Contract Specialist

For more information on the Department of Justice and the United States Attorneys' Offices, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/. As needed, additional positions may be filled using this announcement.

**Qualifications:**
To be qualified for this position, applicants must meet the Both Basic and Minimum Qualification requirements below: BASIC REQUIREMENTS: 1. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in any field; OR 2. At least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, organization or management; OR 3. Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. Employees who occupy GS-1102 positions at grades 5 through 12 will be considered to meet the basic requirements for other GS-1102 positions up to and including those classified at GS-12. This includes positions at other agencies and promotions up through grade 12. However, employees must meet specialized experience requirements when seeking another position. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: GS-09: To be eligible at the GS-09 level, you must meet Specialized Experience, Education, OR a combination of Education and Experience as defined below: Specialized Experience: You must have one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as preparing statements of work or statements of objectives, and other documents necessary prior to a formal solicitation process; procuring a wide variety products and services; purchasing supplies/services/construction as a purchasing agent; performing basic price or cost analysis; drafting final contract documents to include specifications of bids and proposals; preparing and issuing contracts, purchase orders, tasks orders, delivery orders and modifications; preparing a variety of reports concerning the status of funds, expenses, and obligations. OR Education: Two full academic years of progressively higher level graduate education or masters or equivalent graduate degree in one or a combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, organization and management, LL.B or J.D. OR Combination of Education and Experience: Applicants may qualify based on a combination of specialized experience as described above and graduate-level education as described above which when combined equal 100% of the requirements. To calculate your percentage of graduate education, first determine the total number of graduate hours that exceed 18 semester hours (or your school's definition of one year of graduate study), then divide the total number of your excess graduate semester hours by 18 (or your school's definition of one year of graduate study). To calculate your percentage of qualifying experience, divide your total number of months of qualifying experience by 12. Now, add the two percentages together. The sum of the percentages must equal at least 100%. (Only graduate education in excess of the first two full years may be used in this calculation). GS-11: To be eligible at the GS-11 level, you must meet Specialized Experience, Education, OR a combination of Education and Experience as defined below: Specialized Experience: You must have one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: You must have one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as developing and documenting acquisition strategies; negotiating and awarding contracts and contract modifications; developing terms and conditions of contracts; performing all pre-award/post-award functions; monitoring contractor's performance; performing work associated with termination of contracts; interpreting procurement policies and procedures; analyzing a variety of reports concerning the status of funds, expenses, and obligations. OR Education: You must have three full academic years of progressively higher level graduate education or PhD. or equivalent doctoral degree in one or a combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management. OR Combination of Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. Only graduate education in excess of the first two years may be used to meet total qualification requirements. Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)- The ICTAP provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in the announcement; and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide proof of eligibility to receive selection priority. Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of ICTAP eligibility or a copy of your separation personnel action form. Additional information about ICTAP eligibility is at: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)-The CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility, 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application. Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) -VEOA allows eligible veterans to apply and compete for positions announced under merit promotion procedures when the hiring agency is recruiting from outside its own workforce. To be eligible for a VEOA appointment, a veteran must be honorably separated and either a preference eligible or have substantially completed three (3) or more years of continuous active military service. If you are applying for a Merit Promotion announcement and wish to be considered under VEOA, you must submit a copy of the Member Copy 4 of your DD-214, in addition to any other required documents listed on this announcement.