Response to NFFE Inquiry to the Field on GS-0401 FPM Log 83

Response to NFFE Inquiry to the Field on GS-0401 FPM Log 83

Demographic Questions

What is your Region? Region 6

How many years have you been in fire?

Started in 1984 and switched to fire in 1985.

What are your highest current red card quals?

RXB1, DIVS, ICT3, SOF2(T), FUM2(T).

Have you applied for a GS-401 Fire Management Specialist position since Feb. 15, 2005? If yes:

I am currently a Zone Fire Management Officer. Over the last two months I have submitted applications to ASC utilizing the Open Continuous Roster announcements in AVUE. The announcements I applied to are as follows:

ADS08-FSJOBS-0911G, Prescribed Fire and Fuels Specialist, GS 401-9/11 with an interest in positions located in Kalispell, Montana, Sula, Montana, and Darby, Mt.

ADS07-FSJOBS-R3FMO-11G, Fire Management Officer, GS401-11, with positions located in Kooskia, Idaho, Nordman, Idaho, Darby, Montana, and Bayfield, Colorado.

As of Monday, March 17, 2008, I have been declared not qualified for all of these positions except for the Sula and Darby positions under the Prescribed Fire and Fuels announcement and the Bayfield FMO announcement due to the education requirements for the 401 series.

This document will be a step by step representation of the actions taken by both myself and ASC when I requested an explanation as to why I was being declared ineligible for consideration under this announcement.

First, a bit of background on myself. I have been a FS employee since 1984 and my current position is classified as a GS-0462-11, Fire Management Officer. I have held this position since 2004. Education wise, at this time I have an Associates of Sciences degree in General Studies from North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho which I received in 1991. I started this degree with the intention of eventually transferring into some form of Natural Resource based (Forestry) program but eventually ended up finishing with a General Studies degree so my education at NIC includes numerous resource classes (Biology, Botany, Ecology as an example) totaling 17 credits at the 100 and 200 level. The rest of my higher education consists of three credits from Colorado State University and 13 credits applied to a certificate in Fire Ecology, a fifteen credit program offered online by the University of Idaho.

When the 401 requirements came into effect I had the choice of attending TFM, returning to school (the online programs were not available at that time and would have required a leave of absence or resignation) or try to meet the original requirement of 18 upper level and 6 lower level credits gained through attendance of NWCG classes and education. I chose the NWCG route and, combined with class work through U of I and CSU, actually met the credit total of 24 in April 2007, at which time a week passed and I was informed of the OPM document from February 2005 declaring that NWCG courses would no longer qualify. This decision pushed my credit total back from 25 to 11 but, according to my understanding, eliminated the differentiation between upper and lower level credits, potentially allowing me to utilize my course work from NIC.

In December 2007 I began to update my profile in AVUE with the hopes of applying to several positions, 9 through 11, classified in both the 401 and 462 series. My application includes transcripts from both the University of Idaho and North Idaho College which are actually not required for the 462 jobs. Also at that time I made an online request to ASC to speak with a classifier that could answer my questions about whether my coursework would actually qualify me for conversion to the 401 series. My request received no response and I did not pursue another attempt. On January 31, 2008 I submitted an application on OCR ADS08-FSJOBS-0911G for the Prescribed Fire and Fuels Specialist position located in the Flathead NF Supervisors office in Kalispell, Montana, a position classified as a 401-9/11 which closed on February 4, 2008. At the time of this writing (March 7, 2008) the status of my application for this position is “Tentatively meets basic qualifications” at both the 9 and 11 levels with no selection being made. I have also added two additional locations to this announcement, Sula, Montana, and Darby, Montana. On February 8, 2008 I submitted an application on OCR ADS07-FSJOBS-R3FMO-11G for a vacancy located on the Moose Creek RD, Clearwater-Nez Perce NF in Central Idaho. I then did some minor modification to my application and on 2/15/2008 I added the location of Nordman, Idaho to my application with the intent of being considered for an FMO vacancy located on the Priest Lake RD, Idaho Panhandle NF. On that date I also added the locations of Sula, Montana, Darby, Montana, and Bayfield, Colorado as well in the hopes of being considered for Fire Management Officer vacancies that were advertised. At that time, prior to updating my application, I checked the status of my application and saw that it was still “Tentatively meets basic qualifications”.

On February 28, 2008 I went into AVUE to modify an application I had submitted for another vacancy and opened my application for the 401-11 announcement. When I checked the status bar I saw that the terminology had changed from “Tentatively meets basic qualifications” to “Failed Basic Education Requirements”, not qualified. I then sent an e-mail to [names redacted] requesting them to let me know if I had shown up on hiring certificates issued by ASC for the vacancies they had. I received a response from [name redacted] that day stating that he had received a hiring certificate and that my name was not on it. [Name redacted] responded on March 4, 2008. His message was that I was not on their cert as I didn’t meet qualifications.

February 29, 2008 I called ASC to inquire as to why I was being declared unqualified for these two positions. I was issued ticket number 298093 and received a response shortly thereafter. The response I received did not shed any light as to why my application was not being considered. I then made an attempt to contact [name redacted] via email and telephone. I received an email from her later that day stating that the reason I was not being considered was that I was lacking enough credits to meet the minimum of 24 set as a requirement for the 401 classification. She wrote that she had my TFM certificate (training I have not attended) which gave me 18 plus another three credit course for a total of 21. I responded to this email stating that I thought she had mistaken my application for someone else as I have not been to TFM, that I was utilizing the 32 total credits I have from the University of Idaho, North Idaho College, and Colorado State University, and that I would be in my office the rest of the day and would like to discuss this issue.

On March 3, 2008 I contacted [name redacted] by phone and discussed the issue of my application not being considered due to my coursework. She stated to me that my coursework from the University of Idaho was acceptable towards meeting the 401 but that my North Idaho College work would not count as it was not earned while on a path to complete a major field of study and that at that time I had 15 total credits of the required 24.

At this time I still have applications submitted to both of the OCR listed. I also have been in contact with [name redacted], my advisor and one of the principle instructors dealing with the 401 series program at the University of Idaho. He is drafting a document meant to show that the coursework taken through their program could be utilized towards the pursuit of a major course of study. I have also enrolled at the University of Idaho with a plan of returning to school next fall and am transferring my North Idaho College credits to apply towards a Bachelors Degree in Fire Ecology and Management.

When and where (Region/Forest) did you apply?

Region 1: Idaho Panhandle, Bitterroot, Flathead, Clearwater/Nez Perce

Region 2: San Juan NF

Does the GS-401 Fire Management Specialist education requirement have any impact on safety? Does it "professionalize" fire management?

I feel that with the demands placed on upper level fire managers at this time the 401 series is not detrimental when it comes to fire effects and fuels analysis, particularly when fire is required to do extensive research and needs to provide “superior grade” presentation items such as GIS maps, fire behavior modeling runs, etc.

I don’t feel that having a Natural Resource education does much to meet the safety needs of the wildland firefighter except for having acquired the necessary computer navigation skills needed to keep up with the organizational changes the agency is going through. Otherwise, the only effect the 401 requirements are having on safety are detrimental at best as truly qualified employees are being excluded from consideration for positions critical to the agencies mission of fire suppression and fuels management. My experience so far has been to see even more of our best and most experienced retire at a time that they are truly needed due to the frustrations created by the implementation of this policy.

Other than the safety issue the only other issue I have with the 401 is the unclear standards as to what education qualifies and what doesn’t. Tied in with this was the February 2005 letter from OPM that eliminated the NWCG classes from consideration. I was blindsided by this letter in April 2007 after I completed what I thought was a valid course of action to complete the educational requirements. The education I have gained in trying to meet this ruling has not only helped in my performance as an FMO but has made it easier to understand and deal with some of the other NR issues which take place on the unit I work on.

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