This Purchasing Agent position is located in Prosthetics and Orthopedic Service at the Providence VA Medical Center location. This position is a full-time at 40 hours per week.

Duties

The Purchasing Agent is a member of Prosthetic & Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) within the Prosthetic Service Line under the VISN or medical center, and has an active inpatient implant care coordination and outpatient treatment program and inventory responsibility Duties include but are not limited to: Receives and analyzes electronic Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Services (PSAS) consults/prescriptions for items, services and home medical equipment from VA providers. Ensures that the appropriate VA specialist is making the consult request and that an appropriate assessment has been completed that supports the equipment or services being requested. Compare the disability or diagnosis to equipment or services that are normally provided for the condition for which the equipment and/or services are requested. Examine the electronic medical record to determine eligibility and entitlement for benefits, services, or equipment based on supported criteria and advises clinical staff and Veterans. Thorough research of patient medical records, to include previous consults, clinical notes, and remote data, is conducted to verify this information Understands and follows procurement regulations, ensures compliance with national prosthetic contracts and enters accurate purchasing data into prosthetic databases. Authorize and prepare purchase orders for a wide variety of prosthetic and orthotic devices, medical supplies and home medical equipment and repairs as directed by Prosthetic Representative Supervisor. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm. Compressed/Flexible Work Schedule: Not Authorized Telework/Virtual/Remote Work: Not Authorized Position Description/PD#:Purchasing Agent/PD00457A Relocation or Travel Incentives: Not Authorized or Authorized Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized or Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required or Required, selectee must file a financial disclosure report, OGE Form 450, within 30 days of onboarding and then annually. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the next level or grade level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the higher level. Notifications:

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/20/2023. 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. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. (This is separate from your experience and is mandated by statutory and regulatory requirements.) For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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 must qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-05 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-04) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Coordinating and providing administrative program support when needed and recommending changes to standard procedures to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness, independently resolves most problems and deviations that occur with internal and external customers, possesses a working knowledge of general medical terminology to aid in researching, analyzing, and interpreting prescriptions for a wide variety of prosthetic appliances, services, and medical equipment received from medical providers. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 4 years above high school. Degree must be relevant to the position to be filled. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education in excess of the first 60 semester hours (i.e., beyond the second year) is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours) beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience. The education and experience must be directly related to the work of the position to be filled. GS-06 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (Example: GS-05) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Coordinating and providing administrative program support when needed and recommending changes to standard procedures to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness, independently resolves most problems and deviations that occur with internal and external customers, possesses a working knowledge of general medical terminology to aid in researching, analyzing, and interpreting prescriptions for a wide variety of prosthetic appliances, services, and medical equipment received from medical providers. Education: There is no educational substitution for this series at this grade level. GS-07 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (Example: GS-06) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Coordinating and providing administrative program support when needed and recommending changes to standard procedures to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness, independently resolves most problems and deviations that occur with internal and external customers, possesses a working knowledge of general medical terminology to aid in researching, analyzing, and interpreting prescriptions for a wide variety of prosthetic appliances, services, and medical equipment received from medical providers. Education: There is no educational substitution for this series at this grade level. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analytical ThinkingCommunicationsCompliance 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary when conducing purchasing functions for PSAS, however while conducting inventory management functions, the incumbent may work comfortably in a warehouse environment, sitting, standing, walking, bending, lifting, carrying, retrieving and managing inventory. Prolonged periods of working at a computer terminal is 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/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA Providence Healthcare System 830 Chalkstone Avenue Providence, RI 02908 US
• Name: Hannah Farrar
• Phone: 401-273-7100 X13489
• Email: [email protected]