Purchasing Agent - Prosthetic Service

Purchasing Agent - Prosthetic Service

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Baltimore, Maryland

Salary Range: $51442 - $66872 Per Year

Job Summary: These positions are located within the Prosthetics Service at the VA Maryland Health Care System in Baltimore, MD.

Major Duties:

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** The Purchasing Agent - Prosthetic Service receives and analyzes Prosthetic Consults, and prescriptions (VAF 10-2431) for items, services, and home medical equipment from physicians, therapists, medical center personnel, patients, or their representatives. Reviews requests for completeness, comparing disability or diagnosis to equipment and/or services normally provided for the condition for which they are requested, and ensures that the proper documentation has been provided to justify the issuance, and makes arrangements to procure these items. The major duties include but are not limited to: Establishes workflow protocols to ensure the timely execution of work, coordinating work for special circumstances; Reviews requests from various sources and makes substitutions if necessary (within scope); Provides general guidance to potential vendors on requirements and information needed to be entered into the Veterans Health Administration's local vendor file; Examines clinical health records and claims folders to determine eligibility and entitlement for items and services; Advises Veterans and clinicians in relation to eligibility for entitlements for items and services; Reviews clinical requests, determines sources, and determines the availability of replacement parts and alternatives for power mobility, artificial limbs, and other pieces of medical equipment; Reconciles all invoices for certification of payment; Follows up in relation to parts and labor orders, returns shipping back to manufactures and accounting for warranty work; Maintains accurate records of transactions and completes all adjustments to computerized system; Maintains accurate funding, billing, reconciling of accounts and sub-account balances; Procures specialized medical equipment, supplies, and services with critical and unique characteristics and associated guidance from a variety of sources; Purchases various equipment, supplies, and services using the government purchase card for micro purchase; Authorizes and prepares complex purchase orders for a wide variety of devices, medical supplies, and durable medical equipment; Resolves any discrepancies, modifications, amendments to purchase orders and cancelations of purchase orders; Coordinates medical device orders that may require more than one vendor and more than one end user; Represents the VA in discussions with vendors/contractors to obtain agreement on micro purchases and vendor/contractor compliance; Monitors vendor performance through personal contact, reviews progress reports, and discusses reasons for delays, failures, or price changes; and, Performs all other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Qualifications: To qualify for this position at the GS-6 level, you must meet the following: Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-5) in the Federal Service that has given you the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of a Purchasing Agent - Prosthetic Service, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. Qualifying specialized experience includes interpreting prescriptions and requests for medical equipment and services; maintaining regular contact with vendors, contractors, medical professionals and staff; utilizing a variety of databases and computer systems; purchasing equipment, supplies, and services using an organization purchase card; and reconciling charges and preparing and submitting reports. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates, AND hours worked per week. You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: CONTROL OF FUNDS MANAGES AND ORGANIZES INFORMATION CUSTOMER SERVICE ANALYTICAL THINKING IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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. Physical Requirements: The work of the position is primarily sedentary and is carried out in an office setting. There exist prolonged periods of working at a computer terminal. Ability to retrieve equipment from a storage room is required. Climbing associated with stocking of equipment and other items in storage areas is necessary. May carry/lift items weighing up to twenty-five (25) pounds. Normal safety precautions are adequate. The work involves moderate discomfort when visiting sites away from the office. 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/.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 12/19/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12850730. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. 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. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. 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/ Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities (i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities), and/or disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (410) 605-7000. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) for this vacancy. 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/.

Application Deadline: 2025-12-19