The facility Government Information Specialist Privacy/FOIA Officer has oversight for the data governance program and initiatives in the VHA Medical Center or Healthcare System and its supporting catchment area. The position makes unique facility level determinations about disclosures, issuance of denials, redactions, access, use and dissemination of federal agency records.

Duties

This announcement is to backfill for the Government Information Specialist (Privacy Officer), Not To Exceed 120 days by detail or temporary promotion. Please see Additional Information section of this announcement. Major duties include but are not limited to: Implements unique policies and procedures to manage agency information, providing assistance and services to the general public and an organization, agency or facility staff members; Supports developing a local level strategy for data governance, which includes leading from the executive office and creating a unique program that includes diverse processes and specific policies which are independent of other facilities; Monitors and covers all aspects of the collection, use, dissemination, disclosure and destruction of information within an organization, agency or facility; Develops and integrates policy based processes, roles and controls that influences how data is created, collected, used, stored and destroyed throughout the organization; Adjudicates complex privacy and FOIA decisions that affect employees, customers and commercial businesses in the absence of supervision; Performs in-depth legal research that pertains to both federal and state statutes to render expertise, provide solutions and facilitate corrective action; Safeguards information while supporting accountability and transparency initiatives; Analyzes all of the interrelated issues that affect the privacy/FOIA program and plans and conducts monitoring activities which measure the overall level of operational compliance by the facility; Teaches and trains employees on general data protection procedures and detailed service specific practices for daily operations and uses technology to provide required privacy/FOIA training and supplemental education; Performs assessment of privacy-related risks associated with business activities that involve processing of personal and sensitive data; Investigates non-compliance of privacy related issues at all levels of an organization, agency or facility and outside of these entities when information is involved; Strengthens and sustains the operational life cycle of the privacy/FOIA program by developing a communication strategy that fosters awareness for both internal and external partners to improve compliance, provide training and engage the public; Ensures that organization, agency or facility correspondence for data governance is transparent, timely, accurate and complete in response to requests for information from the general-public, Congressional representatives, law enforcement, courts and commercial business; Creates a communications process and tools that are flexible, customizable and interactive to address unique compliance challenges and educational/training needs. 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: Mon to Fri 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: ADHOC as determined by policy. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Government Information Specialist/PD60495-O and PD60491-O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/19/2024. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. For a GS-12 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. 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 provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS 11: Specialized Experience: You 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Completing Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act requests in compliance with regulations; system of records; complex privacy reviews and determinations. The Privacy Officer will assess gaps in policy, measure the knowledge of individual staff and facilitate improvements against the ever changing policies, regulations and statutes that impact the privacy, HIPAA, and FOIA programs. Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with senior leadership and staff throughout the facility. Positive relations with key stake holders coupled with the strong ability to influence others when the proposals may involve substantial agency resources and significant changes in established procedures. Developing strong connections with external partners such as: news media, public leaders, affiliate university administration, law enforcement, state agencies and non-VA partners allows for a robust data governance program. Effective oral and written communication and presentation skills in order to respond to requests, explain data governance requirements and procedures to senior leadership and staff, defend findings and recommendations to senior leadership and prepare written responses, reports, and information materials for a variety of audiences. Knowledge of data quality improvement practices and the ability to develop a system of internal monitoring that identifies potential organizational risks through trending and severity unique to the facility. This includes assisting service lines/departments in developing appropriate monitoring and auditing processes that mirror the strategic goals of the facility privacy/FOIA program. OR, Education: For GS-11 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 if related (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and higher level graduate education. To compute this, first determine the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determine the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. The first 2 years of graduate study are not qualifying for GS-11. (Transcripts Required). GS-12 Specialized Experience You 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Completing Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act requests in compliance with regulations; system of records; complex privacy reviews and determinations. The Privacy Officer will assess gaps in policy, measure the knowledge of individual staff and facilitate improvements against the ever changing policies, regulations and statutes that impact the privacy, HIPAA, and FOIA programs. Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with senior leadership and staff throughout the facility. Positive relations with key stake holders coupled with the strong ability to influence others when the proposals may involve substantial agency resources and significant changes in established procedures. Developing strong connections with external partners such as: news media, public leaders, affiliate university administration, law enforcement, state agencies and non-VA partners allows for a robust data governance program. Effective oral and written communication and presentation skills in order to respond to requests, explain data governance requirements and procedures to senior leadership and staff, defend findings and recommendations to senior leadership and prepare written responses, reports, and information materials for a variety of audiences. Knowledge of data quality improvement practices and the ability to develop a system of internal monitoring that identifies potential organizational risks through trending and severity unique to the facility. This includes assisting service lines/departments in developing appropriate monitoring and auditing processes that mirror the strategic goals of the facility privacy/FOIA program. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationsExternal AwarenessManages and Organizes InformationSecurity 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. There will be episodes of moderate lifting or prolonged periods of standing and bending in searching various files. There is lifting and carrying of such items as record boxes and bulky files. The work involves considerable walking, standing, and bending conducting rounds, auditing, and providing training to both on-site and off-site personnel. There is also occasional lifting and carrying of such items as boxes and files, weighing up to 30 lbs. Work Environment .The work may be performed in an office setting with adequate light, heat, air conditioning and ventilation. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

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 James H Quillen VA Medical Center Corner of Lamont Street and Veterans Way Mountain Home, TN 37684 US
• Name: Paulette Stewart
• Email: [email protected]