Two positions are located in the Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region (Region 5) as part of the Regional Office Engineering Staff. The candidates will have the ability of choosing their duty station from the following locations in the Region: San Diego, San Bernardino, Arcadia, Goleta, Porterville, South Lake Tahoe, Redding, Nevada City, Placerville, Sonora, or Clovis, CA. Please see the EDUCATION section for more information.

Duties

The incumbent serves an On-Scene Coordinator/Remedial Project Manager (OSC/RPM) for the investigation, and remediation of contaminated sites throughout the Pacific Southwest Region. These include abandoned mine sites and landfills, illegal dump sites and other Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) projects. The incumbent has state-wide responsibilities for carrying out the activities required under the National Contingency Plan (NCP) for CERCLA projects on National Forest System land. The state-wide OSC/RPM exercises responsibility for CERCLA removal and remedial actions that regularly encompass difficult technical, legal, and community relations issues. Under general supervision, perform a wide variety of duties of unusual scope and difficulty while managing and overseeing investigation and cleanup of hazardous substance releases at sites on National Forest System lands throughout the Region. Many of the CERCLA sites in the Region are abandoned mines which are located in steep terrains in remote locations on the national forest. Many sites require four wheel drive access and, in some cases, hiking in for several miles. The situations at these sites are significant due to one or more of the following criteria: actual or potential threat to public health; environmental sensitivity due to the presence of endangered species or probable impact to natural resources; news media involvement; National Contingency Plan (NCP) requirements to ensure potential cost recovery; or sensitive political issues. The incumbent has state-wide responsibilities for contaminated site investigation and remediation activities for hazardous substance releases on National Forest System lands. This includes directing and overseeing all scientific and technical work conducted at assigned CERCLA sites to ensure that work performed is technically and legally sound and done so in the manner that is consistent with the NCP. Develops site-specific response strategies and schedules to meet human health and environmental protection goals and objectives, legal mandates, and agency resource management goals and objectives. The OSC/RPM must anticipate and resolve key technical issues in a timely manner, oversee the development of products that are of superior quality, and ensure decisions are scientifically, technically and legally sound and consistent with the NCP. Serves as the primary contact with Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs), state regulatory agencies, federal trustees, and others involved with CERCLA response actions at designated sites in the Pacific Southwest Region. Depending on the assigned sites, the OSC/RPM may need to develop and maintain in-depth technical knowledge in a range of scientific areas (e.g. hydrogeology, risk assessment, engineering geology, biology, chemistry, or environmental technology). Serves as the contracting officer?s representative (COR) for contracts issued using agency funds for CERCLA response actions on National Forest System lands. Responsible for directing contractual efforts in instances where the Forest Service must undertake CERCLA response actions and for ensuring that federal funds are properly expended and that contractors are utilized effectively and efficiently. Responsible for writing or reviewing statements of work, undertaking technical evaluations of contractor proposals, and participating in contract award debriefings and/or protests. Ensures that CERCLA site cost documentation and accounting records are maintained and prepares site cost documentation packages to support subsequent cost-recovery actions filed through the Department of Justice. May serve as the principal site spokesperson and represents the Region and the Agency in contacts with the public, elected officials, staff of involved Federal, State and/or local agencies, and the news media. Provides technical assistance to legal staff in case preparation, assists with negotiations and settlement strategy. Serve as a expert witness, and represents program interests in negotiations with CERCLA Potentially Responsible Parties.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Successful completion of one year probationary period, unless previously served.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov
• Selectee is subject to financial disclosure requirements and must submit form OGE-450, Confidential Financial Disclosure Report, within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary. This is an interdisciplinary position and may be filled in any of the job series listed below. Basic Requirement: GS-0819: Degree: Engineering. Program must: (1) be from a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR Combination of education/experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying professional engineering, and (2) theoretical and practical understanding of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering as demonstrated by one of the following: Professional registration/licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or professional engineer by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions. Written Test - Passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, or a written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board. Specified academic courses - Completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences that included the courses specified in the degree requirements. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum as described for a degree. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in engineering technology or in an appropriate professional field, e.g., physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.) GS-1350: Degree: Geology, plus 20 additional semester hours in any combination of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological science, structural, chemical, civil, mining or petroleum engineering, computer science, planetary geology, comparative planetology, geophysics, meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, physical geography, marine geology, and cartography. OR Combination of education and experience -- course work as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below. Specialized Experience Requirement: For the GS-13: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience include three or more of the following: Directed and reviewed the preparation of complete and detailed project plans, specifications, and cost estimates for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) mine cleanup projects; and/or rendered advice, consultation, and assistance to co-workers, and provided information pertaining to the engineering or geology specialty area during project planning conferences; and/or made adjustments to designs based on actual site conditions, such as difficult or steep terrain; and/or kept supervisor, local line officers, forest staff, external agency contacts, and the public appraised of developments during removal/remedial actions; and/or worked to build consensus for issues arising during construction. 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. TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

See Qualifications section for Educational requirements.

SUMMARY (CONT'D):
The incumbent serves as senior On-Scene Coordinator/Remedial Project Manager (OSC/RPM) for contaminated site investigation and remediation projects being under taken by the Forest Service pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The incumbent has region wide responsibilities for various CERCLA projects and other mine reclamation projects conducted throughout the 18 National Forests in California and serves as the lead project manager for complex and Regional priority sites.

For additional information, please contact Dennis Geiser at 707-562-8729 or [email protected].

Contacts

• Address USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT. Albuquerque, NM 87109 US
• Name: HRM Contact Center
• Phone: 1-877-372-7248 X2
• Email: [email protected]