The incumbent serves as an Insurance Specialist on the Quality Assurance and Training staff. The staff is responsible for the oversight of the Insurance Quality Assurance program. This position has performance level for recruitment and training purposes. Upon successful completion of training and demonstrated ability to perform the duties at the higher level, the incumbent may be promoted without further competition. The full performance level of this position is GS-11.

Duties

Major Duties: The duties of this position are relatively the same for the GS-09 and GS-11 level with the following exceptions. The supervision is increased in order to review and effectively develop the employee's skillset to the full performance level(FPL). Because work at this level is not as complex as the FPL, as such the knowledge required is less than that at the FPL. Conducts in-depth reviews of the Insurance Policy holders Services and Insurance Claims divisions task inputs to ensure the accuracy of Operations processing and disbursements. As part of those reviews, makes recommendations to improve the Insurance Program's overall Quality Assurance program as it relates to disbursements and policy procedures. These recommendations may have a good deal of impact throughout the Insurance program and may represent significant departures from established work practices. Analyzes trends in error returns and SQC review evaluations of Insurance Operations actions taken, to identify the need for, and develop and deliver refresher training, and to institute services recovery practices geared toward quality improvement to include a feedback loop. Responds to questions by stakeholders regarding life insurance matters; stakeholders include but are not limited to OIG, GAO, congressional liaisons, and other central office and VBA elements, and may be called upon to assist the Chief and Assistant Chief in preparing responses to audit reports completed by the Inspector General's Office or the Government Accounting Office. Analyzes computer generated listings of insurance transactions to examine for possible fraudulent activities. Monitors computer generated listings to verify the appropriateness of certain account transactions. Analyzes transactional histories, source documents and other documentation in cases where fraud or inappropriate processing of insurance transactions is suspected.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen to apply for this jo.
• Selectees are subject to a background/suitability investigation
• Selective Service registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• A probationary period may be required for employees and supervisors

Qualifications

Time-in-grade: 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. To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50). The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status, and shows Time in Grade (for example, you were a career or career-conditional employee) and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). 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 also submit your most recent promotion or within-grade increase in addition to your recent SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade. DO NOT submit Award SF-50's and/or General Adjustment SF-50's as they cannot be used to prove time-in-grade.See the required documents section for more information. Specialized Experience: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. GS-09 To qualify, applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-7) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: 1. Extensive knowledge of research methodology and the principles and techniques of management analysis to prepare management studies involving Quality Assurance processes. 2. Extensive knowledge of Government Life Insurance, laws, policies, principles, regulations, and procedures sufficient to audit transactions and to complete studies, to interpret results and apply fact-finding and investigative techniques to gather clear-cut factual evidence of compliance with regulations. 3. Knowledge of and skill in applying methods, principles, and practices relating to the analysis of issues and problems of a procedural and/or factual nature. 4. Requires the ability to conduct research to gather clear-cut information and apply standardized analytical methods and techniques to accurately assess gathered information. 5. Evaluate/analyze the task inputs to ensure the accuracy of Operations processing and disbursements as they relate to of the Insurance Policy Holders Services and Insurance Claims divisions. OR Applicants may substitute education for the experience required to qualify at the GS-9 level. Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR Applicants can combine education and specialized experience to qualify for the position. If you have some, but not all, of the graduate education AND specialized experience described above, you may still qualify by combining the amount of creditable education and experience that you do have. To do so, first calculate the percentage of qualifying education you have as a percentage of the education required. Next, calculate the percentage of specialized experience you have as a percentage of the experience required. Then, add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% for you to qualify for the position at the GS-7 grade level. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate education (i.e., 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of acceptable specialized experience (i.e., 50% of the experience required) would satisfy the qualification requirements for the position. If you qualify based on a combination of graduate education and specialized experience, you must submit a copy of your official college transcript with your application. GS-11 To qualify, applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-09) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: 1. Extensive knowledge of research methodology and the principles and techniques of management analysis to prepare management studies involving Quality Assurance processes. 2. Extensive knowledge of Government Life Insurance, laws, policies, principles, regulations, and procedures sufficient to audit transactions and to complete studies, to interpret results and apply fact-finding and investigative techniques to gather clear-cut factual evidence of compliance with regulations. 3. Thorough knowledge of the Insurance ADP in-force and awards systems and input procedures needed to update and service the insurance master record and to authorize payments. Knowledge of the Insurance VISION and LifePRO systems and the various informational and processing screens- needed to audit transactions involved in updating VA insurance policies. 4. Extensive knowledge of VBA-wide Quality Assurance procedures including guidelines concerning risk assessment and management control plans. Full knowledge of accounting and auditing concepts and techniques to audit VA insurance transactions. 5. Knowledge of review principles and practices for the accounting and auditing processes relating to VA Life Insurance in the LifePRO and VISION Systems OR Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-11 level. Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. Such education must demonstrate the competencies necessary to do the work. OR Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-11 level: Equivalent combinations of specialized experience and PH.D. graduate education. To compute, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

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. 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.

Contacts

• Address Philadelphia VBA Regional Office 5000 Wissahickon Ave Philadelphia, PA 19144 US
• Name: Carolyn Miller
• Phone: 313-471-3912
• Email: [email protected]