Purchasing Agent

Purchasing Agent

This is a critical direct patient care, Veteran facing position. The incumbent must work directly with the Veteran, his/her family, surgeon or clinical provider, and community care discharge planning staff. Initiates procurement of all outpatient medical requirements to include: direct individual purchases to the Veteran, stock purchases for immediate availability, all medical surgical implants used during surgery, and/or rental requirements associated with continual outpatient medical equipment and supplies. Duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Performs technical level purchasing adhering to the FAR, VAAR, VHA, and Prosthetics Directives and Handbooks, VISN policy and station memorandums to acquire Veterans specific medical equipment, supplies and services based on a medical provider's clinical assessment and evaluation of the Veteran's medical condition.
• Obtains all necessary procurement information to successfully submit Acquisition Plans and Procurement Packages for stock and Veteran specific needs to the Network Contracting Office and uploads quotes, bids, invoices, consults, and other important documents to the Electronic Contract Management System (eCMS/FORCE)
• Performs the process of vetting following VHA Prosthetics guidelines to complete purchases for items that aren't available through established vendor networks.
• Provides Veteran care and support services to an adult population and serves as the point of contact for external customer service inventory needs and support.
• Routinely reviews for discrepancies or loopholes in lengthy specifications or statements of work that are very detailed, or otherwise difficult to understand. These situations often come up for custom in home installation of complex pieces of medical equipment.
• Coordinates with appropriate vendor for device retrieval and reconciliation of acquisition days to ensure daily fund rental fiscal accountability.
• Independently responsible for utilizing PSAS reporting tools to monitor and track PSAS open purchase card orders, to ensure timely service is provided to Veterans.
• The incumbent has the authority to obligate the Government in procurement actions up to the single micro-purchase threshold for open market and under established contracts for all types of goods and services.
• Conducts thorough market research by obtaining competitive bids/ Request for Quotation (RFQ) to determine fair and reasonable pricing.
• Verifies adherence to training and other contractual agreements. Follow up action on the status of all these orders is required weekly until purchased and direct patient care is completed.
• Independently monitors, receives, tracks, interprets, and analyzes Prosthetic Consults, and prescriptions (VAF 10-2431) for items, services and home medical equipment from physicians, therapists, medical center personnel, Veterans, or their representatives.
• Examines clinical health records and claims folders to determine eligibility and entitlement for items and services based on adopted criteria and advises Veteran of the same.
• Identify, verify and ensure eligibility of all services and durable medical equipment (DME) requested on Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) consult request by an authorized requester per the area of responsibility and training is addressed before issuing DME.
• Responsible for successfully completing the mandatory purchase card training, allowing the incumbent to be a government purchase card holder and obligate funds on behalf of the government.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

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

Telework: Not eligible

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/ PD91628S and PD91727VS

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized