Summary

The Resident Engineer functions include supporting the Senior Resident Engineer by participating in design management with the Project Manager and other stakeholders, when applicable, monitoring various on-going construction activities and schedule for conformance with contract requirements. The position oversees civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, or architectural aspects of construction, supporting processing of easements, pertinent deeds, local requirements, and restrictions.

Duties

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The non-supervisory Resident Engineer (RE) is a member of the Department of Veterans Affairs (OVA) Office of Construction and Facility Management (CFM) on-the-ground team for a construction project, typically stationed on site though in some cases manages remotely with regularly recurring site visits. The construction contracts are mostly Design-Bid-Build or Design Build though there are cases where other contract types could be utilized for construction delivery. CFM is always the owner of the construction project and serves as Construction Agent for most projects, however CFM does partner with various Non-Department Federal Entity (NDFE - e.g., GSA, USAGE, etc.) to serve as Construction Agent within both the Leasing and Major construction programs, when required or in the best interest of OVA

Typical duties include but are not limited to:

• Coordinate various phases of construction with the VAMC Director or assigned representative and staff to minimize disruption to ongoing hospital activities and for overall patient and worker's safety on construction sites.
• Oversee civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, or architectural aspects of construction.
• Interact with the CFM PM and Schedule Consultant to help determinate recovery of lost time due to unanticipated events (weather, delays in material shipments, unanticipated site work problems, etc).
• Recommend solutions to resolve unusual or unique problems related to hospital design or unanticipated issues that occur during the actual construction of facilities.
• Identify potential construction related issues to the SRE and review comments from other professionals in a formal response to Architect Engineer (A/E) firms when necessary
• Conduct inspections, in partial, pre-final and final inspections for conformance in Operations and Maintenance manuals, equipment training, warranty
• Provide input of methods, techniques and procedures to the Senior Resident Engineer to address concerns that may hinder progress
• Oversee changes in project funding and scheduling.
• Document daily environmental conditions that may impact safety and construction progress
• Review contractor's proposal cost breakdown(s) on equipment and materials for construction projects.
• Generate draft contract modifications for SRE review and signature
• Develop estimates for modifications on construction projects
• Monitor on-going construction activities to assure the contract requirements are met
• Track deliveries of government furnished property and equipment.
• Organize work to set short and long term goals and priorities for current and future construction project

Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, 08:00 am to 04:30pm

Compressed/Flexible: Not Available

Telework: Ad Hoc telework (situational telework) as determined by the agency policy

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Resident Engineer/PD13648A, PD136480A, PD13648A, and PD13648A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Required

Mobility Agreement: Required

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 2-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

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/05/2026.

Individual Occupational Requirements:

All Professional Engineering Positions have Individual Occupational Requirements. Applicants must meet the basic requirements listed below.

• Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR
• Combination of education and experience college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:
  
  • Professional registration or licensure Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
  • Written Test Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
  • Specified academic courses Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
  • Related curriculum Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all inclusive.)

In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirements listed above, applicants must meet the specialized experience as described below:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-13 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience as a team lead engineer over a major renovation, modernization or new construction project involving two or more types of medical facilities; experience as a team lead for a team of matrix of engineering and architectural specialties; experience in primary responsibilities to explain, plan, coordinate, defend justify or negotiate difficulties of interpretation of construction contract documents; developing written responses to inquire requests for technical & administrative subjects & communicating job progress through verbal and writing means.

Physical Requirements: The work is partially sedentary with regular and recurring travel to proposed and ongoing construction sites for extensive walking, climbing, and crawling at times to inspect site conditions or completed work. The work requires enough oral communication skills to obtain local permits, negotiate changes to contracts, and keep abreast of construction activities and progress. The position also oversees safety requirements within the construction perimeter to assure patient, staff, and construction team safety. The inspection work may also require the physical ability to climb ladders and crawl through tight spaces to inspect completed work. Exposure to outside weather conditions, dust, and high noise levels is typical throughout the construction period.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be found well qualified, applicants must meet the following qualifications:

• Collaborating effectively across departments, external agencies, and with contractors to generate innovative ideas and streamline processes
• Drives continuous improvement initiatives, identifying opportunities for efficiency and innovation across organizational boundaries & long-standing policies and procedures
• Preparing contractual documents for higher-level review
• Resolving complex procurement problems & providing expert advice on contractual matter

Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Local Commuting Area: The local commuting area for this position is defined as a radius of 50 miles from the locations listed for this vacancy. This includes all locations that fall within a 50-mile driving distance from the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Acquisition Center offices at those locations.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

There is no educational substitution for experience for the GS-13 levels. However, you must meet the Basic Occupational Requirements as listed above: (Transcripts Required)

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

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