The Lead Purchasing Agent is organizationally aligned to the Prosthetic & Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) within VISN 12, Prosthetics Product Line, Tomah VA Medical Center. The Lead is responsible for issuing, reviewing and or procuring prescribed items to Veterans in compliance with VHA guidelines and directives and leading a team of Purchasing Agents. .

Duties

Distributes and balances the workload among employees in accordance with established workflow or job specialization. Assure timely accomplishment of the assigned workload, and assure that each employee has enough work to keep busy. Keeps in touch with the status and progress of work and makes day- to- day adjustments in accordance with established priorities, obtaining assistance from the supervisor on problems that may arise. Instructs employees in specific tasks and job techniques and estimates and reports on expected time of completion of work. Gives on the job training to new employees in accordance with established procedures and practices. Checks on work in progress or spot checks work not requiring review and reviews completed work. Performs technical level purchasing support adhering to the FAR, VAAR, VHA, and Prosthetics Directives and Handbooks, VISN policy and station memorandums to acquire patient specific medical equipment, supplies and services. Verifies Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) and Bradstreet information and ensures each vendor is in the System for Award Management (SAM) and in good standing to do business with the government. Verifies accountability of all prosthetics expenditures in both the purchase menu and the prosthetics program and associates all obligations to the individual Veteran. Ensures the services provided are documented as the type of service and duration. Verifies adherence to training and other contractual agreements. Reviews requests for completeness, comparing disability or diagnosis to equipment and/or services normally provided for the condition for which they are requested, and/or proper documentation has been provided to justify the issuance. Ensures consults are competed and appropriately closed within guidelines and follows-up on all pending consults to ensure services are rendered as quickly as possible or as indicated on the prescription/consult. Completes a Veterans Record Transaction on the patient's medical record (2319) to ensure documentation of exactly what was purchased and issued is recorded on the Veteran's record. Purchases specialized equipment or services that have an unstable price or product characteristic, hard-to-locate sources, have critical characteristics, or similar complicating factors and resolves a variety of purchasing problems, such as inadequate or restrictive specifications, lack of multiple suppliers, urgent need, or insufficient price history, or with continual requirement changes and updated products. Works closely with the clinicians and suppliers to meet delivery deadlines, ensures emergent delivery and repairs to guarantee a Veteran's life is never threatened. Maintains accurate records of transactions and completes all adjustments to computerized system before final payment to vendor is certified. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. AD-HOC ONLY. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Lead Purchasing Agent/PD231280 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/22/2023. MOST CURRENT NON-AWARDSF-50 (YEAR 2023) MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH YOUR APPLICATION PACKAGE. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL DISQUALIFY YOU FROM FURTHER CONSIDERATION. 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: NOTE: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE MUST BE WELL DOCUMENTED AND DETAILED IN YOUR RESUME. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL DISQUALIFY YOU FROM FURTHER CONSIDERATION. 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: Distributes and balances the workload among employees; Keeps in touch with the status and progress of work and makes day- to- day adjustments; Maintains a current knowledge and answers questions of other employees on procedures, policies, directives; Estimates and reports on expected time of completion of work; Gives on the job training to new employees; Resolves simple, informal complaints of employees; Perform technical level purchasing support adhering to the FAR, VAAR,VHA and Prosthetics directives and handbooks; Reviews consults for completeness and proper documentation; Monitors work to ensure completion within established timeframe; Determine eligibility and entitlement for prosthetic items and services; Organize work, establish priorities and meet deadlines; Provide friendly customer service to a wide variety of contacts; Identify needs, gather, organize, and maintain information; listen effectively and clarify information as needed; Identify and analyze problems, use sound reasoning and find alternative solutions. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analysis and Problem SolvingComputer SkillsContracting/ProcurementControl of FundsCustomer ServiceTechnical 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 is primarily sedentary when conducing purchasing functions for PSAS, however while conducting inventory management functions, the incumbent may work comfortably in a warehouse environment, sitting, standing, walking, bending, lifting, carrying, retrieving and managing inventory. Prolonged periods of working at a computer terminal is required. Ability to retrieve equipment from a storage room is required. Climbing associated with stocking of equipment and other items in storage areas is necessary. Incumbent may carry/lift items weighing up to twenty-five (25) pounds. Normal safety precautions are adequate. The work involves moderate discomfort when visiting sites away from the office. At times the employee may be required to wear protective clothing when visiting the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Fabrication Laboratory. Often, walking between the main medical center and other parts of Prosthetics to conduct professional duties. 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.

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 Tomah VA Medical Center 500 East Veterans Street Tomah, WI 54660 US
• Name: Yasmin Scott
• Phone: 910-488-2120 X1499
• Email: [email protected]