Grants Management Specialist - Federal Emergency Management Agency

Summary This position is being announced under FEMA's Cadre of On-call Response/Recovery Employee (CORE) Program. This is a temporary appointment in the Excepted Service, not to exceed 4 years, with the option to extend based on workload and funding availability. Veterans Preference does not apply to the CORE selection process. The primary purpose of this position is to serve as a Grants Management Specialist and manage FEMA grants and programs. Responsibilities What will I do in this position if hired? In this Grants Management Specialist position, you will manage FEMA Region Three grants and provide technical assistance to Region Three state partners. Typical assignments include: Reviewing regional grant procedures, policies, and process flows at assigned intervals to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of program operations and provide recommendations on specific findings requiring improvement. Performing all steps in the Grants Lifecycle. Conducting analysis of Federal Financial Reports/Program Progress Reports for completeness and accuracy. Conducting risk assessment of grant recipients for grant awards and prepare fiscal year monitoring schedule in compliance with FEMA monitoring policy and guidance. What else do I need to know? At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions. This announcement is for a position as a CORE (Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee). CORE employees are full-time employees hired to directly support the response and recovery efforts related to disasters. Employees are hired under the Robert T. Stafford Act and are excluded from the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing jobs in the competitive service. They can be hired under a streamlined process instead of a competitive process. After three years of continuous service, Stafford Act employees may be granted competitive eligibility to apply for permanent full-time positions at FEMA. This position will be hired into a temporary 4-Year, excepted service appointment. Appointments may be renewed based on workload, funding, and supervisory approval. This position has promotion potential to the Grade 12. Promotions are dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, successful performance review displaying at least one year of experience at the lower grade, the continuing need for an employee assigned to the higher level, and management approval. FEMA is committed to ensuring that its workforce reflects the diversity of the nation. At FEMA, our workforce includes the many identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, ages, cultures, and beliefs of the people we serve. To learn about FEMA's ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts, reasonable accommodation process, and the FEMA Core Values, please visit www.fema.gov. Requirements Conditions of Employment To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Public Trust/Moderate Risk as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs, please visit OPM Investigations. Conditions of Employment: You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position. You must successfully pass a background investigation. Selective Service registration required. You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card. You must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time. Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements. Qualifications All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement. To qualify for this Grants Management Specialist position at the IC-09 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the IC-07 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following: Assisting internal and external stakeholders in the grants process; Developing recommendations for grants management programs; and Utilizing written and oral communication to present recommendations to senior staff OR Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR Combination of education and experience. To qualify for this Grants Management Specialist position at the IC-11 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the IC-09 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following: Providing technical assistance to state, local, tribal and territorial governments; Reviewing awards, audits, regulations or other material to develop guidelines and procedures; and, Utilizing written communication to author policies, procedures, audits, or responses to inquiries. OR Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M OR Combination of education and experience To qualify for this Grants Management Specialist position at the IC-12 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the IC-11 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following: Participating in briefings with management to provide information relating to program scope, progress, budget or schedule; Performing analysis on program effectiveness and inefficiencies; and, Implementing and advising on federal grant programs, including engaging in analysis, monitoring, and/or policy interpretation. Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application: Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position. Please limit your resume to five pages. If more than five pages are submitted, only the first five pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications. Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience. Are you qualifying based on your work experience? Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level. Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment. Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified." 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards Education Education substitution: This position permits applicants to qualify based on education (or a combination of education and experience), as outlined in the "requirements" section. If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) with your online application. Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts. Additional Information STAFFORD ACT EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENTS: Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee (CORE) is an appointment type granted under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Section 306 (b), which authorizes FEMA to appoint such temporary employees as necessary to accomplish work authorized under the Act. Appointments under this authority within FEMA are made to the excepted service and are nonpermanent in nature. If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment. The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Homeland Security and its Components from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance to Compete Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint to FEMA-Misconduct@fema.dhs.gov. DHS uses E-verify, an internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities. Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions. During the application process you will have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. The salary range indicated in this announcement reflects the minimum locality pay up to maximum locality pay for all duty locations listed. The range will be adjusted for selected duty location. General Schedule locality pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages. Please note: first time hires to the Federal Government are typically hired at the Step 01. This is a Non-Bargaining Unit position. Deployment travel may be required, based upon agency needs. Deployment expectations can vary and will be discussed with candidates during the selection process.