Purchasing Agent

This position provides medical supply purchasing and inventory management support to the VA's administrative and clinical services, initiating all related requirements necessary to provide prosthetic and sensory aid services, including durable medical equipment and supplies, directly to Veterans.

Duties of this position include but not limited to: Manages data collection for numerous reports to ensure adequate resource funding and compliance. Completes transactions in the patient's medical record to ensure documentation of precisely what was purchased and issued. Research the use of different solicitation methods, ordering or reporting procedures, and purchasing methods to distinguish between different purchasing strategies.

Documents of the services required by the contractual agreement and monitors, tracks, and trends of contractor performance. Quickly deduce from written prescriptions or oral requests what items or services are needed, selecting the most appropriate cost-effective source to deliver the items/service most reliably. Conduct face-to-face and telephone conversations with patients, family members, private medical staff, contractors, vendors, and co-workers.

Speaks calmly and compassionately to severely disabled patients from all walks of life. Skills in dealing with a large community base, vendors, hospital staff, and the public are required to display a positive image of the organization. Providing patient care and support services to an adult population and serves as the point of contact for external customer service inventory needs and support. Resolves conflicts in administering purchase orders, such as protests, claims, duplicate billing & terminations for convenience or default.

Examine contracts, purchasing policies, equipment sources, shipping procedures, and corresponding terminology to find the most reasonably priced item to meet rapid requirements. Works independently to complete purchase orders and reconcile charges. Maintains accurate records of transactions and completes all adjustments to the computerized system before final payment to the vendor is certified. Maintains an inventory of all purchased and consignment equipment with expiration dates, and initiates exchanges and/or replacements of expired stock.

Completes written procurement and support notes in medical records to ensure order status is provided to the clinical requester to reduce delivery delays. Performs technical level purchasing support adhering to the Serve Directives and Handbooks and policy Initiates procurement of all outpatients' medical requirements. Initiates recall action of identified recall products provided and communicates all findings to the appropriate offices.

Verifies accountability of all prosthetic expenditures in both the purchase menu and the prosthetic program and associates all obligations with the individual patient. Ensures the services provided are documented by service type and duration. Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Work schedule is subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD11378A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/13/2026. 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-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Interpreting prescriptions and requests for medical equipment and services; maintaining regular contact with vendors, contractors, medical center professionals and staff; utilizing a variety of databases and computer systems; purchasing equipment, supplies and services using an agency/organization purchase card; and reconciling charges and preparing and submitting reports.

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/.