Contract Specialist - Fort Meade, Maryland

Job Summmary

About the Position: This position is a DOD Cyber Excepted Service (CES) personnel system position in the Excepted Service under 10 USC 1599f. Employees occupying CES positions are in the Excepted Service and must adhere to U.S. Code, Title 10, as well as Department of Defense Instruction 1400.25. This position is located at the USCYBERCOM - J9 - Fort Meade, Maryland. Initial Cut-Off Date: November 7th, 2024 (Applications must be received by 11:59 PM EST).

Who can apply

1. Federal employees - Competitive service
2. Federal employees - Excepted service

Job Duties

• Plans the overall approach to meet contracting program objectives for a wide range of programs or systems, which may involve emerging rapid acquisition processes, span multiple years or involve successive program stages.
• Reviews complex requirements packages for adequacy and compliance with administrative, regulatory, and procedural requirements.
• Analyzes difficult, multi-faceted contracting issues; determines and implements course of action which in many cases departs from previous approaches.
• Procures complex and/or diversified services and/or commodities.
• Plans and coordinates the negotiation strategy with the negotiation team. Conducts negotiations independently or serves as lead negotiator on price, technical requirements, and/or terms and conditions of the contract.
• Prepares/oversees the preparation of the final contract to include appropriate standard clauses and special provisions and incentives, such as price redetermination, cost and performance incentive provisions, and/or post negotiation memoranda.
• Executes post-award contract performance management actions on assigned contracts. Performs contract administration.
• Serves as business advisor to a wide range of customers, makes substantive contributions to special projects/initiatives and performs special assignments.
• Serves as point of contact for procurements and provides contracting advice, guidance, training, and assistance to team members.

Requirements

Qualification

Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities. Current Army Cyber Excepted Service (CES) Employee Current Army Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS) Employee Current Civilian Employees of the Organization Applying to Cyber Excepted Service (CES) Positions Current Department of Army Civilian Employees Current DoD Cyber Excepted Service (CES) Employee (non-Army) Current Permanent DoD Civilian Employee (non-Army) Applying to Cyber Excepted Service Positions Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer Applying to Cyber Excepted Service Positions Army CES positions apply Veteran's Preference to preference eligible candidates, as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 U.S.C., in accordance with the procedures provided in DoD Instruction 1400.25, Volume 3005, "CES Employment and Placement". If you are a veteran claiming veterans' preference, as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 U.S.C., you must submit documents verifying your eligibility with your application package. This position is in the Professional Work Category at the Full Performance Work Level within the CES Occupational Structure In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. 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; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. BASIC REQUIREMENT: Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) from an accredited educational institution authorized to grant baccalaureate degrees. OR- Exemption: You are exempt from the education requirements above if (A) you are a current civilian employee in DoD who occupied GS-1102 positions or contracting positions with authority to award or administer contracts above the simplified acquisition threshold in an Executive Department on or before September 30, 2000; OR (B) you are a current military member who occupied a similar occupational specialty to the GS (or equivalent)-1102 on or before September 30, 2000. In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: To qualify based on your experience, your resume must describe one-year specialized experience that demonstrates the possession of knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies necessary for immediate success in the position. Such experience is typically in or directly related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience would be demonstrated by 1) Performing Pre-award contract functions such as writing acquisition strategies, determining price reasonableness, or determining contractor responsibility to complete the Pre-award phase of a contract; 2) Performing Post-award contract functions such as monitoring contractor performance, issuing non-conformance reports, or executing contract closeout to complete the Post-award phase of a contract; 3) Providing contracting advice and guidance to customers, team members and management and; 4) Developing procurement plans or procurement packages to meet mission objectives. Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted. This is an open continuous announcement. Initial Cut-Off Date: November 7, 2024 (Applications must be received by 11:59 PM EST). Application package received by the initial cut-off date will be reviewed and referred to the Selecting Official first, if qualified. Subsequent referrals to the Hiring Manager will occur as additional vacancies become available.

Education

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications.

Additional information

If you are a current federal career/career-conditional employee, you will be placed on an excepted appointment. Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration. You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship. Direct Deposit of Pay is required. Must be able to obtain and maintain a TOP SECRET security clearance. This position requires you to submit a Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE 278) or a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE450) upon entry, and annually thereafter. Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees. If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet. This is a(n) FC-14 Contracting Career Field position. Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement. Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement. When you perform a Civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) with the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers the majority of your entitlements to be taxable. Visit https://www.dfas.mil/civilianemployees/civrelo/Civilian-Moving-Expenses-Tax-Deduction/ for more information. Permanent Change of Station (PCS) allowances may be authorized, subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations and an agency determination that a PCS move is in the Government Interest. Relocation/Recruitment incentive may be authorized to highly qualified candidate. Must sign a service agreement if incentive(s) is/are authorized. Student loan repayment, advanced-in-hire, and advanced leave accrual may be authorized.

Get More benefits details at https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility. You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.

Document Requires:-

WARNING: DO NOT INCLUDE CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IN YOUR APPLICATION PACKET! Application packages that contain Classified information WILL NOT receive consideration for this position. Should you submit a resume or any other document as part of your application package and it is confirmed that any of the information is Classified, in addition to being found ineligible for consideration for this position, your Security Office will be notified to determine if any further action is warranted. The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc). Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Checklist for Internal/Merit Promotion Announcements. As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further. 1. Your resume: Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy. For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you may not receive consideration for this position. For additional information see: What to include in your resume. 2. Other supporting documents: Cover Letter, optional Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy. The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority. You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration. If you meet this requirement based on education, you MUST submit a copy of your transcript with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.

How to appy this Job

To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 01/30/2025 to receive consideration. To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12591490). Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process. After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process. To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete. It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan. Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center. To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.

Apply Online

Next Step after Apply

If you provided an email address, you will receive an email message acknowledging receipt of your application. Your application package will be used to determine your eligibility, qualifications, and quality ranking for this position. If you are determined to be ineligible or not qualified, your application will receive no further consideration.