Government Information Specialist

Full Job Description

The facility Privacy/FOIA Officer has oversight for the data governance program and initiatives in the Wilkes-Barre VA Healthcare System and its supporting catchment area.

The position makes unique facility-level determinations about disclosures, issuance of denials, redactions, access, use and dissemination of federal agency records.

The position formulates policy, ensures compliance with federal and state laws and conducts thorough research of federal implementing regulations.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/24/2026.

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-09. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11.

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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience GS-11:You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: monitor and cover all aspects of the collection, use, dissemination, disclosure and destruction of information within the organization, safeguards information while supporting accountability and transparency initiatives, trains employees on general data protection procedures and detailed service practices for daily operations, perform assessment of privacy related risks associated with business activities and involve processing of personal and sensitive data.

OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must posses a Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree OR LL.M. if related.

(Transcripts Required) OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond a masters degree to meet total experience requirements for the GS-11 level.

To determine if you meet combination requirements, the total percentages of experience and percentage of education required for the grade level must equal at least 100 percent.

For example, an applicant has 9 months of specialized experience equivalent to GS-9 and 2 1/2 years creditable graduate level education.

Then applicant meets 75 percent of the required experience and 50 percent of the required education, i.e., the applicant has 1/2 year of graduate study beyond the required GS-9.

Therefore, the applicant exceeds the total requirement and is qualified for the position. The applicant's first 2 years of graduate study are not qualifying for GS-11.

(Transcripts Required) Specialized Experience GS-12: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience as a Privacy/FOIA officer working independently with little supervision, formulating policy, ensuring compliance with federal and state laws and conducts thorough research of implementing regulations and policies and procedures to manage agency/organization information; providing assistance and services to the general public, staff members and communicated information to the Executive leadership, facility staff and outside stakeholders.

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:

Major duties include but are not limited to: Implements unique policies and procedures to manage agency information, providing assistance and services to the general public and an organization, agency or facility staff members; Supports developing a local level strategy for data governance, which includes leading from the executive office and creating a unique program that includes diverse processes and specific policies which are independent of other facilities; Monitors and covers all aspects of the collection, use, dissemination, disclosure and destruction of information within an organization, agency or facility; Develops and integrates policy based processes, roles and controls that influences how data is created, collected, used, stored and destroyed throughout the organization; Adjudicates complex privacy and FOIA decisions that affect employees, customers and commercial businesses in the absence of supervision; Performs in-depth legal research that pertains to both federal and state statutes to render expertise, provide solutions and facilitate corrective action; Safeguards information while supporting accountability and transparency initiatives; Analyzes all of the interrelated issues that affect the privacy/FOIA program and plans and conducts monitoring activities which measure the overall level of operational compliance by the facility; Teaches and trains employees on general data protection procedures and detailed service specific practices for daily operations and uses technology to provide required privacy/FOIA training and supplemental education; Performs assessment of privacy-related risks associated with business activities that involve processing of personal and sensitive data; Investigates non-compliance of privacy related issues at all levels of an organization, agency or facility and outside of these entities when information is involved; Strengthens and sustains the operational life cycle of the privacy/FOIA program by developing a communication strategy that fosters awareness for both internal and external partners to improve compliance, provide training and engage the public; Ensures that organization, agency or facility correspondence for data governance is transparent, timely, accurate and complete in response to requests for information from the general-public, Congressional representatives, law enforcement, courts and commercial business; Creates a communications process and tools that are flexible, customizable and interactive to address unique compliance challenges and educational/training needs.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met.

Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Telework: This position may be authorized for telework.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Government Information Specialist/PD009070 and PD0991 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized