Mechanical Engineer

Summary

The Facilities Branch of the Finance and Facilities Division provides a range of facilities management and real estate support logistic services engineering and design construction planning and management across multiple sections. These sections include the National Capital Region and Field Operations Support Sections in the Washington DC area; Real Property Management Section in Quantico VA (FBI Academy); and Redstone Facilities Services Section in Huntsville AL (FBI Redstone campus).

Duties

GS-13:

• Designs layouts and construction of complex mechanical systems such as plumbing heating ventilation air conditioning fuel storage and distribution in the FBI facilities.
• Reviews designs plans specifications and analyses for technical accuracy regulatory compliance industry standards and FBI requirements. Recommends design changes as needed and ensures contractor-submitted mechanical equipment and shop drawings meet specifications.
• Performs heating/cooling load calculations heat transfer pressure calculations duct/pipe sizing and other tasks to support mechanical design and equipment selection for HVAC systems. Provides design support for engineering studies code reviews field investigations and report generation.
• Conducts field inspections to review existing mechanical utilities as well as ongoing and proposed projects. These reviews include items that affect existing systems specifications and cost estimates. Based on analysis of information obtained provides recommendations of appropriate actions to be taken to higher level mechanical engineers.
• Analyze existing equipment and systems to determine their overall efficiency and to provide recommendations concerning use in the new facility or replacement repair or improvements.
• Prepares or oversees preparation of in-depth technical reports/papers concerning complex mechanical engineering matters. Such reports are further used to determine current and long-range program needs of the Bureau.
• Provides engineering support to facilities systems; driving upgrade projects from concept to completion as required for continuous improvement of the facilities systems to ensure that support and services of the department meet the highest quality standards and performance.

GS-14 (in addition to the above):

• Serves as the senior technical authority for mechanical engineering aspects of the planning design construction and alteration of FBI facilities. Provides guidance and oversight for the planning budgetary and operational aspects of same. These responsibilities range from establishing preventive maintenance requirements for a small piece of mechanical equipment to design and management of major construction projects.
• Prepares designs for aspects of unique or highly complex facilities and provides oversight to mechanical design efforts of outside companies and/or FBI personnel concerning FBI facilities. Oversees and reviews complex mechanical design work for FBI facilities ensuring compliance with industry standards coordination with other engineering disciplines and proper integration into overall projects while serving as the final technical authority on mechanical design changes.
• Provides authoritative technical engineering expertise and guidance to consultants shops personnel and other engineering personnel for activities concerning full range of mechanical systems. Serves as consultant and member of the FBI Architect and Engineering (A&E) review board on difficult and controversial matters.
• Provides professional expertise and advice on matters involving design and construction for FBI projects and its architectural engineering and construction contractors other government agencies and private lessors. Provides guidance on areas not covered in project specifications or requiring specialized knowledge of FBI facilities and security systems.
• Prepares or oversees preparation of contract packages including specifications and technical requirements. Conducts negotiation of contracts in conjunction with contracting officer. As necessary certifies technical adequacy/accuracy of services provided by contractors and their compliance with contract terms.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. citizen
• Must be able to obtain a Top Secret clearance
• Some travel may be required

PHYSICAL DEMANDS
Work is primarily sedentary in an office setting or the on-site construction trailer; however frequent: on-site inspections will require walking bending stooping and climbing. Lifting of heavy materials and objects will also be required.

WORK ENVIRONMENT
Majority of work is performed in an office setting or an on-site construction trailer. The work environment will consists of inclement weather proximity to unfinished construction materials negotiating partially completed building structural components exposure to high voltage electrical vaults and rotating mechanical equipment. Travel is required to and from Headquarters the construction site and other locations to attend meetings regarding the construction project.

Qualifications

GS-13: Applicant must possess at least one (1) year of SE equivalent to the GS- 12 grade level. SE is defined as follows:

• Experience in designing and overseeing design and construction of commercial buildings government buildings critical facilities and data centers and have a strong knowledge of mechanical systems design for plumbing heating ventilation air conditioning fuel storage and distribution.
• Performing and reviewing cooling load calculations heat transfer pressure calculations ductwork pipe sizing and any other calculations required to support the mechanical design and equipment sizing/selection as related to building engineered systems and various other tasks related to the design of HVAC systems.
• Knowledge of the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards and Federal State and local regulations in governing mechanical systems as well as skill in inspection of construction projects to ensure conformance with these codes and regulations.

GS-14: Applicant must possess at least one (1) year of SE equivalent to the GS-13 grade level. SE (in addition to the above) is defined as follows:

• Knowledge of other engineering disciplines such as structural architectural and electrical sufficient to permit initial judgments or critical evaluations of findings and recommendations of other expert sources consulted.
• Ability to modify and adapt standards equipment and techniques to resolve a variety of engineering problems as well as ensure continuation of services without interruption or to prevent excessive downtime.
• Ability to apply new developments or experimental theories to problems not readily treatable by standard methods to solve a variety of highly complex technical problems.

Education

Positive Education Requirement
This position has a specific education requirement; all applicants must verify completion of this basic educational requirement by submitting a copy of their college transcripts by the closing date of the vacancy announcement.

Basic Requirements:

A . Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable the program must: (1) lead to a degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics such as optics heat transfer soil mechanics or electronics.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience - college-level education training and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering and (2) a good understanding both theoretical and practical of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:

1. Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI) Engineer in Training (EIT)1 or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State the District of Columbia Guam or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g. State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example an applicant who attains registration through a State Boards eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
2. Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States the District of Columbia Guam and Puerto Rico.
3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical mathematical and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
4. Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelors degree in an appropriate scientific field e.g. engineering technology physics chemistry architecture computer science mathematics hydrology or geology may be accepted in lieu of a degree in engineering provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience e.g. in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the above requirements provided you can show foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States.

Additional information

The FBI is in the Executive Branch of the federal government. It is one of the components of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The FBI is the principle investigative arm of the DOJ. All FBI positions are in the excepted service.

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.

Required Experience:

IC