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This position is located in the Office of General Counsel (OGC), National FOIA Office (NFO), FOIA Operations and Reporting Team (FORT), Washington, DC. For more information on this office, visit their website: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-office-general-counsel-ogc.
05/22/2020 to 06/12/2020
$142,701 - $170,800 per year
GS 15
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Occasional travel - You may be required to travel 1 to 5 days per month.
No
Permanent
Full-Time
Excepted
15
No
No
EPA-OGC-2020-0004
569110800
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reflects our country's fundamental commitment to government accountability and transparency. The National FOIA Office (NFO) leads EPA in discharging its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act. The NFO, located in the Office of General Counsel, provides legal advising services and a wide range of programmatic services pertaining to the Agency’s implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, including FOIA request intake, assignment, clarification, determination of expedited processing and fee waiver requests, preparing monthly and annual FOIA reports, providing training, reviewing and updating the Agency’s FOIA regulations, policies, and procedures, and staffing the Agency’s FOIA Requester Center and FOIA Public Liaison.
The FOIA Operations and Reporting Team (FORT), located in the NFO, performs intake review and assignment of all FOIA requests EPA receives; it monitors EPA’s FOIA implementation; and it recommends reports regarding EPA’s FOIA performance to the Administrator, the Chief FOIA Officer, EPA Senior Leadership, and the Attorney General. The FORT staffs the EPA’s FOIA Requester Center to assist the public with questions about how to file a request and the status of submitted FOIA requests. The FORT aids in the reviewing EPA FOIA regulations, policy, procedures, and guidelines, and it recommends to the Chief FOIA Officer adjustments to improve EPA’s implementation of the FOIA. The FORT also assists in developing and delivering training to agency leadership, supervisors, FOIA professionals, and annual training to all staff.
The NFO’s Assistant General Counsel for the FORT assists the NFO Associate General Counsel in managing the day-to-day operation of the FORT, including overseeing and managing the work of the attorneys, paralegals, and government information specialists assigned to work on FORT projects.
Other responsibilities include:
This position is in the excepted service. Selection under this appointment authority does not confer civil service competitive status. However, this position is covered for the purpose of federal retirement and benefits.
If you are selected, you will be expected to report to work as soon as practical but no later than thirty (30) days from the date you receive a final job offer. Extension of this reporting requirement may be granted only under extraordinary circumstances.
Except in special circumstances, those new to the federal government will be hired at the starting salary (step 1) of the applicable grade range listed above.
When entering a Federal job at a grade level lower than the highest promotion potential level, you may be promoted to more complex duties and work more independently, as your career progresses.
If you are selected, you must complete a one-year trial period.
Applicant must have an LL.B. or J.D. degree from an accredited law school; must be admitted to practice before the highest court of a State, U.S. territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Pico; and must maintain active status as a member of the bar in one of these jurisdictions. Applicants must have experience in providing legal advice and counsel at EPA, other federal, state or local agencies or courts, non-governmental organizations, or in private practice.
To qualify for the GS-15 level, you should have four (4) or more years of post-J.D. legal experience, at least one of which included specialized experience at, or equivalent to, the GS-14 grade level or higher. Please explain any specialized experience working under these statutes in your written statement of interest, if applicable.
The ideal candidate will have excellent interpersonal, leadership, communication and organizational skills, a strong customer service ethic, and an eagerness to teach and mentor the practice group.
If you are selected, you will be required to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Form prior to your first day of employment and annually thereafter.
This position is designated as a Moderate Risk and requires a background investigation. Unless an appropriate background investigation is already on record with the Office of Personnel Management, you must undergo a background investigation.
EPA participates in e-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that enables participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. For additional information, visit https://www.epa.gov/careers/epa-job-vacancy-announcements-policies-and-procedures.
If you are selected, travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will not be paid by EPA. Any travel, transportation, and relocation expenses associated with reporting to work in this position will be your responsibility.
This position has portable work and the selectee may be eligible to telework as determined by agency policy.
It is the policy of the Government not to deny employment simply because an individual has been unemployed or has had financial difficulties that have arisen through no fault of the individual. Information about an individual’s employment experience will be used only to determine the person’s qualifications and to assess his or her relative level of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Although an individual’s personal conduct may be relevant in any employment decision, including conduct during periods of unemployment or evidence of dishonesty in handling financial matters, financial difficulty that has arisen through no fault of the individual will generally not itself be the basis of an unfavorable suitability or fitness determination. For more information, visit https://chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/Mythbuster_on_Federal_Hiring_Policies_0.pdf
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above and based on the information contained in your resume packet. If an interview is granted, you will be evaluated based on the responses you provide during an interview. In responding to interview questions, you should be sure to cite specific examples of experience, explain exactly what you did and the outcome.
There is no numerical rating system for applying veteran’s preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Office of General Counsel considers veteran’s preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring.
Documents to be submitted should be in PDF format only :
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
In order for your application to be considered, all required supporting documents must be included with your application and must be in PDF format. You are strongly encouraged to read the entire announcement before you submit your application for this position.
To begin the application process, click the Apply button to the right on this screen, follow the prompts to log-in/register and submit all required documents. To be considered, you must submit a complete application package by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the day the announcement closes.
All required supporting documents will be collected electronically via the USAJobs document portfolio feature.
If you cannot apply online, you must contact the Human Resources Office listed below for assistance no later than three business days prior to the closing date of this announcement. You must provide complete application materials by the day the announcement closes.
The most highly qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration and possible interview. We expect to make a selection within 60 days of the closing date of this announcement. You will be notified of the outcome.
UNDER BENEFITS:
URL: https://help.usajobs.gov/index.php/Pay_and_Benefits
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/569110800. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
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