Clarification from the agency

DOT-wide employees with competitive status only.

As a Supervisory Contract Specialist, you will:

• Manage a wide-array of acquisition program activities for the development of regulations, policy, reports, analyses, and standards while coordinating input from other organizations in response to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Inspector General (OIG), or the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
• Oversee and direct the work of the office. Lead a collaborative team(s) that develops the supportive regulations and policies to implement provisions of acquisition regulations, statutes, or policy memoranda to ensure long-term compliance with all appropriate acquisition initiatives. Assure reasonable equity among subordinate units/teams of performance standards and rating techniques. Make decisions on work problems presented by subordinates. 
• Coordinate the day-to-day operations of internal regulatory and policy development given new statutory, regulatory, or external policy directions and trends. Analyze workload implications of acquisition policy changes and propose milestones and deadlines on implementation and finalization of regulations and policies with DOT. 
• Develop, coordinate, communicate, and manage key milestones for Department-wide regulations and policy development to support mission attainment. Serve as principal advisor to the DOT Senior Procurement Executive on assigned policy areas. Plan, design, lead, and coordinate analyses and assessments of DOT programs with the objective of enhancing liaison and cooperation with multiple stakeholders. 
• Lead special cross-cutting projects and teams to accomplish strategic goals and objectives of the Department related to the acquisition community. Provide advice to senior leaders, collaborate across the Department, to meet DOT’s acquisition regulatory and policy goals and objectives.

The ideal candidate for this position will have expert knowledge and experience in Federal contracting, experience conducting detailed cost analyses; experience conducting advanced acquisition planning; and the ability to supervise subordinate staff in an acquisition related environment. The candidate will have analytical skills necessary to develop and utilize performance data to support the effective and efficient utilization of resources; have strong oral and written communication skills necessary to effectively advocate operational and acquisition policy issues to a wide range of audiences; and experience leading contract professionals in award of a full range of acquisition instruments.

Conditions of employment

• Must meet specialized experience stated in Qualifications section
• Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date
• Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may 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 the 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.

• SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
• GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel.  A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
• PCS/RELOCATION/RECRUITMENT: Permanent Change of Station (PCS), Relocation, and Recruitment Incentive authorization varies by position/selection and a service agreement may be required.
• BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: A background security investigation is required for all selected individuals. Appointment will be subject to the applicant’s successful completion of the security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to meet these requirements will be grounds for termination.
• PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
• TIME-IN-GRADE: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade in the competitive or excepted service in the executive branch to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the mandatory education and specialized experience requirements.

To qualify for the Grade 15, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equal or equivalent to the GS-14, it must include:

• Experience in the implementation of the principles of contract formation, contracting statutes/regulations, and policies including awarding and administering acquisition activities including contracts, cost reimbursement contracts, simplified acquisitions, Federal Supply Schedule orders and inter/intra-agency agreements; AND
• Experience with best value source selection techniques and cost/price analysis. Examples of how this experience is attained can be from utilizing several areas of the Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) and other contracting regulations, especially RFO Part 15, "Contracting by Negotiation" and RFO Part 16, “Types of Contracts.” AND
• Experience in contributing to team objectives, coordinating tasks or people, and presenting findings or communicating updates to internal or external stakeholders.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

• Contracting/Procurement - Knowledge of various types of contracts, techniques, or requirements (for example, Federal Acquisitions Regulations) for contracting or procurement, and contract negotiation and administration.
• Technical Credibility - Understands and appropriately applies principles, procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to specialized expertise.
• Leadership - Influences, motivates, and challenges others; adapts leadership styles to a variety of situations.
• Teamwork - Encourages and facilitates cooperation, pride, trust, and group identity; fosters commitment and team spirit; works with others to achieve goals.
• 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.

For all types of 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, 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.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link:  https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4

All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level. 

Eligible Federal employees also seeking consideration for noncompetitive reassignment for this position, must indicate interest in the assessment. Noncompetitive federal candidates must have competitive status on a SF-50, meet minimum qualifications, have served at the same grade or higher, and held or exceeded the promotion potential of this position.

Your application will be reviewed in two phases determine how you move forward in the hiring process.  Phase I: Your resume will be reviewed to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience. ONLY two (2) pages of your resume will be reviewed. Additional information beyond your resume (e.g., cover letter, links embedded in your resume) will not be reviewed.  Applicants passing “Phase I” will move on to the “Phase II” of the assessment process where your application will be reviewed and rated based on the KSAs/Competencies listed in the vacancy announcement by a Subject Matter Expert (SME).

• your most recent performance appraisal,
• the proof of eligibility letter from the Agency, and
• your most current SF-50, displaying current series and grade. 
• YOU MUST SUBMIT ALL 3 documents and meet the well qualified standards for this vacancy (meeting minimum requirements for position and scoring at least an 80) to be considered under CTAP.

Displaced employees may be eligible for CTAP priority consideration. For more information, please review the OPM Employee's Guide to Career Transition.

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents.  Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system.

 

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