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This position is located in the Office of the Legal Adviser, Office of Building and Acquisition (L/BA). The attorney will primarily provide legal advice and representation on the solicitation, award and administration of Federal acquisition contracts, grants and other federal assistance awards.
This position is in the Excepted Service and appointments are made without regard to the requirements of the Competitive Service by laws, Executive order, or OPM regulations.
05/19/2025 to 05/27/2025
$120,579 - $195,200 per year
GS 13 - 15
No
Yes—Situational Telework may be approved by agency
Occasional travel - Occasional travel may be required.
No
Term - Term Appointment not-to-exceed 2 years. (At the end of that period, subject to continuing successful performance, appointments may be extended).
Full-time
Excepted
15
No
Yes
HRSC/L-2025-0009
837267900
U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
Current federal employees whose agencies have their own hiring rules, pay scales and evaluation criteria.
Open to USAID employees only
Work assignments may include:
At the GS-14 and GS-15 levels, the incumbent performs the same duties as outlined above; however, the scope and complexity of assignments are increased, and the incumbent receives less supervision than the GS-13 level.
GS-13, 14, and 15
All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Applicants apply for this position must meet the following requirements to be eligible for further consideration:
If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your law school transcript with your application.
Law Degree: Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with a J.D. or LLM.
Bar Membership: Applicants must be a current member of a bar in good standing in any state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE
GS-13-Applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience, which provided you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of this position
There is no education substitute for specialized experience for the GS-13 position.
GS-14-Applicants must have at least three years of specialized experience with at least one year equivalent to the GS-13 level in the Federal Service, which provides you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of this position. The specialized experience must have been gained after admission to the bar.
There is no substitute of education for specialized experience for the GS-14 position.
GS-15-Applicants must have at least four years of specialized experience with at least one year equivalent to the GS-14 level in the Federal Service, which provides you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of this position. The specialized experience must have been gained after admission to the bar.
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials, visit: www.naces.org/members.php.
See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
There is no formal rating system for applying veterans’ preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of State considers veterans’ preference eligibility a positive factor in the hiring process. For this announcement, all applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the qualification for this position, specifically, the education and specialized experience requirements. Applicants will not be rated or ranked. All applications that are verified to meet the required qualification will be referred to the selecting official.
Your resume will be evaluated to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications required; and to the extent to which your application shows that you possess the knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), and other characteristics that are relevant to the duties of this position as defined below:
• Knowledge of federal contract law and federal procurement and acquisition law and practice, as referenced above.
• Knowledge of U.S. foreign assistance-funded acquisition contracts, grants, and other federal assistance instruments
• Ability to analyze legal issues.
• Skill in successfully building relations with clients, peers, and colleagues.
• Ability to provide written and verbal opinions to clients
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely about legal topics.
Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determination and must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education [if applicable) as it relates to this job opportunity. 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). Your resume should include the dates of all qualifying experience from [month/year to month year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week.
All required documents listed below, that are applicable to you, must be submitted to legaljobs@state.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time [ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
1. Resume – your resume or any other written format you choose should contain the required information as specified in the "How You Will Be Evaluated" section. Insufficient information will result in an ineligible rating.
2. Transcripts – you must submit a copy of your college transcript(s) from an accredited law school with your application. If selected, an official/sealed college transcript(s) will be required to verify education prior to employment.
3. Proof of bar membership – you must submit proof of bar membership from any state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with your application.
4. If you are qualifying based on other criteria listed under the Qualification Section of this announcement, you MUST submit the required supporting documentation (certificates, certifications, etc.) with your application.
5. Most recent SF-50 for federal employment (if applicable).
6. Most recent performance appraisal.
7. References – you must submit three professional references with your application.
8. Veterans Preference – There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of State considers veterans' preference eligibility a positive factor in the hiring process. If claiming 5-point veteran's preference, you must provide a copy of your DD-214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (Member Copy 4 is preferred), which must show the type of discharge and dates of active duty.
If you are currently on active duty, you must provide a certification on letterhead from your military branch which contains your military service dates, expected date of discharge or release, and the character of service to show that your military service was performed under honorable conditions. The expected date of discharge or release must be no later than 120 days after the certification is submitted for consideration for this vacancy announcement. If the appropriate information is not submitted to confirm your current or expected discharge status, dates of service, etc., you will not receive credit for the claimed active duty military service.
If claiming 10-point veteran's preference (i.e., preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more), you must submit the documentation required by the SF-15 (Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference) to support your claim (e.g., DD-214, official statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs). If we cannot verify your 10-point preference status, you will receive 5-point preference if veterans' preference requirements have been met. For further information regarding Veterans, click here.
For applicants claiming 10-point derived veterans’ preference (i.e., spouses, widows, widowers or mothers of veterans), a completed SF-15 must be submitted with the application with all required supporting documents listed on the form.
For Sole Survivorship preference, you must provide a copy of your DD-214 (Member Copy 4 is preferred) or another form of official documentation which shows your discharge or release from active duty occurred on or after August 29, 2008 and was based on a sole survivorship discharge.
To gain access to your DD214 online, click here.
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
The apply button is deactivated and applications packages are being accepted directly by the Office of the Legal Adviser (L). We will also consider your years of service, veteran status, and performance appraisal.
Application packages are being accepted directly by emailing an application with all required documents, preferably in one PDF, to legaljobs@state.gov. Please have the subject line of the email read “L/BA Specialist Attorney Position AND the Vacancy Announcement Number.”
Please note this vacancy exists with instructions on how to apply. Applicant notifications, however, will NOT be sent. If a hiring official determines you have the skillset for this vacancy, a member of the hiring team will contact you.
Those applicants who may be contacted for an interview may be asked to provide further application materials at that time, including a writing sample.
If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted.
If a tentative job offer is made, the Department of State will conduct a suitability and/or security background investigation.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/837267900. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.