Section Chief, Contracts and Acquisition Management (O-6 Billet) Supervisory

About the role

ICE Health Service Corps seeks a supervisory Contracts and Acquisition Management Section Chief to lead acquisition planning, cybersecurity and privacy compliance coordination, and contract governance for health care technology. The role supervises three office leads, manages risk and performance, drives process improvement, and advises leadership on priorities.

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

• Leads the Contracts and Acquisition Management Section and is accountable to HITU leadership for the overall performance, capacity, quality, risk posture, and mission support of the Section.
• Supervises three Supervisory Leads responsible for the Acquisition Planning Office, Cybersecurity Compliance Office, and Contract Governance Office.
• Establishes objectives, assigns work, evaluates performance, provides coaching and developmental feedback, and develops subordinate supervisors for increasing responsibility.
• Establishes the strategic direction, annual priorities, performance expectations, and operating plans for CAMS.
• Translates HITU, IHSC, and agency direction into executable work for the three CAMS offices.
• Integrates the work of the Acquisition Planning Office, Cybersecurity Compliance Office, and Contract Governance Office so acquisition planning, cybersecurity and privacy compliance coordination, contract award support, post-award governance, and closeout activities operate as a unified acquisition lifecycle.
• Establishes and enforces Section-wide standards for documentation, quality review, risk identification, escalation, recordkeeping, information protection, acquisition integrity, and performance reporting.
• Ensures standards are applied consistently across all CAMS offices.
• Represents CAMS to HITU leadership, IHSC executive leadership, contracting leadership, program officials, technical personnel, privacy and cybersecurity officials, and other agency stakeholders.
• Communicates Section performance, capacity, commitments, constraints, emerging risks, and recommended actions.
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with contracting leadership and other acquisition partners.
• Ensures acquisition-planning work is complete, actionable, and ready for appropriate contracting action and that post-award performance information is available to support authorized contract-administration activities.
• Provides executive leadership with timely and accurate information on Section performance, workload, staffing capacity, acquisition and contract risks, dependencies, compliance posture, and resource requirements.
• Develops recommendations supporting prioritization, resourcing, and executive decision-making.
• Coordinates with the Portfolio Management Office to ensure CAMS commitments, acquisition milestones, compliance dependencies, contract-performance constraints, and portfolio risks are accurately reflected in enterprise planning and schedules.
• Represents CAMS in governance forums and decision-making bodies affecting HITU acquisitions, technology contracts, privacy, cybersecurity, and portfolio activities.
• Ensures decisions, priorities, and required actions are communicated to the CAMS offices responsible for implementation.
• Evaluates Section-wide organizational performance, identifies systemic weaknesses, and directs process improvements to improve quality, efficiency, accountability, continuity, and mission outcomes.
• Ensures recurring issues are addressed through sustainable process, staffing, training, or governance improvements.
• Establishes workforce-development priorities for the Section.
• Ensures subordinate Supervisory Leads provide appropriate training, mentoring, performance management, and developmental opportunities for assigned staff.
• Ensures sensitive procurement, proprietary, financial, privacy, cybersecurity, source-selection, and system information is appropriately protected.
• Establishes controls to maintain complete, retrievable, and defensible records supporting acquisition and contract-governance decisions.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Education

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES: Ability to lead a complex organization and supervise subordinate supervisors responsible for distinct but interdependent functions.

Working knowledge of the full Federal acquisition lifecycle, including pre-award planning, acquisition support, cybersecurity and privacy compliance coordination, post-award governance, performance monitoring, and closeout. Ability to establish organizational direction, prioritize work under constrained capacity, allocate resources, and hold leaders accountable for outcomes.

Ability to integrate acquisition planning, cybersecurity and privacy compliance coordination, and contract governance activities into a coherent lifecycle-management approach. Ability to evaluate organizational performance, identify systemic weaknesses, manage risk, and implement sustainable process improvements.

Ability to establish productive working relationships with executive leadership, contracting officials, program officials, technical personnel, cybersecurity and privacy specialists, financial personnel, and external partners.

Ability to represent an organization credibly to executive leadership and provide concise, accurate, decision-ready information on performance, capacity, commitments, risks, and recommendations. Ability to communicate adverse organizational, operational, acquisition, compliance, staffing, and performance information together with a recommended course of action.

Ability to recognize and maintain appropriate authority boundaries, including the distinction between coordinating activities and exercising authorities reserved to Contracting Officers, privacy officials, cybersecurity officials, budget officials, human-resources officials, and executive leadership.

Ability to establish and enforce documentation, recordkeeping, information-protection, and acquisition-integrity standards across multiple offices. Ability to exercise sound, independent judgment in managing sensitive, complex, and mission-critical organizational issues.

Ability to adapt to changing mission requirements, acquisition priorities, schedules, staffing constraints, and organizational needs. 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.

Applicants must demonstrate progressively responsible leadership experience, including experience supervising staff, establishing organizational direction, managing organizational performance, and reporting to executive leadership on performance, capacity, risk, and resource needs.

Applicants should demonstrate meaningful experience in one or more of the following areas: Federal acquisition leadership, including pre-award acquisition planning, acquisition support, and post-award contract governance; Cybersecurity, privacy, information technology governance, or compliance management at an organizational level; Program or portfolio management at an enterprise scale, including health information technology, health care technology, or comparable complex mission environments; Organizational leadership, workforce development, process improvement, or establishing and leading a new organizational function; or Comparable complex, regulated, or mission-driven work requiring coordination across organizational boundaries.

Executive judgment, organizational leadership, workforce development, authority awareness, program-management capability, and demonstrated effectiveness in complex, regulated, or mission-driven environments are primary evaluation criteria. Federal experience is valuable but not required.

Relevant preparation may be demonstrated through a combination of acquisition leadership, progressively responsible supervisory experience, program or portfolio leadership, cybersecurity or privacy governance experience, relevant coursework, professional training, or professional certifications.

Certifications such as Federal Acquisition Certification, Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting Officer's Representatives, Project Management Professional, comparable acquisition credentials, or senior leadership and executive-development programs may strengthen an applicant's preparation but are not 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 is a U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) position within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC), Office of the Deputy Assistant Director of Administration, Health Information and Technology Unit (HITU), Contracts and Acquisition Management Section (CAMS).

This is a supervisory position. The incumbent serves as the Chief of CAMS and is accountable to HITU leadership for the overall performance, capacity, strategic direction, and risk management of the Section.

The incumbent supervises three Supervisory Leads, each responsible for an office within CAMS: the Acquisition Planning Office, the Cybersecurity Compliance Office, and the Contract Governance Office. CAMS provides lifecycle management of IHSC health care technology acquisitions.

The Section integrates pre-award acquisition planning, cybersecurity and privacy compliance coordination, and post-award contract governance so that work progresses from mission need through planning, award, performance, and closeout. The incumbent ensures that the three offices operate as an integrated lifecycle rather than as separate functions.

DHS SUPERVISORY CONTROLS: Insert if any HHS SUPERVISORY CONTROLS: Insert if any SUPERVISORY CONTROLS: The incumbent reports directly to HITU leadership. Assignments are broad, long-term, and mission-focused. HITU leadership establishes overall organizational priorities, strategic direction, resource parameters, and expectations for HITU performance.

The incumbent independently plans, directs, prioritizes, and evaluates CAMS operations; establishes Section-wide standards; allocates work and capacity among the three CAMS offices; resolves cross-office issues; and coordinates Section activities with acquisition, technical, cybersecurity, privacy, financial, programmatic, and executive stakeholders.

The incumbent applies applicable Federal acquisition regulations, DHS, ICE, IHSC, HITU, cybersecurity, privacy, financial, records-management, human-resources, and information technology governance policies, procedures, precedents, and guidance.

The work requires interpretation and adaptation of guidance to address complex organizational, acquisition, compliance, contracting, staffing, funding, technical, and operational conditions. The incumbent exercises supervisory authority over three Supervisory Leads.

The incumbent establishes objectives, assigns work, communicates performance expectations, reviews organizational and individual performance, evaluates work products, monitors workload and capacity, provides coaching and developmental feedback, and takes appropriate action to address performance or conduct concerns.

The incumbent keeps HITU leadership informed of Section performance, organizational capacity, significant acquisition and contract risks, resource constraints, staffing needs, systemic issues, emerging concerns, and recommended actions.

Work is reviewed in terms of achievement of HITU and IHSC objectives; effectiveness of CAMS lifecycle-management operations; quality of supervisory and organizational leadership; adherence to applicable laws, policies, and procedures; and successful support of IHSC mission requirements.

Significant changes to Section-wide processes, organizational structures, resource allocations, or strategic priorities are coordinated with and approved by HITU leadership.