Summary
This position is located in the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, Office of Technology. The incumbent performs a wide variety of technical, administrative and analytical duties connected with the formulation, review, justification, execution and presentation of the office’s budget and the preparation and or/analysis of budget-related materials, and financial management.
Duties
APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 200 applications received and will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 200th application, or at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first.
We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application.
As a Budget Analyst, GS-0560-14, you will be responsible for:
- Gathers, reviews, analyzes, edits, and consolidates budget and procurement submissions for several divisions within the office.
- Analyzes and resolves complex issues in planning, executing and monitoring annual, multi-year, and no-year budgets.
- Researches, assembles, and prepares a variety of written and oral reports covering the finance and procurement lifecycles (e.g. status of funds, obligations, expenditures, allotment requests, and projections) for management review.
- Interprets financial management data and annual budget and acquisition plans, and makes sound recommendations for adjustments in program spending or reprogramming.
- Serves as SME/liaison with Agency Budget and Contracts/Acquisition and Program offices to ensure quality control over budgetary and acquisition planning and procurement processes and that Program needs are being met.
- Resolves complex issues and establishes internal control policies and procedures for formulating and executing and monitoring the office’s budget and improve program outcomes.
- Works independently and in a team environment to gather, organize, and analyze financial data such as spending, travel, and procurements.
- Analyzes the office's budget, performing a wide variety of activities related to financial, administrative, and analytical duties to develop operating plans and budget materials required to formulate budget submissions and execute funding requests.
- Performs variety of duties related to the full finance and procurement life cycle (e.g. budget formulation, review/justification, execution).
- Develop reports and supports implementation of projects to address needs of the office, including formulation of policies and standard operating procedures.
Requirements
Conditions of employment
- Relocation will not be paid.
- Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
- Must be a US Citizen.
- Must complete a background investigation and fingerprint check.
- You may be subject to serve a one-year trial period.
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 OR trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest
Qualifications
Minimum Qualification Requirements
You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-14, if you possess the specialize experience, education, or a combination of the two.
Specialized Experience for the GS-14
One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-13 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:
- Experience analyzing the legal/regulatory/policy frameworks of budget and technology acquisitions programs, and applying such knowledge to the management of budgeting and technology acquisition operations.
- Experience in conducting quantitative/qualitative analyses of budget programs/operations, and articulating meaningful recommendations for overcoming roadblocks and/or improving their quality, cost-efficiency, and strategic value.
- Experience using systems and best-practice methods in technology acquisition programs to independently conduct, manage, and improve the full lifecycle of budget activities (formulation, development, execution, and audit/evaluation).
Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities (KSAs)
The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).
- Knowledge of budget processes, and all associated policies, directives, procedures and regulations, to develop and provide authoritative advice and interpretations of legislation and policies and precedents to formulate, justify and execute assigned budget.
- Skill in analysis and comparison of program content and operation against organization financial plans and legal/regulatory and policy frameworks, and in defining the cost-benefit, and political viability of alternative budget and program actions.
- Ability to apply legal/regulatory/ policy frameworks to budget and acquisition programs to devise appropriate controls that ensure effective function and compliance.
- Ability to work independently and/or build coalitions to gather and analyze financial data and leverage that information to formulate official budget and procurement documentation, and to properly document and oversee funding executions.
- Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing, to analyze information and advise managers, , conduct meetings/briefings, and formulate and implement initiatives/policies/procedures that resolve problem areas.
Education
Education cannot be substituted for experience for this position and grade level.
Additional Information
Veterans’ Career Counseling: If you are a veteran interested in receiving tips on preparing a Federal resume and/or how to prepare for an interview, you may email careers@ed.gov to schedule a session with a career counselor (“Veterans Counseling Session” should be placed in the subject line of the email).
Student Loan Default: If selected for this position, we will verify that you have not defaulted on any loan funded or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are found to be in default, we will contact you to make arrangements for repayment prior to making an official offer of employment.
Suitability and Investigation: If selected for this position, you will be required to complete the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) to determine your suitability for federal employment and successfully complete a pre-appointment investigation/background check.
Essential/Non-Essential: This position is considered non-essential for purposes of reporting to work during federal government closures.
Financial Disclosure: This position does not require financial disclosure.
Bargaining Unit: This position is included in the bargaining unit (American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252).
Selections: Agencies have broad authority under law to hire from any appropriate source of eligibles and may fill a vacancy in the competitive service by any method authorized. We may make additional selections from this vacancy announcement within 90 days from the date the selection certificates are issued, should vacancies occur. We may also share selection certificates amongst program offices across the agency.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.
As an ED employee, you will also benefit from our family-friendly work environment. As part of our commitment to maintain a work life balance, we offer excused leave for Parent/Teacher Conferences (3 hours); excused leave for annual health screenings (4 hours); and matching leave for community volunteer service.
Other flexibilities that may be available to you include alternative work schedules.
You may be eligible to receive a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon.
You may be eligible to receive a relocation incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon.
You may be eligible to participate in the Student Loan Repayment Program as a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive student loan repayments, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
We use a multi-step process to review and evaluate applicants:
- Eligibility and Minimum Qualifications
Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will review your submitted resume and documents to determine if you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, including any required education, experience, and/or selective placement factors. You will be rated as ineligible if you are outside of the area of consideration (i.e., who may apply) or your application is missing any required documents. You will be rated as not qualified if you do not possess the minimum qualification requirements.
If you are found to meet both the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, we will assess the quality of your experience and the extent to which you possess the required KSAs by reviewing your submitted resume and documents. Your application may be referred to a subject matter expert or panel of subject matter experts for further evaluation. Based on the outcome of this evaluation, you will be placed into one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. If your experience is not substantiated by your submitted resume, you may be eliminated from receiving further consideration.
Veterans’ Preference: Qualified veterans’ preference eligibles will be ranked ahead of qualified non-preference eligibles within each category for which they are qualified. Qualified veterans’ preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more (CPS and CP) will be placed at the top of the Best Qualified category, except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 grade level or higher.
Under category rating procedures you are placed into one of three categories based on the evaluation results:
Best Qualified -Candidates who possess the type and quality of experience that substantially exceeds the position’s minimum qualifications, including appropriate quality ranking factors.
Highly Qualified- Candidates who possess the type and quality of experience that exceeds the position’s minimum qualifications.
Qualified-Candidates who meet the minimum qualifications and are proficient in some but not all of the position’s requirements.
If you are found to be amongst the most highly qualified applicants, you will be referred to the selecting official. As part of the assessment and selection process, the selecting official may invite you to participate in a structured interview, check your references, and/or request that you submit a writing sample or complete a written assessment or exercise to further evaluate your qualifications for this position. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the interview process or written assessment or exercise, please inform the selecting official at the time of scheduling.
You may preview questions for this vacancy.
