Senior Contract Specialist

Leads a full range of divisionwide contract administration and procurement activities; advises on and facilitates the purchase of goods and services for FCPS in accordance with School Board and federal, state, and county rules and regulations.

This job operates in a professional office environment and has a noise level of mostly low to moderate. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets, and fax machines.

• Experience in project management professional certification, mediation, or negotiation.
• Certification by a nationally recognized public procurement or contracting certification (e.g. CPPB, CPPO, CPCM).

1. Exercises leadership in contracts management, which includes the collaborative development of requirements, planning, documentation, and oversight of assigned projects.
2. Manages procurement planning discussions with department leads.
3. Prepares specifications, requirements, terms & conditions for competitive invitation for bid (IFB) solicitations and competitive requests for proposal (RFP) documents.
4. Conducts and facilitates pre-bid discussions, pre-proposal conferences, and evaluation teams while reviewing for recurring complex or unique procurement requirements and ensuring conformity of understanding with bid documents.
5. Leads and manages complex contract negotiations that include license agreements, warranty, lease/purchase agreements.
6. Develops negotiation strategies that ensure understanding between parties and smooths administration to align with business initiatives.
7. Interprets complex guidelines and policies and negotiates difficult contract changes with vendors.
8. Coordinates resources required to oversee comprehensive, multi-year contracts from development through completion.
9. Performs and evaluates spend and cost analysis as required for determination of contract value, including annual value as required for contract administration and market research comparison for cost reasonableness.
10. Ensures compliance with sole-source contract policies and alignment with sole source approvals.
11. Recommends contract awards to procurement leadership and prepares award recommendations.
12. Leads and facilitates discussions among groups and individuals to reach consensus, resolve conflicts, or influence outcomes on matters of significance.
13. Debriefs unsuccessful vendors on the strengths and weaknesses of their proposal.
14. Provides districtwide guidance and advises schools, regions, departments, and vendors, on contract administration functions and status: contract kick-off, modification, monitoring, and close-out.
15. Communicates effectively and engages employees at all levels of the organization in the facilitation and implementation of the contract process.
16. Assists in formulating purchasing forecasts and budgets.
17. Identifies operational challenges and provides solutions for best-in-class service.
18. Acts as a primary point person or liaison outside the department regarding a specific program or set of services, and presents information and recommendations to staff, senior management, or School Board.
19. Mentors staff on procurement-related procedures and policies.
20. Performs related duties as required or assigned.