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Summary This Purchasing Agent is assigned to the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service Line at the Augusta VA Medical Center. The Purchasing Agent is a member of a team providing patient care, services and support to veteran population with specialized needs. The work has high visibility and positive attitude and a motivation to expedite patient care and satisfaction are critical to accomplishing the VA Mission. Responsibilities Major duties and responsibilities include: Operating the Prosthetics software package to maintain detailed and accurate accounting of all actions taken for veterans and documents their records to show all items and services provided. Conducting quarterly inventory of prosthetics stock in compliance with procedures and regulatory requirements. Maintaining continuous liaison with vendors, medical center professional and staff to ensure timely acquisition and provision of items and services to veterans. Advising patients, family members or other representatives on decisions, appeal rights, and equipment safety and maintenance. Preparing and authorizing purchase orders for a wide variety of medical supplies or services and durable medical equipment. Applying judgment in interpretation and adapting guidelines such as agency policies, regulations, precedents when ordering or issuing items and/or supplies. Following directions, policies, and best practices of the Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service. Communicating with patients, Service Chiefs, and CEOs about services and items available through the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service. Reviewing clinical health records to determine legal eligibility. Reconciling invoices to ensure purchases are ordered properly within a software tracking system. Manipulating dates on Excel spreadsheets to track procurement history. Operating a procurement software package to maintain a detailed and accurate account of all actions taken for documents on a patient's medical record showing items or services provided. Ensuring the funding allocations reflect correct expenditures and balances utilizing Fiscal policies and procedures. Receiving and analyzing prosthetic request forms and prescriptions from physicians, therapists, patients and patient representatives. Examining clinical health records and claims folders to determine legal eligibility and medical entitlement for prosthetic items and services based on criteria. 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: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, Monday - Friday. Compressed/Flexible: Not Available. Telework: Not Available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#Purchasing Agent: /PD11291A and PD11290 A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement,10/04/2024 . 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 this vacancy, there is no time in grade for the (GS-05), but applicants may not be promoted higher than two grades (GS-03). For a (GS-06) position you must have served 52 weeks at the (GS-05). 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-05 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-04) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Receiving and analyzing request forms and prescriptions, examining clinical health records, determining legal eligibility, authorizing and preparing complex purchase orders., etc., OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a completion of four (4) years of education above high school toward a Bachelor's degree in any field for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university., OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the (GS-05) level. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-05. For example, an applicant who has 90 semester hours of undergraduate level education (i.e. 50% of education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position. GS-06 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-05) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Receive and analyze request forms and prescriptions; Examine clinical health records and claims folders to determine legal eligibility and medical entitlement; Authorize and prepare complex purchase orders for a wide variety of prosthetic and sensory aid devices, medical supplies and durable medical equipment; Reconcile invoices for certification of payment; Conduct quarterly inventory of stock; Provide services and assistance to veterans varying in age; Operate software package to maintain detailed and accurate accounting of actions taken for veterans. Education: There is no educational substitution at this grade level. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) Manages Resources Technical Competence 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 conducing purchasing functions for PSAS, 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. Incumbent may carry/lift items weighing up to twenty-five (25) pounds. Normal safety precautions are adequate. The work involves moderate discomfort when visiting sites away from the office. At times the employee may be required to wear protective clothing when visiting the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Fabrication Laboratory. Often, walking between the main medical center and other parts of Prosthetics to conduct professional duties. 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/. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education for the (GS-5) grade level. There is no educational substitution at the (GS-6) grade level. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members. For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document. If you are unable to apply online view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.