Program Support Assistant

Summary

The Program Support Assistant is the Program Specialist for staff and operations in the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) Environmental Management Service (EMS), which is a Class 1A facility comprised of 462 beds providing primary, secondary, and tertiary health care in medicine, surgery, psychiatry, and rehabilitation medicine. supporting EMS operations at the Kerrville Campus; several community-based outpatient clinics; and several contracted community-based outpatient clinics.

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Duties

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Duties include but are not limited to:

• Independently designs, plans, conducts, and evaluates comprehensive training needs assessments for positions requiring specialized, technical, professional, administrative, or managerial skills. Responsibilities include supporting substantial segments of the employee development program and ensuring training meets organizational mission and cost requirements.
• Conducting training needs assessments for complex work processes and specialized occupations.
• Developing training solutions, determining required resources, and coordinating contractor-provided training as needed, including modifying courses to meet specific program needs.
• Advising employees, supervisors, and managers on training policies, regulatory requirements, and available development opportunities.
• Assisting with workplace surveys and creating program evaluation tools to identify both immediate and long-term training needs.
• Providing guidance to management on employee development, skill utilization, and workforce planning.
• Administering major segments of the employee development program such as supervisory/managerial training, professional development, trainee programs, upward mobility, and other specialized initiatives.
• Managing program schedules, processing training requests, preparing Training Agreements, and developing organizational training plans.
• Developing, revising, and delivering full-length courses, including substantial updates to materials, content, training aids, and instructional methods.
• Supporting additional training-related initiatives such as creating marketing materials and providing technical assistance.
• Serves as an alternate Contracting Officer Representative (COR), supporting the Administrative Officer.
• Preparing procurement requests and evaluating proposals.
• Assisting with contract initiation and preparation, including cost analysis, bid solicitation, and sole-source justifications.
• Communicating with contractors verbally and in writing.
• Reviewing purchase orders and processing invoices.
• Assisting with surveys of equipment and property utilization to ensure efficient use of EMS resources.
• Maintaining procurement and contracting records.
• Provides administrative and office support for EMS Section operations such as composing and typing letters, memoranda, and administrative documents using proper formatting and style standards.
• Preparing internal and external correspondence on administrative matters.
• Using software tools such as databases and spreadsheets to complete tasks.
• Responding to non-technical information inquiries.
• Coordinating administrative activities across the EMS Section.
• Supports personnel readiness, computer access needs, and technical coordination for EMS staff.
• Tracking and facilitating staff compliance with recurring personnel requirements, including annual PPD testing (purified protein derivative tuberculosis testing), and PIV badge and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) access renewals
• Serving as alternate service-level contact for Engineering work orders and key orders, maintaining proper delegations of authority, and monitoring work orders through completion.
• Managing fire alarm disruption tracking in Decentralized Hospital Computer Program (DHCP).
• Conducting award research and preparing award nominations, justifications, and certificates.
• Assisting employees with computer login issues, printing, system setup, access code coordination, and troubleshooting various IT problems.
• Serving as the primary EMS TMS Coordinator, ensuring all mandatory and service-level training is completed.
• Tracking training compliance and notifying supervisors of delinquent staff to ensure requirements are met.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:00am - 3:30pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/ PD00236O

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• 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.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-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, 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, 08/27/2026.

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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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.

In order to qualify for this position at the GS-07 level, you must possess the following. 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-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of and skills in applying principles, practices and techniques of education and training sufficient to develop, revise and present a full range of employee development and training courses. Knowledge of Microsoft Applications such as Microsoft Word or comparable word processing software to execute several office automations functions such as storing and retrieving electronic documents and files; activation printer; inserting and deleting text; formatting letters, reports, and memoranda; and transmitting and receiving e-mail. Knowledge of Veterans Health Information & Technology Architecture (VistA) to access information in the Medical Center Computer System and knowledge of CPRS to obtain data necessary for records processing.

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

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

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. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. 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.

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

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide 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 well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at

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.

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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.