Purchasing Agent

Purchasing Agent

The Purchasing Agent position is located in the Prosthetic & Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) in the VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City, UT. The primary purpose of this position is to perform direct medical supply Purchasing and Inventory Management support to the administrative and clinical services of the VA, to initiate the obligation for all related requirements necessary to provide prosthetic and sensory aids services, to include durable medical equipment and supplies directly to Veterans.

Major duties and responsibilities include :

• Performing direct purchasing of durable medical equipment and providing administrative support to clinical services within the VA.
• Initiating procurement of all outpatient medical requirements to include : direct individual purchases to the Veteran, stock purchases for immediate availability, all medical surgical implants used during surgery, and / or rental requirements.
• Managing inbound customer service calls and providing resolutions to veterans, vendors, and clinicians.
• Reading, understanding, and adhering to provider prescriptions / consults to determine eligibility and entitlement of a Veteran's status for prescribed equipment.
• Accounting for all expenditures and inventory working between the purchasing card and prosthetics program.
• Balancing expenditures against obligations.
• Documenting all inventory and purchasing actions in the Veteran's medical record.
• Developing request for quotation, soliciting competitive offers, evaluating responds to bids and requests for proposal.
• Performing other duties as assigned.

Promotion Potential : The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule : 8 : 00am - 4 : 30pm, Monday-Friday

Position Description / PD# : Purchasing Agent / PD14584A and PD14583A

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 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.

Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification 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.

Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10 / 19 / 2025.

Time-In-Grade Requirement : Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

For a GS-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.

Note : Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

GS-5 : IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION AT THE GS-5 LEVEL, YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING :

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE GS-5 LEVEL : You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience, equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the Federal Service (GS-4), that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of a Purchasing Agent. Specialized experience for this position includes performing administrative duties in a healthcare setting; completing training or assisting in routine and complex specialized purchases for clinics including medical equipment and medical appliances; communicating with internal and external customers via various methods. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE.)

~OR~ SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE GS-5 LEVEL : You must have successfully completed four (4) years above the high school level in any field for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. (COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION)

~OR~ COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION GS-5 LEVEL : You must possess equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-high school education beyond two (2) years and specialized experience as described above that demonstrates the ability to perform the duties of this Purchasing Agent position. Only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours (i.e., beyond the second year) is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours) beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience. (COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION)

GS-6 : IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION AT THE GS-6, YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING :

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE GS-6 LEVEL : You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience, equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the Federal Service (GS-5), that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of a Purchasing Agent. Specialized experience for this position includes interpreting prescriptions and requests for medical equipment and services; maintaining regular contact with vendors, contractors, medical center professionals and staff; purchasing equipment, supplies and services using an agency / organization purchase card; and reconciling charges and preparing and submitting reports. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE.)

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position :

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; religions; 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.

Note : A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. 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.

Physical Requirements : The work is sedentary; however, there may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items such as papers and books. The work is normally performed in an office setting utilizing a computer terminal. Employee performs job site visits when necessary.