Veterans Service Representative (Fiduciary Service Representative)

This position is in the Department of Veterans Affairs, Regional Office (VARO), Fiduciary Hub. The incumbent serves as the Fiduciary Service Representative (FSR) for the division.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:01/21/2024.

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.

• For a GS-10 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level.
• For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-10 level.

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.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:
GS-10 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: One year of Specialized Experience which is equivalent to the GS-09 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience applying federal, state, and local laws to determine eligibility for benefits programs.
• Education Substitution: of 2 and a half years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in degree in Business, Management, Economics, Finance, or another degree with coursework that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do this work of this position. Graduate level courses must demonstrate your education has provided you the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position (as described in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement)

GS-11 Grade Level

• Specialized Experience: One year of Specialized Experience which is equivalent to the GS-10 level. One year of Specialized Experience which is equivalent to the GS-10 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience applying state laws pertaining to conservatorship and estate administration to make decisions about claims or requests for benefits; Or experience in award promulgation and/or authorization activities.
• Education Substitution: of a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree in Business, Management, Economics, Finance, or another degree with coursework that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do this work of this position; or an LL.M., if related. Graduate level courses must demonstrate your education has provided you the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position (as described in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement).

Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information.
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: The work is sedentary in an office setting. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. Travel may be required in order to assist with training and/or outreach.

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:

The FSR is responsible for making factual quasi-legal and subjective determinations involved in the administration of all types of beneficiary estates, the protection of their benefit rights, the routine handling of legal matters, and the identification of legal questions. The FSR also has knowledge of benefit programs and entitlement criteria, inputs data necessary to complete a final rating of competency, generates awards and authorizes payments.

Specific duties include:

• Analyzes and makes the final determination of the competency of veterans and other VA beneficiaries and provides the final notification of the determination.
• Generates the award for the retroactive payment release, once a fiduciary is established, as well as other award actions needed by the Fiduciary Program.
• Authorizes, reviews, and approves the pending award action for technical accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness.
• Ensures that estate protection is in place, when appropriate, before releasing large retroactive payments and in other cases where the VA beneficiary's funds may not be adequately protected
• Prepares Statements of the Case (SOC) on Fiduciary Program appeals.
• Provides training to other members of the Fiduciary Hub, VARO employees, service organization personnel, and other stakeholders, as needed. Serves as a Veterans Service Representative (VSR) and Legal Instruments Examiner (LIE) expert and provides technical guidance regarding the rating, generation, and authorization of Fiduciary Program awards.
• Utilizes various electronic data processing (EDP) systems for processing, monitoring, and correspondence preparation.
• Communicates directly with VA beneficiaries, eligible individuals, representatives, and advocates to explain the full range of VA benefits and all related programs.
• Gives final approval of accounts received from guardians, attorneys, legal custodians, or chief officers of state institutions except those showing a major account deficiency which cannot be remedied by correspondence. Approval is only given if the accounting is proper in every respect including commissions and/or fees within statutory or policy limits.
• Advises fiduciaries of regulations, necessary documentation and other factors which affect computation of income for VA purposes.
• Prepares reports for guardians in those cases in which VA is rendering legal services.
• Refers to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), accounts in which there is a possible indication of fraud, embezzlement, or other criminal offense.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The grade progression for this position is GS-10/11.

Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday - 8AM to 4:30PM (Flexible)
Compressed/Flexible: Available
Telework: Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Veterans Service Representative (Fiduciary Service Representative); 37531A/37530A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required