This position is located in the Health Administration Service (HAS) of the Boise VA Health Care System and works under the Beneficiary Travel Section. The Veterans Transportation Program/Beneficiary Travel (VTS/BT) administers beneficiary travel program benefits to Veterans who meet eligibility criteria.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 07/17/2025. 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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. 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 the 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 you possess one-year time-in-grade, as 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 as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: 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: Reviewing, adjudicating, and authorizing claims for costs incurred while traveling from their home to VA medical appointments and Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs), VA authorized non-VA medical facility as well as other facilities who refer patients to the Medical Center for care. Determining which of several fund control points to utilize, obligating funds, maintaining manual and electronic accounting records, performing regular reconciliations, and adjusting account balances. Arranging all modes of transportation via air ambulance, commercial air, taxi, ambulance, bus, and/or contracted transport services. Preferred Experience: One year experience processing travel pay requests, working with computer systems to process requests and speaking with customers to provide professional customer service. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Learning 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; religions; 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. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary in nature. The work requires no special physical demands, but will require some physical effort such as standing, walking, bending or sitting. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
Duties include, but are not limited to: Determining eligibility for the program and processing requests. Determining which of several fund control points to utilize, obligating funds, maintaining manual and electronic accounting records, performing regular reconciliations and adjusting account balances. Contacting approving officials to authorize obligations and requests for additions, deductions, and/or movement of funds. Making necessary changes to fund control points. Reviewing methods of payment for authorized and unauthorized ambulance claims submitted for consideration. Receiving invoices for payment of transportation services. Investigating authorizations, orders, and/or utilizing the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) to review medical records, forwarding for supervisory approval, and submitting all documents for payment utilizing appropriate control points for reference. Forwarding all invoices certified for payment to Financial Resource Management Service (FRMS) for processing. Acting as liaison between vendors and FRMS for invoices pending payment. Writing or selecting appropriate letters explaining disposition of unauthorized travel claims. Explaining regulatory guidelines to beneficiaries for submitting any unauthorized ambulance claims to the VA Medical Center for consideration of payment. Corresponding with contracting officer regarding technical problems or negotiations or contractual agreements. Balancing, reconciling, and adjusting invoices for payment. Documenting and preparing statistical ambulance reports to supervisor for fiscal year budget. Arranging various modes of transportation (e.g., air ambulance, commercial air, taxi, ambulance, bus and/or contracted transport services). Corresponding with physicians, travelers, social workers or CBOC representatives and vendors to determine the most dependable and economical mode of transportation. Preparing appropriate documentation and/or scheduling for traveler according to government rates or substantial rates. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 am. - 4:00pm. Telework: Not Available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Transportation Assistant/PD60661A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.