The Congressional Liaison works in the Veterans Service Center (VSC) of the Los Angeles VBA Regional Office as direct support for the Regional Office Director. To communicate with congressional aides and other outside entities telephonically to resolve inquiries about difficult cases and questions about VBA benefits. Reviews all the Congressional, White House, Secretary and other special inquiries received by letter and telephone in order to determine the proper disposition of these inquiries.

Duties

Major Duties: Independently analyzes correspondence and requests for information, researches, expedites action, and responds or prepares written responses. Evaluates problems and issues for trends and recommends improvements to operations. Monitors work for timely and accurate response and ensures that work is properly counted and controlled, making day to day adjustments in accordance with the established priorities. Communicates with congressional constituents to explain benefits and services available and represents the Regional Office at outreach events. Reviews cases in order to determine the priority in which they will be worked. Functions as an authoritative consultant on the technical aspects of claims processing. Analyzes correspondence and requests for information. Researches, expedites action, and responds or prepares written responses on behalf of the Regional Office Director. Evaluates problems and issues for trends and recommends improvements to operations. Reviews all Congressional, White House, Secretary, and other special inquiries received by letter, fax, email, and telephone to determine the proper disposition of these inquiries. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 07:00am - 03:30pm Telework: Yes - as determined by the agency policy Virtual: This is not a virtual position Position Description/PD#: Congressional Liaison Representative 39706-A, 39707-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• If you receive a conditional offer of employment you will be required to complete an OF-306, Declaration for Federal Employment form.
• A complete application packet must be received including resume or other supporting documentation.
• All federal employee are required to have federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.

Qualifications

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 level. 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. 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. If you are a current VBA employee requesting a reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the grades GS-09/GS-11 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least grade GS-11. You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" showing that you are in the competitive service and the highest grade or promotion potential held. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate that you possess (1) year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates (1) year time-in-grade. General Adjustment and Award SF-50's cannot be used for time-in-grade verification purposes. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: GS-09 Grade Level, applicants must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 grade level or higher in the federal service. Specialized experience is defined as work that involves researching, developing and analyzing customer claims. Examples include: Analyzing benefit and/or legal evidence to identify and recognize actions for claims development Explaining program benefit entitlement and requirements Requesting medical and/or administrative documentation to make eligibility determinations Serving as a liaison between government personnel (federal and state), representatives of business and industry, trade and professional associations, the media, or the public Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required to qualify at the GS-09 grade level. Education substitution of a Masters or equivalent graduate degree; OR Two full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. Graduate education must demonstrate the competencies necessary to do the work. OR Equivalent combinations of Specialized Experience and 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 9. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 to qualify. Specialized Experience: GS-11 Grade Level, applicants must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-09 grade level or higher in the federal service. Specialized experience is defined as work that involves researching, developing and analyzing customer claims. Examples include: Independently analyzing benefit and/or legal evidence to identify and recognize actions for claims development Explaining program benefit entitlement and requirements Requesting medical and/or administrative documentation to make eligibility determinations Serving as a liaison between government personnel (federal and state), representatives of business and industry, trade and professional associations, the media, or the public Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required to qualify at the GS-11 grade level. Education substitution of a Ph.D or equivalent doctoral degree; OR Three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M, if related. Graduate education must demonstrate the competencies necessary to do the work. OR Equivalent combinations of Specialized Experience and 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 9. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 to qualify. Screen-Out Element: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. 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: The work is primarily sedentary, with periods of standing, walking, and minimal lifting (under 20 pounds). For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required to qualify at the GS-09 grade level.

• Education substitution of a Masters or equivalent graduate degree; OR
• Two full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. Graduate education must demonstrate the competencies necessary to do the work.

Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required to qualify at the GS-11 grade level.

• Education substitution of a Ph.D or equivalent doctoral degree; OR
• Three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M, if related. Graduate education must demonstrate the competencies necessary to do the work.

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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address Los Angeles Regional Benefit Office Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90024 US
• Name: Rina Abraham
• Phone: 515-323-7575
• Email: [email protected]