Summary The position is assigned to the VA Community Care (VACC) Department and serves as the liaison between the VA Community Care department and the VA Community Care partners. The incumbent performs a broad diversity of complex functions for VACC, supporting all the Service Line Managers, VA Community Care partners, and the medical center staff by providing primary support for the Vendor Management for outsourced vendors with specific customer service oriented, operational responsibilities. Responsibilities Duties include but not limited to: Establishes and develops relationships with Medical Center Vendors to assess their current requirements for achieving superior Veteran results and to understand and assist the resolution of operational challenges. Schedules appointments, processes consults because of a patient, family member, VA health care provider or community partner's complaint. .Resolves billing, appointment or medical issue notification, escalation and resolution with vendors Develops and monitors vendor performance, relating to duties specific to their service level agreement. Ensures clarity, accountability, communication and cooperation Define desired targets or goals and partner with the vendor to identify actions required to bring performance into target range. Builds an integrated implementation plan to achieve overarching strategic goals. Maintains a process of continuous review, feedback and action to spot areas of opportunity. Serves as a liaison for cross functional VA changes that impact a current or future vendors; develops project plans, communication materials, and deliverables in support of VA regulations. Communicates to vendors any changes that may impact them or the relationship throughout the contract life. Maintains accurate documentation of assigned and completed vendor work, with daily summary reporting to management. Coordinates training with all the appropriate vendors and internal stakeholders. Coordinates with manager to provide Senior Leadership visibility to vendor performance metrics and provide recommendations for adjustment to contract or vendor strategies. Serves as the primary contact for issue notification, escalation, and resolution in day to day operations including monitoring of key performance indicators, quality, and leadership concerns. Partners with cross functional departments to make recommendations on current policies and procedures as well as day to day process improvements. Work Schedule: 8:00 - 4:30 Monday - Friday, subject to change depending on the needs of the agency. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD111960 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/30/2024. 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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Develops and monitors vendor performance, relating to duties specific to their service level agreement. Serve as a liaison for cross functional VA changes that impact a current or future vendor; develops project plans, communication materials, and deliverables. Communicates to vendors any changes that may impact them or the relationship throughout the contract life. maintain accurate documentation of assigned and completed vendor work. Coordinate training with all the appropriate parties. recommendations on current policies and procedures as well as day to day process improvements. Interpret, communicate, and implement VACC policies and procedures which promote appropriate controls, confidentiality of customer and VA information. This experience must be supported by your resume to be creditable. . OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree, or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading such a degree or LL.B or J.D., if relate . OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate education and specialized experience, as described above, to meet total qualification requirements. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Planning and Evaluating Stakeholder Management 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. Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary but does require some walking, standing, bending and carrying light items such as books and papers. 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/. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or 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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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 Federal/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/. 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.