Purchasing Agent
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Boise, ID, United States
Summary
The position serves as a Purchasing Agent for the Logistics Service in a Veteran Affairs Health Care System (VA HCS) and its supported catchment area.
Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement – 04/22/2026. Time‑In‑Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade at any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet the time‑in‑grade requirements.
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 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 your one‑year time‑in‑grade; in this instance you must provide an additional SF‑50 that clearly demonstrates one‑year time‑in‑grade. Specialized Experience: 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. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month & year of starting and ending dates, and hours worked per week.
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).
Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. Physical Requirements and Work Environment: 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 involving everyday risks or discomforts.
Normal safety precautions are adequate.
Duties
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 delivery orders and/or 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.
Procurement Support – procures supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of the organization, develops unique selection criteria for each purchase, prepares and issues 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, conducts open‑market research and sole‑source small purchases for highly specialized medical items with critical product requirements.
Administrative Support – serves as the first line of contact for medical staff and customers regarding procured items, develops reports and spreadsheets, obtains, organizes, files, and retrieves reports for briefing and presentation purposes, performs a variety of receptionist, time‑keeping, record‑keeping, and miscellaneous duties in the medical facility, performs other related duties as assigned.
Work Schedule
Monday - Friday
7:00 am to 3:30 pm MST
This position is not eligible for telework and 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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement – 04/22/2026. Time‑In‑Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade at any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet the time‑in‑grade requirements.
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 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 your one‑year time‑in‑grade; in this instance you must provide an additional SF‑50 that clearly demonstrates one‑year time‑in‑grade. Specialized Experience: 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. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month & year of starting and ending dates, and hours worked per week.
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).
Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. Physical Requirements and Work Environment: 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 involving everyday risks or discomforts.
Normal safety precautions are adequate.
Duties
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 delivery orders and/or 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.
Procurement Support – procures supplies and services to meet the purchase, rental, or lease needs of the organization, develops unique selection criteria for each purchase, prepares and issues 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, conducts open‑market research and sole‑source small purchases for highly specialized medical items with critical product requirements.
Administrative Support – serves as the first line of contact for medical staff and customers regarding procured items, develops reports and spreadsheets, obtains, organizes, files, and retrieves reports for briefing and presentation purposes, performs a variety of receptionist, time‑keeping, record‑keeping, and miscellaneous duties in the medical facility, performs other related duties as assigned.
Work Schedule
Monday - Friday
7:00 am to 3:30 pm MST
This position is not eligible for telework and 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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