Civil Engineer (Irrigation)

This position is located with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Division of Water & Power, Flathead Indian Irrigation Project in Saint Ignatius, Montana. Major duties: As Civil Engineer (Irrigation), GS-0810, your typical work assignments may include, but not limited to: Apply expertise in advanced professional knowledge of civil engineering for dam design and irrigation, construction, examination, rehabilitation, and maintenance problems and issues. Apply expertise in advanced construction technology, materials engineering and failure mode analysis to dam embankment, spillway, outlet and foundation analysis, problems, and issue resolution. Formulate alternatives and make recommendations to higher management levels on dam safety and irrigation program issues and individual dam safety, construction quality control, construction management, operation, maintenance and rehabilitation issues. Provide subject matter guidance to co-workers, Tribal officials, and consultants, as well as State, local, and federal government entities, regarding the irrigation projects. Lead or serve on technical dam safety teams for risk informed approach analysis, also leads or serves on teams which perform value engineering studies on dams and make decisions which are required and specialized as related to dam potential failure modes as a dam construction specialist. Perform quality assurance inspections and progress monitoring to verify that all work complies with project plans, specifications, and standards. Qualifications: EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS: (OPM Operating Manual, Qualification Standards for Professional and Scientific Positions, GS-0810). BASIC REQUIREMENT FOR GS-13: A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR B. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: Evaluation of Experience: Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1, or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional 1For more information about EI and EIT registration requirements, please visit the National Society of Professional Engineers website at: http://www.nspe.org. 2The FE examination is not administered by the U. S. Office of Personnel Management. For more information, please visit: http://www.nspe.org/Licensure/HowtoGetLicensed/index.html. 1 registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. AND PE LICENSURE Current licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions). Note: You must include a copy of current certification of professional engineering registration. AND SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE I meet the basic requirement, and I have 1 year of specialized experience that equipped me with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of this position. This experience is related to the work of the position and equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience include performing civil engineering duties on large-scale irrigation projects, including planning, designing, and overseeing construction of major water conveyance and distribution systems. This includes surveys, evaluations, and analysis to determine all activities of an irrigation and water delivery program (i.e. demand, flow, structural requirements); evaluate technical and regulatory practices, oversee maintenance records, inspection and analyze data to ensure compliance with environmental regulations, water-rights policies, and applicable engineering standards; identify operational issues and implement design or operational adjustments to improve efficiency and reliability. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Additional selections may be made from this announcement if identical vacancies occur in the same location within 90 days from the closing date.