Government Information Specialist
What you'd do
The facility Government Information Specialist Privacy/FOIA Officer has oversight for the data governance program and initiatives in the VHA Medical Center or Healthcare System and its supporting catchment area. The position makes unique facility level determinations about disclosures, issuance of denials, redactions, access, use and dissemination of federal agency records.
Major duties
Major duties include but are not limited to: Implements unique policies and procedures to manage agency information, providing assistance and services to the general public and an organization, agency or facility staff members; Supports developing a local level strategy for data governance, which includes leading from the executive office and creating a unique program that includes diverse processes and specific policies which are independent of other facilities; Monitors and covers all aspects of the collection, use, dissemination, disclosure and destruction of information within an organization, agency or facility; Develops and integrates policy based processes, roles and controls that influences how data is created, collected, used, stored and destroyed throughout the organization; Adjudicates complex privacy and FOIA decisions that affect employees, customers and commercial businesses in the absence of supervision; Performs in-depth legal research that pertains to both federal and state statutes to render expertise, provide solutions and facilitate corrective action; Safeguards information while supporting accountability and transparency initiatives; Analyzes all of the interrelated issues that affect the privacy/FOIA program and plans and conducts monitoring activities which measure the overall level of operational compliance by the facility; Teaches and trains employees on general data protection procedures and detailed service specific practices for daily operations and uses technology to provide required privacy/FOIA training and supplemental education; Performs assessment of privacy-related risks associated with business activities that involve processing of personal and sensitive data; Investigates non-compliance of privacy related issues at all levels of an organization, agency or facility and outside of these entities when information is involved; Strengthens and sustains the operational life cycle of the privacy/FOIA program by developing a communication strategy that fosters awareness for both internal and external partners to improve compliance, provide training and engage the public; Ensures that organization, agency or facility correspondence for data governance is transparent, timely, accurate and complete in response to requests for information from the general-public, Congressional representatives, law enforcement, courts and commercial business; Creates a communications process and tools that are flexible, customizable and interactive to address unique compliance challenges and educational/training needs. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Government Information Specialist/PD606090 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/17/2026. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: The Privacy Officer will assess gaps in policy, measure the knowledge of individual staff and facilitate improvements against the ever changing policies, regulations and statutes that impact the privacy, HIPAA, and FOIA programs. Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with senior leadership and staff throughout the facility. Positive relations with key stake holders coupled with the strong ability to influence others when the proposals may involve substantial agency resources and significant changes in established procedures. Developing strong connections with external partners such as: news media, public leaders, affiliate university administration, law enforcement, state agencies and non-VA partners allows for a robust data governance program. Effective oral and written communication and presentation skills in order to respond to requests, explain data governance requirements and procedures to senior leadership and staff, defend findings and recommendations to senior leadership and prepare written responses, reports, and information materials for a variety of audiences. Knowledge of data quality improvement practices and the ability to develop a system of internal monitoring that identifies potential organizational risks through trending and severity unique to the facility. This includes assisting service lines/departments in developing appropriate monitoring and auditing processes that mirror the strategic goals of the facility privacy/FOIA program. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have For GS-11 Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related if related (Transcripts Required). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and higher level graduate education. To compute this, first determine the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determine the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. The first 2 years of graduate study are not qualifying for GS-11. (Transcripts Required). 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/.
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