The Assistant Chief, Nutrition and Food Service (N&FS) serves as assistant to the Chief, advising the chief on all matters pertinent to the service. Provides direct supervision for both the Clinical N&FS Systems Managers, successfully integrating both sections. Incumbent works in cooperation with the Chief in the identification of major management initiatives as well as the provision, production and service of high quality food and effective nutrition therapy to the veteran population served.
Basic Requirements: a. Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a). b. Registration. (1) All applicants must hold the RDN credential from the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) the credentialing agency of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Note: Applicants who hold the RDN credential have met the education requirement (e.g. bachelor's degree or higher) of CDR, as such this occupation is considered professional and scientific with a positive education requirement and the procedures in Part I, Chapter 4 of this Handbook will be followed when applying Veteran's preference. May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: Supervisory Dietitian (Chief, Nutrition and Food Services), GS-13. (1) Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. (2) Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of security measures within food operations to ensure patient and staff safety. (b) Knowledge of business administration to include budgeting, contracting and purchasing. (c) Knowledge of organizational structure to assess impact on program operations. (d) Skill in strategic planning to develop goals, objectives and action plans. (e) Skill in written communication to include policy development and standard operating procedures. (f) Skill in analyzing data to monitor progress towards improving and sustaining outcomes. (g) Ability to lead a group of professionals to facilitate collaboration, organizational development and establish and achieve strategic goals. (h) Ability to oversee the planning of new initiatives or projects addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations (i) Ability to supervise subordinate staff (i.e., plan, organize, delegate, direct, control and review activities and performance). (j) Ability to negotiate. (3) Assignment. For all supervisory assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity, difficulty, variety and be performed by the incumbent as a major duty at least 25% of the time. The incumbent must spend 25% or more of their time providing administrative and technical supervision over staff from both clinical nutrition and food operations sections, one of which may be a GS13 Dietitian and NFS administrative staff. Supervisory Dietitians in this assignment serve as Chief of NFS. Chief NFS provides leadership and guidance, with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgment, to ensure the variety of activities of the department are closely coordinated, integrating clinical nutrition and food operations. They exercise a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities and responsibilities in planning, directing and assessing the work of subordinate staff. Chief NFS establishes performance standards and evaluate overall performance of employees; define competency requirements, identify developmental and training needs and take necessary actions to ensure subordinate personnel maintains and enhance technical and leadership expertise. They serve as the technical advisor and subject matter experts in nutrition and food operations. Chief NFS develops budget and staffing requirements to manage organizational changes and ensure national directives and goals/objectives are met. They communicate and advocate with executive leadership for resources. Chief NFS develops the NFS strategic plan, establishing service priorities that address the goals and strategic direction of the medical center, VISN and national programs. They are responsible for developing and updating policies and procedures and establishing and overseeing a system for regulatory compliance. Chief NFS establishes the department's organizational structure, defining the lines of authority essential to carry out the mission of the service. They oversee planning new endeavors addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations for new or redesigned operational space, equipment requirements, etc. Chief NFS ensures adherence to the National Dietary Supplement and Subsistence Prime Vendor contracts. They designate the Contracting Officer Representative to negotiate purchase agreements for NFS contracts. Chief NFS actively supports, promotes and oversees the implementation of NFS initiatives at the facility level and engages other service chiefs as needed to ensure success. They participate in VISN and National level NFS initiatives and are responsible for all action items for NFS. Chief NFS evaluates overall NFS effectiveness through the review of operations, quality assurance, performance improvement and benchmarks, making decisions based on intricate and unrelated items of information from inconclusive or variable data. They implement a performance improvement program to improve delivery of quality continually, safe and cost-effective food and nutrition care to all patients/residents, ensuring the dissemination of nutrition-related research and quality improvement within the department and facility. Chief NFS directs resource distribution for food, supply and labor costs focusing on benchmarks, and delegating resource management to others as appropriate. They lead efforts to provide food-forward, Veteran-centric dining options. Chief NFS implements security measures in all NFS areas to protect against theft, reduce the risk of food terrorism and maintain Veteran and staff safety. Preferred Experience: Previous Supervisory experience in Nutrition & Food Services Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-13. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.
Functions of the Assistant Chief A. Management/ Administrative: 1. Assists in the establishment of organizational structure guidelines, performance standards, reporting requirements and assists in defining the lines of authority and supervisory controls necessary and essential in carrying out the mission of the service. 2. Assists in the provision of leadership to assure that all activities of the staff are closely coordinated in order to achieve an effective integration of the key elements of patient care, education, training and research. 3. Coordinates and evaluates Service compliance to VHA regulations, Central Office directives, ADA Laws, VISN guidelines, Medical Center policy, Union Master agreement, Service procedures and all accrediting and regulatory agencies including but not limited to US food code, JCAHO, OSHA and OIG to assure optimal nutrition care of veterans, in the continuum of care and in a multidisciplinary model. 4. Assists in or provides oversight in the coordination of menu planning, subsistence purchases, production, and delivery of safe, high quality, nutritionally adequate meals. 5. Provides leadership and/or serves on the Nutrition Committee and Nutrition Support Team. 6. Assumes full responsibility for the management of N&FS in the absence of the Chief/Manager. B. Resource Management: 1. Assists in the development and administration of a human resource management program for all NFS employees that maximizes staff performance and job satisfaction and supports labor-management cooperation. 2. Coordinates and allocates staffing patterns and position management that will support a high ­quality food service system and the demand for complex clinical nutrition care promoting optimal efficiency and effectiveness. 3. Assists in the planning of an annual budget for subsistence, supplies, and personnel costs. Providing for the effective utilization of available financial resources. 4. Assures compliance to prime vendor contract. 5. Manages the service purchase request process. C. Quality Improvement: 1. Assists in the development and implementation of a performance improvement program to continually monitor major functions of N&FS for quality and appropriateness of nutritional care. 2. Assures that the Performance improvement program is incompliance with applicable standards established by OSHA, HACCP, VHA, JC and other reviewing agencies. D. Supervisory Controls: 1. Assists the Chief, in providing leadership to N&FS, which consists of professional and non­professional staff. Coordinates implementation of initiatives and presents conclusions and recommendations to staff at departmental meetings. 2. Promotes positive labor-management relations by hearing employee grievances and complaints that are not resolved at a lower supervisory level. Responds to EEO complaints and unfair labor practice charges. 3. Recommends approval for incentive and special contribution awards and rewards employees for good performance. 4. Completes evaluations of subordinate and reviews evaluations made by subordinate supervisors on employees they supervise. E. Education/Staff Development: 1. Assists with the provision and allocation of staff educational funding, evaluating regularly to make certain funds are effectively utilized for the benefit of the Medical Center. 2. Coordinates and delegates as appropriate nutrition related training for other disciplines, students, and/or trainees so they can perform their patient care duties more efficiently. 3. Coordinates the education and training program in the service for all levels of employees. The program considers the needs of all levels of employees to ensure all are competence. Establishes a mechanism to monitor the effectiveness of N&FS training programs. F. Research: 1. Facilitates participation in clinical nutrition studies and research projects that have a nutrition component. 2. Coordinates the extent and type of formal clinical nutrition-related research and investigative studies, which are administrative, metabolic or clinical in nature. 3. Assures that new information / nutritional advancements are incorporated into daily practices and procedures which ensures continued improvement in services provided. G. Support: 1. Provides input and recommendations to the Chief regarding medical center and healthcare system long and short-range planning and assists in the development and implementation of policy which reflects the goals of the agency and VISN. 2. Maintains effective communication with medical center staff to identify and assist in the resolution of a wide variety of programs. Encourage and supports proactive planning. 3. Assists the chief in the Interpretation and advises other services, programs and top management concerning general agency guidelines the impact N&FS. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm Telework: Ad-hoc