Program Specialist

Program Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Washington, District of Columbia

Salary Range: $121785 - $158322 Per Year

Job Summary: The Program Specialist for the Office of Acquisitions, Logistics, and Construction (OALC), Office of Acquisitions and Logistics (OAL), Office of Acquisition Program Support (APS), Business Services Division (BSD), VA Integrated Operations Center, reports directly to the Director of Operations Support Services and serves as a Watch/Duty Officer performing analytical, evaluative, and operational activities ranging from crisis response operations to routine daily tasks.

Major Duties:

• Major duties include, but are not limited to the following: Monitors domestic and international events, operational sites, and organizational components to evaluate overall national, regional, and local readiness and preparedness capabilities Coordinates with internal staff to assess overall organizational operational readiness and provides consolidated feedback for use in preparing leadership briefings Manages and responds to all incoming and outgoing communications, including voice, written, and data exchanges, coordinating with internal personnel, organizational leadership, and external authorities at various government levels Analyzes data and information, prepares accurate reports, presents findings, and offers recommendations to support informed decision-making Possesses working knowledge of computers and common software applications, including proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite tools Produces and manages special projects, perform research, and deliver briefings Communicates relevant information to appropriate individuals and organizations, including agencies at the federal, state, county, and municipal levels Provides advice, assistance and guidance on a wide range of issues Maintains and manages intelligence information, incident reports, and communications to ensure they are accurately logged and distributed to the appropriate parties in accordance with established standard operating procedures Oversees emergency plans, conducts risk assessments, and initiates appropriate procedures during crisis situations to support effective organizational response Facilitates readiness assessments and status updates across organizational components to support overall preparedness and operational awareness Participates in the planning, development, and execution of emergency response exercises and supports actions during real-world activations Handles conflict and problems in dealing with the customer constructively and appropriately Applies originality and independent judgment to refine existing work methods and techniques in order to accomplish assignments effectively and resolve operational problems Delivers clear, well-organized oral presentations during briefings, meetings, and seminars to convey information effectively and support informed decision-making Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework: Ad Hoc telework (situational telework) as determined by the agency policy Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: PD19832A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/20/2026. 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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level. 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. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-12 level) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Interpreting and applying emergency management regulations, policies, and procedures in alignment with an agency Comprehensive Emergency Management Program; Analyzing complex guidance and operational directives to ensure compliance and effective implementation; Providing expert advice to management and staff on emergency management processes, ensuring readiness and continuity of operations; Developing recommendations and solutions that enhance emergency preparedness and response capabilities. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Manages and Organizes Information Oral Communication Problem Solving Public Safety and Security Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Teamwork Written Communication 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: Work is sedentary, however, it requires sitting, walking, and standing, bending, and carrying light items such as books, papers and flies. Position may require extended hours to meet critical needs and deadlines, and to devise corrective actions and solutions to unexpected issues or events. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be found well qualified, applicants must meet the following demonstrated specialized experience and qualifications: Planning, organizing and directing both individual and team work to negotiate with management to accept and implement recommendations as it relates to Emergency Preparedness in the Federal Government Analyzing, evaluating, and understanding the capabilities and limitations of emergency preparedness programs Conducting comprehensive surveys where the boundaries are extremely broad and difficult to determine; analyzing the findings and making recommendations for changes to meet operational goals/objectives Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Local Commuting Area: The local commuting area for this position is defined as a radius of 50 miles from Washington, DC. This includes all locations that fall within a 50-mile driving distance from 90 K Street, Washington, DC 20001.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at: https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Click on this: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status (if applicable), and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application.

Application Deadline: 2026-03-20