Purchasing Agent

Description:

This position serves as a member of the Prosthetics & Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) within the Prosthetic Service Line at the North Florida/South Georgia VA Healthcare System Medical Center and/or Community Base Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). This is a critical direct patient care, Veteran facing position that must work directly with the Veteran, hi/her family, surgeon or clinical provider, and the community care service.

Requirements:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/08/2025.

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-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 as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Complex and routine purchasing; Initiates procurement of all outpatients' medical requirements; Document all inventory and purchasing actions; Verifies adherence to training and other contractual agreements; Independently monitors, receives, tracks, interprets, and analyzes Prosthetic Consults, and prescriptions for items, services and home medical equipment from physicians, therapists, medical center personnel, Veterans, or their representatives; Assists and trains new Purchasing Agents; In-depth market research, collaboration with clinical providers, veterans, manufacturers and validation of quote to medical prescription.

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

• Compliance
• Contracting/Procurement
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Decisiveness
• Organizational Awareness
• Organizational Stewardship
• Self Management
• Web Technology

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 conducting 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. There may be frequent walks 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/ .