Forestry Technician (Timber Sale Administration)

Summary These positions are located on a National Forest, typically at the Forest Headquarters. The incumbent is delegated authority by the Regional Forester to serve as the Timber Sale Contracting Officer for all timber sales and integrated resource timber contracts on the Forest.

See ADDITIONAL SECTION for unit representative contact information about the duties and location(s) of these positions.

USDA Employees: Please refer to the Next Steps section. Duties The duties are listed at the full performance GS-12 grade level. | Serves as the Forest authority on timber sale and integrated resource timber contracts, providing expert advice on contract preparation, appraisal, administration, and contract practices to internal and external stakeholders. | Reviews contract disputes, appeals, and litigation issues to identify trends, apply precedent decisions, and provide guidance on contract-related matters affecting Forest programs. | Identifies potential contract and program risks, recommends corrective actions to prevent future disputes or claims, and prepares litigation reports with recommended courses of action and settlement options. | Serves as the Forest Contracting Officer and technical expert for timber sale contracts, developing contract provisions, providing contract interpretation, and delivering training, evaluation, and certification support for sale administrators | Reviews timber sale contracts and appraisals to ensure legal sufficiency, consistency with environmental decisions, and compliance with Forest Service appraisal principles. Conducts audits and resolves contract administration issues | Oversees contract award and execution activities, approves contract modifications, manages bid procedures, delegates authority to sale administration personnel, and coordinates contract administration activities across the Forest.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

For the GS-11: You must have one (1) year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-10 in Forestry Technician (Timber Sale Administration); or a related subject-matter field. Examples that demonstrate specialized experience include two or more of the following: Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following: Administering timber sale contracts; identifying resource concerns on the ground and coordinating applicable corrective measures; performing timber sale preparation duties and collecting timber presale information data as well as completing appraisals of timber sales and selecting of contract provisions based on NEPA documents; and conducting cruises of timber stands to determine volume of merchantable timber, species composition, accessibility, and environmental constraints.

OR

Three (3) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree (coursework directly related to position being filled).

OR

An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than thirty-six (36) semester hours leading to a Ph.D.)

For the GS-12: You must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to a GS-11 level in federal service. Examples that demonstrate specialized experience include two or more of the following: Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following: Serving as a timber sale contracting officer or technical authority responsible for administering and interpreting timber sale contracts, approving contract modifications, and resolving complex contract issues or disputes; and/or Reviewing timber sale contracts and appraisals for compliance with environmental decisions, Forest Service policies, and timber appraisal principles, and providing technical guidance on contract provisions and administration; and/or Conducting audits, reviews, or inspections of timber sale operations and timber sale administration activities to ensure contract compliance, consistency, and effective program implementation; and/or Providing leadership, training, or technical direction to timber sale administrators and other forestry personnel on timber sale contract administration, appraisal, contracting practices, claims, appeals, or litigation-related matters; and/or Analyzing and resolving complex timber sale contract claims, disputes, appeals, or litigation issues, including gathering and evaluating facts, preparing recommendations, reports, or settlement options, and coordinating with legal, agency, or external stakeholders.

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). 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.

TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.Education See QUALIFICATION SECTION for educational requirements.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov.
• The U.S. Government utilizes Trusted Workforce 2.0 to implement Continuous Vetting (CV) as a-whole-of government approach to personnel security. If selected for this position, you will be subject to continuous automated record checks of criminal, financial, and public record databases throughout your period of eligibility or employment, replacing traditional periodic reinvestigations.
• Subject to one year supervisory/managerial probationary period unless prior service is creditable. New Forest Service supervisors must successfully complete all components of the required training program before the end of their probationary period.
• Must have a valid driver's license for operating government vehicles to and from field inspections.
• As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated based on your qualifications for this position as evidenced by the experience, education, and training you described in your application package, as well as the responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine the degree to which you possess the competencies listed below:

• Oral Communication
• Planning and Evaluating
• Problem Solving
• Technical Competence

Your application, including the online Assessment Questionnaire, will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position.

If you meet the qualification requirements and are determined to be among the best qualified, you will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Noncompetitive candidates and applicants under some special hiring authorities must meet minimum qualifications to be referred.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13107843

Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.

You must choose to turn on email notifications in your USAJOBS profile if you want to receive important email notifications that may impact your applicant experience (e.g. If you start an application and do not submit it prior to the closing date, USAJOBS will send an email reminder that the closing date is approaching and your application is in an incomplete status).How to apply Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.

Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.

Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not exceed two pages.

This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact the Agency Contact to request this.

To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents.

Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration.

Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.Other information For information about the duties and location(s) of the position, contact below representative:

Duty Station City Unit Representative

Idaho Falls, ID

robbert.mickelsen@usda.gov

Price, UT matthew.meccariello@usda.gov

Olympia, WA; Quilcene, WA; Quinault, WA; Forks, WA christina.milos@usda.gov

Roseburg, OR; Cottage Grove, OR; Glide, OR; Idleyld Park, OR; Tiller, OR kristopher.hennings@usda.gov

Susanville, CA jessica.mcmullen@usda.gov

Tallahassee, FL benjamin.haupt@usda.gov

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Reemployment Priority List (RPL): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) provides current or former temporary and term employees the opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years and the last temporary or term appointment must have been with the Forest Service. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Part-time and intermittent service will be credited only for time actually worked. Non-pay status such as leave without pay is credited for up to six months in a calendar year; anything beyond six months is not credited. Applicants are responsible for providing sufficient information/documentation to determine if the 24 month criteria is met.

PROMOTION POTENTIAL: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied or guaranteed.

Salary wage as shown is for Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.

The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional Information is available on the OPM Website.

This is a non-bargaining unit position.

Forest Service daycare facilities may be available.

Government Housing may be available.