Contract Specialist

This position is located in the Acquisitions and Special Programs Division Office of Management Office of Inspector General (OIG) Department of Homeland Security (DHS).Typical assignments include:

• Plans develops and establishes contractual strategy.
• Determines the type of contract and authority best suited to the requirements; develops special clauses and metrics as necessary to clearly convey expectations and evaluate contractor performance.
• Prepares statements of work in collaboration with program personnel and prepares appropriate file documentation as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) including justifications.
• Appoints and oversees the contracting officers representatives in all OIG procurement actions and ensures that benchmarks for projects are met and that contracts receive prompt payment for deliverables.
• Directs the full range of contract administration actions required for the acquisition program including the issuance of contract modifications negotiation of changes exercise of options investigations and resolution of contractor delays contractor performance appraisals subcontractor surveillance disposition of claims and similar matters.

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position
• You must successfully pass a background investigation
• You must be able to obtain Secret security clearance
• Financial disclosure is required
• Selective Service registration required
• Completion of one year probationary period may be required
• Submission of Performance Appraisal is mandatory

BASIC QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Completion of all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher level contracting positions including at least 4-years experience in contracting or related positions. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position and must have provided the knowledge skills and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position.

AND

2. A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelors degree that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting business finance law contracts purchasing economics industrial management marketing quantitative methods or organization and management.

3. Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1 2000. This also applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met. However they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade unless granted a waiver under Paragraph D.

4. Waiver: When filling a specific vacant position the senior procurement executive of the selecting agency at his or her discretion may waive any or all of the requirements of Paragraphs A and B above if the senior procurement executive certifies that the applicant possesses significant potential for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority based on demonstrated analytical and decision making capabilities job performance and qualifying experience. With respect to each waiver granted under this Paragraph D the senior procurement executive must document for the record the basis of the waiver. If an individual is placed in a position in an agency on the basis of a waiver the agency may later reassign that individual to another position at the same grade within that agency without additional waiver action.

NOTE: If you are currently employed with an agency other than DHS and seeking a lateral transfer AND you were promoted to an 1102 position at or above the GS-13 level (or equivalent) after 12/31/99 based on a waiver of the agencys training requirements you will need to be approved for another training waiver before you can be hired into a GS-1102 position at or above the GS-13 level with DHS. If you were hired into your current GSor higher level position with a non-DHS agency based on an educational waiver you will still have to meet the educational requirements stated in Qualification Requirements #1.

Minimum Qualifications for GS-14: You qualify for the GS-14 position if you possess one year of specialized experience at the equivalent to GS-13 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience at this level includes:

• Administers the full range of contracts for various goods and services from small purchases to multi-million dollar procurements that entail a number of different processes or elements.
• Manages administers and oversees all contracting activities of the agency.
• Develops and provides oversight of policies and procedures with regard to the contracting process and acquisition planning and strategy.