Program Analyst (Compliance)

This position is in the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Office of Policy and Oversight, Outreach, Transition and Economic Development (OTED), Quality and Compliance Division. The purpose of the Quality and Compliance Division is to perform quality reviews on customer interactions and conduct operational assessments on program compliance at VBA regional office (RO) public contact teams (PCT) and national contact center (NCC) locations.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:01/18/2024.

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.

To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50). The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status, and shows Time in Grade (for example, you were a career or career-conditional employee) and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). 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 also submit your most recent promotion or within-grade increase in addition to your recent SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade. DO NOT submit Award SF-50s and/or General Adjustment SF-50s as they cannot be used to prove time-in-grade.

• For a GS-13 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

GS-13 Level: One year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level.

• Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is defined as experience reviewing policies and procedures specific to public-facing interactions to determine the impact on field operations and conducting evaluative studies of field offices to determine field strengths, weaknesses, best practices, and recommendations. Specialized experience is typically gained from the development, examination, research, and analysis of public-facing field operations to include the identification of policy, procedural guidance, and training to ensure effective program oversight and compliance to increase customer satisfaction.
• Expert knowledge of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods for the assessment and improvement of public facing program effectiveness or the improvement of complex management processes and systems.

• Education Substitution: There is no education substitution at this grade level.

Volunteer Experience: 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.
Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week.
Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary but involves use of a personal computer so a degree of manual dexterity and visual acuity sufficient to use these tools is required. Occasional standing, bending, walking, and stooping are also necessary. Some slight physical effort is required in that incumbent lifts and carries books, laptop, Veteran files, and similar items. No special physical demands are required.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Responsibilities:

This position exists in the Compliance Office. The function of this staff is to accomplish the following primary goals:

• Conduct onsite and virtual program reviews pertaining to PCT activities at ROs and operational reviews of operations and performance at the NCCs. The inspections inform VBA leadership and management about assessment findings and areas of improvement to VBA programs and services.
• Assist with the identification of policy, procedural guidance, and training to ensure effective program oversight and compliance in order to increase customer satisfaction.
• Provide recommendations to improve performance and/or efficiency for PCT and NCCs.

Specific duties include:
The Program Analyst monitors operating program compliance and activities on all program requirements pertaining to VBA ROs PCT areas as well as the VBA NCC operations. The incumbent works in close cooperation with other elements of VBA as it relates to benefits and services provided to service members, Veterans, and their dependents.

The incumbent performs the following work:

• Comprehensive knowledge of Veterans Benefits Administration benefits and associated administrative and/or support programs.
• Analyzes current program procedures, evaluates effectiveness, and reviews workload data to provide solutions to improve processes and procedures related to onsite/virtual assessments and customer satisfaction services for field personnel and VA beneficiaries while maintaining compliance with VA regulations and statutes.
• Recommends objectives and operations for new and existing programs within the scope of site visits, direct service program activities and customer satisfaction programs. Recommends appropriate methods of developing and delivering onsite/virtual assessments and customer satisfaction programs to ensure field personnel understand the program initiatives and legislative updates to VA benefits and services.
• Identifies action or potential problem areas, trends, significant program accomplishments, merit and deficiency solutions, areas of imbalance or other similar factors involving oversight and improving customer satisfaction through the effective delivery of benefits and services. Measures progress toward and determines the soundness of objectives in established site visit protocol and related programs.
• Recommends and formulates instructions, directives, guidelines, policies, plans or procedures to ensure the effectiveness of PCT outreach and direct service-related activities. Analyzes and evaluates, on quantitative basis, the effectiveness of the programs and operations in meeting established goals and objectives at the NCCs.
• Assists PCTs and NCCs with instructions for implementing policy, procedures, or training. The incumbent undertakes long and short-range research and studies focusing on improving customer service to support the organization's business goals and objectives. Gathers relevant data, analyzes it critically, and makes recommendations based on findings using available resources. Deals with issues of both sensitive and high-profile nature while advising leadership on the national impact or shape the future of the organization.
• Utilizes various electronic data processing systems for inputting data related to claims adjudication, processing, monitoring, and correspondence preparation.
• Prepares for and conducts oral presentations to various audiences within Central Office, OTED, VBA senior management, department level executives, and outside agencies.
• Prepares clear and concise documents and assists with developing and updating procedural guidance for distribution to PCTs and NCCs. Drafts briefing papers, answers Congressional and external stakeholder inquiries.
• Research Veteran-specific issues, and prepares all necessary administrative materials, correspondence, and justifications detailing reasons for decisions.
• Serves as an advisor and consultant to the supervisor on determinations involving decisions on individual and national issues regarding technical, regulatory, procedural and operations aspects.
• Undertakes unassisted, special projects and studies relative to site visit and research program responsibilities. Participates in development of various training tools and materials for use at field stations and NCCs.
• Leads in-house efforts and actively participates as a team member or sub-group leader on project teams involving participants outside of VBA.
• The incumbent performs other duties as assigned.

Promotion Potential: None, this position is at the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday, 8am - 4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible: Available.
Telework: Available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Analyst (Compliance); GS-0343-13, PD# 37380-A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required.