Summary The Senior Program Support Assistant works as a team member in the Centralized Support Division. The Senior Program Support Assistant assists the supervisor in ensuring the organization's strategic plan, mission, vision and values are communicated to the employees of the unit and integrated into the unit's strategies, goals, objectives, and work plans. Responsibilities Major Duties When called upon, to perform the duties and responsibilities as described below, the incumbent will be expected to perform core duties that are aligned with the team's mission. These duties and responsibilities will be supplemented as necessary by duties that are applicable to a particular team or common to all teams. 1. The incumbent is responsible for the care and maintenance of the claims folders and ensures that all pertinent records and documents are preserved and. are neatly and orderly filed in chronological order in the correct compartment. 2. Analyzes claim and determines if disposition of claim and control action has been appropriately identified. Establishes or updates control action, to include all tuxedo based applications to include Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), Personnel Information Exchange System (PIES), CAPS and COVERS. 3. Assists the VSR with the gathering of Official Military Personnel File {OMPF) evidence for cases. Reviews evidence received for completeness. Incumbent follows-up to ensure that requested information is received for development actions. 4. Utilizes Electronic Military Records (eMilrecs) Systems for record retrieval capabilities; prepares correspondence through the Personnel Information Exchange System (PIES) for communication to Regional Office personnel. 5. The employee resolves cases in which records were damaged or lost In the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). 6. Responsible for the care and maintenance of claims folders while ensure all pertinent records and documents are preserved and filed in chronological order in the correct compartment. 7. Analyze claim and determine if disposition of claim and control action has been appropriately identified. 8. Assist with gathering of Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) evidence for cases. 9. Process informal claims providing the claimant with the necessary application and stipulating the appropriate time limit. 10. Generate various types of correspondence, (i.e. letters, reports of contacts, reports, and responses to FOIA requests or congressional inquiries), able to be understood by individuals with various backgrounds and educational levels. 11. Explain basic VA FOIA/Privacy Act programs and entitlement criteria to veterans and their dependents. 12. Provide administrative support to the team. while perform other related duties as directed by supervisor. 13. Assist the supervisor in ensuring the organization's strategic plan, mission, vision and values are communicated to the unit employees and integrated into the unit's strategies, goals, objectives, and work plans. 14. Serve as liaison between the supervisor and employees to obtaining resources and securing the needed information or decisions from the supervisor on major work problems and/or issues. 15. Make adjustments to accomplish the workload in accordance with established priorities to ensure timely accomplishment of assigned tasks. 16. Provide training to unit employees that require them to maintain current and accurate knowledge of procedures, policies and directives as changes occur, or as mandated by law or local management decisions. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications Time-in-grade: Applicants who are/were federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06 level. To support your claim of time in grade, you must submit your most recent appointment, promotion, or within grade increase SF-50 (not an award or general adjustment SF-50). Some applicants may have to submit more than one SF-50 to demonstrate their eligibility. See the required documents section for more information. Specialized Experience: To qualify for a GS-07, You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: Experience with commonly applied claims and files procedures or operations requiring high attention to detail; Utilize electronic records systems for record retrieval capabilities; Generate various types of correspondence, (i.e. letters, reports of contacts, reports, and responses to FOIA requests or congressional inquiries). Experience could be obtained from other VA operating elements or from outside VA, such as other Federal or State Agencies. Education There is no educational substitution for the GS-07 level. As a general rule, education is not creditable above GS-5 for most positions covered by this standard; however, graduate education may be credited in those few instances where the graduate education is directly related to the work of the position. Additional Information Work Schedule: Regular office hours, 8:00am-4:30pm; Alternate work schedules are available Title/PD#: Senior Program Support Assistant GS - 7; PD 37956A 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. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts; driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Please contact the special placement coordinator or the human resources specialist listed on this vacancy for more information regarding applying for consideration under schedule A or as a 30% disabled veteran. Displaced federal employees: The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. A well-qualified candidate is defined as meeting all of the minimum qualification standards and eligibility requirements as well as possessing skills that clearly exceed the minimum qualifications requirements for this position. A score of 85 or above on the assessment questionnaire is considered well qualified. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility can be found here. Service credit for leave: Veterans Affairs offers creditable service for annual leave accrual for non-federal work experience to eligible employees. For more information about crediting experience for annual leave visit here. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies and other vacancies in the same series, grade, and location.