Facility Operations Specialist

Description:

This position is responsible for providing administrative and technical support to the Chief of Facilities Management Service (FMS) at the VA Central Western Massachusetts (VACWM). Performs a wide variety of administrative, technical and program duties essential to support all sections of FMS.

Requirements:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/30/2025.

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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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.

Quality Ranking Factor - National Fire Protection Association (NFPA experience / Quality Management & Compliance.

Individual Occupational Requirements: Undergraduate and Graduate Education:

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- engineering, industrial arts, property management, or business administration. OR

Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): Examples of qualifying specialized experience include:

• Managing a maintenance program for office or apartment building complexes, hospitals, recreation facilities, military, or other special-purpose installations, including planning maintenance activities, and developing preventive maintenance programs.

• Conducting surveillance activities over construction and maintenance operations performed by a variety of private contractors, including reviewing project plans and specifications for workability, informing contractors of construction and reporting requirements, and supervising operations for conformance with project plans.

• Performing maintenance or construction work, including estimating material and labor costs for a variety of construction or maintenance projects (such as construction or maintenance of brick, frame, structural steel, reinforced concrete, and other type structures ranging from one- or two-story buildings to larger structures), directing actual work operations, and maintaining appropriate contacts with the organization funding the project.

Grade Determination:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 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 that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Applicants who have the 1 year of appropriate specialized experience, as indicated in the table, are not required by this standard to have general experience, education above the high school level, or any additional specialized experience to meet the minimum qualification requirements. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Master's or equivalent graduate degree OR, two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree OR, LL.B., or J.D., if related . OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education. Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements for the grade levels specified in the table, and may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grades GS-9 and GS-11. (When crediting education that requires specific course work, prorate the number of hours of related courses required as a proportion of the total education to be used.).

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Contracting/Procurement
• Database Administration
• Organizational Performance Analysis
• Performance Measurement
• Technical Documentation

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 usually performed in an office environment. However, inspections; investigations of work requests; evaluations of space and utilities for equipment and other field work require frequent walking, standing, bending, climbing, etc.

Working Environment: Work is usually performed inside an office and other areas that have adequate lighting, heating and ventilation. Occasionally work is done outside in inclement weather or in areas that are very hot, cold or unventilated, such as crawlspaces and mechanical rooms.

Safety: All work is performed in a careful and safe manner, employing all safety precautions and procedures such that no lost time accidents are caused directly by gross negligence or clearly improper work procedures. Promptly reports all incidents and potential hazards to the supervisor. Safety procedures must be followed, and appropriate protective safety gear must be worn, for the specific work area or task.

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/ .