Pharmacy Technician (Procurement/Inventory)

This position serves as lead and is responsible for assisting in the oversight for all prescription and nonprescription medications and supply purchasing and inventory in a highly complex area within the Pharmacy Service. This responsibility mandates compliance with all Veterans Health Administration, Drug Enforcement Agency, Food and Drug Administration and all federal rules and regulations regarding contract compliance, purchase card procedures, and other duties as assigned.

Duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Analyze and reassess priorities to ensure workload demands are accomplished in the most effective, efficient, and economic manner
• Evaluates pharmacy activities to assist pharmacy managers in obtaining short- and long-range goals and objectives
• Assists pharmacy manager in identifying areas of effort duplication and developing solutions to streamline processes, reduce waste, save costs, and improve patient care
• Reports potential and/or actual medication errors. Encouraging pharmacy technicians to report actual and/or possible medication errors or adverse events
• Assists in quality improvement by participating in service process assessments and action teams and by continually seeking to improve the service
• Ensures other procurement staff follow all department, pharmacy service, station-level, VISN, National, VHA, and DEA policies and procedures
• Works to improve patient satisfaction, lower cost, and improve quality and timeliness
• Works constructively as a team member, assisting co-workers in tasks that support staff, visitors, and other customers in achieving service toward facility and network goals
• Maintains continuous oversight on the security of pharmacy inventory and storage areas and reports to management any inconsistencies or concerns
• Attends all procurement and pharmacy meetings as required
• Serves as lead ordering officer for pharmacy service, delegated by the VA National Acquisition Center while maintaining annual training requirements
• Trains new procurement staff on departments standard operating procedures and provides oversight to ensure competencies are met, re-training as needed
• Initiates ordering requirements and provides guidance to ordering officers for pharmaceuticals, specialty, and supply items through pharmacy prime vendors multi-complex accounts or other sources using various methods of payment
• Responsible for adherence to federal contracts and compliance with federal regulations regarding open market, ensuring inventory control through perpetual evaluation
• Provides oversight in determining ordering intervals and stock levels appropriate to meet changes in formulary, brand to AB rated generic drugs, contract changes, conversions, new drug indications including backorders and seasonal changes
• Provides guidance on all types of pharmaceuticals, including controlled and non-controlled drugs within established VA ordering guidelines, policies, and procedures within inventory management specialized area with the understanding of proper budget utilization
• Incumbent may be required to obtain the necessary certification to order narcotic medications through pharmacy prime vendor
• Makes purchases using National contracts (NAT), Federal supply schedules (FSS), Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) and open market, etc. to ensure compliance with federal acquisition regulations, and policy, understands and provides guidance to ordering officers on contracting hierarchy of all purchases
• Utilizes government issued credit cards for micro purchase limits with understanding of when to use; while maintaining required proper documentation, and reconciliation of receipt of all orders in a timely manner for auditing and accountability purposes, training, etc.
• Uploads and maintains proper documentation for the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) per the FDA requirements
• Participates in maintaining all records of pharmacy inventory for DSCSA accountability for auditing purposes
• Utilizes advanced technical knowledge of VA and regulatory agency requirements for drug storage and special requirements for procurement, storage, distribution, and handling of various hazardous and non-hazardous drug classes
• Provides oversight in the removal of expired medications from stock, isolates, and processes them for safe removal according to VHA Directives and standard operating procedures
• Processes outdated, unusable, and excess inventory for return to respective manufacturers for replacement of usable formulary items or credit. This is accomplished on a regular, scheduled basis in compliance with VHA Directives.
• Maintains an internal inventory list for accountability for removal and tracking which involves numerous different manufacturers which requires complex review and follow-up to ensure proper handling and transfer of inventory, receipt of merchandise, and reconciliation of proper credits, or determined as waste according to manufacturer policy, etc. Records must be kept for a period of 3 years

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:00am - 3:30pm
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 30390-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education or Experience:
  • None required
  • For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level.
• Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either:
  • Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT).
  • National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT).
• English Language Proficiency: Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

Grade-Level Determinants - Pharmacy Technician GS-09:

Experience - One year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the lower grade level.

Certification - For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either:

• PTCB as a CPhT
  
  OR
  

• NHA as a ExCPT.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) - In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs and meet any additional KSAs for the assignment, if indicated:

• Expert knowledge serving as a key resource advising others in their particular specialty area or section of the pharmacy (such as procurement, sterile compounding (USP compounding standards), controlled substances DEA, automation, clinical pharmacy, lead tech, contact center, etc.).
• Skill in analyzing data for self-driven (independent) performance improvement projects, workload analysis and statistical reports.
• Skill in solving problems and implementing corrective actions to maximize outcomes in their program area.
• Ability to maintain special accreditations and prepare for national reviews/inspections (e.g., The Joint Commission, Inspector General, American Society of Health System Pharmacists®, controlled substance inspections).
• Ability to develop training programs and material for orientation, competency development and educational needs for regulatory requirements within the specialized pharmacy program area.

Assignments - For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Pharmacy technicians at this grade level may be appointed to one of the following assignments

Pharmacy Technician (Procurement/Inventory) - Pharmacy technicians (procurement/inventory) at this level require independent technical judgement and expertise. They serve as the lead ordering officer for pharmacy service, providing guidance to lower-level procurement ordering officers. These individuals have extensive knowledge of VA policy concerning drug procurement, security and compliance with ordering officer requirements and regulatory areas (including, but not limited to, Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) per FDA regulations, recalls, return goods, open market, drug accountability, etc.). Pharmacy technicians maintain all records of pharmacy inventory for drug accountability, DSCSA per VHA policy and all other Federal regulations. Pharmacy technicians (procurement/inventory) perform a wide range of duties providing oversight on all pharmacy inventory to ensure standard operating procedures are followed and appropriate ordering and stock levels are maintained so patient care is not impaired. They stay within budgetary requirements, comply with contracts while maintaining inventory to meet or exceed the national average performance. They are accountable for pharmacy inventory management in areas such as regulatory and VHA formulary requirements, quality standards and official VA policies/procedures within the inventory management specialized area, conforming to pharmacy legal and professional requirements.

Additional Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) for Assignment - In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all the following:

• Knowledge of pharmaceutical and supply inventory requirements to ensure compliance with regulations and national/audit/inspections (e.g., financial regulations, The Joint Commission, Inspector General, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists®, DEA, USP 797/800, FDA 503A/B).
• Knowledge of clinical specifications, characteristics and ordering processes of a wide variety of soft prosthetics and supply items (e.g., catheters, colostomy, ileostomy and urostomy supply and associated products) that technicians procure to dispense to Veterans in the outpatient pharmacy setting.
• Skill in managing specialized programs related to inventory including, but not limited to, specialty medications and supplies, All Hazards Emergency Cache Program, recalls, reverse distribution and pharmaceutical waste.

References - VA Handbook 5005/159 Part II Appendix G28

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-9.

Physical Requirements - Work may involve prolonged standing, walking, bending, stooping, transportation of goods from pharmacy to pharmacy, and lifting of weights up to 40 pounds.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.