Contract Specialist

State of Iowa•Des Moines - 50319 - Polk County, IA

8d•Onsite

About The Position

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Division of Compliance, Bureau of is seeking a contract specialist to join our team! This position will be responsible for monitoring contractor progress and performance, delivery, acceptance, reporting, compliance with specifications, and payment approvals for child welfare contracts, while adhering to applicable law and administrative rules. This position will work on a cross-functional team, which includes contract specialists, policy, finance, legal, and operations staff. This position will also coordinate monitoring duties across programmatic, fiscal, and organizational monitoring.

Requirements

6 months’ experience, 12 semester hours, or a combination in Service and Performance Contract Negotiations and Management (differs from labor contract negotiation). Demonstrated experience and/or education that allowed them to review performance and service delivery and know what to do and be able to act when performance does not meet expectations. Includes: drafting or developing contracts for provision of products and/or services and the related budget components; negotiating the terms of contracts to include: costs, timeframes and performances expectations and/or work products; monitoring and managing all aspects of the contracts: to include timely submission of financial reports, performance reports, work products and determining when appropriate benchmarks for payment of invoices are met.
6 months’ experience, 12 semester hours, or a combination of both in interpreting Iowa Code and Iowa Administrative Code.
Eight years of full-time work experience in the procurement of technical, standardized, expendable, and non-expendable items, or in services procurement and contract administration, including the review of ongoing compliance with contract requirements and terms.
Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a degree in business or public administration, accounting, or economics, and experience equal to four years of full-time work in the procurement of technical, standardized, expendable and non-expendable items or in services procurement and contract administration, including the review of ongoing compliance with contract requirements and terms.
A total of eight years of education and/or full-time experience (as described in number one), where thirty semester hours of accredited college or university coursework in any field equals one year of full-time experience.
Three years of full-time work experience in the procurement of technical, standardized, expendable, and non-expendable items, or in services procurement and contract administration, including the review of ongoing compliance with contract requirements and terms; and A total of four years of education and/or full-time experience (as described in part a), where thirty semester hours of accredited college or university coursework in business or public administration, accounting, or economics equals one year of full-time experience; and A total of one year of graduate-level education and/or full-time experience (as described in part a), where twenty-four semester hours of accredited graduate college or university coursework in business or public administration, accounting, or economics equals one year of full-time experience.
Current, continuous experience in the state executive branch that includes one year of full-time work as a Procurement Specialist 3.

Nice To Haves

Specific educational courses that relate to the selective might include: contract management, business law, principles of economics, business management and similar courses.

Responsibilities

Conducting contract monitoring, including analysis of contractor fiscal and administrative performance through desk audits or on-site reviews, adherence to contract requirements and timelines, gathering and interpreting data, overseeing improvement plans, and reporting results.
Interpreting and communicating contractual requirements and laws/regulations affecting delivery of child welfare services.
Acting as a liaison between contractors and state personnel, including program policy staff and leadership. Communicates information between the parties and actively works to identify and resolve issues.
Performing contracting activities, including issuing, or assisting with competitive procurement activities, contract negotiations, managing contracting documentation, approving claims in accordance with contract terms, and contract close-out activities.
Participating in reviewing, making recommendations, and assisting with updating HHS contracting processes.
Participating in reviewing, making recommendations, and assisting with updating programmatic policies related to contract performance or fiscal procedures.