The certified GS-8 Pharmacy Technician Procurement/Inventory is responsible for all prescription and nonprescription medications and supply purchasing and inventory in a highly complex area of Pharmacy Service at VA New York Harbor Healthcare System St. Albans campus. This responsibility mandates compliance with all Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Food and Drug Agency (FDA). and all federal rules and regulations regarding contract compliance.

Duties

Purchase card procedures, reconciliation requirements, control point rules, controlled substance purchasing, purchasing documentation maintenance, and general inventory control processes. Primary duties consist of pharmaceutical and supply order initiation, proper receipt of shipments, compliance with product and storage requirements. Incumbent has independent purchase responsibilities. The incumbent functions as staffing requirements dictate assisting the pharmacy management team in providing optimal pharmaceutical care and timely customer service in accordance with the mission, vision and goals of the Pharmacy and the Medical Center. Duties: The duties and responsibilities of the Pharmacy Technician Procurement/Inventory include but are not limited to the following: A. Pharmaceutical Purchasing and Distribution 1. Serve as ordering officer for pharmacy service, delegated by the VA National Acquisition Center (NAC) while maintaining annual training requirements. 2. Initiates ordering requirements of pharmaceuticals, specialty, and supply items through pharmacy prime vendors multi complex accounts or other mandatory sources. Responsible for adherence to federal contracts and compliance with federal regulations regarding open market, ensuring inventory control through perpetual evaluation. 3. Assists in determining ordering intervals and stock levels appropriate to meet changes in formulary, brand to AB rated generic drugs, contract changes, conversions, new drug indications including backorders and seasonal changes. 4. Procures all types of pharmaceuticals including controlled and non-controlled drugs within established VA ordering guidelines, policies, and procedures within inventory management specialized area with the understanding of proper budget utilization. 5. Purchases using National contracts (NAT), Federal supply schedules (FSS), Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) and open market etc. to ensure compliance with federal acquisition regulations, and policy, understanding the contracting hierarchy of all purchases. 6. Incumbent will download invoices daily as part of the drug accountability process or other inventory management system. 7. Incumbent may be required to obtain necessary certification to order narcotic medications through pharmacy prime vendor. 8. Purchases using government issued credit cards for micro purchase limits with understanding of when to use; while maintaining required proper documentation, and reconciliation of receipt of all orders for auditing and accountability purposes, training, etc. 9. Reconciles all credit card purchases in a timely manner within the following time frames, and include: a) Accomplishing a minimum of 75% of the reconciliations within 10 days. b) Accomplishing a minimum of 95% of the reconciliations within 17 days. c) Accomplishing all (100%) of the reconciliations within 30 days. 10. Possesses technical knowledge of VA and regulatory agency requirements for drug storage and special requirements for procurement, storage, distribution, and handling of various hazardous and non-hazardous drug classes. COMPLEXITY The employee's work will involve performing various procurement support duties involved in the use of different and unrelated procedures and methods. The incumbent(s) will spend the majority of time (over 80%) correlating transactions that are not completely standardized; dealing with continually changing deadlines and priorities; completing assigned functions that are relatively broad and varied. The employee will use different established procedures to screen incoming purchase request item descriptions for accuracy and adequacy; and will then monitor the status of the associated purchase order. The employee will review and reconcile various documents and records and resolve a variety of problems through the coordination with vendors and personnel in receiving, supply and check-in areas. The incumbent will monitor the status of deliveries, reconciling invoices to ensure quantities invoiced are accounted and received. The employee will work one on one with vendors and suppliers to resolve regular problems and discuss with lead or management as indicated. These problems include (but not limited to) billing issues, delivery dates, the quantity of items ordered. The employee makes decisions independently with vendors, contractors, and suppliers using prescribed guidelines set forth for the position. Incumbent (s) must be able to work efficiently and accurately and demonstrate good organizational skills to ensure that is done in a safe, timely and efficient manner. A wide variety of conditions involving numerous variations require the incumbent(s) to assess and determine relative importance of various factors when making ordering and shipping arrangements. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:30am to 5:00pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency. Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Education or Experience. (1) None required. (2) For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level. c. Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: (1) Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPHT). OR (2) National Health Career Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (EXCPT). May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for appointment in paragraph 5, VA HR staff must use the following criteria to determine the appropriate grade assignment of candidates. Pharmacy Technician, GS-08. Experience. Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and demonstrate the KSAs below. (2) Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: (a) PTCB as a CPhT. OR (b) NHA as a ExCPT. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs for all GS-08 assignments and meet any additional KSAs for the assignment, if indicated: (a) Comprehensive knowledge of concepts, principles, methodology and policies in a specialized area or section of pharmacy (such as sterile compounding, controlled substances, automation, clinical pharmacy, contact center, etc.) Note: See Specialized Area.in the Definitions Section. (b) Skill in training and orienting new and existing pharmacy facility employees and students on proper policies and procedures. (c) Ability to evaluate, analyze and coordinate workflow and work activities within a specialized area or section of the pharmacy. Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Pharmacy technicians at this level have a higher level of responsibility for specialized areas of pharmacy and are expected to independently carry out assigned tasks of considerable difficulty. Pharmacy technicians at this grade level may be appointed to one of the following assignments: Pharmacy Technician (Procurement/Inventory). For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Pharmacy technicians at this level serve as an ordering officer delegated by the national acquisition center contracting officer for the purpose of ordering against the national pharmacy prime vendor (PPV) contract and national blanket purchase agreements (BPA) for pharmacy. They are responsible for ordering medications and supplies from required sources and meeting contract compliance while maintaining multiple complex accounts with the PPV. They utilize the Government purchase card program for direct orders up to the micro purchase threshold per VA financial policy. Pharmacy technicians at this level are responsible for regulatory and formulary requirements to meet patient needs within budgetary limits. Additional Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). (A) Basic knowledge of pharmacy procurement, distribution and storage requirements to maintain a safe working environment. This includes not limited to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and DEA requirements and regulations. (B) Ability to assist in determining and modifying as necessary: ordering intervals, inventory levels and cost-effective ordering quantities from required sources based on current financial conditions in pharmacy, seasonal variations in drug usage, changing patterns in medical practice, delivery time requirements and urgency of medical need. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/159 PART II APPENDIX G28 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-08 Physical Requirements: The work requires regular and recurring physical exertion, involving standing or sitting for prolonged periods of time, typing, walking distances within the medical center, lifting/carrying (up to 40 pounds) of pharmaceutical supplies, and bending/stooping/stretching

Education

IMPORTANT: 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 VA NY Harbor Healthcare System 423 East 23rd Street New York, NY 10010 US
• Name: Maritza Cazares
• Phone: 718-584-9000 X6668
• Email: [email protected]