery's engineers and technicians on complex mechanical design problems and installation of mechanical systems.
• Performing and directing engineering surveys.                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Conditions of employment

• You must be a United States Citizen.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• See "Other Information" section regarding Selective Service requirements.
• Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation.
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period.

Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement. For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on OPM Website. It is your responsibility to ensure that you submit appropriate documentation prior to the closing date. Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must highlight your most relevant and significant experience as it relates to this job announcement. Be clear and specific when describing your work history since human resources cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.

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). Your resume must include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements

A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor’s degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:

1. Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1 , or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.

2. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

3. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.

4. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor’s degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all inclusive.)

Note: An applicant who meets the basic requirements as specified in A or B above, except as noted under B.1, may qualify for positions in any branch of engineering unless selective factors indicate otherwise.

Specialized Experience Statement: Candidates must possess at least one year of specialized experience, equivalent in responsibility to the GS-12 level in the Federal service or private sector, managing construction projects, developing scopes of work/cost estimates, site inspections, preparing reports regarding performance of work, project closeout, invoice review for payment AND reviewing mechanical engineering reports or plans for commercial/ government clients.

Associated Group standard:  Group Coverage Qualification Standard for Professional and Scientific Positions

All Merit Promotion applicants must meet time-in-grade requirements defined in 5CFR 300, subpart F.  One year at the GS-12 level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-13 level.  

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

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.

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 to 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):

• Knowledge of the concepts, principles, theories, and methods related to planning, designing, developing, testing or evaluating thermodynamic, mechanical, electro-mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, or structural equipment, systems, models, tools, or specialized mechanical devices. 
• Knowledge of conceptualizing, developing, producing, understanding, and using plans, models, blueprints, and maps, including the use of tools and instruments to produce precision technical drawings, working prototypes, components or systems.
• Skill in writing in a clear, concise, organized and convincing manner for the intended audience. 
• Skill in expressing information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information. 
• Skill in performing engineering surveys. 

All qualified non-competitive Merit Promotion applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

The National Gallery of Art uses an application tracking system to evaluate the responses you provide in the applicant assessment questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualification requirements of this position. Then, the HR Office and/or Subject Matter Expert (SME) will conduct a quality review of your application and supporting documentation to determine if your qualifications meet the criteria for referral to the selecting official.

• Your resume should include relevant work experience, applicable education and your contact information. For current or previous federal employees, include the pay plan, series and grade.
• Your SF-50 shows a federal position you've held, grade level and duty location. Your SF-50 can support position changes, conversions or separation for employment eligibility.
• Transcripts may support your qualifications for a federal job and can include high school, college or other schools.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

1. Your Resume (no more than 2 pages) showing the applicant's name, email address, work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment, and duties performed to include pay plan, series, and grade level for relevant federal experience. Your resume must show complete information for each job entry to support minimum qualifications.

• Do not include the following types of information in your resume:
  • Classified or government sensitive information
  • Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Photos of yourself
  • Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.
  • Encrypted and digitally signed documents

2. Other supporting documents:
   • Cover Letter, optional
   • Most recent Performance Appraisal, optional
   • SF-50 Your most recent Promotion, Within Grade Increase (WRI/WGI), or Appointment/Conversion SF-50 - Notification of Personnel Action showing you are/were in the competitive service and the highest grade or promotion potential held.
   • Veterans Employment Opportunity Act, Veterans Recruitment Appointment, and 30% Disabled Veteran Eligible: DD-214, SF-15 Form and VA letter, or certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions within 120 days.
   • Schedule A, Persons with Disabilities Appointment Eligibles: Schedule A letter from a physician, local, state, or federal rehabilitation office citing your eligibility under 5 CFR 213.3102 (u).
   • Certain Military Spouses Eligible under E.O. 13832: Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders; OR verification of the member's 100% disability (VA Letter); and/or verification of the member's death while on active duty (DD-1300 and Death Certificate) AND verification of the marriage to the service member (i.e., a marriage license or other legal documentation verifying marriage).
   • Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment. Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable. 

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