This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD Workforce to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. About the Position: As a Regulatory Specialist with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Nashville, TN you will evaluate permit applications, aquatic resource delineations, compliance, and enforcement cases for activities waters within the United States.

Duties

Evaluate applications for permits and modification of permits for activities or work in waters of the United States. Serve as a District representative on groups and task forces with missions of interest to the District and/or the regulatory program. Provide advice to potential applicants/permittees concerning regulatory requirements, including avoidance and minimization, jurisdiction, processing and evaluation, compensatory mitigation and the likelihood of project approval. Perform field site reviews and prepares site evaluations to establish base environmental conditions including delineation of wetlands, characterization of the biological, physical, cultural and social phenomena present at the project site. Recommend issuance or denial of permits/modifications, or conditions for issuance, and prepares documentation of that process. Prepare environmental assessments and litigation materials and recommends legal action. Monitors compliance with permits and conducts investigation of unauthorized work.

Requirements

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• This position requires Temporary Duty Travel (TDY) over 25% of the duty time.
• This position requires you to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE450) upon entry, and annually thereafter.
• This position requires a valid State motor vehicle operator's license prior to appointment and maintain the license for the duration of employment.
• Recurring physical exertion required, such as hiking long distances through rough country, wading/crossing small headwater streams, digging of soil pits, stooping to sample vegetation, climbing steep inclines, and jumping over obstructions.
• The work requires regular and recurring exposure to rough terrain, adverse weather conditions, or situations in which one is exposed to heavy earth moving equipment or unimproved roads that must be traversed.

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. In addition to meeting the Basic Education Requirement in the education section, you must also meet the specialized experience below: To qualify at the GS-07, you must have: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes preparing routine applications and modifications of permits for activities; assisting with routine investigations for compliance of regulatory permits; or equivalent types of regulatory work. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-05); OR Education: Successfully completed one full academic 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 Biologist (Regulatory), Environmental, Engineering, biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management and chemistry. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) OR Claiming 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 B above. Superior Academic Achievement is based on: -(1) Class Standing - You 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.) - You 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 - You 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/). (NOTE: You must attach a copy of your transcripts and/or verification of class standing for further verification.) OR Combination of Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for this position. Determine your total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determine your education as a percentage of the education required for the grade the grade level; then add the two percentages. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) To qualify at the GS-09, you must have: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes assisting with procedures to implement directives from higher authority; serving as a representative on groups and task forces with missions of interest to the regulatory program; completing assignments related to special regulatory initiatives directed toward effective, efficient, and consistent application of the regulatory program; visiting field sites to document base-line environmental conditions. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-07); OR Education: Successfully completed a 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 perform the work of the position, such as Biologist (Regulatory), Environmental, Engineering, biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management and chemistry. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) OR Combination of Education and Experience: Have the specialized experience as described above, but less than one year; and have at least one year of graduate education as described above, but less than the required two years. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) To qualify at the GS-11, you must have: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes reviewing procedures to implement directives from higher authority; serving as a representative on groups and task forces with missions of interest to the regulatory program; completing assignments related to special regulatory initiatives directed toward effective, efficient, and consistent application of the regulatory program; visiting field sites to ensure that proposed work is in compliance with legal standards; evaluating and assessing environmental conditions in order to make regulatory determinations; evaluating permit applications for proposed work within streams and wetlands. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09); OR Education: Successfully completed a 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 perform the work of the position, such as Biologist (Regulatory), Environmental, Engineering, biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management and chemistry. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) OR Combination of Education and Experience: Have the specialized experience as described above, but less than one year; and have at least one year of graduate education as described above, but less than the required two years. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.)

Education

Basic Education Requirement for Biologist, 0401:
Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.)

OR

Combination Education and Experience: Have a combination of education and experience which includes courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Basic Education Requirement for Environmental Engineer, 0819:
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

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:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.)

Basic Education Requirement for Physical Scientist, 1301:
Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics.

OR

Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to one of the majors, as shown in A above, that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.)


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 RE-W2SM03 US ARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT-NASHVILLE DO NOT MAIL Nashville, TN 37203 US
• Name: Army Applicant Help Desk