Purchasing Agent

Full Job Description

This position is located in the Prosthetics Service, Aleda E. Lutz Saginaw Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC).

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/02/2026.

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. 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: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Procurement management requiring independently monitoring, interpreting, and prioritizing consult requests for items, services, and home medical equipment.

Providing exceptional customer service and effectively communicating with stakeholders.

Managing time and calendars efficiently, organizing tasks, answering phone calls, sending and receiving notifications, and responding to customer inquiries and disputes appropriately through various communication platforms.

Performing data entry, including updating, evaluating, verification, removal of errors, and combining data from various software systems.

Ordering and/or dispensing simple and complex items appropriately to the correct service or patient.

Utilizing office-related technology such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Chrome/Edge, CPRS, VistA R3, Oracle/Cerner, etc. Assisting with onboarding and integrating new employees .

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: Work is primarily sedentary and is carried out in an office setting. Prolonged periods of working at a computer terminal.

Climbing associated with stocking of equipment and other items is storage areas are necessary. May carry/lift items weighing up to twenty-five pounds.

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:

Duties include, but are not limited to: Independently monitors, receives, tracks interprets, and analyzes prosthetic consults, and prescriptions (VAF 10-2431) for items, services and home medical equipment from physicians, therapists, medical center personnel, patients, or their representatives.

Review requests for completeness, comparing disability or diagnosis to equipment and/or services normally normally provided for the condition for which they are requested, and/or proper documentation has been provided to justify the issuance.

Identifies priorities from pending consults.

These purchases include but are not limited to: rentals to meet the outpatient medical needs of the services, all outpatient durable medical equipment and supplies, rehabilitation equipment, mobility, and daily living aids, neuro-sensory, home oxygen, inpatient surgical implants and supplies.

May be required to perform research to find alternate vendor resources not available in SAM to meet the needs of specific purchase situations.

Verifies accountability of all prosthetics expenditures in both the purchase menu and the Prosthetics program and associates all obligations to the individual Veteran record.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD92650A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized