Program Support Assistant (OA)

Full Job Description

This Program Support Assistant position is located at a VA medical facility in the Health Professions Education (HPE) Office (HPEO).

The purpose of this position is to coordinate administrative and support services to assist the HPEO in fulfilling requirements related to VHA's academic mission and program requirements of Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) and HPE accrediting bodies.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/06/2026.

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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06.

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.

In order to qualify for this position at the GS-6 level, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-5) in the Federal service.

Specialized experience includes experience where you were responsible for providing administrative support; collecting, compiling and tracking data and information; processing documents and reports; establishing, updating and maintaining office files and records; performing automation duties using such software applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, electronic mail, desktop publishing, calendar, database and/or graphics; and providing information and customer service.

In order to qualify for this position at the GS-7 level, To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-6) in the Federal service.

Specialized experience includes experience where you were responsible for providing administrative support functions within a healthcare facility; experienced with procurement processes necessary to obtain goods and services for an office; performing automation duties using such software applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, electronic mail, desktop publishing, calendar, database and/or graphics; assisting in the formulation and execution of budget estimates to include updating budget spreadsheets which are used in briefings; collecting, compiling and tracking data and information; and researching reference materials, regulations, and standards to identify appropriate action necessary to correct problems or issues.

NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week.

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; religions; 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: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week.

Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities.

Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: The work is mostly sedentary. Occasionally, light physical effort may be required, such as that involved with walking, stair climbing, and carrying of light office items.

The work is performed in an office setting which require normal safety precautions typical for offices and meeting rooms. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated.

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:

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.

Major duties include, but are not limited to: - Provide technical and administrative guidance necessary to achieve efficient service operations within the VA medical facility and maintain stakeholder satisfaction.

- Prepare and tracking documents and correspondence to coordinate actions and close action items.

- Anticipate obstacles to operational management that are likely to interfere with the accomplishment of objectives and takes or recommends the necessary action to prevent their occurrence.

- Provide required documents within required timeframes for position management, hiring actions, FTE requests, and performance appraisals.

- Provide administrative orientation and training to new employees within HPEO.

- Serve as the timekeeper for and is familiar with timekeeping codes and the process for validating and processing timecards accurately.

- Manage and maintain electronic files and program data in SharePoint and on shared drives. - Provide support for HPE Office staff in data collection, data entry and financial analysis work.

- Prepare and distributes approved agendas, prep materials, and minutes of meetings.

- Overseeing logistics, planning, and preparation for HPEO meetings including scheduling, materials, travel and lodging arrangements, and special events.

- Performing other duties as assigned Work Schedule: Full-Time; Monday to Friday, 8am-5:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant (OA)/PD99463S and PD99462S