Environmental Protection Specialist

Summary
The Alaska VA Healthcare System (AVAHS) Green Environmental Management Systems (GEMS) program manager is the key member of the AVAHS Facilities Management and Facility GEMS Committee responsible for ensuring, implementing, developing and maintaining the GEMS Program remains compliant. AVAHS is a highly complex, enterprise healthcare system with multi-division, primary care elements in remote locations affiliated with multiple external organizations.
This job is open to

• Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)
  Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee.
• Federal employees - Competitive service
  Current or former competitive service federal employees.
• Federal employees - Excepted service
  Current excepted service federal employees.
• Land & base management
  Certain current or former term or temporary federal employees of a land or base management agency.
• Military spouses
• Peace Corps & AmeriCorps Vista
• Special authorities
  Individuals eligible under a special authority not listed above, but defined in the federal hiring regulations.
• Veterans
• Individuals with disabilities

Clarification from the agency
Special authorities include: Former overseas employees and foreign service employees. Clarification for these authorities is provided in the questionnaire.
Videos
Duties
Major duties include, but, are not limit to;

• Coordinates the efforts of staff involved with the GEMS program to ensure that the program is developed and implemented in accordance with VHA and VA medical center policy and guidance.
• Ensures that GEMS findings, conclusions, and inspection results lead to continual improvement of environmental programs.
• Assists in the development of facility wide goals and policies.
• Participates in the national-level GEMS committees, as well as liaising with other inspectors/surveyors.
• Leads site inspections at a variety of sites, hazardous waste disposal sites, transport locations, or storage areas where the problems may not be easily identified or conventional in nature.
• Evaluates work practices, determines compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and develops changes to control or eliminate potential or existing hazards or violations.
• Investigates routine violations of all environmental laws and prepares abatement actions and reports.
• Facilitates the interaction of complex relationships between human health, ecosystems, environmental, medical, and natural resource programs to meet federal and state mandated guidelines.
• Gathers and examines evidence of violations; prepares warning letters, complaints, administrative orders, etc. and assembles case files for civil and criminal actions.
• Provides a technical review of every construction and renovation project, significant maintenance, and repair work planned for the facilities.
• Leads internal audits of the environmental compliance programs.
• Develops and implements custom facility and service specific environmental policies, procedures and systems.

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.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm
Telework: Ad Hoc; VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Environmental Protection Specialist/PD50348-0 and PD50349-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Requirements
Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/05/2023.
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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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 your experience and/or education as described below:

• Specialized Experience GS 9: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  
  • Basic knowledge of Federal, State, and local laws and regulations, documentation and reporting requirements, and lawmaking or rulemaking processes to make decisions and recommendations significantly changing, interpreting, or expanding important agency policies and programs
  • Demonstrate knowledge in developing facility options for regulatory framework and new programs (e.g. refrigerants, greenhouse gases, fuel tank operator training), drafting moderately-complex procedures and securing concurrence of affected services, and evaluating regulatory implementation by affected services
  • Demonstrate a growing knowledge of management practices and procedures to resolve facility environmental problems of major significance;
  • Provide technical expertise and guidance on program areas of installation and surrounding areas' protection, with significant oversight;
  • Basic skills in using standard data gathering and analysis techniques to collect and review technical information on environmental activities or quality to identify and solve problems of a procedural or factual nature; OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field closely related to the duties of the position, or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience that is beyond the GS-7 grade level but less than one year and for education, have more than one year but less than two years of graduate education. Please computed the percentage of these requirements and the total should be at least 100% of the requirements for the GS-9 grade level.

• Specialized Experience GS 11: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  
  • Plan and carry out a variety of projects and program activities to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations and to improve the administration of Environmental Protection programs;
  • Identifying, analyzing, and making recommendations to resolve conventional and sometimes unconventional environmental compliance problems and situations;
  • Demonstrates knowledge of the established principles, concepts, and methods of Environmental Protection program work, and skill in applying this knowledge in performing a variety of duties involving the management, coordination, monitoring, oversight, or evaluation of routine programs, projects, and other activities impacting the Environmental Protection program
  • Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing to prepare and conduct briefings, training programs, lead group meetings, and write reports and letters;
  • Advise managers and leadership in policy and training OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or three full academic years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a doctoral degree in a field closely related to the duties of the position, or LL.M., if related. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience that is beyond the GS-9 grade level but less than one year and for education, more than two years but less than three years of graduate education. Please computed the percentage of these requirements and the total should at least 100% for the GS-11 grade level.

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

• Communications and Media
• Environmental Engineering
• Hazardous Materials
• Technical Competence

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.
Physical Requirements: The work is primarily in an office setting. Remainder of work is in field conditions performing work site inspections. Work may require travel to HCC and CBOCs to ensure environmental compliance. There may be exposure to moderate risks or discomforts in waste storage areas, Wastewater Treatment and Boiler Plants; and when responding to spills (e.g. fuel oil, lab chemicals).
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/.
Education
A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.
Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.
Additional information
Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.
The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eli...