Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products
Preparing, negotiating, and awarding contracts, reviewing purchase requests, and developing competitive solicitations directly support civilian purchasing and procurement work.
How to prepare: For federal contracting opportunities, compare your education, training, and experience with the qualification criteria of the specific vacancy. The OPM 1102 standard's GS-5 through GS-12 basic requirements are a bachelor's degree in any field or at least 24 semester hours in accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management; GS-13 and above additionally require agency-prescribed mandatory training and at least 4 years of contracting or related experience, and the standard states it "does not apply to Department of Defense positions."
What the civilian work involves
- Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services.
- Formulate policies and procedures for bid proposals and procurement of goods and services.
- Monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations.
Civilian tools and software (examples)
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Word
- Adobe Acrobat