Attorney-Adviser (General) Job at US Defense Health Agency
Duties
- Advises the DHA command on civilian personnel law, labor relations and equal employment law issues, including matters arising from the civil service system, employment discrimination and a variety of other labor issues.
- Reviews proposed command activity regulations and actions from all the MTFs within the DHA for legal sufficiency, as well as, impact on other regulations, programs, procedures and methods of operation within the Region.
- Provides preventive law guidance by informing all management personnel of the impact of changes in civilian personnel and labor law and regulations.
- Counsels DHA leaders and supervisors on informal resolution of grievances, providing guidance to line management and all EEO officers within the Region/Markets on resolving informal discrimination complaints.
- Provides timely responses to difficult, complex, and urgent legal problems presented so as to preclude interruptions in services.
- Conducts classes and training for commanders, staff and other personnel on a variety of administrative and operational areas.
- Assists DHA Ethics Counselors and the DHA government ethics programs.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- Appointment may require a suitability/fitness determination.
- A one year trial/probationary period may be required.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a SECRET security clearance.
- Approximately 5% travel may be required. Travel may involve local, and or overnight.
Qualifications
In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. 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; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.
Qualification Requirements: The following minimum qualification requirements must be met before applicants are eligible for further consideration:
Education Requirements: Position requires the possession of a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) and, for assignment within the Department of Defense, OGC, or DLSA, active membership in the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia. The Military Departments may also extend the requirement for active bar membership to assignment of civilian attorneys within their respective Departments.
Only degrees from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education are acceptable to meet positive education requirements or to substitute education for experience. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and U.S. Department of Education websites at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications and http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html.
Thus, an applicant must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.). As indicated below, a law school transcript must be submitted with your application materials.
Statement of Good Standing: Applicant must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. As noted below, proof of such membership and good standing must be submitted with your application materials.
Experience: Attorneys performing duties at the GS-14 or equivalent-level positions are expected to perform with substantial independence, even when working on the most complex or difficult matters. Thus, the applicant must have 2 years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. Graduation from an ABA-Accredited Law School in the top 25% of the class or an advanced law degree such as an LL.M. may substitute for one year of the required professional legal experience.
You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Your application package will be evaluated to ensure your experience, knowledge, skills, training and/or education meet the qualification requirements stated in this vacancy announcement. Quality of experience relates to how closely or to what extent an applicant's background and regency of experience and education clearly reflect that you possess the following required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA's) to successfully perform the duties of this position. The following KSA's must be addressed in your resume. Failure to do so may result in an ineligible rating or affect your overall rating.
Specialized experience and knowledge regarding federal laws, regulations, policies and procedures related to providing legal advice and legal reviews on construction, architect-engineering, and real estate services contract formation and contact administration issues (including knowledge of and experience in interpreting the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFARS), and the USACE Acquisition Instructions (UAI)) and other agency contracting regulations and requirements.
Knowledge, skills, and abilities as it applies to providing legal advice on interagency actions and authorities to include the Economy Act requirements, applying another agency's authorities when acting as a servicing agency, interagency agreements, and general fiscal law requirements and principles related to both USACE's and another agency's funding.
Knowledge, skills, and ability in the acting as a trial attorney especially in forums such as the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, including writing Contracting Officer Final Decisions, conducting discovery, drafting pleadings, conducting depositions, drafting settlement agreements, and trying cases.
Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.
NOTICE OF VETERAN'S PREFERENCE: There is no formal rating system for applying veteran's preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of the Army considers veteran's preference eligibility a positive factor for attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veteran's preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documents (e.g., DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active duty) to their submissions. Although the point-preference system is not used, applicants eligible to claim a 10-point preference must submit a Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, and supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed. (SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preference and the required supporting documents, is available from the Office of Personnel Management Website at http://www.opm.gov/).
Education
FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html
Please refer to Qualifications section for information on the education requirements for this position.
Additional information
- Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
- You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
- Direct Deposit of Pay is required.
- If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.
- This is a Career Program (CP) 56-Legal position.
- You may claim military spouse preference.
- Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
- If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.
Benefits
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How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Your application package (resume and supporting documents) will be evaluated for basic qualification requirements and for the skills needed to perform the duties of the position, as described in this vacancy announcement and identified by the Selecting Official.
Veteran's preference requirements do not apply to attorney positions in the excepted service, however the principles of veteran's preference will be followed to the extent which is administratively feasible.
Time in Grade: The Qualifying Authorities (QA's) will make a determination as to the applicability of time in grade based on the requirements of the position. If you are currently employed as an attorney by the Federal government you must have completed one year at the next lower grade level within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement, or previously served at the same or higher grade level as the position being filled.
Benefits
Review our benefits
Required Documents
As a new or existing federal employee, you and your family may have access to a range of benefits. Your benefits depend on the type of position you have - whether you're a permanent, part-time, temporary or an intermittent employee. You may be eligible for the following benefits, however, check with your agency to make sure you're eligible under their policies.
The following documents are required to be submitted as part of your application package:
1. Your resume:
Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
For additional information see: What to include in your resume.
2. Law school transcripts:
Unofficial transcripts are acceptable as long as official transcripts are submitted prior to entry on duty
3. Certificate of Good Standing:
Certificate of Good Standing from the bar of a state, territory, District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The certificate must be dated within 90 days of the closing date of the announcement.
4. Self-certified statement of fitness to practice law:
The statement should state under oath that your (the applicant's) fitness to practice law has never been challenged in any jurisdiction. The statement must be dated within 90 days of the closing date of the announcement. If fitness has been challenged, you must provide a sworn statement in detail as to the circumstances.
5. Other supporting documents:- Cover Letter, optional
- Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
- Veterans documents, if applicable
- Permanent change of station (PCS) orders and marriage license, if claiming military spouse preference.
- Writing sample of 3-5 pages including the analysis of a legal issue. (Required)
NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
How to Apply
To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above.
The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 03/06/2023 to receive consideration- To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11844175).
- Follow the prompts to select your résumé and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
- After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
- You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
- It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.
- Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center.
To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.
Agency contact information
Army Applicant Help Desk
Website
https://portal.chra.army.mil/hr_public?id=app_inq
Address
KF-DHA-DDAAFC DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY HQ
DO NOT MAIL
Falls Church, VA 22042
USNext steps
If you have questions regarding this job posting please visit: https://portal.chra.army.mil/hr_public?id=app_inq and complete the online submission form. To expedite the process please include the Job announcement number, which can be found at the top, right hand side of the job announcement.
If you provided an email address, you will receive an email message acknowledging receipt of your application. Your application package will be used to determine your eligibility, qualifications, and quality ranking for this position. If you are determined to be ineligible or not qualified, your application will receive no further consideration.Fair and Transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
- Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy
- Reasonable accommodation policy
- Financial suitability
- Selective Service
- New employee probationary period
- Signature and false statements
- Privacy Act
- Social security number request
Required Documents
The following documents are required to be submitted as part of your application package:
1. Your resume:
Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
For additional information see: What to include in your resume.
2. Law school transcripts:
Unofficial transcripts are acceptable as long as official transcripts are submitted prior to entry on duty
3. Certificate of Good Standing:
Certificate of Good Standing from the bar of a state, territory, District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The certificate must be dated within 90 days of the closing date of the announcement.
4. Self-certified statement of fitness to practice law:
The statement should state under oath that your (the applicant's) fitness to practice law has never been challenged in any jurisdiction. The statement must be dated within 90 days of the closing date of the announcement. If fitness has been challenged, you must provide a sworn statement in detail as to the circumstances.
5. Other supporting documents:
- Cover Letter, optional
- Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
- Veterans documents, if applicable
- Permanent change of station (PCS) orders and marriage license, if claiming military spouse preference.
- Writing sample of 3-5 pages including the analysis of a legal issue. (Required)
NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
This job is open to
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Military spouses
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The public
U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
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