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Summary This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. About the Position: The Mechanical Design Section provides engineering support of USACE civil works missions. As a Mechanical Engineer, you will work on fish facilities, navigation lock machinery, gate design, hoisting systems, and self-lubricating bushing design. Responsibilities Developing the design of mechanical equipment and features of large Civil Works construction projects such as multipurpose dams, river navigation structures, fish hatcheries, and fish bypass facilities. Serve on multidisciplinary teams performing periodic inspections of dams and associated systems to ensure public safety, environmental compliance, and proper function. Working on mechanical equipment and features which include spillway tainter gate machinery equipment, fish facility design (hatcheries, upstream passage, downstream passage), oil spill prevention systems, and navigation lock mechanical equipment. Regulating outlet gate operators, hydraulic fluid power systems, trash cleaning systems, pumps and piping systems, cranes and hoist machinery, compressed air systems and other mechanical equipment and features Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. Basic Requirement for Mechanical Engineers: A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); OR (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR B. Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: 1. Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions. 2. Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, or any other written test required for professional registration, by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. 3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program. 4. Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: GS-11 Qualifications:Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes 1.) designing mechanical features of structures such as (but not limited to) hydropower generating facilities, multipurpose dams, river navigation structures, fish facilities, pump stations, or other common industrial facilities and 2.) participating in design teams. This experience includes serving as a junior engineer or engineer-in-training with experience performing some aspects of design independently, with guidance and review by senior engineers. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09). OR Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Mechanical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydropower Engineering, etc. OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages. GS-12 Qualifications: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes 1.) designing mechanical features of civil works structures such as hydropower generating facilities, multipurpose dams, river navigation structures, fish facilities, pump stations, or other common industrial facilities, 2.) participating in multidisciplinary design teams. This experience includes serving as a staff-level engineer with experience performing the majority of the mechanical design aspects independently, with review by senior engineers. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-11). Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, at the GS-12 grade level, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted. Education FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/ Additional Information If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet. This is a Career Program (CP) 18 - Engineers & Scientists position. Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement. Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement. When you perform a Civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) with the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers the majority of your entitlements to be taxable. Visit https://www.dfas.mil/civilianemployees/civrelo/Civilian-Moving-Expenses-Tax-Deduction/ for more information. If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application. Permanent Change of Station (PCS) allowances may be authorized, subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations and an agency determination that a PCS move is in the Government Interest. Advanced-in-Hire, Advanced Leave Accrual, or Recruitment/Relocation incentive MAY be authorized if determined to be in the best interest of the government. Telework may be authorized on an ad hoc/situational basis. Position may be filled at either the GS-11 or GS-12 grade level. This is not a developmental position. Selection at the GS-11 grade level does not confer non-competitive promotion to the GS-12.