The position serves as a Project Engineer at an assigned Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System. This position performs project planning, produces designs, manages designs, manages construction, and provides construction administration for Minor Construction Projects, Non-Recurring Maintenance (NRM) Projects, Station Level Projects, and Leases, including all areas and at an assigned medical center and associated Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC)'s.

Duties

Healthcare Planning/Design Management: provides a broad review of all disciplines of Engineering when applied to a healthcare environment to support construction document reviews and preparation performs evaluations on medical care programs and services to ensure assigned projects are aligned and support the healthcare organization's needs and requirements for expansion of service and/or efficient flow of operation provides information to the Chief of the service regarding various Capital Planning needs for the facility to include information on the status of all assigned ongoing project activities develops initial concept documents, creates and maintains project and lease applications in multiple VA database systems, such as the Veterans Support Service Center (VSSC), Strategic Capital Investment Planning Tool, and Capital Assets Inventory coordinates construction activities for a wide range and variety of interrelated systems and services coordinate and monitor planning and answers design problems for the multi-disciplinary projects including all components of the project life cycle from initial planning and concept to design to construction, project completion and warranty periods Manage Healthcare Design and Construction Administration: prepares correspondence, technical reports, estimates, fact sheets, progress reports, schedules, progress payments, and close-out documents as required to complete project assignments provides technical troubleshooting techniques to evaluate and provide in-depth forensic data to why specialized medical systems, utility and/or components of the facility have failed managing and dealing with constantly changing priorities and deadlines based on engineering workload training the facility maintenance staff on new equipment or complex utility systems to ensure the staff have the comprehensions, qualifications and understanding of the systems to maintain and operate maintains a library file of current documents, codes and publications used in the development of bid documents and reports develop new and modify existing methods, techniques, and procedures, in discerning new patterns of phenomena, and in correlating and substantiating already developed hypotheses develops and reviews competitive bidding cost estimates for a variety of projects of multiple-use nature. Healthcare Construction Management and Post Project Activities: provides direction and guidance to the contractor for construction within the facility. Provides approvals on means and methods performance of work and how it is conducted within a medical environment to ensure impacts of the construction does not impact patient care operation or provides a risk to patients or staff provides training and guidance to the contractor to improve the contractor's ability to work within the medical facility requirements and confinements to better perform the scope of work responsible for a working knowledge of Infection Control and the requirements to be followed included in the Risk Assessments, their application in the health care environment, and methods necessary to retain separation of active construction from the healthcare environment performs scheduling and layout of construction operations, and inspection and surveillance of materials, methods, and equipment used in construction provides professional advice to peers, non-professional administrators, or managers and is considered to be an expert authority in the medical construction field conducts investigations to obtain factual information pertaining to a variety of issues Medical Infrastructure Planning: assists on the medical center construction projects, space functional changes, and associated planning with respect to medical technologies and medical-related technologies provides project management for the planning, construction design reviews, construction and equipment installation including, but not limited to: cardiac catheterization laboratories, operating rooms, pharmacy compounding suites, sterile processing facilities, radiology suites, and computer systems advises and works with clinical staff and the Biomedical Engineering staff on design and planning of construction of clinical spaces, specification development, and design reviews, sometimes entailing visits to other facilities to research current design trends for medical space Regulatory Agencies: assists in monitoring and reporting on construction and utilities management program that allows the Veterans Health Administration to meet the requirements set by accrediting organizations such as TJC Network Security: shares responsibility in ensuring that information security issues are managed effectively for engineering databases and building automation systems Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Telework: Not Available Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Education.(1) Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering or Architecture. To be acceptable, the curriculum must be from a school with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Engineering Accreditation Commission (excludes engineering technology) or National Council of Architectural Registration Boards curriculum. Examples of acceptable engineering and architectural degrees include, but are not limited to: Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Architecture and Architectural Engineering. Titles may vary from educational institutions and change over time. (2) Evidence of passing the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination with a bachelor's degree. Evidence can be in the form of an Engineering in Training certificate issued from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam or Puerto Rico, or test results from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) identifying a passing score. OR (3) Evidence of current professional registration or licensure as a Professional Engineer or Architect. Evidence of current professional registration or licensure can be from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam or Puerto Rico.Foreign Education. To be creditable, engineering, architecture or related education completed outside the U.S. must be submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to a Bachelor's degree. English Language Proficiency. Healthcare Engineer candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Grade Determination: In addition to the basic requirements outlined in paragraph 3, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Healthcare Engineer, GS-12 Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to meeting the experience requirements for this grade level, the candidate must fully demonstrate the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of mechanical, electrical, structural, civil and other engineering/architectural principles, practices and their applications in the healthcare environment. (b) Knowledge of healthcare industry standards and related regulatory agency and organization (including, but not limited to The Joint Commission (TJC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), etc.) regulations, requirements, guides, policies, procedures, directives, standards and general medical program requirements as they relate to healthcare engineering. (c) Knowledge of construction standards, methods, practices and techniques, materials and equipment to determine compliance with engineering regulations and standards. (d) Skill in researching and analyzing information, conditions, human factors and projections to make sound engineering and business recommendations and decisions to proactively identify problems and develop innovative solutions within the context of applicable rules, regulations and procedures. (e) Ability to plan and execute complex, multi-faceted projects and inspections while prioritizing resources against approved scopes of work, contract documents and budgets. (f) Ability to organize and lead multi-disciplinary task forces with members from different departments and divisions, as well as design and construction firms. Assignment: Employees at this level serve as Healthcare Engineers at the full performance level. They work independently, under general supervision with wide latitude to exercise independent judgment. Healthcare Engineers demonstrate intimate grasp of high order healthcare engineering and capital subject matter. They serve as institutional resources for healthcare delivery processes and systems, working extensively with clinical stakeholders, acquisition staff, contractors and executive leadership by leading healthcare engineering programs, technology assessments, integration planning and implementation of both current and emerging technologies. Healthcare Engineers support the delivery of healthcare to Veterans by contributing to the education of clinical staff, planners and leadership to ensure safe and efficient healthcare delivery. Healthcare Engineers plan, execute and document highly complex, multi-faceted healthcare facility construction projects and inspections while prioritizing resources against approved scopes of work, contract documents and budgets. They identify problems and develop innovative solutions within the context of applicable rules, regulations and procedures, as it relates to the healthcare environment. May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). References: VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G72 (VHA Healthcare Engineer Qualification Standard) The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of such places as offices, training rooms, and libraries. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. The incumbent must also work outdoors in all types of weather. There may be occasional exposure to moderate risks or discomforts in storage areas or hazardous waste sites. The work is primarily sedentary, although some physical effort may be required, e.g., walking, standing, climbing ladders, stooping, kneeling, and carrying light items such as manuals or briefcases, or driving or traveling by motor vehicle. ****All required documentation must be uploaded before the announcement closes, to support eligibility.**** Failure to submit documentation will constitute the application being categorized as incomplete and therefore ineligible for referral.

Education

IMPORTANT: A legible 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.

****All required documentation must be uploaded before the announcement closes, to support eligibility.****

Failure to submit documentation will constitute the application being categorized as incomplete and therefore ineligible for referral.

Contacts

• Address Wilmington VA Medical Center 1601 Kirkwood Highway Wilmington, DE 19805 US
• Name: Amanda Griffin-Fikes
• Phone: 216-791-2300 X42198
• Email: [email protected]