The Acquisition Utilization Specialist will be assigned to the Palo Alto VA Medical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, VA Sierra Pacific Network VISN 21, Palo Alto, CA.

Duties

***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Contract Liaison: Conducts analyses and recommends courses of actions to ensure that various clinical and administrative service requirements have addressed considerations such as construction, budgeting, supporting manpower and other factors. Establishes, expedites, and reviews consolidation of, all procurement packages, including unique, emergent, and complex requirements, to meet timely and technical needs of assigned acquisitions. Reviews procurement documents for accuracy, adequacy, and completeness, and assists service line managers as needed to ensure the final documents are acceptable. Develops sole source justifications in relation to cost, limited availability or unusual nature, when the health care resource need is either unique in the medical community or is subject to maximum utilization only through health care resources contracting and identifies other alternative sources that exist within the local, regional or national geographical areas. Directs facility-wide procurements as assigned through the facility Equipment Committee in support of the three (3) to five (5) year strategic acquisition plan. Negotiates performance requirements among multiple sites and service lines in order to obtain agreement, standardize enterprise equipment, supply, and/or service requirements in support of facility strategic acquisition plans. Contract Administration: Establishes and maintains controls to ensure that contracts are executed in accordance with terms. Works independently with various personnel to resolve problems occurring in the administration of the contract. Monitors the procurement process from pre-award to final delivery of requirements. Advises on all phases of negotiation with the contract specialist/contracting officer for contract modifications, change orders, supplemental agreements, and delivery order processes including requirements, definition, justification, and approval for service contract extension, method of contracting, evaluation of proposals, and all phases of contract administration. Participates in negotiations as necessary. Monitors quality assurance surveillance plans to ensure that contracted services meet the expectations and needs of the facility. Keeps abreast of procurement status and takes necessary actions to correct problems. Oversees and ensures compliance with the terms of contracts, to determine the reasonableness of contract modifications. Reviews audits to determine if changes are required for facility to ensure compliance with the terms of contracts. Initiates review of contracts whenever there is overall concern by customers, evaluates for impact and validity. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:00am - 3:30pm. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

Qualifications

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE GS-11: Applicants must have one (1) year of specialized experience that equipped them with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position, and that is typically in or related to the work of this position. To be creditable, this specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-9 grade level in the Federal service. having comprehensive detailed knowledge and understanding of acquisition statutes, regulation, directives and procedures as well as business practices associated with supporting services; understanding of departmental, and agency contracting laws, regulations, principles, and procedures, contracts and provisions, financing, and methods of contracting applicable to the acquisition and management of services, construction, supply, and miscellaneous contracts; having an extensive working knowledge and understanding of the functions and processes required to maintain healthcare, maintenance operations, supply and support services in sufficient depth to be able to perform contract liaison work as a technical authority on contracting services for the facility; understanding of cost and pricing data and contract proposals to evaluate the offers for responsibility, and to evaluate contractor responsibility and performance; ability to perform cost benefit analysis, conduct gap analyses, and understanding of cost elements which go into the production, management or delivery of a healthcare resource service or products; and a comprehensive understanding of negotiation techniques and skills in devising negotiating strategies to deal with contractors in resolving such problems as reducing costs, adjusting delivery schedules, and capable of negotiating in sole source environments in the pre and/or post-award stages. OR SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE GS-11: (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) - Applicants must possess a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or three (3) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. This education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. OR COMBINING EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE GS-11: (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) - Combination of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: CommunicationContracting/ProcurementControl of FundsNegotiationReasoningTechnical Competence IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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. Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary in nature. Requires occasional travel to conduct inspections of contract facilities or motor vehicles providing contracts for healthcare resources to ensure joint commission and safety requirements are met. 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

IMPORTANT: 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 Palo Alto VA Medical Center 3801 Miranda Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]