This position is located in Simulation, Learning, Evaluation, Assessment and Research Network (SimLEARN), Office of Discovery, Education and Affiliate Network (DEAN), Veterans Health Administration (VHA). SimLEARN's goal is to promote collaboration and coordination with facility-based educators, researchers and clinicians to drive ongoing improvement and innovation in education, training and advancements in scientific research.

Duties

The incumbent of this position serves as the Travel Clerk and will be responsible for overseeing travel for all SimLEARN personnel. The incumbent will perform a wide range of travel management, budget and analysis support required to assist the Executive Director and Budget Analyst execute the organizations budget. duties include, but are not limited to: Interpreting, disseminating and applying specific policies, regulations, and procedures to perform a full range of related fiscal duties to include, but not limited to analyzing, coordinating, and monitoring assignments. Ensuring travel authorizations and reimbursements of travel expenses are necessary to accomplish the VA's mission in an effective and economical manner. Applying analytical thinking and technical expertise in providing training and customer service to employees, managers, and senior leaders in all aspects of travel, both domestic and foreign. This includes entitlements and responsibilities during temporary duty, local, multi-city, blanket order, pre-employment interview, long-term employee detail, and invitational travel. Analyzing cost-comparisons of alternate methods of travel is required to determine the most cost advantageous option not compromising mission effectiveness. Providing technical assistance, performing audits, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data and preparing reports. Conducting post-audit findings shall be analyzed and escalated based on their severity until properly remediated. Managing the travel card program and serve as an A/OPC, a focal point for the issuance of travel cards and the establishing, and closing, of individual traveler accounts. Responsible for the day-to-day management of the accounts including setup, maintenance, management, and oversight. Conducting a variety of travel support activities such as tracking program expenditures, transaction reports, Transfer of Disbursing Authority (TDA), Fund Control Points (FCP) ceilings and available funds. Briefs portfolios on travel trends and expenditures. Tracking assigned travel fund control points, reporting on a regular basis to management, following up on any unusual occurrences and assisting in initiating measures to ensure a smooth end-of-year closeout. Providing support to the SimLEARN budget analyst in monitoring and overseeing various SimLEARN portfolio budgets. Helping evaluate financial trends and determining compliance with organization guidance. Coordinating assigned budget segments and planning processes to inform upper management on key issues, to impact organization and decision-making processes. Gathering information for assigned program/projects and reviews budget formulations and workload analysis submissions. Assisting budget analyst in reviewing progress of all obligations and provides analysis of trends. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: May be available 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. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist - Travel Clerk/PD10837-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/27/2023. 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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. 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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience with employee travel, travel charge card program, and Federal Travel Regulations; experience performing duties related to travel management; managing a travel card program; conducting travel support activities such as tracking program expenditures, transaction reports, Transfer of Disbursing Authority (TDA) and Fund Control Points (FCP); and assisting with budget. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must possess a master's or equivalent graduate degree related to the work of the position or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B or J.D. Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Financial Management Auditing Analytical Reasoning Communication Veteran and Customer Focus 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: This is a primarily sedentary position. 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

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 VSHO - Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks 2402 Wildwood Ave Suite 301 Sherwood, AR 72120 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]