Program Support Assistant
What you'd do
This position is in the Veterans Benefits Administration, San Juan Regional Office (RO). This position is located in the Support Services Division (SSD) of the RO, where the incumbent provides program, technical, and administrative assistance to the SSD Chief and other subordinate management within the division.
Major duties
Specific duties include: Prepares, assembles, and correlates information in connection with surveys and one-time reports required by Central Office, the Area Office, the Regional Office (RO), or Division management regarding administrative support functions from other divisions and outside sources of data. Processes incoming and outgoing materials such as correspondence, reports, memoranda, and other forms of written communications. Reviews and analyzes these materials, determines action necessary, researches and assembles background information, and refers said materials to the appropriate section when necessary. Edits documents, composes letters and reports, reviews correspondence for accuracy and completeness, prepares public presentation outlines, and develops standard for form letters and replies to inquiries. Liaises with the customer and identifies requirements for equipment purchase, lease, trade-in, excess, move to another location, warranty periods, etc. and then passes those requirements on to the appropriate Administrative Section staff for action. The incumbent maintains the official station control log / history file for circulars, bulletins, and memoranda and assigns numbers and dates and recession / retention folders on these as required. Reviews and makes changes/ corrections to the RO's controlled publications (circulars, bulletins, memoranda) to ensure proper format is used. Updates and revises publications issued by SSD and prepares "Justification for Proposed Field Station Issue" for appropriate concurrence. Maintains the confidential records for SSD, including records concerning individual performance, disciplinary actions, awards, and similar information for all employees of the Division. As a purchase card holder, always secures purchase card, identifies correct accounting string or budget object codes (BOCs) for appropriate transactions as required within VA 's credit card system. Maintains receipts or other necessary documentation for reconciliation purposes; reconciles statements and forwards to approving officials within required time frames. Serves as the principal timekeeper for SSD and may support other division timekeeper needs by serving as an alternate timekeeper; may have duties in the PIV issuance process and may serve as one of the facility's PIV Card issuers. Receives all SSD visitors and callers; screens telephone calls for the SSD Chief and forwards only those calls requiring the Division Chiefs attention. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The grade progression for this position is GS-05, GS-06. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm. Compressed/Flexible: Not available Telework: This position is eligible for situational (ad hoc) telework only. The selectee is required to report to the official duty station each scheduled workday. Telework may be approved only on a case-by-case basis with supervisory approval. Routine or recurring telework is not authorized for this position. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. This is not a Remote position. Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant; PD37337A and PD37329A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:08/04/2026. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: As a current Federal, GS employee you must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04 level. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05 level. If you are a current VBA employee outside of the commuting area seeking reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS-05 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-6. 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. Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to current employees applying for a Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-05 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-04) in the normal line of progression for the occupation. Specialized experience generally includes, but is not limited to, performing duties such as: Preparing and proofreading routine correspondence; Entering, tracking, and verifying data for accuracy; maintaining office files and records; Assisting with basic workflow processes within the organization; providing routine administrative support in areas such as timekeeping, scheduling, and document collection; and Communicating with internal and external customers to relay information or resolve straightforward administrative issues. Education Substitution: Applicants must have successfully completed 4 years (120 semester hours or 180 quarter hours) of education above high school in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university. (Must submit transcripts.) Combination: Applicants may also qualify based on a combination of specialized experience and education as described above. To determine qualification using this combination, only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours (that is, beyond the second year) may be credited toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours) beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience. Add the percentage of qualifying experience to the percentage of qualifying education; if the total equals at least 100%, you are considered qualified. (Must submit transcripts.) GS-06 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Applicants must have have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-05) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to performing the following duties: Composing, reviewing, and editing correspondence; Auditing statistical data and assessing organizational workflow; and Providing budgetary recommendations and serving as the principal timekeeper. Education Substitution: Not applicable for the GS-06 grade level. Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information. 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; 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. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: Work requires some physical exertion such as extended periods of standing, frequent bending, reaching or similar activities necessary to set up, operate, adjust and monitor operation of the equipment. The employee lifts a variety of moderately heavy materials and supplies such as mailbags or large quantities of paper stock. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. What is a local commuting area? Local commuting area means the geographic area that usually constitutes one area for employment purposes. It includes any population center (or two or more neighboring ones) and the surrounding localities in which people live and can reasonably be expected to travel back and forth daily to their usual employment.). This definition is from OPM's Reduction in Force (RIF) regulation at 5 CFR 351.203.
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