Purchasing Agent

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 52,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Los Angeles seeks a Purchasing Agent within the VA Health Care System, Greater Los Angeles, to acquire supplies, services, and construction by purchase, rental, or lease via delivery orders or small purchases.

The role requires handling procurement, supplier sources, budgeting support, and reporting; you will work with medical staff to prioritize needs and ensure timely payments. Schedule: Mon-Fri, 7:00am-3:30pm, on-site.

Qualifications

• Experience performing clerical or assistant duties in support of purchasing and procurement.
• Experience procuring supplies and services to meet purchase, rental, or lease needs.
• Ability to use procurement regulations and MS Office for reports.

Responsibilities

• Purchasing support and procurement of supplies, services, and equipment.
• Reviewing and editing purchase requests for accuracy and compliance.
• Resolving issues to ensure timely processing of requests and payments.
• Conducting market research and identifying potential sources.
• Preparing and issuing contract modifications and formal correspondence.
• Maintaining records, generating reports, and providing administrative support.

Skills

Purchasing experience

Procurement knowledge

MS Office

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

MS Office Suite

Job description

Summary

This position serves as a Purchasing Agent for the Logistics Service within the VA Health Care System - Greater Los Angeles - performing work to acquire supplies - services - and construction by purchase - rental - or lease through (a) delivery orders and/or (b) small purchase procedures.

Summary

This position serves as a Purchasing Agent for the Logistics Service within the VA Health Care System - Greater Los Angeles - performing work to acquire supplies - services - and construction by purchase - rental - or lease through (a) delivery orders and/or (b) small purchase procedures.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement - 10/16/2026. 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. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. The grade may have been in any occupation - but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year - it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade - as required by the announcement. In this instance - you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: In addition to the time-in-grade requirement - 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. NOTE: Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. 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

• Duties include but are not limited to: This position serves as a Purchasing Agent for the Logistics Service within the VA Health Care System performing work to acquire supplies - services - and construction by purchase - rental - or lease through (a) delivery orders and/or (b) small purchase procedures
• This position utilizes knowledge of policies and procedures for delivery orders and small purchases and knowledge of commercial supply sources and common business practices related to sales - prices - discounts - units of measurement - deliveries - stocks - and shipments
• The Purchasing Agent maintains responsibility for work leading to the purchase of a wide variety of complex and highly specialized services - supplies - equipment - and systems that support the full range of programs and activities
• Major duties and responsibilities include: Purchasing Support - Conducts purchasing under the micro purchase threshold
• reviews and edits purchase requests
• resolves issues to ensure requests and bills are processed accurately and in a timely manner
• identifies needs or problems and determines corrective action
• utilizes federal and agency acquisition regulations to identify possible sources and other pertinent information related to purchases
• 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
• and - Procurement Support - Procures supplies and services to meet the purchase - rental - or lease needs of the organization
• develops unique selection criteria for each purchase
• Prepare and issue 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.
• conducting open market research and sole source small purchases for highly specialized medical items with critical product requirements
• and - Administrative Support - Serves as the first line of contact for medical staff and customers in regard to procured items
• develops reports and spreadsheets - obtains - organizes - files and retrieves reports for briefing and presentation purposes
• performs a variety of receptionist - timekeeping - record keeping and miscellaneous duties in medical facility
• Performs other related duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday from 7:00am-3:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD99896S