The Purchasing Agent assists the Prosthetics Program Manager in the overall management of clinics held at the Birmingham VA Health Care System. The incumbent makes contact with private physicians and vendors who provide the desired prosthetic appliance or service and must maintain good public relations with a large number of commercial prosthetic manufacturers and serves as interpreter of regulations as a representative for the Veterans Administration.

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Assists the Prosthetic program Manager in counseling veterans relative to all phases of the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Program. Serves as the Supervisor over a minimum of four ( 4) Purchasing Agents. Advises visually impaired veterans as to the type of aid which would be of the most benefit to them. Makes the decision as to proper style, model etc., since the physician's prescriptions are non-specific. Advises spinal cord injury patients as to type of wheelchair cushion, etc., that are medically advisable for. Coordinates the delivery of Home Medical Equipment, to include the provision of home oxygen therapy through contracted providers. Coordinates National Prosthetic Patient Data (NPPD) and inventory reports, and assures data for these reports is accurate. Plans and organizes work and assigns it to employees to assure an even flow of distribution of work to insure that prosthetics orders are not delayed for five (5) days before action is taken. Revises schedules or redistributes work to meet changes in workload based on the availability of personnel. Gives on the job training to employees in accordance with established directives, handbooks, procedures and practices. Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm, Monday - Friday Position Description Title/PD#: Supervisory Purchasing Agent/PD#01574-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Telework: Ad-hoc Travel Required: Yes Driving Required: Yes Preferred Experience: One year of Prosthetics Purchasing required.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/04/2024. 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-09 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 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-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: Maintain good public relations with a large number of commercial prosthetic manufacturers and serves as interpreter of regulations and the representative of the Veterans Administration. Makes contact with private physicians and vendors who provide the desired prosthetic appliance or service required of the position on a daily basis since we currently serve over 45,000 patients in this area. Assists the Prosthetic program Manager in counseling veterans relative to all phases of the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Program. Coordinates the delivery of Home Medical Equipment, to include the provision of home oxygen therapy through contracted providers You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:Managing Human ResourcesTechnical CompetenceVeteran 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 work is sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts; or driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. 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 Birmingham VA Medical Center 700 South 19th Street Birmingham, AL 35233 US
• Name: Lynn Rixmann
• Phone: 910-574-6543
• Email: [email protected]