This position is at the U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG). The USBG is a public garden in the legislative branch and was established by Congress in 1820. The Garden inspires people to appreciate, study, and conserve plants to enrich society locally and globally. We provide educational experiences to 1 million visitors annually, present horticultural displays and exhibits, strive to break down barriers to inclusion, and advance the exchange of ideas and information. Learn more:  U.S. Botanic Garden.

Duties

The General Engineer/Architect is responsible for project management with emphasis on projects involving new or existing facilities and infrastructure systems. Also provides project management expertise in the capital construction and facility renewal sector with focuses on providing budget, cost, schedule expertise along with the coordination, direction, and oversight of various projects.

Requirements

• You must be able to pass a drug test.
• Your resume and question responses must demonstrate the job-related KSAs.
• You must meet the definition of specialized experience.
• You must meet the education requirements for Architect or Engineer.

Qualifications

You must meet the United States Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) qualification requirements (including specialized experience and/or educational requirements) for the advertised position. You must meet all eligibility and qualifications requirements by the closing date of the job announcement. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on the OPM web site at OPM qualification standards For Engineers: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/general-engineering-series-0801/  For Architects: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/architecture-series-0808/ --AND-- In addition to meeting the basic education requirement for an Engineer or Architect, you resume must clearly demonstrate the required specialized experience as described below. Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, an applicant's one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for successful job performance. To qualify at the GS-13 level, your resume must clearly demonstrate that you have one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience comparable in difficulty and responsibility to at least the GS-12 level in the federal service. Examples of qualifying experience include the following types of tasks performed on a regular and recurring basis: Performing project management, design and development, technical reviews, and monitoring for new construction, renovations, and improvements to facilities. Providing technical advice and recommendations on construction projects, staff, and resources, including costs, design and contract and development management; Evaluating studies, plans, design specifications and progress reports for architectural, engineering and construction processes and projects; Serving as a Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) or equivalent. Providing authoritative interpretations of guidelines and practices used in the design and repair, restoration and alteration of existing facilities; *Professional registration as a planner American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), Architect, Landscape Architect or Licensed (PE) engineer accredited professional is highly desired but recommended.*

Education

In addition to meeting the specialized experience requirements for this position, applicants must possess the following:

Education Required for Engineers:

1. Bachelor's degree in professional engineering: To be creditable, the program must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; 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: statics, dynamics;(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

2. 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 professional 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, and 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 the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
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 bachelor’s degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. 

For a detailed explanation of the related curriculum or experience, please visit, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf

Education Required for Architects:

1. Bachelor’s Degree in architecture; or related field that included 60 semester hours of course work in architecture or related disciplines of which at least (1) 30 semester hours were in architectural design, and (2) 6 semester hours were in each of the following: structural technology, properties of materials and methods of construction, and environmental control systems.

OR

2. Combination of education and experience: college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished: (1) a thorough knowledge of the arts and sciences underlying professional architecture, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the architectural principles, methods, and techniques and their applications to the design and construction or improvement of buildings. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by at least one of the following:

1. Related Curriculum: Degree in architectural engineering may be accepted.   
2. Experience: An applicant lacking a degree in architecture must have had l year of experience in an architect's office or in architectural work for each year short of graduation from a program of study in architecture. In the absence of college courses, 5 years of such experience is required. This experience must have demonstrated that the applicant has acquired a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional architecture.

For a detailed explanation, please visit, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/architecture-series-0808/

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: 

Education completed outside of the United States must be deemed equivalent to that gained in conventional/accredited U.S. education programs to be acceptable for Federal employment.

Qualifying education from colleges and universities in foreign countries must be evaluated in terms of equivalency to that acquired in U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants educated in whole or in part of foreign countries must submit sufficient evidence, including transcripts, to an accredited private organization for an equivalency evaluation of course work and degree.

You must provide a copy of the letter containing the results of the equivalency evaluation with a course by course listing if selected.

Contacts

• Address Architect of the Capitol 2nd and D Street, S.W. Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States
• Name: London Holliway
• Phone: 202-226-7000
• Email: [email protected]