Congressional Affairs Specialist

Congressional Affairs Specialist

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

Joint Activities

Overview

Open & closing dates

 07/17/2018 to 07/27/2018

Salary

$109,603 to $142,484 per year

Summary

About the Position:

We provide direct support to a four-star unified Combatant Commander, but are compact enough that our staff also works with senior leadership representatives of our inter-service, inter-agency and (public and private) international partner organizations. Our contribution to furthering our country's relationships with South and Central American nations and peoples are substantial. We are looking for talented and enthusiastic individuals to join the US SOUTHCOM team.

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Responsibilities

Serves as legislative liaison, strategist and analyst.

Provides advice to senior leadership on issues of Congressional interest, assists in preparing leadership to engage with Members of Congress and their staff, and to deliver testimony and information briefings.

Tracks Congressional budget actions and conducts analysis of legislation at all stages to assess their impact on USSOUTHCOM programs.

Analyzes the commands programs, plans, and current problems to determine specific areas where Congressional interest may have favorable or unfavorable impact on USSOUTHCOM.

Assists in the development of responses to formal and informal inquiries from Members of Congress and their staffs. Prepares various written reports and makes presentations at meetings and conferences.

Serves as a staff officer responsible for researching, identifying, recommending and conducting outreach to other organizations, both within and outside of the Executive Branch, to advance USSOUTHCOM's strategic goals.

Coordinates and synchronizes USSOUTHCOM activities with interagency efforts.

Works with USSOUTHCOM staff and government agencies in the Washington DC area to ensure a common understanding of each other's capabilities, limitations, and intentions.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status

No

Promotion Potential

14

Job family (Series)

0301 Miscellaneous Administration And Program

Requirements

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.

Position is designated Critical-Sensitive (3) requiring a TOP SECRET security clearance. Incumbent must obtain and maintain a TOP SECRET security clearance and access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).

This position is covered by the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Program. The incumbent must pass urinalysis testing, as required prior to appointment and periodically thereafter.

THIS IS A FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Level 3 Certified position. Failure to obtain this certification within the required time may subject the incumbent to adverse action.

This position will be filled on a TERM basis, not to exceed 3 years. This TERM appointment MAY be extended to the maximum period allowed by law without further competition (up to a maximum of six years).

This position is an obligated position.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities.

30 Percent or More Disabled Veterans

Current Department of Army Civilian Employees

Current Permanent Department of Defense (DOD) Civilian Employee (non-Army)

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan

Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer

Priority Placement Program (PPP), Program S (Military Spouse) registrant

Reinstatement

In order to qualify, you must meet the experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.

Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes experience as a legislative professional, assisting in the development and execution of a congressional engagement plan that effectively supports the organization's priorities and goals; providing advice to senior leadership on issues of Congressional interest, assisting in preparing leadership to engage with Members of Congress and their staff; tracking Congressional budget actions and conducting analysis of legislation at all stages to assess their impact on organization's programs; distilling and disseminating key information to organization's staff and component staffs and assisting in the development of strategies to overcome legislative obstacles; analyzing the commands programs, plans, and current problems to determine specific areas where Congressional interest may have favorable or unfavorable impact on organization; and assisting in the development of responses to formal and informal inquiries from Members of Congress and their staffs. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-13).

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:

Administration and Management

Planning and Evaluating

Technical Competence

Time in Grade Requirement: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-13).

Education

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.

Additional information

Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.

You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.

Two year trial/probationary period may be required.

Direct deposit of pay is required.

Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees.

This is a Career Program (CP) 60 position

Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.

Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). If you are a Federal employee in the competitive service and your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority. To receive selection priority for this position, you must: (1) meet ICTAP eligibility criteria; (2) be rated well-qualified for the position with a score of 90 or above; and, (3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your ICTAP eligibility. Additional information about the program is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website.

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How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your résumé and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your résumé and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.

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Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance

Top Secret/SCI

Required Documents

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Required Documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc). Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Merit Checklist and Proof of Eligibility.

As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

1. Your resume:

Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.

If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.

For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.

For additional information see: What to include in your resume.

2. Other supporting documents:

Cover Letter, optional

Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable

Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy. The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority. You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration.

Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old).

NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

Benefits

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Benefits

A career with the U.S. Government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Learn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time, or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How to Apply

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How to Apply

To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above.

The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 07/27/2018 to receive consideration.

To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/10253782).

Follow the prompts to select your résumé and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.

After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.

You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.

It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.

Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center.

To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.

If you submit an inquiry to the e-mail address listed in the Agency Contact Information below please identify the announcement number of the position in the subject line of the e-mail. This will expedite a response to your inquiry.

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Agency contact information

 Army Applicant Help Desk

Phone

(000)000-0000

Email

USARMY.APG.CHRA-NE.MBX.APPLICANTHELP@MAIL.MIL

Address

FR-APF-W096AA HQ USSOUTHCOM

DO NOT MAIL

Fort Sam Houston, TX

US