Contract Specialist
What you'd do
This position is being offered through OPM's Direct Hire Authority. See more about Direct Hire under Conditions of Employment below. Plans, solicits, negotiates, awards, administers and closes out the most complex and difficult acquisitions of materials, systems, programs, services and equipment in support of agency goals and initiatives for the most specialized, state-of-the-art, critical or scarce requirements. See QUALIFICATIONS and EDUCATION for more information about this position.
Major duties
Procurements may be characterized by lack of previous cost data, cost or fixed-price contracts, long-term contracts, subcontractors, changes in terms, unusual conditions or funding, unique terms and conditions and other difficult situations. Formulates contracting strategies and secures the aforementioned commodities for the most complex acquisitions through the use of negotiated and sole-source acquisitions. Uses a variety of acquisition methods (e.g., open market contracts, orders against existing agency contracts, orders against other agencies’ contracts) and contract types (e.g., firm-fixed price, cost reimbursement, time-and-materials/labor-hour). Serves as an acquisition official on the most complex acquisitions by executing contracts and contract modifications. Performs all other duties and responsibilities of a Contracting Officer within the limits of delegated authority, which may be over $7 million per award.
What you need to qualify
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS To meet Minimum Qualifications for this GS-13 Contract Specialist position you must demonstrate: (1) the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) for the federal 1102 series including (2) at least 52 weeks of Specialized Experience (1) INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT (IOR) A. Successful 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 (described below) and must have provided you with the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the work of the position. (*SSA does not currently have mandatory training requirements for progression to GS-13 or higher contracting positions.) AND B. Successful completion of a 4-year course of study resulting in 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. D. Waiver: When filling a specific vacant position, the senior procurement executive of the selecting agency, at his or her discretion, may waive any or all of the requirements of Paragraphs A and B above if the senior procurement executive certifies that the applicant possesses significant potential for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority, based on demonstrated analytical and decision-making capabilities, job performance, and qualifying experience. With respect to each waiver granted under this Paragraph D, the senior procurement executive must document for the record the basis of the waiver. If an individual is placed in a position in an agency on the basis of a waiver, the agency may later reassign that individual to another position at the same grade within that agency without additional waiver action. See EDUCATION for information on transcripts. (2) SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE must have been gained in a federal position at or above GS-12 OR (if your position and/or experience is in another federal pay scale OR outside of federal service) by performing duties at a level of responsibility and difficulty equivalent to GS-12 or above. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE is work that primarily consists of performing pre- and post-award contract functions involving procurements of significant importance to an agency or organization, including procurement planning, negotiation strategies and contract administration. **If you have this experience, your resume must describe, in your own words, the specific duties you perform that demonstrate it. If your experience was gained in the federal government, you must upload an SF-50 documenting your grade at the time experience was gained.** Since Specialized Experience also has a time component, it must be evident that the duties you describe are at the required level for at least 52 weeks. Reviewers cannot assume you perform duties you don't describe. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS (IOR and Specialized Experience) must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Information on this job series can be found at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1100/contracting-series-1102/
Before you apply
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