Congressional Affairs Specialist
What you'd do
This vacancy is for a Congressional Affairs Specialist in the Legislative Affairs Division (LIAD), Office of External Affairs and Communications (OEAC) Economic Development Administration within the Department of Commerce. The incumbent will perform a variety of duties for LIAD, performing with increasing independence to ensure expeditious action on legislative and open communication between EDA, the U.S Congress, and state and local governments.
Major duties
As a Congressional Affairs Specialist, you will perform the following duties: Serves as principal advisor to EDA senior leadership on all congressional and intergovernmental matters, providing authoritative guidance on legislative processes, stakeholder perspectives, and policy implications. Acts as the primary point of contact for EDA with Members of Congress, congressional committees, Governors, Mayors, State Legislators, local officials, and intergovernmental organizations, independently managing all relationships. Leads and executes all grants-related legislative functions, including congressional notifications, controlled correspondence, advanced notifications, and complex legislative tracking and analysis. Independently receives, evaluates, and responds to inquiries and casework, resolving complex and politically sensitive issues without supervision and ensuring EDA's positions are accurately represented. Ensures seamless, proactive information exchange between EDA and Congress or intergovernmental entities, providing clear interpretation of EDA programs, actions, and policy impacts. Establishes, sustains, and leads liaison networks with Intergovernmental Affairs constituents and Congressional Offices and Committees, independently conducting briefings, attending meetings, advising committees, coordinating information exchange, and representing EDA authoritatively. Attends, analyzes, and reports on hearings, preparing complex briefings and providing expert, timely information to congressional offices and committee staff for hearings, legislation, and markups. This Job Opportunity Announcement may be used to fill other Congressional Affairs Specialist GS-0301-12, GS-13 positions within the Department of Commerce in the same geographical location or local commuting area with the same qualifications and specialized experience. This position is also advertised under EDA-OEA-ST-26-13022880, which is open to Merit Promotion/Direct Hire/Delegated Examining eligible applicants. You must apply to both announcements if you want to be considered for both.
What you need to qualify
Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=Occupational-Series Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. 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. To qualify at the GS-12 level: You must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as experience: Applying working knowledge of the federal legislative process, committee operations, and basic legislative procedures to prepare congressional notifications, draft correspondence, and conduct legislative reviews with limited supervision; AND Facilitating relationships with government stakeholders such as members of Congress and senior staff, coalitions, associations, advocacy groups and state and local officials; AND Conducting legislative or programmatic analysis by interpreting guidelines, reviewing grant or program data, and identifying issues requiring clarification or escalation; AND Developing clear and accurate communications, including briefings, legislative summaries, talking points, and responses to inquiries
Before you apply
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