This vacancy is for a Contract Specialist in the Office of the Secretary within the Department of Commerce. This position is located in Enterprise Services - Acquisition, which falls under the Office of the Secretary.

Duties

As a Contract Specialist, you will: Perform as a Contract Specialist and/or Contracting Officer supporting the ES shared service model for a full array of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) compliant contracts. Plan, develop, negotiate, awards and administer bureau specific and Department-wide innovative contracting solutions. Engage with the customer throughout the acquisition lifecycle to assist with development of requirements documents, acquisition strategies, proposal evaluations, performance evaluations and related acquisition documentation to enable mission fulfillment. This Job Opportunity Announcement may be used to fill other Contract Specialist ZA-1102-4 positions within the Department of Commerce in the same geographical location with the same qualifications and specialized experience.

Requirements

Qualifications

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/ Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. 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, religious; 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. This position is being filled under the DOC Alternative Personnel System (CAPS). The system replaced the Federal GS pay plan structure. Under CAPS, positions are classified by career, pay plan, and pay band. Non-supervisory positions cap out at interval 3 of the band. The ZA-04 is equivalent to the GS-13/14 grade levels. To qualify at the ZA-4 level, you MUST meet the Basic Requirements and Specialized Experience as stated below. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: (You must submit a copy of certification/training certificates. Also, you must submit a copy of your transcripts, official or unofficial, to document your education.) A. *Completion of all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13/ZA-4 or higher-level contracting positions, including at least 4 years of experience in contracting or related positions. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position, and must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position. AND B. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management. C. Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. This also applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met. However, they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade, unless granted a waiver under Paragraph D. D. Waiver: When filling a specific vacant position, the senior procurement executive of the selecting agency, at his or her discretion, may waive any or all of the requirements of Paragraphs A and B above if the senior procurement executive certifies that the applicant possesses significant potential for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority, based on demonstrated analytical and decision-making capabilities, job performance, and qualifying experience. With respect to each waiver granted under this Paragraph D, the senior procurement executive must document for the record the basis of the waiver. If an individual is placed in a position in an agency on the basis of a waiver, the agency may later reassign that individual to another position at the same grade within that agency without additional waiver action. *To meet the agency mandatory requirements, applicants must either have obtained their FAC-C Level II or DoD Contracting Professional certification or completed all the following trainings: CON 1100 (Guiding Principles) CON 1200 (Pre-Award) CON 1300 (Award) CON 1400 (Post-Award) FAC 031 Small Business Programs CLC 046 DoD Sustainable Procurement Program (or FAC 028 & FAC 038) CLC 058 Introduction to Contract Pricing CMC 105 Undefinitized Contract Actions (UCA) Administration FCL-CM2500 Category Management 101 CON 216 Legal Considerations in Contracting HBS 428 Negotiating Electives-120 CLPs: Electives may be one course or a series of courses. At least 96 CLPs should consist of courses eight hours in length or more. Courses may be classroom, online, or a combination of the two. Topics must be related to acquisition and may include general business courses such as statistics or budgeting. Topics of subject areas may also be in a technical area related to the individual's specific work, such as IT. CLPs obtained for Credentials taken through DAU or FAI will count in their entirety. Additional mandatory training/certification information can be found from the following Department of Commerce's website: https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/CAM%201301.6%20-vF.pdf. SPECALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. You must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZA-03 or GS-12 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as experience: Developing and implementing acquisition strategies for procurement of services and supplies; Serving as advisor for program office customers in collaboration with senior management to carry out assignments involving acquisition programs; and Evaluating cost/price proposals utilizing cost/price analysis techniques. 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, religious; 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.

Education

See Qualifications Above.

Contacts

• Address Office of the Secretary 1401 Constitution Ave NW Washington, DC 20230 US
• Name: Drasha Martin
• Email: [email protected]