Summary What General Information Do I Need To Know About This Position? Salary is dependent upon the associated duty station which will be determined upon hire. You may look up salary listed on the OPM locality tables OPM Locality Pay Tables based on these Locality Pay Area Definitions. NOTE: First time hires to the Federal Government are typically hired at the Step 01. Responsibilities As a Contract Specialist within the Office of Acquisition & Grants, some of your specific duties will include: Provides assistance to senior and mid-level personnel of the Bureau in the analysis, planning, and securing required approvals. Communicates with customer to build collaborative partnerships and provide acquisition support and information needed to accomplish USGS projects and programs. Evaluates requests for procurement to determine whether purchase description, statement of work, specifications, and drawings are sufficient to conduct an acquisition to include determining most effective method of acquisition. Plans the acquisition up to the point of solicitation to include managing overall workload to ensure successful completion of all assigned work within the available timeframes while complying with all applicable regulations. Effects acquisition by negotiation and performing the full range of contract negotiation tasks for major actions to include serving as Contracting Officer with unlimited monetary authority to negotiate and execute contractual documents. Prepares solicitations, contracts, and other contractual documents that are legally sufficient, comply with regulation, and represent the intent of the parties. Performs contract administration functions of major contracts particularly those contracts involving complex forward price agreements and price revisions to include performing full range of contract termination functions for major or complex contracts. Provides full range of contract administration functions to include monitoring performance and costs; representing program office in business dealing with the contractor; overseeing invoicing; preparing contract modifications as needed; and performing all closeout functions. Requirements Conditions of Employment Key Requirements: Applicants must be U.S. Citizens. Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation. Selectee may be subject to serving a one-year probationary period. More requirements are listed under Qualifications and Other Information. Are There Any Special Requirements For This Position? This vacancy is limited to the first 50 applications received and will close at midnight Eastern Time on the day this application limit is reached regardless of the closing date specified in this vacancy announcement. Any application received prior to midnight Eastern Time of the day the application limit is reached will be accepted and considered. You are strongly encouraged to submit all required supporting documents at the time of application should the vacancy close earlier than stated in this announcement due to the applicant limit being reached. Supporting documents will not be accepted once the vacancy announcement closes. Because this position requires travel for official business, the selectee will be required to apply for a charge card within 30 calendar days of appointment. Individuals who have delinquent account balances from a previous Government charge card will be required to satisfy their existing obligation before a new card can be issued. A background investigation will be required for this position. Continued employment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination. Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system. If you are a Federal employee applying for a promotion (under merit promotion procedures) you must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of the announcement. Qualifications Definitions: EXPERIENCE: One year of work experience is twelve months working full-time (at least 35-40 hours per week). Part-time experience can be pro-rated (i.e., a year at 20 hours per week is credited as 6 months of experience). If your position consisted of mixed duties, experience credit is given for the percentage of time that you spent on qualifying duties (i.e., if you held a position for 2 years, full-time, consisting of 25% personnel work and 75% budget work, and then applied for a budget position you could calculate your experience as follows: 2 yrs = 24 months. 24 months x 75% [percentage of time spent on budget duties] = 18 months of qualifying experience.) UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A year of undergraduate education is 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours or the equivalent of college study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite. GRADUATE EDUCATION: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. Basic Requirements for GS-13: A. Completion of all mandatory training (see list below) prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher level contracting positions, including at least 4-years experience in contracting or related positions. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position, and must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position. Mandatory Training Requirements: CON 091 Contract Fundamentals CON 100 - Shaping Smart Business Arrangements or FCN 101 - Contracting Basics CON 121 - Contract Planning CON 124 - Contract Execution CON 127 - Contract Management FAC 023 - Basic Contracting for GSA Schedules FAC 031 - Small Business Programs FCL-CM-2500 Category Management CLC 057 - Performance Based Payment and Planning for Cash Flow CLC 058 - Introduction to Contract Pricing CON 170 - Fundamentals of Cost and Price Analysis CON 200 - Business Decisions for Contracting CON 216 - Legal Considerations in Contracting CON 0510 Managing Government Property in the Possession of Contractors CLC 056 - Analyzing Contract Costs HBS 428 - Negotiating CON 280 - Source Selection and Administration of Service Contracts CON 290 - Contract Administration and Negotiation Techniques in a Supply Environment CON 360 Contracting for Decision Makers or CON 360-64 or CON 360-80 Choose one of the following: 32 hours of electives (may be one course or a series of courses. Each course should be at least eight hours in length and can be classroom, online, or a combination of the two. Topics must be related to acquisition and may include general business courses such as statistics or budgeting. Topics of subject areas may also be in a technical area related to the individual's specific work, such as IT. Agencies have the option of specifying the courses their workforce members must take to meet the 32 hours of electives. ACQ 265 Mission-Focused Services Acquisition ACQ 315 Understanding Industry ACQ 370 Acquisition Law ACQ 3700 Acquisition Law ACQ 3700V Acquisition Law CON 244 Construction Contracting CON 2440V Construction Contracting In order to substantiate completion of the mandatory training courses, course certificates documenting completion must be submitted with your application package. Examples of Specialized Experience: Planning, preparing, negotiating, executing and administering complex contracts; responsible for the solicitation, analysis, evaluation, and negotiation of contractor's proposals for specialized research and development activities; and reviewing a variety of contracts and contracting actions and providing technical advice to management and contracting officers. *AND* B. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, 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. C. Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. This also applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met. However, they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade, unless granted a waiver. D. Candidates who do not meet the educational and/or training requirements for this position may be considered for a waiver. If you have not completed any education or training, you may be required to provide a written document that states that. For training through the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), a copy of your Acquisition Career Record Brief (ACRB) showing course completion is an acceptable substitute. Contracting Certificates issued by other Government agencies cannot be accepted as a substitute for training certificates or transcripts. You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements for the position by the closing date of the announcement. Education 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. Education completed in colleges or universities outside the United States may be used to meet the above requirements. You must provide acceptable documentation that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit:https://www.usgs.gov/human-capital/how-foreign-education-evaluated-federal-jobs Additional Information Other Information: This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional similar vacancies in the advertised office or other U.S. Geological Survey offices in the local commuting area. Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position. Under Executive Order 11935, only United States citizens and nationals (residents of American Samoa and Swains Island) may compete for civil service jobs. Agencies are permitted to hire non-citizens only in very limited circumstances where there are no qualified citizens available for the position. USGS employees are subject to Title 43, USC Section 31(a) and may not: (a) have any personal, private, direct or indirect interest in lands or mineral wealth of lands under survey; (b) have any substantial personal, private, direct or indirect interests in any private mining or mineral enterprise doing business with the United States; or (c) execute surveys or examinations for private parties or corporations. The application contains information subject to the Privacy Act (P.L. 93-579, 5 USC 552a). The information is used to determine qualifications for employment, and is authorized under Title 5, USC, Section 3302 and 3361. DOI uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify. The Department of the Interior (DOI) places a high value on diversity of experience and cultural perspectives and encourages applications from all interested eligible candidates. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) are fundamental principles that guide the Department and allow us to successfully achieve our mission. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. Agency Benefits: USGS has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework in accordance with the DOI Telework policy and with supervisor approval. The official worksite for the selectee is the duty station identified in this vacancy announcement. The selectee will typically report to this duty location on a regular and recurring weekly basis. For additional information on our internal telework policy, please reference the Department of the Interior Telework Handbook at: https://www.doi.gov/telework/policies. Working for the U.S. Geological Survey offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; health, life, dental, vision, and long term care insurance, flexible spending accounts, and participation in the Federal Employees Retirement System.