Supervisory Purchasing Agent

Veterans Health Administration; Columbia (SC); On-site; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

The Veterans Health Administration is seeking a Supervisory Purchasing Agent for the Dorn VA Healthcare System Prosthetics Service. The role ensures rapid delivery of all required hospital, medical and general supplies, services, and equipment, including rentals or leases.

Applicants must meet time-in-grade requirements and have specialized experience related to procurement, purchasing, and data analysis. A detailed SF-50 may be required to prove eligibility.

Qualifications

• Specialized Experience: one year equivalent to GS-6 in normal progression, with experience in purchasing and inventory management.
• Experience as a SME for staff and customers on purchasing/procurement matters.
• Ability to utilize government purchase cards and resolve discrepancies in shipment, payment, and procurement activities.

Responsibilities

• Oversee purchasing and procurement actions for standard, non-standard hospital and medical supplies, services, and equipment.
• Provide guidance to staff on Federal VA acquisition regulations, policies, directives, and SOPs.
• Analyze procurement data to develop action plans that improve efficiency and service delivery.

Job description

This position serves as a Supervisory Purchasing Agent for the William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Healthcare System Prosthetics Service and is responsible for procurement of both standard and non-standard hospital, medical and general supplies, services and equipment (to include rental or lease) to assure rapid delivery of goods, services, and equipment to the Veterans Health Administration.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/21/2026. 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 GS7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS6. 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: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS6 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 with purchasing and inventory management
• Serving as a subject matter expert for staff and customers on matters related to purchasing and procurement
• Utilizing a government purchase card for purchasing and procurement activities
• Resolving discrepancies related to shipment, payment, and other procurement activities
• Review and analyze data, and use that analysis to develop action plans to improve services and efficiency

Preferred Experience:

• Provides oversight of subordinate staff to verify that procurement actions are executed in accordance with Federal and VA acquisition regulations, VA/VHA policies, VA/VHA Directives, VA/VHA information letters, VA/VHA Handbooks, and Network contracting activity SOPs.
• Exercises direct supervisory responsibilities for planning, directing, and coordinating the complexities of the Section.
• Makes recommendations concerning overall resource needs, the distribution and redistribution of resources, and changes in structure.
• 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; religions; spiritual; community; student; social).
• Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.
• You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
• Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week.

Physical Requirements: Work is performed in a well-lit, temperature controlled office environment. Work is primarily sedentary but may involve some minor physical effort. 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/.