Contract Specialist

This position is located in the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Office of Acquisition and Grants Management (OAGM). As a Contract Specialist, GS-1102-13, you will be responsible for pre-award and post award functions involving highly specialized procurements of significant importance to the HHS health, regulatory, or human services programs.

Major duties

• Serve as a Contract Specialist, performing all contract administration functions ensuring compliance with contract provisions.
• Perform cost/price analysis, including review of cost breakdowns to determine reasonableness and conformance to applicable regulations, directives and policies.
• Establish negotiation strategies and lead negotiations to obtain the most favorable terms and conditions for the government.
• Prepare solicitation documents which incorporate required Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and HHS policies and provisions.

Qualifications

ALL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS MUST BE MET BY THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. Your resume (limited to no more than 2 pages) must include detailed information as it relates to the responsibilities and specialized experience for this position. Evidence of copying and pasting directly from the vacancy announcement without clearly documenting supplemental information to describe your experience will result in an ineligible rating. This will prevent you from receiving further consideration. In order to qualify for the GS-13, you must meet the following: You must demonstrate in your resume at least one year (52 weeks) of qualifying specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal government, obtained in either the private or public sector, to include: 1) Perform cost and price analysis functions for a variety of contracts;2) Establish negotiation strategies to obtain the most favorable terms and conditions; AND 3) Prepare all contract documents. 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). 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.

Education

Education Requirement: In addition to meeting the qualification requirements, all candidates must have the following educational requirements: Completed all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher level contracting positions, including at least 4-years experience in contracting or related positions (at least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position, and must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position) AND completed a 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management. OR Completed all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher level contracting positions, including at least 4-years experience in contracting or related positions AND qualify for an Exception: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. This also applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency or other agencies if the specialized experience requirements are met. However, they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade. OR Completed all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher level contracting positions, including at least 4-years experience in contracting or related positions AND possess a waiver: When filling a specific vacant position, the senior procurement executive of the selecting agency, at his or her discretion, may waive any or all of the requirements of Paragraphs A and B above if the senior procurement executive certifies that the applicant possesses significant potential for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority, based on demonstrated analytical and decision making capabilities, job performance, and qualifying experience. With respect to each waiver granted under this paragraph, the senior procurement executive must document for the record the basis of the waiver. TRANSCRIPTS (official or unofficial) are required to verify satisfactory completion of the educational requirement listed above. Failure to submit a copy of your transcripts at the time of application WILL result in an ineligible rating. Please see "Required Documents" section below for what documentation is required at the time of application. Click the following link to view the occupational questionnaire: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12994767