Transportation Security Specialist - SV-1801-I/J - Transportation Security Administration - Reston, Virginia - EXPIRED

This Transportation Security Specialist position is located in the Threat Assessment Division, Office of Security Operations (OSO), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If selected for this position, you serve as the Headquarters (HQ) Canine Coordinator for the National Explosives Detection Canine Team Program (NEDCTP) and provide day-to-day operational and administrative duties for the program. Duties include:

• Providing guidance concerning program goals, objectives, and requirements to TSA’s Agency Lead Canine Teams and external participating agencies.
• Coordinating and implementing NEDCTP’s national strategy, policy, standards, technical program analysis, and administrative requirements.
• Serving as a liaison to internal and external stakeholders, including various TSA offices, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Headquarters and Components, Government Accountability Office (GAO), and state, local and foreign government officials.
• Assisting Directors, Branch Managers, and Section Chiefs in the areas of policies, human resources, personnel actions and administrative functions within their area of responsibility.
• Providing technical guidance to the NEDCTP management staff on reviewing Operational Directives (OD), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Management Directives (MD), and ODs pertaining to the TSA NEDCTP.
• Performing research in support of the NEDCTP program, and developing or improving policies and SOPs based on changes to the threat levels and the impact on training needs in order to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and standardization across the organization; Providing guidance for organizational changes to ensure compliance with program procedures and processes.
• Conducting field liaison visits to evaluate the effectiveness of NEDCTP operational procedures and policies; Recommending improvements and identifying risks and constraints, developing and executing mitigation strategies, as necessary.
• Developing program analysis and updates to policies, standards, programs, and procedures to be used by NEDCTP; Coordinating feedback between field and HQ components regarding organizational strategy, structure processes, and procedures.
• Representing NEDCTP as a technical point of contact for canine research initiatives.

To qualify for the SV-I Pay Band (equivalent to GS-13), you must have one year of specialized experience at the SV-H Pay Band or GS-12 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Such experience includes training and evaluating explosives detector canines from initial through advanced levels of explosives detection training.

To qualify for the SV-J Pay Band (equivalent to GS-14), you must have one year of specialized experience at the SV-I Pay Band or GS-13 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Such experience includes experience conducting inspections, evaluations and assessments as related to explosive detection and canine operations.

National Service Experience (i.e., volunteer experience): 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.

NOTE: Credit for experience is given based on a 40-hour workweek. Part-time experience is credited on a part-time ratio, i.e., working 20 hours per week for two months equals one month of experience. No additional credit is given for overtime.

You must meet the qualification requirements for this position no later than the closing date of the vacancy announcement.

HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:

You will be evaluated based on a comparison of the position requirements against the quality and extent of the experience and/or related education as reflected in your resume and supporting documentation. You are encouraged to ensure work experiences clearly show possession of the competencies required for this position. We will compare your resume and supporting documentation to your responses on the assessment questionnaire. If, after reviewing your resume and any supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your category placement may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job.

When completing the assessment questionnaire for this position, you will be prompted to elect if you wish for your application to be considered as External (where Veterans’ Preference applies), as Status (current or former Federal Employees), and/or Internal to TSA as a current permanent or competitive temporary employee. At that time, please select the answer(s) that apply to you and your application to this position.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Grouping procedures. Under Category Grouping, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position;

Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceed the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job; and

Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.
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