The Lead Purchasing Agent serves a member of the Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service Line at the Iowa City VA Health Care System. The incumbent provides patient care, services, and support to an adult Veteran population with specialized needs. Responsibilities include, equipment/services/benefits consultant, managing consults, and procuring devices.

Duties

The incumbent's primary purpose is to serve as a Prosthetics Purchasing Specialist within the VISN 23 Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service. The incumbent has responsibility for serving as a Prosthetics and Sensory Aids equipment/services/benefits consultant, managing consults, and procuring devices. Incumbent is a member of a team providing patient care, services, and support to an adult Veteran population with specialized needs and whose level of disability increases each year. The work has high visibility and a competency to expedite patient care service and satisfaction are critical to accomplish the VA mission. The incumbent receives and analyzes prosthetic requests and prescriptions from Licensed Independent Practitioners and works with the Chief, Prosthetics and Sensory Aids to ensure that Veterans receive information about Prosthetic and Sensory Aids equipment, services, and benefits and that information and services provided to Veterans are in accordance with applicable regulations and directives. It is critical for the incumbent to recognize those duties that fall outside his/her expertise and scope and when appropriate, facilitate the referral of these issues to the prosthetic representative supervisor while keeping customers informed and satisfied with the planned course of action. To carry out duties, the incumbent needs to be knowledgeable about the many programs and benefits offered by the Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) and be able to effectively work with patients (many with severe disabilities) and families, clinical staff, administrative staff, and vendors. In addition, the incumbent needs to be proficient in utilizing Veterans Health · Administration, Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service, and Veterans Benefits Administration software packages to accomplish critical tasks. Also, the Specialist needs to be knowledgeable about contract search tools, Central Contractor Registration (CCR), Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) and Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) in addition to Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS), Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), the Integrated Funds Distribution Control Point Activity and Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP), and the Prosthetics VISTA Suite. The Lead PA is responsible to their supervisor for ensuring that the work assignments of the other employees of the team are carried out by performing a range of duties such as: 1. Distribute and balance the workload among employees in accordance with established work flow or job specialization, assure timely accomplishment of the assigned workload, and assure that each employee has enough work to keep busy; 2. Keep in touch with the status and progress of work, and make day- to- day adjustments in accordance with established priorities, obtaining assistance from the supervisor on problems that may arise, such as backlogs which cannot be disposed of promptly; 3. Estimate and report on expected time of completion of work, and maintain records of work accomplishments and time expended and prepare production reports as requested; 4. Instruct employees in specific tasks and job techniques and make available written instructions, reference materials and supplies; 5. Give on the job training to new employees in accordance with established procedures and practices; 6. Maintain a current knowledge and answer questions of other employees on procedures, policies, directives, etc. and obtain needed information or decisions from supervisor on problems that come up; 7. Check on work in progress or spot check work not requiring review (e. g., filing or direct services) and review completed work to see that supervisor's instruction on work sequence, procedures, methods and deadlines have been met; 8. Amend or reject work not meeting established standards, refer to supervisor questions or matters not covered by standards 9. Monitor working conditions such as seating, ventilation, lighting, safety, etc.; 10. Approve leave for a few hours or for emergencies. 11. Inform employees of available services and employee activities; 12. Resolve simple, informal complaints of employees and refer others to supervisor; 13. Report to supervisor on performance, progress and training needs of employees, and on behavior problems; and 14. Provide information to supervisor as requested concerning promotions, reassignment Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 am to 4:00 pm 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 Ad Hoc telework only. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD234040 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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, 11/21/2023 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-08 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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 as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Effective use of inventory software/management program to perform stock issues to take care of walk-in and immediate patient's needs; Understanding of purchase orders for a variety of prosthetic and sensory aid devices, medical supplies, surgical implants and durable medical equipment against established contracts; Analytical skill for data collection used in preparing and submitting numerous reports; Extensive understanding of the VA Medical Center policies, national directives as well as Prosthetics Service handbooks and regulations; Familiarity with procurement and purchase card regulations and procedures for service line (This experience must be well documented in your resume or application package). All qualifying experience you possess must be clearly described in your application package. We will not make assumptions when reviewing applications. Please see the Required Documents section below for resume requirements You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer ServiceMedical InformationProblem SolvingTechnical Competence 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: Work requires movement throughout the medical center, standing, bending, sitting, reaching, and lifting up to fifty pounds. There exists prolonged periods of working at a computer terminal. Ability to retrieve equipment from a storage room is required. Climbing associated with stocking of equipment and other items in storage areas is necessary. Normal safety precautions are utilized as appropriate for office, hospital, and warehouse settings. The work involves moderate discomfort when visiting sites away from the office. At times the employee may be required to wear personal protective equipment (i.e., mask and gown) when visiting work areas with other environmental exposures including the wheelchair repair shop or Orthotic Laboratory. 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Contacts

• Address Iowa City VA Health Care System 601 Highway 6 West Iowa City, IA 52246 US
• Name: Tracy Casady
• Phone: 402-995-4028
• Email: [email protected]