Job description
Job Characteristics
***OPEN & PROMOTIONAL JOB OPPORTUNITY***
PURCHASING AGENT
The City of Concord is seeking an experienced procurement professional to serve as the next
Purchasing Agent in the
Finance Department
.
The Finance Department:
The City of Concord's Finance Department is committed to maintaining high quality accounting standards, to safeguarding City's assets, to providing financial information in a timely manner, and to providing positive customer service to both external and internal customers. We take pride in our work and are accountable and trusted to carry out our responsibilities with honesty and integrity.
The Department consists of five functional program areas: Accounting, Budget, Purchasing & Accounts Payable, and Treasury & Revenue Management. Purchasing & Accounts Payable administers the purchasing program to ensure purchases are made in compliance with City policy and vendors are paid on time and accurately.
What you will be doing:
Under general direction, the Purchasing Agent supervises and coordinates the City’s purchasing functions and programs within the Finance Department; serves as a technical procurement resource for the City’s management staff and employees; is the subject matter expert authority that independently performs management of purchasing and provides highly responsible and complex staff assistance to the Director of Finance.
We are looking for someone who:
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Is experienced in the public procurement profession and has extensive knowledge of best purchasing practices and terminology used in public agency purchasing, including competitive bidding procedures as well as cost and price analysis principles and techniques.
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Has the ability to work independently with little to no supervision.
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Has excellent oral and written communication skills; being able to effectively collaborate and partner with other team members, departments, and vendors, as well as prepare clear, accurate, and concise reports, memos and/or letters.
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Has the ability to organize, set priorities, and exercise sound judgment within established guidelines.
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Has the ability to coordinate several projects while concurrently meeting critical deadlines.
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Has good organizational skills and attention to detail, maintaining detailed and accurate records.
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Preferably has direct experience in personnel matters, hiring, evaluations, and disciplinary issues
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Embraces, promotes, and is guided by the City's Mission, Vision and Values .
What we offer:
The City of Concord offers the opportunity to take part in a collaborative and exciting work experience, where you can grow in your career while working alongside the community to make Concord a city of the highest quality. The City is an employer that invests in its employees’ professional and personal development, values work-life balance, is dedicated to employee wellness and provides numerous benefit and retirement options, to include the following:
- A variety of health care plans or a cash-in-lieu benefit if waiving coverage
- City-paid dental insurance; vision insurance (City-paid for select employee groups)
- Vacation with tiered accrual increases, sick leave and 11 paid holidays per year
- Option for alternative work schedules
- Tuition reimbursement
- A wellness program that offers yoga and fitness classes, annual health expos, health and nutrition education, as well a variety of mental health resources
- Both 401(k) and 457 deferred compensation plans, including an employer-paid contribution for management
- Participation in CalPERS pension
- Flexible spending accounts (FSAs) for healthcare, dependent care and commuting costs
- Life and disability insurance
- Salary is negotiable within the advertised range. Benefits described herein do not represent a contract and may be changed without notice. Additional information can be found at www.cityofconcord.org.
The Community:
Nestled in the foothills of Mt. Diablo, Concord is a major East Bay community located 29 miles east of San Francisco and 58 miles north of San Jose. With a population of almost 130,000residents occupying an area of 31 square miles, Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County. The City’s central location offers easy access to the entire Bay Area including Oakland, San Francisco, and the Silicon Valley.
Concord has much to offer; its local lifestyle reflects a careful blending of the City’s early California heritage, along with modern planned development. It is a harmonious community of quiet neighborhoods, an excellent park system, convenient shopping centers, large preserves of open space, a state-of-the-art hospital, and a wide variety of restaurants. Additionally, diverse public and private educational opportunities for students of all ages are available in Concord.
Concord residents enjoy a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and mild winters.
The ideal weather and natural beauty of Concord make the area ideal for visitors and locals
seeking active outdoor activities. In Concord, where “Families Come First,” one is never far from a park or an open green space for active play or just relaxing. Todos Santos Plaza, the heart of downtown Concord, features a year-round Farmer’s Market, several seasonal and community celebrations, as well as serving as a wonderful outdoor space for all to enjoy.
SELECTION PROCESS
1. Submit a completed City of Concord application and the required supplemental question responses online at www.cityofconcord.org. Only application materials submitted online during the filing period will be accepted.
2. All qualified applications and supplemental responses will be competitively evaluated, and those candidates demonstrating the strongest qualifications for the position will be invited to participate in a panel interview. If you are selected to participate in the panel interview and are unavailable, we regret that we will not be able to reschedule.
2. All qualified applications and supplemental responses will be competitively evaluated, and those candidates demonstrating the strongest qualifications for the position will be invited to participate in a panel interview. If you are selected to participate in the panel interview and are unavailable, we regret that we will not be able to reschedule.
Examples of duties include, but are not limited to
- Develops City-wide purchasing policies and standards; provides technical training to staff.
- Coordinates the organization, staffing and operational activities for the City’s purchasing functions and programs.
- Manages and directs the work of assigned staff involved in the acquisition of materials, supplies, services, and equipment.
- Develops the Purchasing Division's goals, policies and priorities; establishes and implements programs and procedures relative to relevant data, and best practices in the procurement industry.
- Develops and administers the Division budget, maintaining expenditures within the limits of an authorized allocation.
- Applies City and departmental policies and procedures; interviews and selects new employees; prepares work appraisals and discusses performance evaluations; identifies and/or resolves subordinate complaints; recommends disciplinary action as necessary.
- Identifies opportunities for improving service delivery methods and procedures; identifies resource needs; reviews with appropriate management staff; implements improvements.
- Advises and provides technical support in the administration of the Requests for Proposals (RFPs) process and specifications; reviews and recommends updates and changes.
- Secures and compares information regarding price, quality, delivery time, and related data for a wide variety of materials, supplies, equipment, and services; interviews sales personnel, obtains samples and literature, visits manufacturers, and attends demonstrations to become better informed of products of interest; keeps informed of current and long-range trends in the purchasing and supply fields.
- Performs the more technical and complex tasks for the work unit; writes and reviews formal proposals, bids and contracts; facilitates the bidding process including evaluation process; composes and prepares staff reports and resolutions for presentation to the City Council; develops specifications, bid documents and specifications, and other documents as necessary.
- Conducts procurement trainings for City staff and managers; maintains and makes ongoing revisions to the Procurement Handbook for City departments to reference.
- Reviews and processes all requisitions/purchase orders; monitors procurements to prevent bid splitting transactions, and maintains all files with required back up documentation.
- Maintains the City’s procurement card program, reviews p-card transactions for compliance with City purchasing policies, and provides related training.
- Facilitates the disposal and/or auction of surplus or obsolete material, equipment and scrap.
- Provides cost information to operating departments; performs special studies related to the acquisition of materials, supplies, or equipment as required.
- Prepares documentation for the application of the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement (AEP) Award for the City of Concord in order to continue to achieve the award for the City each year.
- Keeps informed of procurement best practices and legislative changes; recommends and implements updates as required.
- Attends and participates in professional group meetings; maintains awareness of new trends and developments in the field of purchasing; incorporates new developments into programs.
- Performs related duties as required.
Qualifications
Knowledge and Abilities
Knowledge of purchasing principles, procedures, legal requirements, best practices and terminology. Knowledge of principles, practices, and procedures or purchasing for a government agency including competitive bidding methods and bid preparation, solicitation, award and evaluation to ensure compliance with specifications. Knowledge of principles of contract negotiation and administration.
Knowledge of purchasing principles, procedures, legal requirements, best practices and terminology. Knowledge of principles, practices, and procedures or purchasing for a government agency including competitive bidding methods and bid preparation, solicitation, award and evaluation to ensure compliance with specifications. Knowledge of principles of contract negotiation and administration.
Demonstrated ability to learn, interpret, and apply laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures affecting City's Purchasing operations to maximize efficiency and cost effectiveness, including labor compliance requirements. Ability to learn vendor sources for a wide variety of supplies, materials, and equipment, and to analyze bids and bid specifications. Ability to set priorities, organize workflow, and carry out a variety of duties with minimal supervision; Ability to maintain accurate and orderly records, and operate integrated purchasing software, word processing and spreadsheet applications, and report programs. Ability to communicate effectively with a wide variety of people in order to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with individuals contacted in the course of performing assigned duties. Ability to organize, set priorities, and exercise sound judgment within established guidelines. Ability to draft clear, accurate, and concise records and reports.
Education: Possession of a Bachelor's Degree in Public or Business Administration or a related curriculum. A Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO) or Certified Public Procurement Buyer (CPPB) certification is desirable.
Experience: Four years or more of increasingly responsible experience in the field of purchasing or materials management including some experience in directing the work of others and duties described above.
Other
A California Driver's License and a satisfactory driving record are conditions of initial and continued employment.
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