Summary The position is located in the DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS), UNITED STATES COAST GUARD (USCG), DEPUTY COMMANDANT FOR MISSION SUPPORT, ASSISTANT COMMANDANT FOR ACQUISITION (CG-9), DIRECTOR OF CONTRACTING AND PROCUREMENT (CG-91), Office of Contract Operations (CG-912). LOCALITY OF SELECTEE'S PERMANENT ADDRESS WILL DETERMINE LOCALITY RATE. Responsibilities You will serve as a senior Contract Specialist, responsible for all contractual phases of the acquisition /procurement process from acquisition planning through contract closeout for a wide variety of complex supplies and services to include major capital assets, technical and engineering services, support services and diverse supplies. The Contract Specialist shall receive a Contracting Officer Warrant in the amount of $1,000,000.00 within no later than 24 months after the date of hire, as a condition of continued employment. To receive the warrant, the Contract Specialist shall do the following things, including but not limited to: 1) complete all required coursework, 2) receive a recommendation from the first-line Supervisor, and 3) complete all other agency or branch level specific requirements within the appropriate timeframes in order to meet the warrant approval standards. Being a Coast Guard civilian makes you a valuable member of the Coast Guard team. Typical work assignments include: Serving as a contract specialist responsible for all contracting transactions from initiation to recommendation of award to procurement of items or services with specialized requirements. Preparing solicitation documents, e.g., waiver, justification and approval for other than full and open competition, determinations and findings, etc., incorporating cost accounting standards, testing procedures, cost escalation factors, firm-fixed price, fixed-price-incentive, cost-plus-award-fee, cost data requirement, etc. Preparing responses to Congressional inquiries, Freedom of Information Act requests or other sensitive correspondence, including appeals, protests or mistakes in the bidding procedures of assigned contracts. Monitoring contractor's performance, approval of progress payments, reviewing and providing recommendations on contractor proposals resulting from change orders, scheduling, problems and proposed solution, verification of deliveries and similar activities. Negotiating complex modification to contracts such as those for R&D software system development. Utilizing in-depth price/cost analysis techniques for supporting the development of cost-related sections of complex solicitation documents, analyzing cost data and price re-determination/price order/terminations/labor and material cost, etc. Requirements Conditions of Employment U.S. Citizenship is required. Trancripts are required at the time of application Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service. One year probationary period may be required. National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI) is required. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement. Qualifications BASIC REQUIREMENT FOR GS-13: You must meet all three requirements listed below, unless you are covered by an exception: 1) Completion of a 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field, 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. 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 2) Completion of at least 4-years of experience in a contracting or related position, 1 year of which was directly related experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service. Directly related experience must have involved applying contracting principles, laws, regulations and procedures sufficient to plan, develop, implement, and maintain all aspects Applying contracting principles, laws, regulations and procedures sufficient to plan, develop, implement, and maintain all aspects of one or more major systems contracts; applying knowledge of a procurement functional area sufficient to provide expert technical leadership, staff coordination, and consultation; formulating guidelines, implementing new developments, and providing policy interpretation; performing in-depth evaluations of the financial and technical capabilities, or the performance, of the contractor anticipating problems and providing advice to project personnel on effective implementation and time frames required. EXCEPTIONS TO QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: Applicants who have been in a GS-1102 position, at or above the GS-13 level, since January 1, 2000 without a break in service only need to meet the 1-year of directly related experience in order to qualify. The educational, training and additional years of contracting experience requirements do not apply to these individuals. AND 3) Training refers to the May 7, 2014, Memorandum on Revisions to the Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Applicants must meet the FAC-C requirements and be certified at Level II or III at the time of application. Possession of certification must be indicated as part of application submission. Applicants not certified may still apply and be selected, but must achieve certification within 24 months of appointment. A valid Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certification is equivalent to a FAC-C at the same certification level, provided the FAC-C education and continuous learning requirements have been met. Certification requirements may be viewed at click here. NOTE: The agency may obtain a waiver for any individual not meeting the training requirements. The Coast Guard Head of the Contracting Activity must obtain the waiver from the DHS Chief Procurement Officer prior to the extension of an employment offer. NOTE: If you are currently employed with an agency other than DHS and seeking a lateral transfer AND you were promoted to an 1102 position at or above the GS-13 level (or equivalent) after 12/31/99 based on a waiver of the agency's training requirements, you will need to be approved for another training waiver before you can be hired into a GS-1102 position at or above the GS-13 level with DHS. If you were hired into your current GS-1102-13 or higher level position, with a non-DHS agency, based on an educational waiver, you will still have to meet the educational requirements stated in Qualification Requirements #1. To qualify for the GS-13 level: Applicants at the GS-13 level must possess specialized experience equivalent to one year of experience at the next lower grade level GS-12 that is similar to experience gained in the Federal sector. Examples of specialized experience includes: performing procurement planning; developing procurement objectives in terms of competition and price range, and constructs the contractual vehicle including use of pricing arrangements, subcontracting policy, setting-aside polices and similar considerations; providing advice to project personnel on effective implementation and time frames required; developing new or innovative acquisition plans, source selection plans, and contract terms, conditions, or financial arrangement; performing contract administration activities; conducting extensive and sophisticated cost and financial analysis; and serving as lead negotiation for contract modifications for programs involving several interrelated contracts. THERE IS NO EDUCATION SUBSTITUTION AT THE GS-13 GRADE LEVEL. National Service Experience (i.e., volunteer 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). 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. The Office of Personnel management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule, C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office. Education This position does have a positive education requirement. If you are including education on your resume, report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. See Required Documents section for detail. You are required to submit your unofficial college transcripts from an appropriately accredited educational institution in order to document completion of the educational requirements for this position. The unofficial transcripts must be legible and include your name, major, school name/location, course title/number, date completed, grade and number of credits earned. Official transcripts will be required if selected prior to establishing an entrance on duty date. Information on Defense Acquisition University equivalent providers may be found at http://www.dau.mil/learning/appg.aspx. FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. See Recognition of Foreign Qualifications click here Additional Information Applicants will be required to complete questions contained on the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) at the time a tentative job offer is made. Certain responses on the form could pose a problem with suitability for employment determinations. If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete/make updates to the OF-306 and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, or imprisonment. DHS uses e-Verify, an Internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about e-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities at click here Recruitment incentives may be authorized. Recruitment Incentive - Selectee(s) for this position who are newly appointed to a permanent position are authorized to receive a one-time recruitment incentive of 10% of the salary, including locality for this position. Receipt of the bonus will require a 12 month service agreement. Relocation Incentive - Selectee(s) for this position who are current federal employees on permanent appointments and will be moving outside of the current commuting area of their current position to accept this position are authorized to receive a one-time relocation incentive of 10% of the salary including locality for this position. Receipt of the bonus will require a 12 month service agreement. The employee must establish a residence in the new geographic area prior to payment. Student Loan – Selectee(s) for this position who are newly appointed to a permanent or term position may be eligible for student loan repayment up to $10,000 (pre-tax) for one calendar year. More than one loan may be repaid if the combined repayments do not exceed $10,000. Receipt of this incentive will require a three year service agreement. All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit. The Department of Homeland Security encourages persons with disabilities to apply, to include persons with intellectual, severe physical or psychiatric disabilities, as defined by 5 CFR § 213.3102(u), and/or Disabled Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more as defined by 5 CFR § 315.707. Veterans, Peace Corps/VISTA volunteers, and persons with disabilities possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs. To determine your eligibility for non-competitive appointment and to understand the required documentation, click on the links above or contact the Servicing Human Resources Office listed at the bottom of this announcement. More than 1 selection may be made from this announcement if additional identical vacancies in the same title, series, grade, and unit occur within 45 days from the date the certificate was issued. If you need a reasonable accommodation for the application and hiring process, please contact 202-795-6307. Decisions on granting reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. Visit Reasonable Accommodation