The incumbent serves as the Prosthetics and Sensory Aid Service Lead Purchasing Agent and is responsible for all procurement functions in the Prosthetic Patient Services section and for insuring that all patient prosthetic orders are procured within the time frame established by Veterans Affairs Central Office (VACO). Incumbent is the Prosthetic Service's responsible authority on all areas involving purchasing prosthetic appliances, equipment and services for patients.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/26/2025. 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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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. Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Perform technical level purchasing support adhering to the FAR, VAAR,VHA and Prosthetics directives and handbooks; Reviews consults for completeness and proper documentation; Monitors work to ensure completion within established timeframe; Determine eligibility and entitlement for prosthetic items and services; Organize work, establish priorities and meet deadlines; Provide friendly customer service to a wide variety of contacts; Identify needs, gather, organize, and maintain information; listen effectively and clarify information as needed; Identify and analyze problems, use sound reasoning and find alternative solutions. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Customer Service Leadership 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: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 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 primarily sedentary when performing purchasing functions, however, while conducting inventory management functions, the incumbent may work comfortably in a warehouse environment, sitting, standing, walking, bending, lifting, carrying, retrieving, and managing inventory. Prolonged periods of working at a computer terminal is required. Ability to retrieve equipment from a storage room is required. Climbing associated with stocking of equipment and other items in storage areas is necessary. The incumbent may carry/lift items weighing up to twenty-five (25) pounds. The work involves moderate discomfort when visiting sites away from the office. For normal safety precautions, the employee may be required to wear protective clothing when visiting the PSAS Fabrication Laboratory. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Independently reviews purchases performed by the purchasing staff to ensure that proper and legal procurement procedures are being followed and that established mandatory deadlines are being met. Review daily workload needs, establish expected time of completion of work and assign/distribute the work to appropriate purchasing staff based on job specialization and workflow. Maintains frequent contact with prosthetic purchasing agents to assure work assignments are being accomplished and redistributes workload as necessary to ensure required deadlines are met. Reject incorrect purchases and return such rejections to staff for correction. Reviews corrected work. Inform PTC management team of any issues impacting the ability of the section to meet the daily needs. Included will be recommended actions for resolution. Maintains a thorough and current knowledge of all prosthetic applications, VHA directives, prosthetic sensory aid service policies and procedure, etc. Obtains information or decisions from supervisor on problems that occur. Provide all training of new prosthetic purchasing agents and re-certification of existing purchasing agents utilizing national training guides, handbooks, reference manuals, business practice guidelines and presentations. Perform duties as the "expert purchasing agent"; answers all questions and solves technical problems occurring in the Patient Services purchasing section. Provides direct input to supervisor of the performance and progress of each Prosthetic purchasing agent including awards and disciplinary action. Performs technical level purchasing support adhering to the FAR, V AAR, VHA, and Prosthetics Directives and Handbooks, VISN policy and station memorandums to acquire patient specific medical equipment, supplies and services. Verifies accountability of all prosthetics expenditures in both the purchase menu and the prosthetics program and associates all obligations to the individual Veteran. Provides patient care and support services to an adult population and serves as the point of contact for external customer service inventory needs and support. Provide tailored patient care/support services to meet the specialized need(s) of the individual patient and the clinical service it supports, and display a positive image and be highly motivated to seek ways to expedite patient processing, accomplish the VA mission, and adapt to the ever-changing world of health care. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 07:45 AM -04:30 PM Compressed/Flexible: Not authorized Telework: Not authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Lead Purchasing Agent/PD60566A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized