Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens Subject position(s) will be filled through Expedited Hiring Authority All applicants who meet the basic qualification requirements will be forwarded to the Selecting Official for further consideration. The "Rule of Three", Category Rating, Veterans Preference, and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy.

You will serve as a Contract Specialist with complete responsibility to plan and recommend for execution of all contractual actions and phases for assigned projects.  The Contract Operation Division is responsible for acquiring the full range of U.S. Coast Guard primary mission critical supplies, services, and systems valued above the simplified acquisition.

Being a Coast Guard civilian makes you a valuable member of the Coast Guard team.  Typical work assignments include:

• Serving as a contract specialist responsible for all contracting transactions from initiation to recommendation of award to procurement of items or services with specialized requirements.
• Preparing solicitation documents, e.g., waiver, justification and approval for other than full and open competition, determinations and findings, etc., incorporating cost accounting standards, testing procedures, cost escalation factors, firm-fixed price, fixed-price-incentive, cost-plus-award-fee, cost data requirement, etc.
• Preparing responses to Congressional inquiries, Freedom of Information Act requests or other sensitive correspondence, including appeals, protests or mistakes in the bidding procedures of assigned contracts.
• Monitoring contractor's performance, approval of progress payments, reviewing and providing recommendations on contractor proposals resulting from change orders, scheduling, problems and proposed solution, verification of deliveries and similar activities.
• Negotiating complex modification to contracts such as those for R&D software system development.
• Utilizing in-depth price/cost analysis techniques for supporting the development of cost-related sections of complex solicitation documents, analyzing cost data and price re-determination/price order/terminations/labor and material cost, etc.

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Trancripts are required at the time of application
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
• One year probationary period may be required.

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: You must meet all three requirements listed below; unless you are covered by an exception:

1) Completion of a 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field, 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.

NOTE: The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) does not grant Academic degrees; therefore courses completed at the DAU are not creditable towards meeting the 24 semester hour requirement, in the fields identified above, unless the coursework has been evaluated by an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and appears on a college or university transcript.

AND

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:  Completion of at least 4-years of experience in a contracting or related position, 1 year of which was directly related experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service. Directly related experience includes all of the following:

• Preparing solicitation documents, e.g., waiver, justification and approval for other than full and open competition, determinations and findings, etc., and incorporating provisions, such as cost accounting standards, testing procedures, cost escalation factors, firm-fixed price, fixed-price incentive, cost-plus-award-fee, cost data requirements, etc.
• Awarding or recommending award of the contract.
• Negotiating  price, contract specifications, delivery date, incentives, and other terms of conditions.
  
  

EXCEPTIONS TO QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: Applicants who have been in a GS-1102 position, at or above the GS-13 level, since January 1, 2000 without a break in service only need to meet the 1-year of directly related experience in order to qualify. The educational, training and additional years of contracting experience requirements do not apply to these individuals.

AND

3) Training refers to the May 7, 2014, Memorandum on Revisions to the Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.  Applicants must meet the FAC-C requirements and be certified at Level II or III at the time of application.  Possession of certification must be indicated as part of application submission.  Applicants not certified may still apply and be selected, but must achieve certification within 24 months of appointment. A valid Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certification is equivalent to a FAC-C at the same certification level, provided the FAC-C education and continuous learning requirements have been met. Certification requirements may be viewed at click here.

NOTE: The agency may obtain a waiver for any individual not meeting the training requirements. The Coast Guard Head of the Contracting Activity must obtain the waiver from the DHS Chief Procurement Officer prior to the extension of an employment offer.

NOTE: If you are currently employed with an agency other than DHS and seeking a lateral transfer AND you were promoted to an 1102 position at or above the GS-13 level (or equivalent) after 12/31/99 based on a waiver of the agency's training requirements, you will need to be approved for another training waiver before you can be hired into a GS-1102 position at or above the GS-13 level with DHS. If you were hired into your current GS-1102-13 or higher level position, with a non-DHS agency, based on an educational waiver, you will still have to meet the educational requirements stated in Qualification Requirements #1.

National Service Experience (i.e., 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; 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.

The Office of Personnel management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees.  If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule, C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your résumé and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you meet the minimum qualifications, your experience, education and training will be rated using the on-line self assessment questions that are based on the following competencies or knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform this job:

The necessary Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities to perform this job are: 

1. Knowledge of contracting procedures, types, and methods applicable to formal advertising, negotiation, simplified, and commercial acquisitions, including fixed-price and cost type contracts, and the appropriate use of special provisions and incentives.
2. Knowledge of contracting methods and contract types and of contracting principles, laws, statutes, Executive Orders, regulations and procedures applicable to pre-award and/or post award actions.
3. Knowledge of the principles of acquisition planning to develop and implement plans to procure a multiyear program or system.
4. Knowledge of cost accounting methods and techniques sufficient to understand contract cost accumulation and estimating system.
5. Skill in negotiation techniques to conduct contract negotiations.