Serves as a technical authority in environmental engineering for a VAMC, with responsibility for assuring adequacy of facility Green Environmental Management Systems (GEMS) and decontamination programs.

Duties

Duties may include, but are not limited to: Plans, manages, and coordinates environmental engineering projects needed to improve efficiencies and achieve and maintain regulatory compliance. Such projects may include field investigations for engineering analysis, development of scope and cost estimates, drawings and specifications, and A/E or Construction Contractor oversight during project implementation. Conducts internal gap analyses of GEMS at VA ECHCS. Issues reports of gap analyses and tracks status of corrective and preventive actions Resolves difficult and complex technical, project management, and organizational problems using innovative and original approaches. The environmental engineer performs work planning, designing, constructing, modifying, or improving, and maintaining facilities either by in-house or contractual effort; regulating and enforcing environmental engineering policies, programs, or activities by establishing standards, promoting improvements, evaluating compliance, and, if necessary, directing action to secure satisfactory results. Develops new or revised technical or management guidance material for VAMC use. Determines need for such material from information secured during field surveys, analysis of environmental reports, review of technical publications, assessment of problems, and technical materials. Provides evaluation and guidance on the development and maintenance of effective healthcare decontamination teams in compliance with VA, VHA, OSHA, EPA. The incumbent and committee also serve as the coordinating body for implementation and oversight to the Joint Commission's Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Program. As GEMS Coordinator, the incumbent plans, organizes, implements, oversees, and provides technical assistance for projects to resolve environmental problems. Assignments include, but are not limited to, domestic and industrial wastewater treatment and disposal; safe drinking water; treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous and non-- hazardous solid waste; release of hazardous material/spill response; air pollution control; environmental media permitting; toxic substances; and regulatory oversight. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Environmental Engineer/PD110340 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized 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, 01/16/2024. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. Basic Requirements: (Individual Occupational Requirement) 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. (Transcript Required) OR B. 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, may be 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.) 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-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Mastery of concepts, principles and practices of environmental engineering and compliance, and healthcare decontamination; Conducts internal gap analyses of GEMS at VA medical facility. Issues reports of gap analyses and tracks status of corrective and preventive actions; Reviews implementation of GEMS policy and procedures and reports the status and discusses deficiencies and necessary remedial action with appropriate VA Medical Center staff including top management; Recommends and approves/implements preventive and corrective action regarding deficiencies; Plans, manages, and coordinates environmental engineering projects needed to improve efficiencies and achieve and maintain regulatory compliance; Resolves difficult and complex technical, project management, and organizational problems using innovative and original approaches. Provides expert technical advice and guidance to senior management officials; Serves as a technical authority for new or enhanced information systems software. Applies this knowledge to development of environmental management information systems. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analysis and Problem SolvingComplianceEnvironmental EngineeringOrganizational Performance AnalysisPlanning and EvaluatingStrategic ThinkingTechnical CompetenceTechnical CompetenceTechnical Credibility 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: The work requires the employee to carry a good deal of equipment and involves walking, standing, bending, climbing, or crawling during surveys. 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.

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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Eastern Colorado HCS Denver 13611 E. Colfax Ave Aurora, CO 80045 US
• Name: Ryan Franklin
• Phone: 501-918-1270
• Email: [email protected]