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Posted: January 23, 2026 (4 days ago)

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Acquisition & Utilization Specialist

Veterans Health Administration

Department of Veterans Affairs

Fresh

Salary

$75,897 - $98,671

per year

Closes

February 4, 2026

GS-11 Pay Grade

Base salary range: $62,107 - $80,737

Typical requirements: 1 year specialized experience at GS-10. Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 years graduate study.

Note: Actual salary includes locality pay (15-40%+ depending on location).

Job Description

Summary

This job involves acting as a key advisor on buying and managing contracts for medical supplies, services, and equipment in a Veterans Affairs hospital, ensuring everything follows government rules.

You'll help teams from doctors to managers get what they need efficiently while keeping costs in check.

It's a great fit for someone with experience in healthcare purchasing or government contracting who enjoys problem-solving and working with regulations.

Key Requirements

  • One year of specialized experience at GS-9 level in federal service, including handling contracts, procurement, and acquisition in a healthcare setting
  • Time-in-grade: 52 weeks at GS-9 for current federal employees, with SF-50 proof
  • Knowledge of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and VA Acquisition Regulations (VAAR)
  • Ability to prepare procurement packages, including performance work statements, cost-benefit analysis, and sole source justifications
  • Experience in pre-award and post-award contract management, negotiations, and monitoring expenditures
  • Preferred: Current COR I certification or prior experience as a Contracting Officer's Representative
  • Education alternative: Ph.D., three years of graduate education, or LL.M. in a related field, or a combination with experience

Full Job Description

As the Acquisition Utilization Specialist you will serve as the medical center liaison and advisor on contract related services focusing on critical clinical and healthcare services, product acquisition and support services required by project managers, program managers, upper management and stakeholders on all aspects of procurement for a wide variety of items to include specialized services.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/04/2026.

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-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.

Preferred Experience: current COR I certification or previous experience as a COR managing a government contract You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: One (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of an Acquisition Utilization Specialist, and that is typically in or related to the work of this position.

Specialized experience includes: handling contract related services, product acquisition, and procurement of items in a healthcare environment; overseeing contracts including pre-award and post-award; preparing procurement packages with unique, emergent and complex requirements including development of requirement documents (e.g.

performance work statements and objectives, cost benefit analysis, gap analysis, sole source justifications, past performance, market research, etc.); developing sole source justifications; developing and analyzing reports to make recommendations on acquisition and contracting issues; participating in negotiations with other officials throughout all phases of contract administration; and monitoring expenditures and reporting on deviations from contract terms.

-OR- Education: A Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree or three (3) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related, that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.

-OR- Combination: An equivalent combination of successfully completed graduate education and specialized experience, as described above, which meets the total qualification requirement for the GS-11 grade level.

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/.

Major Duties:

You will render expert contract pre-award and post award expertise to all administrative and clinical services within the medical center and supported catchment area.

Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Develops procedures, policies, and supporting artifacts to ensure procurement activities are consistent with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), VA Acquisitions Regulations (VAAR) and other federal procurement laws and regulations; Conducts analyses and recommends courses of actions to ensure that vision clinical and administrative service requirements have addressed considerations such as construction, budgeting, supporting manpower and other factors; Provides training to the facility Contracting Officers on procurement policies and new processes and procedures related to procurement; Establishes, expedites and reviews consolidation of all procurement packages including unique, emergent and complex requirements to meet timely and technical needs of assigned acquisitions; Develops and conducts presentations/recommendations to leadership and other stakeholders to explain regulations and procedures; Negotiates performance requirements among multiple sites and service lines in order to obtain agreement, standardize enterprise equipment, supply and/or service requirements in support of strategic acquisition plans; Establishes and maintains controls to ensure that contracts are executed in accordance with terms; Advises on all phases of negotiation with the contract specialist/contracting officer for contract modifications, change orders, supplemental agreements and delivery order processes including requirements, definition, justification and approval for service contract extension, method of contracting, evaluation of proposals and all phases of contract administration; and Monitors quality assurance surveillance plans to ensure that contracted services meet the expectations and needs of the facility.

Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday, Rotating Schedule ( Work schedule will be discussed during interview) ADHOC: This position may be authorized for ADHOC.

ADHOC eligibility will be discussed during the interview process Position Description/PD#: Acquisition & Utilization Specialist/PD99810S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

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Posted on USAJOBS: 1/23/2026 | Added to FreshGovJobs: 1/24/2026

Source: USAJOBS | ID: CBSS-12870714-26-TJ