Policy Analyst

Summary

This position is located in the Office of Food Policy and Response (OFPR), Office of the Commissioner (OC), which provides executive leadership, direction, and coordination over policy initiatives involving food safety modernization activities and human food-safety programs. Coordinates FDA efforts to build an integrated national food safety system in collaboration with other federal agencies and state and local governments.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Current permanent employees of the FDA serving on a career or career-conditional appointment and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) eligibles may apply. Current FDA employees eligible for appointment under Schedule A (individuals with disabilities) may also apply. PHS Commissioned Corps Officers interested in performing duties of this position as a Commissioned Officer may apply for consideration, but not as candidates for a career-conditional/career appointment under Title 5.

Duties

Serves as the major office-level focal point for important policy issues that require coordination and negotiation between top-level staff officials of the Department of Health and Human Services and FDA components.

Coordinates or synthesizes scientific and technical issues with economic considerations that reflect a balance, and that meet the policy intent and needs of OFPR/OPI programs.

Writes in final form a variety of articles, speeches, reports, manuscripts, and other materials related to FDA programs.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Citizenship Requirement: You must be a U.S. Citizen to be considered for this advertisement unless explicitly stated otherwise.

FDA participates in e-Verify: All new hires must complete the I-9 form; this information will be processed through e-Verify to determine your employment eligibility. If a discrepancy arises, you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.

Selective Service Registration: All applicants born male, on (or after) 12/31/1959, must be registered with the Selective Service System OR have an approved exemption. Visit for more info.

Background Investigation Requirement: All employees must pass a security investigation. Failing to pass the background check may be grounds for removal or legal action. If hired, you may be subject to additional investigations at a later time.

Time-in-Grade Requirement: If you are applying as a current Federal employee, you must meet the time-in-grade requirements described in the Qualifications section, generally, 52-weeks of comparable experience at the next lowest grade.

Certification of Accuracy: All information concerning eligibility and qualification is subject to investigation and verification. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration, non-selection, or appropriate legal action.

You must meet ALL requirements by the closing date of this announcement to be considered. Only education, experience, and qualifications attained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements through the hiring process.

Direct Deposit: You will be required to have all federal salary payments electronically deposited into a bank account with a financial institution of your choice.

Additional selections may be made from this vacancy, within the same geographical area, by other organizational elements from within FDA, through shared corporate recruiting activities.

One-year probationary period may be required.

Qualifications

The position of Policy Analyst falls within the 0301 occupational series. To qualify for this position at grade GS-14, you must meet requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 10/01/2024.

Minimum Qualifications:

Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. The specialized experience must demonstrate one year of full-time work experience, or the equivalent if part-time (for example, an employee working 20 hours per week for a 12-month period should be credited with 6 months of experience.) Experience may have been obtained in either the federal service or its equivalent with state or local government, the private sector, or nongovernmental organizations.

GS-14: You must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13, in the Federal service, which includes: Analyzing policy or regulatory issues related to food activities and recommending an appropriate course of action.

In accordance with Office of Personnel Management policy, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable, however, when documented by satisfactory evidence, such as a signed memorandum from the employee's supervisor or an or SF-52 documenting an official detail or other official assignment. The must indicate whether the duties were performed full time or, if part time, the percentage of times the other duties were performed. It is expected that this documentation is included in the employee's official personnel record. In order to receive credit for experience in your that is not within the official series and grade level of your official position, you must provide a copy of the appropriate of such experience as indicated above.

PHS Commissioned Corps Officers interested in performing the duties of this position within the Commissioned Corps may apply online to this announcement. Candidates will be referred to (CC) personnel and not as candidates for conversion to a permanent career or career-conditional appointment.

NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

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.

You must submit to verify your to apply for this vacancy.

For internal applicants an will be required. If Educational requirements are listed, you must submit a Transcript, even if you occupy the series/grade in question. See the Required Documents section for full details.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

For some advertisements, the Food & Drug Administration receives hundreds, even thousands, of applications from job-seekers. Because of this high level of interest in positions with the FDA, the agency reserves the option of setting an application number limit.

When an application limit is set, USAJOBS will close the vacancy at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on either:

(A) the day the limit is reached,

-OR-

(B) the pre-defined closing date, whichever comes first.

If the limit is reached before 11:59 pm ET, all applications in excess of the limit will continue to be accepted until 11:59 pm ET.

The application limit, if applicable, for this advertisement is: 150

For more information about announcement closing, see:

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

We may make additional selections for similar positions across the entire Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) within the local commuting area(s) identified in this vacancy announcement. By applying, you agree to have your application shared with any interested selecting official(s) at HHS. There is no option to opt-out as your information will not be shared with other hiring agencies outside of HHS.

Pre-employment physical required: No

Drug testing required: No

License required: No

Mobility agreement required: No

Immunization required: No

Bargaining Unit: No

If you are serving, or have served in the last 5 years (from 10/01/2024) as an Executive Branch political, Schedule C, or Non-career SES appointee, HHS/FDA may be required to obtain approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prior to beginning employment. You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed. If you have served or are currently serving, you must provide a copy of your SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, documenting this appointment. In addition, you will be required to respond to the question in the assessment and certify your responses to the questionnaire. This position may require financial disclosure reporting and will be subject to FDA's prohibited financial interest regulation. If you are hired, you may be required to divest of certain financial interests. You are advised to seek additional information on this requirement from the hiring official before accepting any job offers. For more information please visit the FDA Ethics web page: .

Applicants selected for this position will be subject to reasonable suspicion and post-accident drug testing upon hiring. To demonstrate commitment to the HHS goal of a drug-free workplace and to set an example for other Federal employees, employees not in a testing designated position may volunteer for unannounced random testing by notifying their Drug-free Federal Workplace Program Point of Contact upon hiring.

All requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement (10/01/2024); only education and experience gained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements throughout the hiring process.

Additional selections may be made within the same geographical area FDA-wide.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Additional selections may be made for similar positions across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) within the local commuting area(s) of the location identified in this announcement. By applying, you agree to have your application shared with interested selecting official(s) at HHS. Clearance of CTAP/ICTAP will be applied for similar positions across HHS.

Once the job opportunity announcement closes (at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on 10/01/2024), of your and will be conducted, the information will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your for this internal position. Eligible internal candidates will be referred to the hiring official for consideration.

If you are referred to the hiring manager for consideration, you may be further evaluated based on an interview; review of requested work samples, writing samples, most recent performance evaluation(s), or professional references; or results of an oral presentation or work-related test. Failure to comply with any of the additional assessment requirements will result in removal from further consideration. These assessment methods/tools may also be listed under Key Requirements.

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

Basis of Rating: Best qualified competitive merit promotion candidates and all qualified noncompetitive candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration.

Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP): Well-Qualified is defined as an applicant who meets the qualification standards and eligibility requirements for the position, including minimum educational and experience requirements; any medical qualifications and suitability; is able to perform the essential duties of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation; meets any applicable selective placement factors) for the position (such as the ability to speak a specific language or any other factor required immediately upon hire); and is able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry. To be well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, surplus or displaced Federal employees must be rated at 85.0 or above on the rating criteria for this position. Learn more on the .

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics). You do not have to respond to the KSA's separately, but your resume should contain sufficient information to demonstrate possession of the Competencies/KSA's.

Policy Proficiency

Technical Competence

Writing To preview the application questionnaire, click the link below.

Required Documents

Resume: At a minimum, your resume should list the position title, employer name, start and end dates (including month and year), salary (or grade and step), hours worked per week, and a list of duties performed or accomplishments, for EACH position listed. A CV (curriculum vitae) may not contain enough information to meet these resume requirements.

Transcripts and Professional Licensure: If the position has an education or licensure requirement or you are qualifying based on education, unofficial transcripts or a list of courses and a copy of your professional license must be provided. See the Qualifications and Education Requirements section of this announcement.

Current and Former Federal Employees:

To verify your eligibility and status, you must submit your most recent SF-50 showing you are/were in the competitive service and the highest grade or promotion potential held. The SF-50 must also show the following:

Full position title;

Pay Plan, Series, Grade, & Step;

Position Occupied;

Tenure code; and

Service Computation Date (SCD). If you are applying for a higher grade, the SF-50 provided must also demonstrate you meet time-in-grade. NOTE: Annual pay adjustment and award SF-50s normally do not show time-in-grade is met. Multiple SF-50s may need to be submitted to show all the required information. Learn more on the .

Current Federal Employees: To receive due weight for performance appraisals and incentives, provide a copy of your most recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months of application) showing rating received. Incentives received and accomplishments may be listed in your resume instead of on a separate document.

CTAP: If you are a surplus or displaced HHS employee, please submit supporting documentation (e.g., a Certification of Expected Separation, separation notice, RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal, SF-50 for RIF separation, etc.) and your most recent performance