This position serves as an Emergency Management Specialist within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and within the Office of the Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Operations, located in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The incumbent serves in the Plans Branch of the Office of Emergency Management within the VHA.

Duties

This announcement will close on 09/19/2024, the first 50 applications received will receive first consideration. Applications received after the initial cut-off number has been reached will not receive consideration unless otherwise requested by management. Develop comprehensive emergency response plans that outline procedures, protocols, and resources required to handle various threats and hazards. Develops plans and strategies to enhance the operational readiness of the VHA enterprise Conduct risk assessments to evaluate the likelihood and potential consequences of hazards. Conduct impact analysis to understand the consequences of emergencies on healthcare services, patients, and the community, helping estimate resource demands and potential disruptions. Coordinates with staff counterparts, supervisors and senior managers within VHA and partner departments and agencies to identify common priorities, objectives, and activities. Coordinates and organizes various aspects of healthcare operations and preparedness. Develops and/or edits technical materials, including reports of research findings, regulations in technical areas, technical manuals, and specifications. Conducts assessments, oversight, reporting, and management of readiness functions. Conducts compliance and regulatory analysis to ensure risk assessments align with relevant regulations and standards while keeping up to date with emergency preparedness guidelines. Serves as a liaison between healthcare facilities, public health agencies, emergency response agencies, and other relevant organizations. Develops networks and builds alliances; collaborates across boundaries to build strategic relationships and achieve common goals. Determines objectives and strategies; coordinates with other parts of the organization to accomplish goals; monitors and evaluates the progress and outcomes of operational plans; and applies principles, methods, or tools for developing, scheduling, coordinating, monitoring, evaluating, and managing projects and resources, including technical performance. Anticipates and meets the needs of both internal and external customers. Delivers high-quality products and services; and is committed to continuous improvement. Applies the process of discovery that involves the diagnosis of a problem or issue, identification and gathering of relevant information, formulation, and evaluation of alternative solutions or courses of action, and selection or recommendation of the preferred solution or course of action. Ability toclearly identify and define problems. Applies professional knowledge of emergency management principles; considers and takes into account an all hazards approach, the phases of emergency management, stakeholders engagement, needs, and requirements. Impacts relative to disasters; anticipates future disasters and takes preventative and preparatory measures; uses sound risk management principles in establishing priorities and identifying resources. Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services. Other duties as assigned. 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: 7:00 am - 3:30 pm Compressed/Flexible: Not available. Telework: Available as determined by agency policy (applicant is required on site 50% of work schedule per pay period). Virtual: The employee may work at a VA facility or other VA-leased space other than the facility that is hiring the employee and is authorized for telework up to 50%. Position Description/PD#: Emergency Management Specialist/PD58819A and PD58820A 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, 09/19/2024. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 . 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 as described below: GS-12 Specialized Experience: Do you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization? Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to the following examples: Assist development of organizational structures, missions and objectives. Emergency preparedness assitance and/or response. Medical planning for emergency management. Analytical and evaluative methods to improve emergency management or healthcare. Continuity planning for healthcare resilience. Law and regulations applicable to emergency healthcare and medical management. GS-13 Specialized Experience: Do you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization? Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to the following examples: Knowledge of organizational structures, missions, objectives, emergency and contingency programs, key positions, and administrative/protocol policies. Apply organizational procedures across an administration or comparable organizations to conduct studies. Identify, consider, and recommend options for the resolution of organizational and program issues or complex. Interpret Federal, State, and local government laws. Organize emergency preparedness, response or planning activities. Develop new methods, approaches, or procedures, to plan for and coordinate Federal emergency management programs. Apply emergency response frameworks, incident command systems, disaster planning, risk assessments, and mitigation strategies. Risk assessment methodologies, hazard identification, and vulnerability analyses. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Planning and Evaluation Project Management Stakeholder Engagement Analysis and Problem Solving Emergency Management Customer Service 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 sedentary during non-emergency situations. However, during field exercises and operational support missions, it may require strenuous physical activity to include carrying equipment (up to 40lbs), walking long distances over difficult terrain, running, climbing, working long hours in primitive or arduous conditions, long periods of standing, bending, and stooping. Deployments may include various housing and living conditions to include non-climate controlled, limited privacy sleeping facilities (for example, cots, tents, "hot-bunking", gymnasiums or similar), limited shower and laundry facilities and limited feeding options (such as shelf-stable meals, meals-ready-to-eat (MREs), and field kitchens). The employee may also be required to work long hours under highly stressful and demanding conditions which are the norm during major emergency operations. 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

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