Job Title: Senior Contract Specialist

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, the requirement that applicants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to E.O. 14043 does not currently apply as of the date of this job opportunity announcement. ICE will request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

As a Senior Contract Specialist, you will perform the following duties:

Schedules work priorities and sets deadlines for work completion based on workforce availability, workload, and productivity analysis, defines technical work requirements, develops and revises tactical and strategic plans as needed.
Serves as chief negotiator and team lead planning negotiation strategy to ensure attainment of goals and arriving at an agreement in the best interests of the Government in technical and cost areas.
Analyzes and evaluates contracting matters; initiation, development, and recommendation of contracting policies, procedures, guidance, and control for subordinate contracting activities within the Department.
Serves as contract advisor to program officials in procurement planning meetings, advising program officials of the procurement objectives to be used and assisting in the preparation of statements of work.
Serves as the "Acting" Supervisor in periods of the Supervisor's Absence, performing a limited range of supervisory duties during these periods.
You will be assigned to support a designated contracting section within the Office of Acquisition Management (OAQ). We are seeking competent, experienced and mission-focused Contract Specialists for assignments in the following areas:
Information Technology Division (ITD): The ITD provides procurement services for Automated Information Systems (AIS), approved Information Technology (IT) services requirements and Private Branch Exchange (PBX) phone systems.
Detention, Compliance and Removals (DCR): The DCR division provides acquisition support to ICE Headquarters and Field Offices throughout the country for detention, along with ancillary services and supplies in support of the ICE mission.
Mission Support (MS): The MS Washington contracting division awards and administers contracts and interagency agreements for a broad range of supplies and services and provides mission-based acquisition support to various program offices.

Conditions of Employment
You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
You must successfully pass a background investigation.
You must successfully pass a drug screen.
Males born after 12/31/59 must certify registration with Selective Service.
Requirements by Closing Date: Unless otherwise noted, you must meet all requirements by the closing date of the announcement.
Probationary Period: This is a full-time permanent position (Career/Career-Conditional appointment). Upon appointment to this position, you may be required to serve a one-year probationary period.
Qualifications
BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

You must meet the basic requirement(s) for this position. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Individual Occupational Requirements (IORs) for the Contracting, 1102 series are as follows:

(A) You must complete all mandatory training prescribed by the head of the agency for progression to GS-13 or higher level contracting positions, including: at least 4 years of experience in contracting or related positions. At least 1 year of that experience must have been specialized experience at or equivalent to work at the next lower level of the position, and must have provided the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the work of the position. You must have a Level III Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C Level III) or a Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act Level III Certification in Contracting (DAWIA Level III).

AND

(B) A 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours in any combination of the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management.

(C) Exceptions: Employees in GS-1102 positions will be considered to have met the standard for positions they occupy on January 1, 2000. This also applies to positions at the same grade in the same agency if the specialized experience requirements are met. However, they will have to meet the basic requirements and specialized experience requirements in order to qualify for promotion to a higher grade, unless granted a waiver under Paragraph D.

(D) Waiver: When filling a specific vacant position, the senior procurement executive of the selecting agency, at his or her discretion, may waive any or all of the requirements of Paragraphs A and B above if the senior procurement executive certifies that the applicant possesses significant potential for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority, based on demonstrated analytical and decision making capabilities, job performance, and qualifying experience. With respect to each waiver granted under this Paragraph D, the senior procurement executive must document for the record the basis of waiver. If an individual is placed in a position in an agency on the basis of a waiver, the agency may later reassign that individual to another position at the same grade level within that agency without additional waiver action.

AND

Certification requirement: This position requires level III Acquisition Certification in Contracting (Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) Level III or a Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Level III certification in contracting)

IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE ABOVE BASIC EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS, YOU MUST ALSO MEET THE FOLLOWING MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Minimum Qualifications: In addition to meeting the basic requirements listed above you must also meet the following minimum qualifications:

You qualify for the GS-14 grade level if you possess one (1) year of specialized experience at the GS-13 grade level or equivalent performing duties such as:
Meets periodically with program managers to jointly identify large-scale components, equipment, and support services to be acquired by contract;
Advises program officials of the procurement objectives to be used, and assist in the preparation of statements of work; and
Plans negotiation strategy, coordinates strategy with negotiation team, and leads the negotiations which are conducted with contractors to develop the contract prices and terms.
Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Qualification claims will be subject to verification.