Government Information Specialist

Summary This position is located in the Palo Alto VA Medical Center in Palo Alto - CA. The facility Privacy/FOIA Officer has oversight for the data governance program and initiatives in the VHA Medical Center or Healthcare System and its supporting catchment area. Qualifications SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE (GS-12): One (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade (GS-12) in the Federal service - that equipped you with the particular knowledge - skills - and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience includes: experience as a Privacy/FOIA officer working independently with little supervision - formulating policy - ensuring compliance with federal and state laws and conducts thorough research of implementing regulations and policies and procedures to manage agency/organization information; providing assistance and services to the general public - staff members and communicated information to the Executive leadership - facility staff and outside stakeholders. PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: The work is primarily sedentary. There will be episodes of moderate lifting or prolonged periods of standing and bending in searching various files. There is lifting and carrying of such items as record boxes and bulky files. The work involves considerable walking - standing and bending conducting rounds - auditing and providing training to both on-site and off-site personnel. There is also occasional lifting and carrying of such items as boxes and files - weighing up to 30 pounds. The work may be performed in an office setting with adequate light - heat - air conditioning and ventilation. Traveling off-station to VA outpatient clinics - contracted community-based clinics - business associate offices and between campuses to provide training and attend/conduct meetings is necessary. May require occasional travel. 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/. Duties ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION - YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Major duties include but are not limited to: Implements unique policies and procedures to manage agency information - providing assistance and services to the general public and an organization - agency or facility staff membersSupports developing a local level strategy for data governance - which includes leading from the executive office and creating a unique program that includes diverse processes and specific policies which are independent of other facilitiesMonitors and covers all aspects of the collection - use - dissemination - disclosure and destruction of information within an organization - agency or facilityDevelops and integrates policy based processes - roles and controls that influences how data is created - collected - used - stored and destroyed throughout the organizationAdjudicates complex privacy and FOIA decisions that affect employees - customers and commercial businesses in the absence of supervisionPerforms in-depth legal research that pertains to both federal and state statutes to render expertise - provide solutions and facilitate corrective actionSafeguards information while supporting accountability and transparency initiativesAnalyzes all of the interrelated issues that affect the privacy/FOIA program and plans and conducts monitoring activities which measure the overall level of operational compliance by the facilityTeaches and trains employees on general data protection procedures and detailed service specific practices for daily operations and uses technology to provide required privacy/FOIA training and supplemental educationPerforms assessment of privacy-related risks associated with business activities that involve processing of personal and sensitive dataInvestigates non-compliance of privacy related issues at all levels of an organization - agency or facility and outside of these entities when information is involvedStrengthens and sustains the operational life cycle of the privacy/FOIA program by developing a communication strategy that fosters awareness for both internal and external partners to improve compliance - provide training and engage the publicEnsures that organization - agency or facility correspondence for data governance is transparent - timely - accurate and complete in response to requests for information from the general-public - Congressional representatives - law enforcement - courts and commercial businessCreates a communications process and tools that are flexible - customizable and interactive to address unique compliance challenges and educational/training needsPerform other duties as assignedWork Schedule: Full-TimeMonday through Friday8:00 am to 4:30 pm Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Recruitment incentive may be authorized for highly qualified candidatesCritical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved.