Contract Specialist

Summary

Serve as a Contract Specialist within a Procurement Service, and acquisition function in the Technology Acquisition Center (TAC) responsible for the the most complex and sensitive information technology contracts of the agency which include contracts valued at over $1 billion and those may have Secretary and Congressional interest.

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Duties

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Major Duties:

• Ensure the technical evaluation factors and award criteria are clearly stated in the request for proposal.
• Conduct market analyses to test the noncompetitive assumptions of requisition.
• Issue solicitations for contracting requirements that lack historical precedent.
• Analyze contracting requirements for suggesting revisions to the statement of work or specifications.
• Determine the competitive range for negotiated solicitations.
• Develop contracting milestones within established time frames.
• Perform cost or price analysis to review cost breakdowns or determine reasonableness.
• Explore new or innovative contracting approaches when lacking meaningful cost and price information.
• Plan procurements by identifying large-scale subsystems, components, equipment, and services to be acquired by contract.
• Prepare solicitation and award synopses using electronic systems.
• Input contractor performance data in appropriate databases.
• Develop a negotiation strategy using audits and pricing reports.
• Develop procurement objectives regarding terms of competition and price range.
• Recommend the appropriate method of procurement, i.e. simplified acquisition procedures, sealed-bidding, negotiations.
• Analyze proposals for conformance with the solicitation.
• Review justifications for sole source clearances.
• Determine responsiveness and responsibility of low bidder in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements.
• Serve as an advisor to program officials in procurement planning meetings.
• Conduct pre-proposal conferences with perspective contractors to clarify contract requirements.
• Conduct post-award conferences to provide information and clarify provisions of the contract.
• Conduct debriefings with unsuccessful offerors or bidders.
• Prepare required documentation during legal proceedings.
• Prepare post-clearance documentation after an agreement has been reached.
• Prepare price negotiation memoranda outlining the details of negotiations with contractors.
• Prepare justification documentation for sole source clearances.
• Prepare documentation in issuing terminations for convenience or default.
• Prepare documentation associated with the elimination of unacceptable proposals.
• Coordinate the establishment of a technical evaluation committee to determine acceptability of technical proposals.
• Coordinate with small business liaisons on socio-economic goal requirements.
• Develop strategies to resolve protests, mistakes in bids, and late bid situations.
• Negotiate additional time required for contractor performance.
• Notify offerors concerning further negotiation or elimination from competitive range.
• Provide technical advice to senior acquisition personnel or program offices on complex contracting assignments based on regulatory compliance.
• Assess contractual issues on moderate to complex acquisitions providing regulatory and business advice to non-contracting personnel.
• Research commercial practices for moderate to complex acquisitions to ensure utilization of commercial practices.
• Demonstrate experience in the preparation and presentation of briefings and oral and written communication for high level management with little or minor clerical edits.

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

Compressed/Flexible: Available

Telework: Position is eligible for Ad Hoc telework (situational telework) as determined by the agency policy.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: PD44208A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Required

Requirements

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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, 06/02/2026.

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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. 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 and/or education as described below:

This position has Individual Occupational Requirements. In addition to the specialized experience listed below, applicants must also meet the Individual Occupational Requirements. These can be found in Education Requirements section of this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Responsible for performing the full range of contracting functions from initial customer inquiries, to market research, to develop, and issue solicitations for contracting requirements including such services as consolidated contracts; complex, unique, specified program requirements; environmentally sensitive services; those which lack historical precedent, and those that require unusual and innovative approaches.

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

• Accountability
• Acquisition Strategy
• Attention to Detail
• Communications
• Contracting/Procurement
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

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: Work is generally sedentary with no special physical demands. May be subject to stress due to changed requirements, short deadlines, limited information, and uncontrollable workload peaks.

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) 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 found well qualified, applicants must meet the following qualifications: Advise program official of the procurement objectives to be used ensuring that specifications and statements of work are prepared in a manner which adequately describes the Government's requirements without restricting competition, Advise technical personnel to avoid inadequate, ambiguous or vague specifications to avoid government liability. Information about CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at

Local Commuting Area Austin, Texas: The local commuting area for this position is defined as a radius of 50 miles from Austin, Texas. This includes all locations that fall within a 50-mile driving distance from 1615 Woodward Street, Texas 787414.

Local Commuting Area Eatontown, New Jersey: The local commuting area for this position is defined as a radius of 50 miles from Eatontown, New Jersey. This includes all locations that fall within a 50-mile driving distance from 23 Christopher Way, Eatontown, New Jersey 07724.

Education

Contracting Series, 1102, Individual Occupational 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

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.

In accordance with the Individual Occupation Requirements this position has the following certification requirements: Employees appointed to this position must possess the following certifications, which must be submitted with your application: Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting, Professional/Level III (FAC-C Professional/Level III) certification, and/or Digital IT Acquisition Professional Training Program (DITAP) certification.

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.

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 1 and 2 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, 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.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

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.

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 here:

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 may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

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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.