Acquisition Planning Office Lead (O-6 Billet) Supervisory

About the role

The Acquisition Planning Office Lead role oversees requirements development, market research, cost estimates, performance work statements, and acquisition planning records; coordinates privacy, cybersecurity, and contract-governance needs; manages risks and schedules; and drives quality, accountability, and process improvement.

This position is only open to current USPHS officers. USPHS Call to Active Duty (CAD) candidates are not eligible for this position.

What you will do

• Supervises and leads a team of three Acquisition Program Managers responsible for acquisition planning, market research, requirements development, and related pre-award support activities.
• Establishes workload distribution, priorities, timelines, and quality standards for the office.
• Assigns acquisition portfolios and related pre-award workstreams to individual officers based on workload, organizational priorities, officer capability, and mission requirements.
• Reassigns portfolios and adjusts priorities as circumstances change to maintain continuity and timely completion of work.
• Directs the development and review of acquisition-planning documentation and supporting analyses, including requirements documentation, market research, independent government cost estimates, performance work statements, milestone schedules, and acquisition-planning records.
• Provides input to support planning, budgeting, and oversight of the IHSC health information technology acquisition portfolio.
• Identifies and assesses risks, dependencies, resource constraints, and potential schedule impacts; elevates significant issues to leadership with recommended actions.
• Works closely with Contracting Officers, requirement owners, program officials, system owners, and technical leads to ensure acquisition requirements accurately reflect operational needs, are technically feasible, and can be executed as written.
• Coordinates with the Cybersecurity Compliance Office to ensure privacy, cybersecurity, authorization, and related compliance considerations are incorporated during acquisition planning.
• Ensures that appropriate specialists are engaged early enough to identify and address requirements and risks before award.
• Coordinates with the Contract Governance Office to ensure awarded acquisitions transition to post-award governance with complete planning records, clearly defined contractor-performance expectations, measurable standards, and documented acceptance criteria.
• Ensures that acquisition planning supports the Government's ability to verify receipt of acceptable contracted services.
• Reviews requirements and performance expectations to ensure they are complete, measurable, documented, and aligned with mission needs.
• Represents APO in stakeholder meetings, workgroups, program reviews, and other forums associated with assigned acquisition portfolios.
• Ensures subordinate officers effectively represent their assigned portfolios and communicate acquisition status, risks, dependencies, and required actions.
• Develops and implements office operational plans, procedures, documentation standards, and process improvements necessary to achieve CAMS and HITU objectives.
• Captures and maintains institutional knowledge to support continuity through personnel transitions.
• Performs supervisory duties, including performance management, work planning, coaching, mentoring, employee development, and accountability for assigned officers.
• Identifies developmental needs and ensures completion of required position-specific training.
• Establishes and enforces documentation, recordkeeping, and information-protection practices for the office.
• Ensures appropriate handling of procurement-sensitive, proprietary, financial, privacy, cybersecurity, and source-selection information.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Education

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES: Knowledge of the Federal acquisition lifecycle and the respective roles of Contracting Officers, requirement owners, program officials, system owners, technical staff, and other acquisition stakeholders.

Knowledge of acquisition-planning practices, including requirements development, market research, independent cost estimating, performance work statement development, and acquisition documentation.

Ability to lead and manage multiple concurrent acquisitions at differing stages of development while maintaining accurate status information and identifying dependencies, risks, and resource requirements. Ability to supervise, develop, evaluate, and hold accountable assigned professional staff; assign work by portfolio; and establish clear ownership and performance expectations.

Working knowledge of privacy, cybersecurity, and authorization requirements affecting health information technology acquisitions sufficient to coordinate effectively with officials holding formal oversight authority. Ability to communicate concisely and effectively with executive leadership, including presenting risks, adverse information, and recommended courses of action.

Ability to build and sustain productive working relationships with contracting, program, technical, oversight, and leadership partners across organizational lines. Ability to establish, maintain, and enforce documentation and recordkeeping standards while protecting sensitive acquisition information.

Ability to exercise sound, independent judgment in managing sensitive, complex, and programmatic issues. Ability to adapt to changing priorities, schedules, workload requirements, and mission needs. Ability to develop, implement, and evaluate process improvements that improve acquisition-planning quality, efficiency, and continuity.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS Applicants must meet the education and professional requirements applicable to their USPHS professional category.

No specific academic discipline is required for this position.

In addition, applicants must have at least two years of experience managing complex programs, projects, initiatives, or comparable multidisciplinary work. Qualifying experience or education may include acquisition or acquisition support, program or project management, requirements development, health care operations, information technology operations, or related complex work.

Applicants with experience leading or supervising professional staff are preferred, but such experience is not required. Leadership, judgment, authority awareness, program-management capability, and demonstrated effectiveness in complex, regulated, or mission-driven environments are primary evaluation criteria.

Additional specialty experience, Federal experience, coursework, professional training, advanced degrees, and certifications beyond the stated minimum qualifications may strengthen applicant preparation but are not independently required.

If the incumbent holds a clinical license or certification, the incumbent is responsible for fulfilling the requirements of the applicable licensing or certifying body to maintain currency.

How you will be evaluated

We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements. You may be selected for an interview at the hiring authority's discretion. You will be notified of selection or non-selection.

Documents you must provide

• To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package.
• Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position.
• A complete application includes: U.
• Public Health Service Officers Cover Letter/Letter of Interest.
• (Place under "Diploma/GED") Professional license.
• (If applicable) Additional professional certificates.
• (If applicable) Three professional references.
• (i.e., name, title and contact information) Official USPHS Promotion CV - e.g., relevant experience, education, training.
• (Place under "USPHS Promotion CV") You may provide a civilian resume in addition to the USPHS Promotion CV to capture all relevant work experience.
• A copy of your Certificate of Investigation (located in your eOPF). *Three most recent Commissioned Officer Effectiveness Reports (COER).
• (Place under "Performance Appraisal") For current IHSC PHS officers, IHSC Recruiting requires applicants to provide a copy of your current Service Remaining Requirements Agreement.
• Indicate if you have an Assignment Pay (AP) Agreement and the date of the end of your AP Agreement.
• If you do not, please submit a memo attesting to no AP in the Assignment Pay (AP) Agreement section in the documents section of application.

What to expect next

Once you submit your application, we will assess your experience and training, identify the best-qualified applicants, and refer those applications to the hiring manager for further consideration and interviews. We will notify you by email after each of these steps has been completed. Your status will also be updated on USAJOBS throughout the process.

To check your status, log on to your USAJOBS account, click on "Application Status," and then click "More Information." We expect to make a job offer within 60 days after the deadline for applications. If you are selected, we will conduct a suitability/security background investigation. View more information on applying for federal employment.

Additional information

This position is located within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC), and the Office of Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of Administration, Health Information and Technology Unit (HITU).

IHSC has a multi-sector, multidisciplinary workforce of more than 1600 employees, including U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) commissioned officers, federal civil servants, and contract staff.

The IHSC provides on-site direct patient care to ICE detainees at 17 detention facilities throughout the country and manages the provision of off-site medical care for detainees housed in approximately 128 additional Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) facilities.

The ICE detainee population is approximately 45,000 detainees daily, with an average length of stay of approximately 30 days, and over 400,000 detainees annually. The IHSC also provides medical support during ICE enforcement operations in the air, on the ground, and at sea.

The IHSC IT Contracts and Acquisition Management Section (CAMS) provides dedicated ownership of pre-award acquisition planning, post-award contract governance, and cybersecurity and privacy compliance coordination across the acquisition and contract lifecycle for medical assets.

In addition, working with partners across ICE, CAMS works to ensure all equipment meets security requirements. SUPERVISORY CONTROLS: The incumbent reports directly to the CAMS Section Chief. Assignments are generally broad, long-term, and mission-focused.

The CAMS Section Chief establishes overall priorities, strategic objectives, resource parameters, and organizational expectations.

The incumbent independently plans, directs, prioritizes, and evaluates APO operations; assigns acquisition portfolios and workstreams; establishes office procedures and quality standards; and coordinates activities with the Cybersecurity Compliance Office, Contract Governance Office, Contracting Officers, program officials, technical personnel, and other stakeholders.

The incumbent applies Federal acquisition laws, regulations, policies, procedures, precedents, and organizational guidance to manage acquisition-planning activities. The work requires interpretation and adaptation of guidance to address the varying operational, technical, cybersecurity, privacy, budgetary, and schedule requirements of health care technology acquisitions.

The incumbent exercises supervisory authority over three Acquisition Program Managers. The incumbent provides work assignments, establishes performance expectations, evaluates work products, monitors workload and performance, provides coaching and developmental feedback, and takes appropriate action to address performance or conduct concerns.

The incumbent keeps the CAMS Section Chief informed of office performance, acquisition risks, significant dependencies, staffing needs, emerging issues, and recommended actions.

Work is reviewed in terms of accomplishment of CAMS and HITU objectives, effectiveness of acquisition-planning operations, quality of supervisory leadership, adherence to applicable policy, and successful support of IHSC mission requirements.

Significant innovations, changes to office procedures, and modifications to established practices are coordinated with and approved by the CAMS Section Chief.