Purchasing Agent

Clarification from the agency

Open to Current, Permanent, Career/Career-Conditional Competitive or Excepted Service Employees, Veterans, Schedule A, and Status eligibles. First Priority Consideration - Current Facility and CBOC employees. Second Priority Consideration - VA Nationwide applicants. Third Priority Consideration - Other Status candidates.

Major Duties:

• Receiving and analyzing Prosthetic Consults, and prescriptions for items, services and home medical equipment.
• Reviewing requests for completeness, proper documentation and making arrangements to procure these items.
• Establishing workflow protocols to ensure the timely execution of work.
• Coordinating work for special circumstances.
• Advising other services on the policies and procedures to establish requisitions for services, equipment and commodities.
• Reviewing requests from various sources and making substitutions if necessary (within scope).
• Providing general guidance to potential vendors on requirements and information needed to be entered into the VHA's local vendor file.
• Examining clinical health records and claims folders to determine eligibility and entitlement for items and services.
• Advising Veterans and clinicians in relation to eligibility for entitlements for items and services.
• Reviewing clinical requests, determining sources and availability of replacement parts and alternatives for power mobility, artificial limbs and other pieces of medical equipment.
• Reviewing unique requests to ensure the requesting entity has addressed any special prescribing procedure or guidance.
• Reconciling all invoices for certification of payment by reviewing Veteran records against invoices to ensure that accurate cost is being charged for service/item rendered and verifies the correct total cost.
• Following up in relation to parts and labor orders, returns shipping back to manufactures and accounting for warranty work.
• Maintaining accurate records of transactions and to complete all adjustments to computerized system. Maintain accurate funding, billing, reconciling of accounts and sub-account balances to include the Prompt Payment Act as it affects vendors and the payment process between vendors and the VA Medical Center.
• Procuring specialized medical equipment, supplies and services for Veterans.
• Reviewing of various configurations and determine the most cost effective to meet the veterans need.
• Procuring specialized medical equipment with critical and unique characteristics and associated guidance from a variety of sources.
• Purchasing various equipment, supplies, and services through the use of the government purchase card for micro purchase.
• Responsible and knowledgeable in various purchasing strategies, such as how to solicit, who to solicit, what clauses to include, which offers to accept or how much lead time.
• Negotiating prices with sole source vendors, persuading reluctant vendors and collecting data for requirements not previously required.
• Authorizing and preparing complex purchase orders for a wide variety of devices, medical supplies and durable medical equipment.
• Preparing complex purchase orders for a wide variety of devices, medical supplies and durable medical equipment.
• Executing price adjustments; resolve any discrepancies, modifications, amendments to purchase orders and cancelations of purchase orders.
• Coordinating medical device orders that may require more than one vendor and more than one end user.
• Coordinating work with local vendors.
• Following up communication and amendments to purchase orders are required to adjust for parts and labor, shipping parts back to manufactures and accounting for warranty work.
• Representing the VA in discussions with vendors/contractors to obtain agreement on micro purchases and vendor/contractor compliance.
• Monitoring vendor performance through personal contact, review progress reports, and discuss reasons for delays, failures, or price changes.

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.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• 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.
• 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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

• 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/30/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.



You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: quickly deducing from written prescriptions or oral requests what items or services are needed, selecting the most appropriate cost-effective source to deliver the items/service in the most reliable manner; completing transaction on the patient's medical record to ensure documentation of exactly what was purchased and issued; working independently to complete purchase orders and reconcile charges; initiating procurement of all outpatient medical requirements; verifying accountability of all prosthetics expenditures in both the purchase menu and the prosthetics program and associates all obligations to the individual patient: performing technical level purchasing support adhering to the Service Directives and Handbooks, policy and memorandums to acquire patient specific medical equipment, supplies and services.

• Preferred Experience: Experience in Federal or VA Purchasing Procedures: Hands-on experience with federal acquisition processes, micro purchases, purchase card workflows, and medical procurement practices, ideally within a VA or healthcare setting. Proficiency with VA Procurement Systems: Prior use of IFCAP, eCMS, or similar government purchasing platforms to create requisitions, manage purchase orders, upload documentation, and track order status. Background in Prosthetics or Medical Equipment Acquisition Experience ordering prosthetic devices, DME (Durable Medical Equipment), orthotics, sensory aids, or other clinically prescribed medical items. Vendor Coordination and Quote Management: Familiarity working with medical suppliers, obtaining competitive quotes, validating vendor eligibility, and resolving delays or discrepancies. Clinical Support Experience: Experience partnering with clinicians, therapists, or care teams to confirm specifications, interpret prescriptions, and ensure the correct item is sourced for the patient. Financial and Purchasing Card Management: Prior responsibility for reconciling purchase card transactions, tracking obligations, completing receiving reports, and maintaining accurate financial records. Document and Records Management: Experience preparing procurement packets, organizing compliance documents, and maintaining accurate electronic and physical purchasing files.

• Attention to Detail
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Reading Comprehension
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

How you will be evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

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

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

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• References
• Other (2)
• PCS Orders
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Proof of Marriage Status
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
• An SF-50 showing your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Next steps