Program Specialist

Summary

This Program Specialist is a part of the VA Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics (OPAL), Technology Acquisition Center (TAC). OPAL enables its customers to provide solutions to Veterans and their families by directing acquisition, contracting, and contract administration. TAC provides acquisition and program management expertise and support for life cycle management of enterprise-wide solutions in IT. TAC enables its customers to provide secure, high quality, and responsive service.

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Duties

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Major duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Serves as a subject matter expert and advisor to provide project leadership for the documentation of programs to include the Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC)
• Ensures requirements, such as FFDRC, are documented accurately, and that the customer fully understands ramifications of defined requirements
• Identifies technical barriers in system concept and ascertains areas of research and analyses requirements to inform the customer of such barriers
• Performs risk assessments to identify and mitigate technical risk to an acceptable level for meeting mission requirements
• Formulates technical requirements and procurement data as necessary
• Provides technical guidance by reviewing, evaluating, and summarizing contractor's technical and progress reports and ensuring that the technical requirements are met
• Maintains close coordination with FFRDC and non-FFRDC contractors
• Identifies opportunities for program enhancement and proposes changes in program operations that may more efficiently support the TAC customer base
• Evaluates progress toward goals and objectives through regular reviews or projects using quantitative analysis techniques and by seeking feedback from customers
• Ensures all proposed work to be placed with any FFRDC is within the purpose, mission, scope of effort, or special competency of the FFRDC and well as ensuring that proper justification is provided and documented with regards to the "special relationship" and appropriateness
• Collaborates closely with the contracting activity and potential users early in the acquisition planning process to support their proposed FFRDC acquisition strategy or to provide an alternative commercial contracting strategy to meet their needs
• Monitors the IDIQ contract and post-award efforts from a strategic level
• Negotiates with engineers and other representatives of Government/industry to resolve conflicting views that impact baselines, limitations or other critical areas (e.g., interoperability, reliability, maintainability and configuration integrity) of assigned programs
• Recognizes and extracts critical data to summarize and interpret the data for use in strategies, new acquisition concepts, and to add a path forward to support customer requirements
• Provides Life Cycle Management engineering services to Program Management Office, their subordinate project managers, as well as other VA organizations and Government agencies which comprise VA's customer base
• Interfaces with customers and contactors to obtain higher-level customer outcomes and strategies relative to assigned tasks
• Represents TAC at high level planning conferences and review meetings at different levels within VA
• Prepares presentations, briefings and oral and written communication for senior leadership
• Participates on boards, IPTs, panels, conferences and committees held at these levels to exchange information, discuss problem areas, and provide solutions acceptable to and binding upon the working groups

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm

Compressed/Flexible: Available

Telework: Position is eligible for Ad Hoc telework (situational telework) with supervisor approval. Regular and recurring telework is not available.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: PD20801A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a one year probationary period or two year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period one year probationary period or two year trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/03/2026.

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-14 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13 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 some 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-13 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: Managing programs such as Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) and providing guidance, acquisition oversight, planning, and execution support for all FFRDC efforts; Providing Life Cycle Management engineering services to Program Management Office, their subordinate project managers, as well as other VA organizations and Government agencies which comprise VA's customer base; Directing program acquisitions, contracts, and providing contract administration; Providing advice and guidance to management and technical personnel on contract administration of the customer's technical requirements programs; Providing business program management and customer support methods including contract types, funding acquisition life cycle management, funding principles practices, and procurement functions; Collaborating with all stakeholders during the acquisition planning process to support proposed FFRDC acquisition strategy or providing an alternative commercial contracting strategy.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Communications
• Customer Service
• Information Technology Program Management
• Teamwork
• Technical Competence
• Veteran and Customer Focus

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 : Resume must include job title and employer name, number of hours worked per week, start and end dates (including month and year), list of duties and responsibilities for each position held. In addition, if the experience was a federal position, you must list series and grade for each position held. Failure to include this information may result in an ineligible rating. A full year of work is considered to be 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 typical of that in any modern office environment. The incumbent may be required to travel to meeting locations, nationwide. Physical demands will be those required that are typical of work in any modern office environment.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provides eligible displaced 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 qualifications:

• Demonstrated expert knowledge in planning, organizing and directing systems acquisitions to successful conclusion. This knowledge should be reflected in actual experience in effectively leading systems acquisitions and/or formal training programs and curricula completed.
• Expert knowledge of regulations, policies and procedures and best practices evidenced by performance of tasks such as; reviewing and evaluating proposed regulations, policies and procedures prepared by higher level authority and efficiently and effectively completed actions.
• Experience presenting actionable recommendations to stakeholders, and/or providing advice or recommendations to senior acquisition personnel or program offices, on highly complex acquisitions in a format understandable to non-contracting personnel.

Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at

Local Commuting Area: The local commuting area for this position is defined as a radius of 50 miles from Eatontown, NJ. This includes all locations that fall within a 50-mile driving distance from Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics, Technology Acquisition Center, 23 Christopher Way, Eatontown, NJ.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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: 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: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | International Affairs Office.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration (HRA) at The Fair Chance Act.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members : Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position is limited to ad-hoc telework with supervisor approval. Regular and recurring telework is not available.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.