Purchasing Agent

Duties

• Purchasing Support
  • Conducts purchasing for a VA Medical Center and supported catchment area, under the micro purchase threshold.
  • Must have knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), VA Acquisition Regulations (VAAR), and other federal procurement laws.
  • Purchases various equipment, supplies, and services through the use of the government purchase card for micro purchases.
  • Obtains necessary product information, price information, and procedures for written or verbal purchase orders.
  • Provides general guidance to potential vendors on requirements and information needed to be entered into the VHA's local vendor file.
  • Maintains vendor performance through personal contact, review progress reports, and discuss reasons for delays, failures, or price changes.
  • Tracks obligations/commitments and monitors expenditures to support recurring budget forecasts and identify potential fraud, waste, and abuse based on procurement history and purchase trends.
  • Communicates in a tactful and courteous manner with a variety of individuals with diverse backgrounds and levels of understanding.
  • Solves issues in an expeditious manner to ensure requests and bills are processed in a timely and accurate manner.
• Procurement Support
  • Procures supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of the organization.
  • Examines incoming requests for completeness, including presence of purchase request number, accounting codes, item description, estimated cost, and quantity.
  • Prepares and issues contract modifications for changes in delivery schedule and sends formal correspondence to a variety of customers such as inventory management specialists, other service line contacts, and contracting officers as appropriate for the purposes of auditing documents, processing receiving reports, and payments.
  • Conducts open market research and sole source small purchases for highly specialized medical items with critical product requirements.
  • Advises other services on the policies and procedures to establish 2237 requisitions for services, equipment, and commodities.
  • Monitors and examines fund control point accounts and requests additional funding for procurement needs working with direct supervisor, fund control point Service Line Chief, and the Fiscal Department.
• Administrative Support
  • Serves as the first line of contact for medical staff and customers in regard to procured items.
  • Performs a variety of receptionist, timekeeping, record keeping, and miscellaneous duties in medical facility.
  • Utilizes Microsoft Office to create, edit, and aggregate data necessary for expense tracking and Supply Chain management reporting.
  • Develops reports and spreadsheets, obtains, organizes, files, and retrieves reports for briefing and presentation purposes.
  • Continuously reviews policies and regulations related to time and leave.

Qualifications

• To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement - 07/23/2026.
• 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.
• 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: experience performing clerical or assistant duties in support of purchasing and procurement; procuring supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of an organization; working with medical staff to determine procurement needs and priorities; resolving a variety of shipment, payment, or other discrepancies in support of procurement programs and operations; purchasing various equipment, supplies, and services through the use of a purchase card; and assembling and/or summarizing information from files and documents as required to create reports utilizing automated computerized supply/inventory management systems and Microsoft Office software programs such as MS Word and Excel.