Lead Contract Specialist

Summary The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Acquisition Management Office is hiring highly motivated and skilled procurement professionals. Join us in supporting one of the most important missions of the U.S. government - the administration of justice - and work with a team of professionals at the forefront of procurement, leveraging cutting edge technology, and innovative process improvement to provide best-in-class acquisition customer service to the entire judicial branch. Responsibilities The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO), Department of Administrative Services, Acquisition Management Office (AMO), Procurement Management Division, DAS Contracting Branch is seeking a talented Lead Contract Specialist to join its team. AMO provides acquisition program management and oversight, policy guidance and support, and conducts procurement activities on behalf of the AO and federal judiciary organizations nationwide. The Lead Contract Specialist works with a high-degree of independence while performing the full range of acquisition activities. Our contract specialists and contracting officers rely on a combination of the judiciary's unique procurement authorities and policies, and on FAR-based procedures to conduct procurements for a wide-range of supplies and services, including complex information technology, digital, and cloud-based services to support the administration of justice. This position reports directly to the Contracting Branch Chief in the AMO. If you have a passion for procurement, a commitment to providing excellent customer service, and the ability to think creatively, we are interested in you joining our team. Don' t miss out on this exciting opportunity to make a real impact by empowering the administration of justice through procurement. Candidates holding a FAC-C Professional Certification, FAC-C Contracting Officer's Representative Certification, or a comparable DAWIA or industry certification are encouraged to apply. The duties of this position include, but are not limited to: Performing senior-level contract specialist pre-award, post-award, and contract close out activities. Leading a team of one or more contract specialists of varying skill levels responsible for the completion of acquisition actions, projects, and issues. Serving as a contracting officer. Identifying, distributing, and balancing the team's tasks and workload based on priorities, workflow, and skill level to ensure timely accomplishment of tasks. Performing the full range of contract specialist duties to award, administer, and close out activities for a variety of contract types, including firm fixed price, cost, labor hours, and time and materials. Overseeing and reviewing the team's work products, ensuring priorities, methods, deadlines, and quality standards have been met and conform with policies and regulations. Performing contracting functions for complex agency acquisitions involving diverse supplies and services, e.g., IT services, hardware, and software, telecommunications, and other electronic systems and subsystems, including negotiating complex modifications to contract vehicles. Preparing pre-award and post-award documents, e.g., solicitations, market research reports, pre-negotiation and post-negotiation memoranda, responsibility determinations, waivers, justifications, and approvals for other than full and open competition, determinations and findings, protest responses, debriefings, cure notices, and terminations. Monitoring contractors' performance, evaluating and negotiating change orders and contract modifications, and resolving post-award performance or payment problems. Utilizing in-depth price/cost analysis techniques for the development of pre-negotiation and award price determination documents. Serving as an advisor to customers at the AO and the courts nationwide. Requirements Conditions of Employment CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT All information is subject to verification. Applicants are advised that false answers or omissions of information on application materials or inability to meet the following conditions may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed. Selection for this position is contingent upon completion of OF-306, Declaration of Federal Employment during the pre-employment process and proof of U.S. citizenship for competitive status positions or conversion to a competitive status position with the AO. If non-citizens are considered for hire into a temporary or any other position with non-competitive status or when it is confirmed by the AO Human Resources Office there are no qualified U.S. citizens for a competitive status position (unless prohibited by a law or statue), non-citizens must provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. and proof of entitlement to receive compensation. Additional information on the employment of non-citizens can be found at USAJOBS Help Center | Employment of non-citizens/. For a list of documents that may be used to provide proof of citizenship or authorization to work in the United States, please refer to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. All new AO employees will be required to complete an FBI fingerprint-based national criminal database and records check and pass a public trust suitability check. New employees to the AO will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights/responsibilities, visit All new AO employees are required to identify a financial institution for direct deposit of pay before appointment. You will be required to serve a trial period if selected for a first-time appointment to the Federal government, transferring from another Federal agency, or serving as a first-time supervisor. Failure to successfully complete the trial period may result in termination of employment. If appointed to a temporary position, management may have the discretion of converting the position to permanent depending upon funding and staffing allocation. Qualifications Applicants must have demonstrated experience as listed below. This requirement is according to the AO Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment Systems which include interpretive guidance and reference to the OPM Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions. Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience which is in or directly related to the line of work of this position. Specialized experience must demonstrated experience in ALL areas defined below: Leading a team of one or more contract specialists responsible for the completion of acquisition actions, projects, and issues. Applying contracting principles and procedures to the planning, award, and management of contracting actions for a wide range of products and services. Using in-depth price/cost analysis for the development of pre-negotiation and award price determination documents. Applicants with the following certifications are highly desired: Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting Professional Certificate (FAC-C) Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting Officer's Representatives (FAC-COR) Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers (FAC-P/PM) Digital IT Acquisition Professional Program (DITAP) certification Certification: Applicants without FAC-C certification may still apply and be selected but must achieve certification within 24 months of appointment. To validate that you meet the preferred training, experience, and certification requirements for this position, please submit a copy of applicable FAC-C certificates and/or Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certifications. Education In addition to meeting the specialized experience described above, applicants must meet the following educational requirements to be placed in this job series at this level. Basic Requirement: A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's 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. NOTE: To validate that you meet the educational requirement for this job series, please submit a copy of your transcript. Your transcript must reflect that you are seeking and/or possess a 4-year degree along with the 24 successfully achieved credit hours in the fields mentioned above. Failure to submit your transcript will make you ineligible for this position. Exceptions: Federal employees classified within the 1100 family as of January 1, 2000 are deemed to have met the basic qualification requirements for all 1102 Contract Specialist positions. Additional Information The AO is an Equal Opportunity Employer.