This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the Department of Defense to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. About the Position: Serves as a senior civil engineer performing levee design work, reviewing and coordinating the work of other engineers, and assisting the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), for designated projects.

Duties

Develop design details required for major and extraordinarily difficult civil engineering design work, including flood damage risk reduction, navigation, and channel improvement projects. Prepares contract drawings, plans and specifications, engineering estimates, and quantity take-offs on cost estimates for one or more complete phases of an overall project. Visits project sites to determine details of treatment for potential or actual problem areas. Monitors work for accuracy, overall adequacy, and compliance with policy and instructions. Provide advice and recommendations on civil engineering design work, including flood damage risk reduction, navigation, and channel improvement work to other professional and nonprofessional personnel. Maintain work contacts with other sections for the purpose of obtaining, expediting, and coordinating project features connected with or involved in structural planning and design.

Requirements

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• Appointment to this position may be subject to a one-year probationary period.
• Temporary travel (TDY) of up to 5% of the time may be required.
• A current, active, full, and unrestricted license as a Registered Professional Engineer (PE) will be required prior to promotion or appointment to the GS-12 grade level and must be maintained for continued employment.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. Basic Education Requirement for All Grades is listed in the Education Section. GS-05 Position: Candidate must meet the basic education requirement described in the education section. GS-07 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes assisting with the preparation and evaluation of civil work designs. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-05). OR Education: One full year of graduate level education in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering or Water Resources Engineering. OR Superior Academic Achievement. In order to be creditable under this provision, Superior Academic Achievement must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled, such as that identified in Education above. Superior Academic Achievement is based on: (1) Class Standing - Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses; OR (2) Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) - Applicants must have a grade-point average of either (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on your official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.; OR (3) Honor Society Membership - Applicants may be considered eligible based on membership in one of the approved national scholastic honor societies listed by the Association of College Honor Societies (https://www.achsnatl.org/). OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 18. Add the two percentages. GS-09 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes 1) Preparing preliminary designs AND 2) Making financial estimates on construction costs. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-07). OR Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering or Water Resources Engineering. OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the first year (total graduate semester hours minus 18) by 18. Add the two percentages. GS-11 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes 1) Developing design details required for difficult civil engineering design work such as flood damage risk reduction, navigation, and channel improvement AND 2) Preparing contract drawings, plans and specifications, engineering estimates, and cost estimates AND 3) Reviewing and coordinating the work of other engineers for compliance with the latest techniques, and adherence to procedures. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09). OR Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering or Water Resources Engineering. OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages. GS-12 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes 1) Developing design details required for difficult civil engineering design work such as flood damage risk reduction, navigation, and channel improvement AND 2) Preparing contract drawings, plans and specifications, engineering estimates, and cost estimates AND 3) Planning and managing day-to-day team activities AND 4) Providing both administrative and technical leadership to team members. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-11). Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted. AND SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR: This position at the GS-12 level only requires the applicant to possess and maintain a current, active, valid, and unrestricted Professional Engineer license in the US, the District of Columbia, or a territory of the United States. (Must be submitted with your application packet to be determine eligible). Qualification requirement: Qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

In addition to meeting the qualification requirements listed above, you must also meet the basic education and/or experience for all Engineering positions listed below to qualify for this position:

Basic Requirement for Civil Engineer

A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); OR (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

OR

B. Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:

1. Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.

2. Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, or any other written test required for professional registration, by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.

3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program.

4. Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/

Contacts

• Address RG-W2R902 US ARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT-NEW ORLEANS DO NOT MAIL New Orleans, LA 70118 US
• Name: Army Applicant Help Desk