The Supervisory Purchasing Agent 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. The work requires knowledge of policies and procedures for delivery orders and small purchases. This work also requires knowledge of commercial supply sources and common business practices related to sales, prices, discounts, units of measurement, deliveries, stocks, and shipments.

Duties

Supervisory Duties Leads three or more Purchasing Agents performing work at the GS-7 level. The Supervisor serves as first respondent to any staff concerns related to procurement, purchase orders or and is expected to work independently to resolve those issues, only escalating unresolvable issues to the supervisor or the Inventory Management Specialist. As the leader of a team of Purchasing Agents, the position facilitates, coordinates, coaches, and problem solve with team members. The work of the position enables the Purchasing Agent team to deliver improved quality, quantity, and timely services to customers. Major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Plan work to be accomplished by subordinates, set, and adjust short-term priorities, and prepare schedules for completion of work. Assign work to subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration and the difficulty of the work and the capability of the employees. Evaluate work performance of subordinates. Give advice, counsel, or instruct employees on both work and administrative matters. Hear and resolve complaints of employees, referring group grievances and more serious unresolved complaints to higher level supervisor. Find ways to improve production and increase the quality of work directed. Distributes and balances the workload among employees in accordance with established workflow, skill level or job specialization and assures timely accomplishment of assignments. Coaches Purchasing Agents on the selection and application of problem-solving methods and techniques, provides advice on work methods, practices, and procedures. Maintains awareness of the status and progress of work, makes day-to-day adjustments to align with established priorities and goals. Assistances the supervisor on problems that may arise, such as backlogs. Estimates and reports on expected time of completion of work. Instructs Purchasing Agents in specific tasks and job techniques and make available written instructions, and reference materials. Identifies training needs and gives on the job training to new Purchasing Agents in accordance with established procedures and practices. Maintains current knowledge and answers questions of Purchasing Agents on procedures, policies, directives, or other guidelines as necessary and obtains needed information, resources, use of overtime, or decisions from supervisor on problems that come up. Reviews completed work to see that supervisor instructions on work sequence, procedures, methods, and deadlines have been met. Checks on work in progress or spot checks work not requiring review. Monitors working conditions to ensure work environment is safe. Facilitates team building and consensus decision-making. Resolves simple, and informal complaints within section. Reports to supervisor on performance, progress and training needs of Purchasing Agents, and on behavior problems or issues. Recommends team members for projects. Provides information to supervisor as requested concerning tour of duty changes, promotions, reassignments, recognition of outstanding performance, and personnel needs. Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm - 7:30am - 4:00pm; Monday - Friday Position Description Title/PD#: Supervisory Purchasing Agent/PD#11242-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Travel Required: Yes Preferred Experience: One year of Prosthetics Purchase Card Holder

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/14/2024. 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:Ability to Lead or SuperviseAdministration and ManagementAnalysis and Problem SolvingClericalCommunicationControl of FundsCustomer ServiceDatabase Management SystemsFinancial Management 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 Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center 3701 Loop Road East Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 US
• Name: Edmund Crawford
• Email: [email protected]