Procurement Specialist III – Austin Financial Services

City of Austin•Austin, TX

19h•Hybrid

About The Position

Our department provides a variety of financial services and programs. Austin Financial Services (AFS) serves residents, vendors, and City departments. Our mission is to serve as a trusted steward of public resources with integrity and accountability to ensure a fiscally sound city. Our staff supports a wide variety of financial processes, including preparing the annual budget and annual fiscal report, procurement processes, franchise agreements, real estate transactions, and overseeing the City’s investment portfolio and debt management. As an internal support function within the larger City organization, AFS is proud to serve and act as a leader in financial management to its partner departments. Purpose: Under limited supervision, and within their delegated procurement authority, this position will perform a variety of procurement services to their assigned department customers including all formal and informal source selection services, contract monitoring and contract administration services, category management, occasional buying services, and a range of advisement and technical support services in these same areas.

Requirements

Knowledge of public purchasing practices and techniques.
Knowledge of applicable procurement statutes, ordinances, and codes.
Knowledge of accounting and budgeting process as it relates to purchasing transactions.
Knowledge of contract law, terms, and conditions.
Knowledge of contract category management.
Skill in buying procedures, purchase orders, delivery orders, and the use of purchasing cards.
Skill in informal and all formal source selection processes including price competition.
Skill in contract negotiation and formation, contract management, and contract administration processes.
Skill in computes applications including spreadsheets, databases, and word processing software.
Skill in establishing and maintaining good working relationships with other City employees and the public.
Skill in effective oral and written communication.
Skill in exercising good judgment, tact, and diplomacy.
Skill in using automated purchasing systems.
Ability to develop and lead cross-functional teams.
Ability to resolve all contract disputes.
Graduation with a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, plus four (4) years of experience in a related field.
Four (4) years of applicable work experience may be substituted in place of the minimum education requirement.
Graduation with a graduate degree from an accredited college or university in a related field may substitute for up to two (2) years of the required experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience establishing customer contract requirements and negotiating contracts
Experience with public procurement sourcing and contract methods
Professional Procurement Certifications such as CPPO, CPPB, NIGP-CPP, C.P.M., CPSM or national equivalence
Ability to travel to more than one work location

Responsibilities

Performs source selection and contract formation services including informal solicitations including Requests for Quotations (RFQ), issues purchase orders and single transaction contracts under the State’s formal threshold, participates under and as authorized leading cooperative contracts.
Performs all formal solicitations above the formal threshold including Invitations for Bids (IFB), Requests for Proposals (RFP), and Requests for Qualifications (RFQS); solicitations for Citywide, revenue-generating, and concessions contracts; and solicitations for construction and construction-related professional services.
Performs contract management and contract administration services including order monitoring for delivery orders, purchase orders, and single transaction contracts; contract compliance monitoring for project contracts and term master agreements; and contract administration services for assigned contracts.
Performs advisory and technical support services to assigned department customers, current and prospective contractors, and members of the public on variety of procurement activities including procurement cards; delivery orders; purchase orders; informal source selection processes; all formal source selection processes; construction and construction-related professional services; master agreements; order monitoring; participating under and leading cooperative contracts; contract management; contract administration; and category management.
Performs category management of one or more groups of similar and/or related contracts as assigned; develops and maintains product, service, and contractual expertise within assigned categories; develops and maintains market intelligence within assigned categories; develops and executes strategic category plans; and develops and presents reports on the performance of category plans.
Performs, as necessary, occasional buying services including purchases using a procurement card, issuing delivery orders for non-competitive releases under existing master agreements, issuing purchase orders for non-competitive buys under the State’s informal threshold.
May act in a lead role on assigned projects and/or programs as assigned.