General Engineer at Department of State, Overseas Buildings Operations

The men and women of the US Department of State with their skills, character and commitment to public service, are the backbone of America's diplomacy. Personal Services Contractor employees support the foreign policy mission from offices in Washington, DC and worldwide. Join us in helping to shape a freer, more secure and prosperous world as we formulate, represent and implement US foreign policy. Choose from hundreds of career possibilities - there's something for everyone!

THIS IS A NON-STATUS, NON-PERMANENT POSITION.  YOU DO NOT ACQUIRE A COMPETITIVE OR EXCEPTED SERVICE STATUS FROM THIS POSITION.

This Personal Service Contractor (PSC) position is located in the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (OBO), Program Development, Coordination and Support Directorate (PDCS), Office of Special Projects Coordination (SPC), and is assigned to the Project Management Unit. 
 

 

Applicants seeking to apply to the Interdisciplinary Architect (Project Manager), please refer to announcement: OBO-PSC 2025-0021

As a General Engineer (Project Manager) assigned to the Project Management Unit of OBO/PDCS/SPC, the contractor is responsible for the planning/programming, design, construction, and commissioning of new capital and non-capital constructions projects or major rehabilitation projects worldwide that have special security considerations.  The contractor oversees all aspects of assigned project(s) from concept through planning, design, and construction, and coordinates the preparation, compilation, review, and approval of planning documentation and the project authorizations derived from these planning documents. In furtherance of these responsibilities, the contractor performs tasks that include, but are not necessarily limited to the following:

• Oversees the work of project team(s) as assigned, and is responsible for communicating team objectives, mission, goals, problems to be solved, and milestones.  Provides leadership to the team in exploring alternatives and determining what improvements can be made in work methods, processes, and procedures.


• Coordinates and reviews the development, compilation, and approval of project-specific architectural and engineering criteria; develops project scope, duration, and budget; coordinates with appropriate personnel within OBO to establish schedules, project scope criteria, budgets, dependencies, and responsibilities; ensures the requirements of all project stakeholders are identified and included in the planning documentation; and prepares or coordinates the preparation of detailed schedules for the execution of assigned projects, ensuring all factors that will impact the schedules are identified considered in their preparation. 


• Provides input to and assist the SPC Acquisition Specialist(s) responsible for contracting for Architectural-Engineering (A-E) services and for managing contracts for construction services.


• Manages design phase activities including pre-design conferences, site surveys, design reviews of A-E contractor design submittal, and design review conferences, and manages design competition as appropriate.


• Serves as a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) for each major design project to ensure that contracts are properly monitored, administered, and executed; determine workload and technical requirements and whether outsourcing needed services is required.


• Provides support to the onsite Project Director and SPC Construction Executive during the construction phase to achieve compliance with design objectives and intent, and manages timely resolution of all technical matters that are at variance with the original project scope.

Applicants MUST show that they possess a professional knowledge of general engineering as evidenced by ONE of the following Basic Requirements:

A. Bachelor’s or Higher Degree: The program must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (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 professional 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: 1. Professional Registration or Licensure: Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), 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. 2. Written Test: Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. 3. 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. 4. Related Curriculum: Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's or higher 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. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

Notes: 1) Applicants who meets the Basic Requirements in A or B above, except as noted under B.1., may qualify for positions in any branch of engineering unless selective factors indicate otherwise; 2) Professional engineering experience required for grades GS-7 and above is defined as non-routine engineering work that required and was characterized by professional knowledge of engineering, professional ability to apply such knowledge to engineering problems, and positive and continuing development of professional knowledge and ability; 3) To be considered, applicants MUST submit transcripts and copies of professional registration and/or licensure to verify Basic Requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements, including education, and any selective placement factors described below by the closing date of this announcement. Education may only be substituted in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order to be credited towards qualifications. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click on the link for a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials.

IN ADDITION to the Basic Requirements above, you MUST also have 1 year of specialized experience that is related to the work of the position, is equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal service, and demonstrates the following:

***Experience in applying, advanced principles and practices of two or more engineering disciplines (i.e., civil, structural, electrical, or mechanical), sufficient to serve as a recognized expert and authority in the design, construction, renovation, or improvement of high dollar, complex facilities throughout the world. 

***Experience in Federal contracting and procurement processes in both the pre- and post-award environment, while serving as a Contracting Officer's Representative, and in preparing statements of work, justifications and other contractual documentation in support of contract work associated with the conduct of construction projects. 

***Expert knowledge of United States and international project management principles and processes, including budget and resource control, cost/benefits analysis, risk management, scheduling, metrics development and utilization, and analysis, in order to provide authoritative guidance in these areas, to assess the quality and potential for success or project(s), and to resolve complex project management issues.