The position serves as the Fire Protection Engineer - Operations Manager in the Office of Occupational Safety and Health located within the Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Support Services, Veterans Health Administration under the Office of Healthcare Environment and Facilities Programs. The position serves as the principal operations manager for all aspects of the Fire Protection and Life Safety Program. This vacancy may be filled in Washington, DC; or a location to be determined.

Duties

Functional Statement #: 590250 Works with the Fire Protection Program Manager to develop, evaluate, and manage the VHA-wide Fire Protection and Life Safety Program. This position is responsible for implementation of the program. Working with the Fire Protection Program Manager for the continuous liaison with VA design and construction groups in connection with fire protection and life safety requirements in the review of plans and specifications for the design of new VHA healthcare facilities and for the modernization of facilities. In connection with these activities, responsible for the implementing agency standards, codes, and regulations of the fire protection and life safety program. Promotes and implements agency-wide education and training programs in the field of fire protection and life safety. Provides education and training periodically to VISN and VA Medical Center safety and fire protection personnel, engineering personnel, and program officials. Works with the VHA Employee Education System (EES) to implement appropriate training material. Assists the Fire Protection Program Manager in developing VHA-Wide policies and implements and ensures compliance with VHA-wide policies. In connection with the technological advances in the fire protection engineering and life safety fields, along with the Fire Protection Program Manager, serves as principal advisor for research in engineering studies of materials, devices, and practices for application to VA activities. Appraises and evaluates the effectiveness and economy of these activities. Establishes and implements program guidance regarding hazard evaluation engineering related activities. Implements VHA-wide safety policy as it relates to fire protection engineering operations, including human factors. Conducts analyses of technical fire protection and life safety requirements for specific programs and builds tools for enterprise-wide assessment of existing physical infrastructure. Assesses existing physical infrastructure and identifies gaps or deficiencies that pose risk to safe and successful implementation of healthcare initiatives with respect to fire protection and life safety. Conducts analyses of technical fire protection and life safety requirements for specific programs and builds tools for enterprise-wide assessment of existing physical infrastructure. Assesses existing physical infrastructure and identifies gaps or deficiencies that pose risk to safe and successful implementation of healthcare initiatives with respect to fire protection and life safety. Provides professional advice and assistance in the application of national and agency standards, codes, regulations, decisions, and directives concerned with these activities to the VISNs and VA medical centers. Work Schedule: 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Monday - Friday Compressed/Flexible:Available Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases when setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of existing pay, higher or unique qualifications, or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade). Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience. Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Available Virtual: This is a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 590250 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf Healthcare Engineer: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-General-Engineer-Career-Flyer.pdf The first 50 applications received will be reviewed. Additional applications will be considered based on hiring needs.

Requirements

Qualifications

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. Education: Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering or Architecture. To be acceptable, the curriculum must be from a school with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Engineering Accreditation Commission (excludes engineering technology) or National Council of Architectural Registration Boards curriculum. Examples of acceptable engineering and architectural degrees include, but are not limited to: Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Architecture and Architectural Engineering. Titles may vary from educational institutions and change over time; OR Evidence of passing the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam with a bachelor's degree. Evidence can be in the form of an Engineering in Training certificate issued from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam or Puerto Rico, or test results from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) identifying a passing score; OR Evidence of current professional registration or licensure as a Professional Engineer or Architect from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam or Puerto Rico. English Language Proficiency: Healthcare Engineer candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403 (f). Grandfathering Provision. All individuals employed in VHA in this occupational series or in another occupational series performing the duties as described in the qualification standard on the effective date of this qualification standard, are considered to have met all the qualification requirements for the grade held including positive education that is part of the basic requirements of the occupation. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements described above, all applicants must meet the grade requirements below. Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade (GS-13); and Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to meeting the experience requirements for this grade level, all applicants must fully demonstrate the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of current and evolving concepts and principles of general engineering to resolve novel or obscure problems; extend and modify techniques; develop new approaches that guide other engineers who solve a variety of technical problems; and/or apply new, innovative or experimental advanced engineering theories, developments or practices to problems or studies not susceptible to treatment by acceptable methods. (b) Skill in construction, capital planning and multiple healthcare system portfolio management, inclusive of budget development and tracking. (c) Skill in collaborating with persons having diverse viewpoints, goals or objectives to achieve a common understanding of the problem and a satisfactory solution of sometimes controversial and far-reaching matters through active participation in conferences, meetings or presentations. (d) Ability to interpret broad guidelines and exercise considerable judgment and ingenuity in interpreting and adapting existing guides; in developing new and improved hypotheses, concepts or approaches not previously tested or reported; and/or in developing new policies that advance the organization. (e) Ability to coordinate and interact with regional facilities, national and Department-level staff for the implementation and coordination of policies and program plans to apply prioritization methodologies that align facilities' capital asset requests and develop infrastructure options that result in the efficacious use of a regional healthcare organization capital strategic plan. (f) Ability to adapt and apply trends in healthcare delivery systems that impact long-term capital assets (such as aging equipment and physical plants) for regionally integrated healthcare systems. (g) Ability to consult and collaborate with all organizational levels in a national healthcare organization, outside organizations and businesses regarding both strategic and financial activities of a regional healthcare organization. Assignment. For all assignments above the journey level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. This position serves as the national or VISN engineer for all activities related to engineering operations, compliance and/or construction and leases (major, minor, clinical specific initiative-inclusive of high-tech, high-cost medical equipment installations and nonrecurring maintenance) and capital planning to include budget approval, funding allocation and activation. Healthcare Engineers oversee project design programs for all VAMCs and Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) by reviewing, evaluating and coordinating planning data such as projected space requirements and strategic, operational, program and design requirements. They coordinate national or VISN capital investment submissions and provide guidance on investment categories, strategies, financial planning and budgeting. Healthcare Engineers provide technical expertise on capital asset proposals and develop guidelines and data tools in completing the application, Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Earned Value Analysis, Alternatives Analysis and Risk Analysis. 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). Selective Placement Factor - To be qualified, you must also meet the Selective Placement Factor Knowledge of fire protection and life safety programs and functional areas, including full professional competence in Fire Protection Engineering and knowledge of National Fire Protection Association Codes and standards including, but not limited to, NFPA 101 Life Safety Code and NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities Code. Preferred Experience: Five years of experience in the following: (a) Applying and interpreting National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Codes and Standards, including but not limited to, NFPA 101 and all codes and standards referenced therein. (b) Designing or reviewing automatic sprinkler and fire alarm systems, including: (1) Automatic sprinkler and fire alarm system shop drawings (2) Automatic sprinkler system hydraulic calculations (3) Fire alarm system voltage drop and battery calculations. (c) Designing health care facilities, operation of health care facilities, inspecting and acceptance testing of fire protection systems, and in application and interpretation of the Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) Standards of The Joint Commission. (d) Participating in national consensus codes and standards development including participation on technical committees of NFPA Codes and Standards including, but not limited to, NFPA 101 Life Safety Code and NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities Code. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

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 VSHO - Support Services 2402 Wildwood Ave Suite 301 Sherwood, AR 72120 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]