Summary This recruitment is for Multiple positions with the Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics - Technology Acquisition Center located at: 23 Christopher Way, Eatontown, NJ 07724 Responsibilities This is a non-bargaining unit posit This is an open continuous announcement open until 3/22/2024, until all positions are filled or Direct Hiring Authority Expires. It will be used to fill immediate and future vacancies for this agency. There will be multiple cut-off dates with the first being 30 days after the initial opening date of 1/22/2024. Additional 30-day cut-off dates will be established until all vacancies have been filled. The first 200 qualified and eligible candidates who applied will be considered for referral to the selecting official. Additional 200 candidates will be referred every 30 days or sooner based on the TAC's hiring needs and/or the TAC's Hiring Manager's request. This position is eligible for 100% remote or up to maximum telework. For remote, selectee must reside within a 50-mile radius of a VA facility. For telework, selectee must reside within the local commuting distance of our Eatontown, NJ office. This position is being announced as both as remote and telework. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Total Rewards Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Available Telework: Available, if selected applicant does not choose remote. Position Description Title/PD#: Contract Specialist/ PD44208A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Required Physical Demands: Work is generally sedentary with no special physical demands. Incumbent may be subject to stress due to changed requirements, short deadlines, limited information, and uncontrollable workload peaks Major Duties: Ensure the technical evaluation factors and award criteria are clearly stated in the request for proposal. Conduct market analyses to test the noncompetitive assumptions of requisition. Issue solicitations for contracting requirements that lack historical precedent. Analyze contracting requirements for suggesting revisions to the statement of work or specifications. Determine the competitive range for negotiated solicitations. Develop contracting milestones within established time frames. Perform cost or price analysis to review cost breakdowns or determine reasonableness. Explore new or innovative contracting approaches when lacking meaningful cost and price information. Plan procurements by identifying large-scale subsystems, components, equipment, and services to be acquired by contract. Prepare solicitation and award synopses using electronic systems. Input contractor performance data in appropriate databases. Develop a negotiation strategy using audits and pricing reports. Develop procurement objectives regarding terms of competition and price range. Recommend the appropriate method of procurement, i.e. simplified acquisition procedures, sealed-bidding, negotiations. Analyze proposals for conformance with the solicitation. Review justifications for sole source clearances. Determine responsiveness and responsibility of low bidder in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. Serve as an advisor to program officials in procurement planning meetings. Conduct pre-proposal conferences with perspective contractors to clarify contract requirements. Conduct post-award conferences to provide information and clarify provisions of the contract. Conduct debriefings with unsuccessful offerors or bidders. Prepare required documentation during legal proceedings. Prepare post-clearance documentation after an agreement has been reached. Prepare price negotiation memoranda outlining the details of negotiations with contractors. Prepare justification documentation for sole source clearances. Prepare documentation in issuing terminations for convenience or default. Prepare documentation associated with the elimination of unacceptable proposals. Coordinate the establishment of a technical evaluation committee to determine acceptability of technical proposals. Coordinate with small business liaison on socio-economic goal requirements. Develop strategies to resolve protests, mistakes in bids, and late bid situations. Negotiate additional time required for contractor performance. Notify offerors concerning further negotiation or elimination from competitive range. Provide technical advice to senior acquisition personnel or program offices on complex contracting assignments based on regulatory compliance. Assess contractual issues on moderate to complex acquisitions providing regulatory and business advice to non-contracting personnel. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/22/2024. Individual Occupational Requirements: Basic Requirements for GS-13 and Above A. Completion of all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher-level contracting positions, including at least 4-years' experience in contracting or related positions. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position, and must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position. - and - B. 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. C. Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. This also applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met. However, they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade, unless granted a waiver under Paragraph D. NOTE: The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) does not grant Academic degrees; therefore, courses completed at the DAU are not creditable towards meeting the 24-semester hour requirement, in the fields identified above, unless the coursework has been evaluated by an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and appears on a college or university transcript. AND Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: Administering contracts cradle to grave; applying contract law; experience with acquisition and contract administration including change orders, supplemental agreements, terminations, claims, and close out of contracts. Experience with principles of acquisition planning, contract administration and termination techniques sufficient to administer and close out contracts. Experience with cost/price analysis techniques to evaluate contractor proposals and change order proposals. Experience with various types of contracts, including firm-fixed price; economic price adjustments, and cost reimbursement. Experience with contract methods including simplified acquisitions, negotiations, cost sharing, multiple awards, commercial items and special provisions. Experience with negotiating prices, terms and conditions, contract modifications and settlements. Knowledge of the market and sources to include identification of offerors in specific socio-economic categories. Experience with technical complexity of commodities or equipment, commodity shortages, lack of competition among vendors, and in-depth price analysis. Preferred: Incumbent must meet all the eligibility requirements to receive and maintain a FAC-Professional certification. Per Office of Personnel Management General Schedule Qualification Policies, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable when documented by satisfactory evidence (e.g., a memorandum from the manager, human resources director, or official documentation such as SF-52, SF-50 documenting an official detail/assignments, or other comparable documentation). The documentation must indicate whether the employee performed the duties full time or, if part-time, the percentage of times the employee performed the additional duties. To receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your position, you must provide official documentation of such experience as indicated above. 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. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/alph-ndx.asp. Education There is no educational substitution for the GS-13 level. PLEASE NOTE: Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications (particularly positions with a positive education requirement). Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. 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. 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 well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.