This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information and Technology OIT), Compliance, Risk & Remediation (CRR), FOIA, Records and Assessment Compliance (FRAC), FOIA Service. The FOIA Service oversees and manages Department-wide FOIA efforts by working collaboratively with VA Staff Offices and Administrations to ensure adherence to Federal FOIA laws, regulations, directives and other mandates.

Duties

This is a non-bargaining unit position. The initial application review cut-off for this job announcement is 50 applications. The first 50 applications received will be considered first. Applications received after the initial cut-off number (50 applications) may not receive consideration unless otherwise requested by management. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 7:30am-4:00pm Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Available upon management approval Telework: Available Duty Location Status: Will work from a VA owned or leased space Position Description Title/PD#: Government Information Specialist/ PD 16191/92/93A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Relocation Expenses: May be authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Physical Demands: The work is primarily sedentary. There are no special physical demands for this position Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance 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 full performance level. Major Duties: Analyzes the application of various exemptions under the FOIA and Privacy Act, estimates the fees associated with the request, adjudicates requests for fee waivers, and fee waiver denials. Reviews requests for access to records, including those which are made pursuant to the provisions of the FOIA or the Privacy Act. Prepares and assists in the preparation of reports required under the FOIA/PA statutes or regulations or as requested by the Chief FOIA Officer of the Department. Coordinates comments on revised directives as part of the review process and incorporates comments or resolves issues on the final directives. Identifies FOIA program deficiencies and make recommendations to the team leader and Service Director for changes to improve operations in conformance with policy requirements.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job.
• Selectees are subject to a background/suitability investigation.
• Selectees may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• A complete application package, i.e., Resume, Transcripts, etc., as required by job announcement.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the Seasonal Influenza Prevention Program for VHA Health Care Personnel (HCP) is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs HCP.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Pre-employment physical examination/evaluation may be required.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/01/2023. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. Provide a copy of your last or most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" to indicate your current federal status. You must also submit additional SF-50(s) to clearly demonstrate one year time-in-grade as required in the announcement. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate that you possess one year time-in-grade. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one year time-in-grade. 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. AND Selective Placement Factor: This position includes a skill, knowledge, ability or other worker characteristic basic to -and essential for- satisfactory performance of the job. Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. Evidence of the Selective Placement Factor must be reflected in your resume. The Selective Placement Factor for this position is: experience identifying and resolving requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). AND You may qualify based on your experience, education or a combination of experience and education (AT THE GS-11 ONLY; A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing your qualifications on education.); You may qualify based on your experience (GS-12 and GS-13) as described below. GS-11 Specialized Experience: 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. Specialized experience is defined as: Assisting with the maintenance and operation of a records management program; Reviewing and responding to routine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act requests and other disclosure inquiries; Assisting with electronic monitoring and tracking of projects and/or FOIA/Privacy Act requests; assisting in the drafting of FOIA response letters. OR GS-11 Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or LL.M if related. OR GS-11 Combination of Education and Specialized Experience: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-11 level. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-11. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. GS-12 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: Identifying FOIA program deficiencies and making recommendations for improvement; Analyzing the impact of court decisions and legal interpretations of the FOIA, notifies and coordinates the records custodian concerning the release of information under the FOIA, and adjudicates whether the release of information is consistent with the statute and its interpretation by the courts. GS-13 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: Providing direct support in the administration of a FOIA office by representing, presenting, and negotiating on behalf of the FOIA office at meetings and conferences with other Federal, State and local agencies, and representatives of privacy industry; Advising senior leaders and/or customers on the methods and procedures for obtaining and maintaining FOIA records; Training and developing staff on federal FOIA and Privacy regulations; implementing plans to improve and enhance a FOIA program. Per Office of Personnel Management General Schedule Qualification Policies, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable when documented by satisfactory evidence (e.g., a memorandum from the manager, human resources director, or official documentation such as SF-52, SF-50 documenting an official detail/assignments, or other comparable documentation). The documentation must indicate whether the employee performed the duties full time or, if part-time, the percentage of times the employee performed the additional duties. To receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your position, you must provide official documentation of such experience as indicated above. 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. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/alph-ndx.asp.

Education

There is only educational substitution at the GS-11 grade level ONLY.


PLEASE NOTE: Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications (particularly positions with a positive education requirement). Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. 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.

Contacts

• Address DAS Information and Technology - 103 810 Vermont Avenue NW Washington, DC 20420 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]