About this role
Job Summary
This position is located in the Nutrition and Food Services (N&FS) within the VA Maine Healthcare System, located at the Togus, ME location. This position is full-time at 40 hours per week.
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/28/2026. 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-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.
You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Administering and maintaining budgets; knowledge of budgets and purchasing requests; entering and tracking information; performing clerical duties in support of finance or accounting operations; and preparing correspondence.
NOTE: 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Budget Administration - Knowledge of the principles and practices of budget administration and analysis; including preparing, justifying, reporting on, and executing the budget; and the relationships among program, budget, accounting, and reporting systems.
Control of Funds - Knowledge of the principles, procedures, and requirements for maintaining control and accountability of obligations and expenditures for all appropriations and fund accounts - for example, revolving, non-appropriated, multiyear, and single-year appropriations. Cost Accounting - Knowledge of the principles, procedures, and methods of cost accounting, including the use of historical cost, market value, or present value to measure cost; methods for assigning cost to accounting periods; and cost allocation, cost accrual, depreciation, and unit cost.
Clerical - Knowledge of filing, typing, entering data, maintaining records, taking shorthand, and using and completing forms. Computer Skills - Uses computers, software applications, databases, and automated systems to accomplish work. 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 primarily sedentary but occasionally requires the carrying of light objects such as files, books, and papers and occasionally carrying objects up to 50 pounds. Work involves bending, stooping, standing, walking, and using a computer terminal. Work is performed in an adequately climate-controlled kitchen setting; occasional exposure to freezer temperatures and kitchen humidity. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
Major Duties
- The primary purpose of the position is to perform a wide range of clerical and technician work supporting budget analysis and administration with responsibility for purchasing food, equipment, supplies, and services; providing cost accounting and budgetary statistics; and preparing reports that indicate status of funds for subsistence and supplies for Nutrition and Food Services.
- Major duties and responsibilities include but not limited to: Developing and monitoring resources and making recommendations to the service regarding needs, distribution, or redistribution of these resources; Serving as the budget and financial advisor for the Chief or designee; Developing, formulating, and providing all essential data for the annual budget forecast; Tracking all expenditures and comparing with budgeted, projected and on-hand inventories; Maintaining budget control records and assures funds are used in accordance with the operating budget; Advising on the status and availability of funds; Processing all vouchers with the appropriate office and carrying out any needed follow-up; Establishing and maintaining a procurement system for expendable supplies and equipment; Reviewing and submitting the appropriate forms for the funding of purchase orders; Maintaining various reports and using designated ledgers to account for cost accounting operations; Compiling, consolidating, checking and arranging funding data in requests to cover projected annual operating expenses; Preparing required documentation to resolve discrepancies with cost reports, budget analysis or other service-related needs; Preparing correspondence and performing other general clerical duties; Performing related duties as required.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 7:00am - 3:30pm Compressed/Flexible: No Telework: No Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Budget Technician/PD99928-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Position Description/PD#: PD99928-A/99928-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Notifications: This position is in the Competitive Service.
Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. Interchange Agreements with Other Merit System: Employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 4701(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104 (1) and (3)] must be serving in a full-time position without time limit and have served continuously for at least one year in this other merit system to be eligible to convert to the Title 5 System.
Some exceptions to this rule may apply if you have previously acquired tenure under a Title 5 appointment. Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.
Requirements
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. 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 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)