This position is located in USDA Rural Development Office,Community Program Staff, Team 1. The purpose of this position is to provide advisory and technical services in the engineering, planning and design process, as well as engineering, environmental and architectural management services for projects financed by RD loan and grant programs. Direct Hire Authority: These positions are being filled through the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Direct-Hire Authority for this occupation.

Duties

Advises and consults with private groups, public bodies and state and/or Federal agencies on the civil engineering aspects of projects financed by loan and grant programs. Provides technical guidance for project eligibility and priority. Reviews and concurs with agreements for engineering Services, construction project preliminary plans, drawings, designs, specifications, and cost estimates. Works with staff, applicants and their consultants with respect to the suitability of proposed Preliminary Engineering Reports (PER) as well as other documents associated with applications for funding and projects approved for funding. Prepares procedures for use by staff for carrying out engineering and related program activities and for training purposes.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US 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.
• Direct Deposit - 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 at https://www.e-verify.gov/

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. In addition to meeting the basic education requirement, qualified applicants must possess: For the GS-9 level: Applicants must possess one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-7 level; or its non-Federal equivalent that demonstrates: Experience reviewing construction project preliminary plans, drawings, designs, specifications and cost estimates. Consulting with private groups, public bodies and other agencies on civil or environmental engineering and architectural aspects of projects. Experience providing technical services in the engineering, planning and design process for projects that must include at least one of the following: wastewater facilities, businesses, community facilities and/or infrastructure. Demonstrated leadership experience in project engineering. OR 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree. Equivalent combination of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level. For the GS-11 grade level: Applicants must possess one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level; or its non-Federal equivalent that demonstrates: Experience assisting in the review of construction project preliminary plans, drawings, designs, specifications and cost estimates; advising/consulting with private groups, public bodies and other agencies on civil or environmental engineering and architectural aspects of projects; assisting in providing advisory and technical services in the engineering, planning and design process for projects that may include single housing, wastewater facilities, businesses, community facilities. OR 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. OR A combination of graduate level education beyond the second full year of graduate level education and specialized experience that together meets the qualification requirements for this position. NOTE: To be considered for this position, you must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements for the GS-0810 series set forth in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards by the closing date of the announcement. A copy is available at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

Basic Requirements: A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a degree in 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 of engineering science or physics: (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 ORB. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:

1. Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern( EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1, or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) 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.
2. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) 2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
3. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
4. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, maybe 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.)

Contacts

• Address Rural Development 1400 Independence Ave SW Washington, DC 20250 US
• Name: Frank Parker Jr
• Email: [email protected]