Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.205) for this occupation. CTAP/ICTAP: Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee.

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.

• Provides expert advice to senior colleagues and/or agency officials responsible for broad program operations; provide significant and innovative recommendations for advancing programs and/or methods; and execute significant projects representing an important
  segment of the agency's operating programs or affecting the welfare of the public and/or the sustainability of natural resources and the environment.
• Oversees the Data Center Operations Division daily operations and maintenance of a wide variety environmental support systems and equipment - heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), evaporative water-cooling towers, uninterruptable power supply (UPS), diesel-engine driven emergency generators, electrical power distribution switchgear, physical structures, utilities, roadways, and
  surrounding grounds which are essential to maintain a safe, healthy, and comfortable complex.
• The work requires a mastery of advanced organizational principles and practices along with a comprehensive knowledge of planning, programming, and budgeting regulations, guidelines and process, and thorough knowledge of facilities planning, acquisition, and management process to assist in the preparation of long-range (5 year) and short-range planning guidance. Oversees, leads, and/or manages technical projects from inception to completion. These projects may involve any of the facilities' infrastructure element and detailed technical studies which are common and used to develop and evaluate alternative measures to maintain operational sites.
• Serves as Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) for facility contract administration, Technical Proposal Evaluation Committee (TPEC) member, reviews contract award recommendations, and determination of contractor responsibility for facility projects and initiatives. Prepares performance work statements (PWS), identifies deficient service contract or engineer performance, assesses operational impacts, and initiates timely corrective actions. Originates and evaluates alternatives to structure contract and reimbursable services for best value and effectiveness. Compiles data and assists in the development of contracts and statements of work specifications based on State and Federal laws and VA standards.
• Performs supervisory duties at least 25% of the time. Plans the work to be accomplished by the unit, assigns work to employees, and establishes production or quality standards for the unit's work. Establishes and communicates guidelines and performance requirements to employees; conducts formal performance reviews; and identifies and provides for the developmental and training needs of employees. Hears and resolves employee complaints, effects minor disciplinary measures, and recommends action in more serious cases. Performs administrative and human resources management functions for the unit; provides advice, counsel or instruction on both administrative and work matters; and assures full compliance with safety regulations.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm; Tour of duty may be subject to change based on organizational needs.
Compressed/Flexible: As determined by the Agency Policy.
Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory General Engineer/PD17147A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized
Physical Demands: Most work is sedentary. However, there is often a requirement for moderate physical exertion such as walking on uneven or rough surfaces, standing for long periods of time, bending, carrying light tools, climbing ladders, and similar activities related to full inspection of construction and maintenance activities. The employee must be able to lift a thirty (30) pound load without difficulty.
Working Conditions: The work is usually performed in an office setting. However, it may involve moderate risks requiring
special safety precautions, e.g. close proximity to engines, moving equipment, electrical switches,
transformers, batteries, high-voltage switchgear, and the like. Employee is required to exercise
necessary safety precautions and use personal protective equipment (PPE) as needed.
Designated Drug Testing Position: Not applicable
This is a non-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.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• 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.
• This is not a remote position. OI&T has multiple worksites at various duty locations, and the individual(s) selected may be assigned to any federal government work site.
• Only resumes up to TWO total pages will be accepted. Applicants with resumes exceeding the two-page limit will be removed from consideration. 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period to evaluate your and continued alignment with the public interest. During this period we may consider: 1) Your performance and conduct; 2) The needs and interests of the agency; 3) Whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and 4) 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, 06/08/2026.

You must meet the Basic Individual Occupational requirement and you must possess at least one (1) year of specialized experience as described below:

Basic Requirement:

Bachelor's Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the curriculum must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (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

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 professional 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:

• Professional registration. Current registration as am Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), 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. (COPY OF CURRENT REGISTRATION REQUIRED)
• 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. (COPY OF TEST REQUIRED WITH APPLICATION)
• Specified academic courses. Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and in engineering that included the courses specified in the basic requirements. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum as described in paragraph A. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED)
• 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.)

AND

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. To qualify at the GS-14 level, applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in Federal Service. The specialized experience must demonstrate one year of full-time work experience, or the equivalent if part-time (for example, an employee working 20 hours per week for a 12-month period should be credited with 6 months of experience.) Experience may have been obtained in either the federal service or its equivalent with state or local government, the private sector, or nongovernmental organizations. Specialized experience for this position is defined as Demonstrated leadership and supervisory experience directing multidisciplinary teams of mechanical and electrical engineers responsible for delivering environmental infrastructure capabilities for enterprise-scale data centers. Expert knowledge of data center electrical and mechanical systems, Federal codes and standards, and quality control practices, with a proven ability to manage planning, budgeting, design, construction, and continuous operations in a 24/7 mission critical environment. Adept at fostering collaboration, building consensus, and guiding staff, contractors, and stakeholders to ensure safe, reliable, and resilient data center performance.

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.

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.

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.

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

• Resume

Other accepted documents:

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Other (1)
• PCS Orders
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Proof of Marriage Status
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

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.
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.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.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.

Per the Fair Chance Act that went into effect 10/02/2023, agencies cannot require and cannot screen out applicants for not submitting a OF-306. Verify this document is not checked as required or optional documentation under the Supporting Documents Section of this Vacancy.

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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