Summary This position is in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), Salem VA Medical Center (VAMC), organizationally aligned within the Facilities Management Service (FMS), Utility System Section, located in Salem, Virginia. Responsibilities Major Duties: Include but not limited to Plans weekly or monthly work schedules for subordinates. Monitors day-to-day activities ranging from general maintenance and repair activities, and overall equipment/subordinate effectiveness. Oversees daily maintenance and repairs of critical air handlers, decentralized chillers, glycol chillers, walk-in refrigerators, medicine refrigerators, lab refrigerators, patient nutrition refrigerators, and employee-use refrigerators. The critical systems include over 60 industrial sized air handling units of various sizes, over 400 refrigerators, walk in refrigerators, and freezers. Manages, supervises, plans, oversees, and trains the Utility System Section personnel which consists of six (6) Air Conditioning Equipment Operators, one (1) Air Conditioning Equipment Mechanic Leader, and five (5) Air Conditioning Equipment Mechanics. Responsible for shop administration, leadership, and guidance. Determines labor and material costs for maintenance and repairs, minor improvements, maintenance contracts, and alterations. Furnishes advice and recommendations to services requesting work; discusses factors pertaining to the work such as urgency of need, particularly if the work concerns patient care. Conducts periodic inspections of work that has been completed to determine the immediate and long-range work needs of the facility; assists in preparing and justifying equipment needs and planned maintenance programs; and works up projects to be accomplished. Prepares cost estimates for jobs and long-range programs, investigates work requests and suggestions, and makes necessary contacts to gather needed information. Develops and executes a training and development program for subordinates. Maintains accurate records of all repairs, special contracts and services rendered. Required to hold and maintain VA Contracting Officers Representative (COR) certification and serves as COR on all product and service contracts for the chiller plant and associated HVAC systems and equipment. Reviews scope of work descriptions for various special projects, including annual upgrade projects and semi-annual inspections. Prepares requisitions and specifications for material and write service contract proposals for repairs or installations and forward submission to facility contracting officer and FMS leadership as warranted. Works on own initiative in routine and general repairs and installations and inspects work performed by station labor and by contract labor to ensure proper installation and compliance with government specifications and codes. Work Schedule: 7:45 am - 4:30pm, Other , The position is subject to afterhours, weekend, holiday and emergency callback due to operational needs or emergent conditions. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Pre-employment physical required Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) 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, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Qualifications Physical Effort The position may be required to operate heavy duty equipment, including standing, climbing ladders and kneeling while performing work or inspecting the work of subordinate employees. The position must be capable of lifting up to 50 pounds. Working Conditions In performance of technical duties, the position will spend time in all environments and may be exposed to all extremes of weather and other hazards, which are inherent to equipment maintenance activities. Position will be required to wear breathing respirators in certain situations including confined spaces. The position is subject to afterhours, weekend, holiday and emergency callback due to operational needs or emergent conditions. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualifications. For this position, the job element method is used to match what you, the applicant, can do against what the work calls for. Your knowledge, skills and abilities will be compared to the knowledge, skills and abilities (called job elements) needed for success. Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element (WG-2 and higher only; screen-outs are not applicable to WG-1). Applicants who appear to meet the screen out element are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated from consideration. The potential eligibles are rated against the remainder of the job elements. While a specific length of training and experience is not required, your responses to the questionnaire must be supported by detailed descriptions of your experience on your resume. You will be rated on the following Job Elements as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Instruct Knowledge of Equipment Assembly, Installation, and Repair, etc. Lead or Supervise Materials Technical Practices Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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. Education Additional Information Note: Per "Executive Order 14251: Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs", this position is no longer eligible for bargaining unit participation. Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.
