Purchasing Agent
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Garland, TX, United States
Summary
This position primarily performs Purchasing Agent work to acquire supplies, services, and construction by purchase, rental, or lease through delivery orders and/or small purchase procedures. The work requires knowledge of policies and procedures for delivery orders and small purchases, as well as knowledge of commercial supply sources and common business practices related to sales, prices, discounts, units of measurement, deliveries, stocks, and shipments.
Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement – 03/31/2026. 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. For a GS‑06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS‑05 level. The grade may have been in any occupation but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF‑50 showing 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 one‑year time‑in‑grade 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 and current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Applicants may qualify based on experience and/or education as described below.
GS‑06: Experience.
At least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS‑5 level in the Federal service that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of a Purchasing Agent. Specialized experience includes: 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 equipment, supplies, and services through a purchase card; and assembling and/or summarizing information from files and documents to create reports using automated computerized supply/inventory management systems and Microsoft Office software such as MS Word and Excel.
You will be rated on the following competencies for this position: Customer Service, Technical Competence, Reasoning, Manages and Organizes Information, Manages Resources, Decision Making. Experience includes paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work.
Physical Requirements: Requires some physical effort such as standing, sitting, walking, or bending. There are no special physical demands. The work is performed in an office setting with everyday risks or discomforts.
For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
Duties
Serve as a Purchasing Agent for the Logistics Service within the VA Health Care System, acquiring supplies, services, and construction by purchase, rental, or lease.
Utilize 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.
Maintain 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.
Purchase Support: Conduct purchases under the micro‑purchase threshold, review and edit purchase requests, resolve issues to ensure requests and bills are processed accurately and in a timely manner, identify needs or problems and determine corrective action, utilize federal and agency acquisition regulations, track obligations and monitor expenditures to support recurring budget forecasts, and identify potential fraud, waste, and abuse based on procurement history and purchase trends.
Procurement Support: Procure supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of the organization, develop unique selection criteria for each purchase, prepare and issue contract modifications for changes in delivery schedule, send formal correspondence to customers such as inventory management specialists, other service line contacts, and contracting officers for auditing documents, processing receiving reports, and payments, conduct open‑market research and sole source small purchases for highly specialized medical items with critical product requirements.
Administrative Support: Serve as the first line of contact for medical staff and customers regarding procured items, develop reports and spreadsheets, obtain, organize, file, and retrieve reports for briefing and presentation purposes, perform receptionist, time‑keeping, record‑keeping, and miscellaneous duties in a medical facility.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30 am – 4:00 pm. This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD99896S. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
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Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement – 03/31/2026. 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. For a GS‑06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS‑05 level. The grade may have been in any occupation but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF‑50 showing 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 one‑year time‑in‑grade 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 and current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Applicants may qualify based on experience and/or education as described below.
GS‑06: Experience.
At least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS‑5 level in the Federal service that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of a Purchasing Agent. Specialized experience includes: 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 equipment, supplies, and services through a purchase card; and assembling and/or summarizing information from files and documents to create reports using automated computerized supply/inventory management systems and Microsoft Office software such as MS Word and Excel.
You will be rated on the following competencies for this position: Customer Service, Technical Competence, Reasoning, Manages and Organizes Information, Manages Resources, Decision Making. Experience includes paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work.
Physical Requirements: Requires some physical effort such as standing, sitting, walking, or bending. There are no special physical demands. The work is performed in an office setting with everyday risks or discomforts.
For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
Duties
Serve as a Purchasing Agent for the Logistics Service within the VA Health Care System, acquiring supplies, services, and construction by purchase, rental, or lease.
Utilize 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.
Maintain 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.
Purchase Support: Conduct purchases under the micro‑purchase threshold, review and edit purchase requests, resolve issues to ensure requests and bills are processed accurately and in a timely manner, identify needs or problems and determine corrective action, utilize federal and agency acquisition regulations, track obligations and monitor expenditures to support recurring budget forecasts, and identify potential fraud, waste, and abuse based on procurement history and purchase trends.
Procurement Support: Procure supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of the organization, develop unique selection criteria for each purchase, prepare and issue contract modifications for changes in delivery schedule, send formal correspondence to customers such as inventory management specialists, other service line contacts, and contracting officers for auditing documents, processing receiving reports, and payments, conduct open‑market research and sole source small purchases for highly specialized medical items with critical product requirements.
Administrative Support: Serve as the first line of contact for medical staff and customers regarding procured items, develop reports and spreadsheets, obtain, organize, file, and retrieve reports for briefing and presentation purposes, perform receptionist, time‑keeping, record‑keeping, and miscellaneous duties in a medical facility.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30 am – 4:00 pm. This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Purchasing Agent/PD99896S. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
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