The Veterans Service Representative/Fiduciary Service Representative is responsible for making factual, quasi-legal and subjective determinations involved in the administration of all types of beneficiary estates, the protection of their benefit rights, the routine handling of legal matters, and the identification of legal questions. Has knowledge of benefit programs and entitlement criteria, inputs data necessary to complete a final rating competency, generates awards and authorizes payments.

Duties

Specific duties are as follows: - Analyzes and makes the final determination of the competency of veterans and other VA beneficiaries and provides the final notification of the determination. - Generates the award for the retroactive payment release, once a fiduciary is established, as well as other award actions needed by the Fiduciary Program. - Authorizes, reviews and approves the pending award action for technical accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness. - Insures that estate protection is in place, when appropriate, before releasing large retroactive payments and in other cases where the VA beneficiary's funds may not be adequately protected. - Prepares Statements of the Case (SOC) on Fiduciary Program appeals. - Provides training to other members of the Fiduciary Hub, VARO employees, service organization personnel, and other stakeholders, as needed. Serves as a Veterans Service Representative (VSR) and Legal Instruments Examiner (LIE) expert and provides technical guidance in regard to the rating, generation and authorization of Fiduciary Program awards. - Utilizes various electronic data processing (EDP) systems for processing, monitoring, and correspondence preparation. - Communicates directly with VA beneficiaries, eligible individuals, representatives, and advocates to explain the full range of VA benefits and all related programs. - Gives final approval of accounts received from guardians, attorneys, legal custodians, or chief officers of state institutions except those showing a major account deficiency which cannot be remedied by correspondence. Approval is only given if the accounting is proper in every respect including commissions and/or fees within statutory or policy limits. - Advises fiduciaries of regulations, necessary documentation and other factors which affect computation of income for VA purposes. - Prepares reports for guardians in those cases in which VA is rendering legal services. - Refers to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), accounts in which there is a possible indication of fraud, embezzlement or other criminal offense. - Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: 37530A/37531A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/28/2023. 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. For a GS-10 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 grade level and for the GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-10 grade level. 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. 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 may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: GS-10: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Applying federal, state, and local laws regarding benefit programs; Conducting interviews to evaluate eligibility for benefits and services; Applying state laws pertaining to conservatorship and estate administration; and/or Knowledge of fiduciary and field examination programs sufficient to protect beneficiary assets. OR, Education:GS-10: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 2.5 full years of progressively higher level graduate education OR have a Ph.D. or equivalent Doctoral Degree. Specialized Experience: GS-11: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-10 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Applying federal, state, and local laws regarding benefit programs; Conducting interviews to evaluate eligibility for benefits and services; Evaluating supporting evidence to determine eligibility leading to entitlement of awarding of benefit; Applying state laws pertaining to conservatorship and estate administration and/or Knowledge of fiduciary and field examination programs sufficient to protect beneficiary assets. OR Education: GS-11: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education OR hold a Ph.D. or equivalent Doctoral Degree, or have a LL.M. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education totaling 100% of the requirements for this position at either grade level to qualify. 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: None For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://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 Columbia Regional Benefit Office 6437 Garners Ferry Rd Columbia, SC 29209 US
• Name: Felicia L Douglas
• Email: [email protected]