Consumer Affairs Specialist - Remote

Summary The incumbent serves as a Consumer Affairs Specialist at Central Arkansas Veterans Health care System (CAVHS). The incumbent has broad responsibilities in the areas of congressional relations, consumer affairs, and the Network Action Item Program. In each of these areas, the selectee is expected to coordinate and follow-up on actions to assure all requirements are met, that all sources have been appropriately involved, and that actions taken are consistent with the organization's goals. Responsibilities Duties Include but are not limited to: - Manages and/or prepares responses to all executive correspondence. - Reviews correspondence for technical and substantive compliance with management and department policies. - Conducts a review of correspondence prepared for signature of Medical Center Director. - Assures that responses to interest group representatives and clients are consistent with agency policies and positions on difficult or complex matters. - Provides assistance to staff to assure that the responses to complex inquiries from high level sources or significant interest groups are timely, complete, appropriate and in compliance with executive preferences and policies. - Develops the procedures to control tracing of incoming executive correspondence; for follow-up to assure timely action or reply; and for filing to enable easy retrieval of all documents, responses, and executive correspondence. - Acts as a working liaison with congressional offices, Veteran's service organizations, and other key constituent groups whose interests are in helping and protecting Veterans, their families, and their representatives. - Maintains records of all controlled correspondence in appropriate tracking package(s). - Demonstrates expertise in use of appropriate computer hardware/software to accomplish tasks. - Manages the action item program responding to requests for information or data. - Maintains records of all action items in appropriate tracking package(s). - Demonstrates expertise in use of appropriate computer hardware/software to accomplish tasks. Work Schedule: Administrative Hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm; subject to change based on the needs of the agency Telework: Not Available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Consumer Affairs Specialist/PD04603A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/22/2023. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience preparing responses to executive correspondence, from the White House, VA Central Office, Congressional Offices, patients, families Service Organizations and others; Responding to requests for information or data primarily originating from the following entities: Network Director, Department of Veterans Affairs, Deputy Under Secretary for Health, Operations and Management, Office of Inspector General (hotline cases), Congressional Liaison Office VACO; Reviewing documents to determine the appropriate Service/Program to assign to for response; Reviewing data and response to ensure action items are answered completely and accurately; Prioritizing workload and urgency to ensure action items and executive correspondence responses are submitted timely; Utilizing spreadsheets to track and monitor action items and executive correspondence; Experience with administrative processes such as Medical Center Memorandums and executive correspondence policies and procedures; Experience with customer service to interface with congressional staffers, Network and VACO, employees and family members; Experience with the facility structure to correctly assign action items and congressional inquiries to the appropriate service or individual. This experience must be supported by your resume to be creditable. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed Ph. D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED).. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analytical Reasoning Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) External Awareness Organizational Stewardship 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: Although no unusual physical demands are required, the Consumer Affairs Specialist may frequently work under stressful conditions involving disgruntled customers, concerned patients/families/constituents, communication breakdowns, and deadlines set by the Network or Central Office. Physical requirements include walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as medical records, etc. Travel between the Little Rock and North Little Rock hospital campuses is sometimes required. 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. 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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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 *****(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/. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.