Summary The incumbent serves as a Government Information Specialist (FOIA) within the Correspondence Services Branch, AFB-130. As the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act Specialist the incumbent will research, obtain, and gather information to prepare Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA) and Privacy Act responses in coordination with the national FOIA office, legal staff, and Flight Standards offices. Responsibilities FG-12 The incumbent will research, obtain and gather information to prepare Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act responses in coordination with national FOIA office, Legal staff and Flight Standards field offices. Major Duties and Responsibilities: Technical Analysis and Review Responds to FOIA and Privacy Act requests within mandated statutory timeframes individually or with direction from higher-level employees or management. Utilizes a variety of legal and technical sources in formulating responses. Provides information and guidance to assigned offices as needed. Determines appropriate record-holding offices that may have records related to FOIA requests and communicates objectives to the appropriate office personnel. Obtains records, technical responses, and explanations from record-holding offices and Subject Matter Experts. Calculates appropriate projected response date to requests. Determines the applicability of the FOIA and Privacy Act to the request and determines if records may be released and is responsible for redacting information from records according to laws and policies. Prepares responses to requests explaining the reason for the release of records and/or denials and coordinates with peers or other FAA FOIA offices as necessary for consistency for multiple office FOIA assignments with assistance from team members and management as needed. Correspondence Coordination Obtains information from multiple offices which have records and input to support responses to requests. Information may be obtained from the Office of Chief Counsel, Flight Standards offices, and the FAA Freedom of Information Act program office. Follows agency correspondence policies to prepare response letters and route for signatures. Externally, contacts include public officials, media, citizens, and attorneys regarding submitted requests and response times. Analysis and Reporting Analyzes the scope of incoming FOIA requests and, individually or with assistance from higher-level employees, determines specific offices that may have records pertaining to the requests. Determines required resources in terms of people and time that would have to be allocated to respond appropriately. Analyzes responsive records and applies FOIA guidelines to complete tasks. Incumbent informs branch and division management officials concerning trends and/or potential problem areas. FG-13 The incumbent serves as a Government Information Specialist (FOIA) within the Correspondence Services Branch, AFB-130. The Branch function is to supports the management of the Fight Standards' correspondence program ensuring consistency in both content and timing with organizational intent and analyzing internal and external flow from a Service-wide view. Technical Analysis and Review Independently responds to all Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act requests within mandated statutory timeframes. Utilizes a variety of legal and technical sources in formulating responses. Provides information and guidance to all personnel in assigned offices. Correspondence Coordination Obtains information from multiple offices which have records and input to support responses to requests. Information may be obtained from Office of the Assistant Chief Counsel, Safety Assurance offices of Flight Standards, Flight Standards Service, Office of Public Affairs and FAA Freedom of Information Act program office. Analysis and Reporting Analyzes the scope of the requests and determines specific offices that may have records pertaining to the requests. Determines the number of resources in terms of people and time that would have to be allocated to respond appropriately. Conducts analysis on FOIA and Privacy Act programs for assigned divisions to ensure programs are properly managed. Incumbent informs branch and division management officials concerning trends and/or potential problem areas. Prepares analysis reports to support findings. Requirements Conditions of Employment We are not accepting applications from noncitizens. Qualifications To qualify for the FG/GS-12 you must demonstrate in our application that you possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to FV-G, FG/GS-11 level. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. Specializes experience is responding to formal requests for information in accordance with established laws and regulations. Experience in analyzing, synthesizing, and judging information, as well as experience reviewing and incorporating multiple sources of information in performing assignments. To qualify for the FG/GS-13 you must demonstrate in our application that you possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to FV-G, FG/GS-12 level. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. Specialized Experience is technical knowledge and experience in Flight Standards, safety assurance, or policy offices to equip the incumbent in analyzing, synthesizing, and judging information of incoming FOIA assignments, as well as experience reviewing and incorporating multiple sources of information in performing assignments. Full promotion potential to the FG 13 level: Identification of promotion in the vacancy announcement does not constitute a commitment or an obligation on the part of management to promote the employee selected at some future date. Promotion will depend upon the selectee meeting training, qualification requirements, and recommendation by the supervisor. Applicants should include examples of specialized experience in their work history Qualifications must be met by the closing date of this vacancy announcement. Please ensure you answer all questions and follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may impact your rating or may result in you not being considered for the job. Education Additional Information We may use this vacancy to fill other similar vacant positions. Position may be subject to a background investigation. A one-year probationary period may be required. The person selected for this position may be required to file a financial disclosure statement within 30 days of entry on duty. FAA policy limits certain outside employment and financial investments in aviation-related companies. www.faa.gov/jobs/workinghere/financial-disclosure-requirements The purpose of the work assignment is vital to the effective and efficient administration of Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act responses for Flight Standards. Determination of records to be released is critical to Flight Standards and the FAA as it ensures records are released to the public where possible in the spirit of FOIA regulations while ensuring protection of records that can't be released under U.S. Department of Justice statutes and legal interpretations. Contacts are external and internal. Applicants must apply on-line to receive consideration for this vacancy announcement. Faxed, mailed or e-mailed applications cannot be accepted. If you need to submit additional documents to supplement your on-line application, e.g. transcripts, SF-50, or veterans' documentation, you may upload these documents with your application in USAJOBS. Supplemental documentation can also be faxed to (206) 231-4150 on or before the closing date of this announcement. Please include your name and the vacancy announcement number on each of your faxed pages and redact all Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as social security number and date of birth. All or none of the candidates may be interviewed. As a part of the Federal-Wide Hiring Reform Initiative (streamlining the hiring process), the FAA is committed to eliminating the use of the Knowledge, Skills and Ability (KSA) narratives from the application in the hiring process for all announcements. Therefore, as an applicant for this announcement, you are NOT required to provide a narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA. In lieu of providing a KSA narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA in your work history, please include WORK HISTORY THAT DESCRIBES HOW YOU MEET THE ANSWER YOU CHOSE FOR EACH KSA. Your work history examples should be specific and clearly reflect the highest level of ability. Your KSA answers will be evaluated further to validate whether the level that you selected is appropriate. Your answers may be adjusted by a Human Resource Specialist as appropriate. Eligible applicants meeting the minimum qualification requirements and selective factor(s), if applicable, may be further evaluated on the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA); listed in the announcement. Based on this evaluation, applicants will be placed in one of the following categories: score order, category grouping, or alphabetical and referred to the selecting official for consideration. The FAA is an excepted service agency. Basic Federal employee benefits remain the same as other Federal agencies. Links to Important Information: Locality Pay, COLA
