Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.
In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the date the certificate of eligible candidates is issued.
For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.
Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.
Work Experience: Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience; the beginning day, month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time. Incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.
Minimum Qualifications Requirements:
Experience in a trade or craft may be credited as specialized experience when the work provided intensive knowledge of engineering principles, techniques, methods, and precedents. Examples are trade positions with substantial developmental, test, or design responsibilities such as:

• Planner and estimator who analyzed designs for production purposes.
• Instrument maker or model maker who performed design or development work on devices fabricated.

Certification: Engineering technicians may be certified by the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies, an organization sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers. Certification by the Institute will be helpful as a measure of the technician's quality of experience.

Specialized Experience Requirement:
For the GS-7 level: At least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-6 grade level in the Federal service. To qualify at this grade level, your specialized experience must include:

• Preparing, maintaining and analyzing biomass and biomass processed samples, such as wood, agricultural biomass, pulp, and paper.
• Analyzing data using standard software and writing reports, plans, or guidelines related to laboratory projects.
• You must also show one year of experience EITHER Performing a variety of standardized chemical and/or physical techniques, tests, and procedures in a laboratory environment OR Operating and calibrating standard chemical or physical science related laboratory equipment.

• Assisting with processing wood and/or biomass samples. These processes may include traditional pulping and bleaching, and biorefining to produce fuels, chemicals, and materials.
• Maintaining laboratory records such as a laboratory notebook, computer database observation records, graphical representations, and spreadsheets showing calculations from laboratory data.
• You must also show one year of experience EITHER Conducting analytical chemistry techniques, such as titration, chemical and physical analyses of samples, and operating specialized instrumentation such as those related to spectroscopy or thermal analysis OR Operating, calibrating and maintaining a variety of chemical or physical science related laboratory equipment.

• Independently processing wood and/or biomass samples. These processes may include traditional pulping and bleaching, and biorefining to produce fuels, chemicals, and materials.
• Analyzing and preparing data and results for inclusion in scientific briefings, study papers, research manuscripts, or project reports.
• You must also show one year of experience EITHER Independently planning and conducting a wide variety of chemical and physical techniques, tests, and procedures in a laboratory setting OR Operating, calibrating, maintaining, troubleshooting, and ordering a variety of chemical or physical science related laboratory equipment.

THIS IS AN OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until the close date or until the position is filled whichever comes first.This type of announcement provides the Forest Service with a readily available source of applicants when vacancies occur. Eligibility and qualifications will be verified when there is a vacancy for the location and grade for which you applied.
Salary wage as shown is for Rest of the U.S. Final salary will be determined at the time of selection dependent on the duty location For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.
Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.
Veterans who are preference eligible or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after three years or more of continuous active service are eligible for consideration under the Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA).
PROMOTION POTENTIAL: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied or guaranteed.
This is a bargaining unit position and is represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.
Forest Service daycare facilities are not available.
Government Housing is not available.
The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional information is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-and-leave-flexibilities-for-recruitment-and-retention/

The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in mail service, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.

• Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the major duties including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) supervisor's phone number and whether or not the supervisor may be contacted for a reference check; 5) other qualifications.
• If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit: a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.

• Current and former Federal employees: 1) Most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) showing that you are/were in the competitive service, highest grade (or promotion potential) held on a permanent basis, position title, series and grade AND 2) Most recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable. Do not submit a performance plan.
• Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.
• Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act Eligible Applicants: please review the required documents for this hiring authority on the Forest Service website.
• Current permanent FSA County employees: most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action, (SF-50 or equivalent) showing your highest grade (or promotion potential) held on a permanent basis, position title, series and grade AND most recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) per above.
• Veteran Hiring Authorities: VEOA, VRA and 30% Disabled Veterans: DD214, Certificate of Release from Active Duty, that shows dates of service and discharge under honorable conditions. If currently on active duty you must submit a certification of expected discharge or release from active-duty service under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. Veteran's preference must be verified prior to appointment.
• If claiming 10-point veteran's preference you must provide the DD214 or certification requirements (see above bullet), plus the proof of entitlement of this preference as listed on the SF-15 Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. The SF-15 should be included but is not required. Failure to submit these documents could result in the determination that there is insufficient documentation to support your claim for 10-point preference.
• Public Land Corps: You must submit a Certificate of Hiring Eligibility FS-1820-0027, dated within two years after completion of Public Land Corps service in the Forest Service.
• Resource Assistants: You must submit a Certificate of Hiring Eligibility, FS-1820-0028, dated within two years after completion of the Forest Service Resource Assistants program and college transcripts.
• Schedule A, Persons with Disabilities Appointment: Letter from a physician, local, state, or federal rehabilitation office citing eligibility under 5 CFR 213.3102 (u).
• If claiming eligibility under a special hiring authority or an interchange agreement with another merit system not listed above, see the requirements for that authority and submit the required supporting documentation. Go to: USAJOBS Hiring Path for Special Authorities or Special Hiring Authority for more information.