Purchasing Agent

The VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System is recruiting for a Purchasing Agent. The Purchasing Agent will function in Logistics Service.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/20/2024.

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 by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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 education and/or 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: experience performing clerical or assistant duties in support of purchasing and procurement; procuring supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of an organization; working with medical staff to determine procurement needs and priorities; resolving a variety of shipment, payment, or other discrepancies in support of procurement programs and operations; purchasing various equipment, supplies, and services through the use of a purchase card; and assembling and/or summarizing information from files and documents as required to create reports utilizing automated computerized supply/inventory management systems and Microsoft Office software programs such as MS Word and Excel.

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

• Customer Service
• Technical Competence
• Reasoning
• Manages and Organizes Information
• Manages Resources
• Decision Making
• Critical Thinking

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.

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/.

Physical Requirements: Requires some physical effort such as standing, sitting, walking, or bending. There are no special physical demands.

Responsibilities:

Duties of a Purchasing Agent includes but not limited to:

• Advises approving officials and purchase card holders on purchase card program, procurement procedures and responsibilities.
• Answers telephones and refers calls.
• Conducts follow up action on undelivered orders and aged purchase card transactions to close our purchase orders.
• Provides clerical support and coordination to approving officials and administrators.
• Responds to requests or complaints.
• Conducts purchasing under the micro purchase threshold.
• Coordinates sources of supplies and acceptable substitutions.
• Initiates and provides training to acquisition and technical staff on the procurement process.
• Makes purchases involving specialized requirements and/or commercial requirements.
• Provides procurement support throughout the procurement cycle.
• Conducts open market research for purchases of routine equipment, supplies, and services.
• Examines incoming procurement requests for completeness.
• Performs program analysis function.
• Utilizes departmental software to produce printouts for logistic and medical staff.
• Utilizes various web-based applications to identify required sources of supply.
• Collects data to determine price reasonableness.
• Identifies factors to determine the best offer applicable for procurement
• Maintains accountable procurement records and auditing information.
• Maintains inventory of supplies or equipment.
• Obtains facts for making decisions or recommendations.
• Monitors purchase requests and active and delinquent invoices, and processes receipts.
• Monitors purchases and reconciles credit card billing statements.
• Maintains catalogs, contract files, and lists of firms offering specific equipment, supplies, and services.
• Develops reports and spreadsheets, obtains and organizes files, and retrieves reports for briefings and presentation purposes.
• Reviews, assembles, and maintains procurement related files and related systems.
• Analyzes descriptions and characteristics to identify problem areas.
• Applies conventional practices to solve problems in a procurement transaction.
• Resolves minor disputes and informal complaints.
• Identifies needs or problems and determines recommended corrective actions, alternatives or solutions.
• Plans and coordinates actions to prevent, correct, or resolve delays or misunderstandings in the purchasing process.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD81034A and PD32712A