Program Support Asst (OA)

Summary

The incumbent serves as the Program Support Assistant for Biomedical Engineering and Maintenance and Operations Engineering at the Huntington, WV VA Medical Center. The incumbent serves both sections in several capacities, but ultimately provides clerical and administrative support to the section supervisors. The incumbent works in a variety of the service's disciplines including utility plants, building and facilities maintenance, grounds maintenance, and medical equipment maintenance.

Duties

Major Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Plans and carries out program assistant assignments or projects to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of Engineering service programs. Reviews the purposes, objectives, and requirements of various programs and projects, and tracks progress in meeting objectives and resource use. Adjusts to accommodate program areas with different functions and requirements, and with periodic changes in workloads, budgets, staff levels, work processes, or program objectives. Monitors and studies the progress of extensive projects with different schedules Serves as a central point of contact from which the distribution of work orders, backlogs, status of individual work orders, and operational activities can be readily ascertained. This reporting is critical for service-wide metrics and compliance. Receives, processes, enters, distributes, collects and closes work orders and preventative maintenance schedules (WPS) in the AEMS/MERS computer system using a multitude of activity codes and cost center numbers. Routinely reviews completed work requests to ensure completeness and correctness on time and material cost for all M&O shop employees under their own direction. Reviews the purposes, objectives, and requirements of various Engineering Service programs and projects. Tracks progress in meeting objectives and resource use. Acts as a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) for both sections for short and long- term service contracts. Prepares procurement requests, evaluates proposals for work, and serves as COR for procurement and a variety of complex contracts, while also maintaining procurement and contracting records. Performs a wide variety of administrative and clerical duties for both M&O and BME. Knowledge Required by the Position: The position requires a wide range of data analysis methods in order to assess impact of actions across multiple, varied, and complex processes and systems to gauge the overall statistical and quality objectives. This includes but is not limited to combining data obtained and analyzed from DSS, VISTA, and other integrated and non-integrated databases. This includes knowledge of the assessment and improvement of program effectiveness and the improvement of complex management processes and systems; a comprehensive knowledge of a broad range of administrative directives, policies, regulations, and precedents applicable to the administration of a complex clinical support service across the healthcare system. Possess knowledge of management analysis principles and concepts; a thorough knowledge of the medical facility mission, functions, goals and objectives; organizational structure and individual program responsibilities; and relationships with the service level organizations in order to conduct reviews and evaluations regarding medical facility operations and activities as they relate to the Engineering program. Knowledge of rules, regulations, methods, procedures and practices in a wide variety of administrative management areas (i.e., budget, contracting and procurement, equipment, and property). Ability to train, mentor and monitor suspense and work of staff. Must be skilled in oral and especially written communication to effectively deal with interactions with officials within the Service and others within the medical center. Skill in preparing analytical compliance reporting and other written documents which clearly present facts, issues, recommendations, analysis and actions. Physical Demands: Most of the work is sedentary but occasional standing, walking, stooping and bending is required. Often visits services and directs visitors, patients and vendors to various areas. Position is subject to emotional stress due to a rapid pace and sometimes emergent nature of the work. Work Environment: Work is performed in an office setting with other personnel. There is continuous noise from telephone calls, talking, printers, copiers, radios, equipment, and pagers. Work Schedule: 8:00am to 4:30pm, Monday - Friday Telework: Not available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Support Asst (OA)/PD210100 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized. Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/12/2026. 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. In order to qualify for this position at the GS-7 level, you must possess the following: Specialized Experience: One (1) full year of specialized experience that equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties the Program Support Assistant at the full performance level (GS-7), and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled.To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-6) in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes experience where you were responsible for providing administrative support functions within a healthcare facility; experienced with procurement processes necessary to obtain goods and services for an office; performing automation duties using such software applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, electronic mail, desktop publishing, calendar, database and/or graphics; assisting in the formulation and execution of budget estimates to include updating budget spreadsheets which are used in briefings; collecting, compiling and tracking data and information; and researching reference materials, regulations, and standards to identify appropriate action necessary to correct problems or issues. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level. How You Will Be Evaluated

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position: Accountability Attention to Detail Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. 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. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. Other Information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act. Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced 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/. Whole Health is an approach to health care that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their life to the fullest. The VA is committed to Whole Health and values Veteran and Employee health and wellbeing. As a VA employee, you will practice Whole Health in an environment that supports personalized and proactive care.