Career Opportunity

Assistant Director of Purchasing - Office of Contract Administration (0932)

Recruitment: RTF0123661-01111513

Published: August 09, 2022

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About:

The City and County of San Francisco spends over $2B on procurement annually (including professional services, construction, grants, commodities, and general services).  Its primary procurement department, the Office of Contract Administration (OCA), also known as the Purchasing Division, is responsible for procuring the commodities and services that are essential to providing governmental services for the citizens of San Francisco, through one-time purchases as well as administration of over 600 fleet, general services, general commodities, equipment lease, repair, and maintenance, and technology contracts for Citywide use.  The department additionally provides Citywide oversight and administration of all City purchases subject to San Francisco Administrative Code Chapter 21, ensuring City departments abide by public contracting rules and regulations, and further supports City procurement and contracting efforts by developing and administering solicitation and contract templates, and providing training to contracting staff.  

Recently, City leadership initiated an effort to elevate procurement as a strategic function within the City, with the goal of making procurement more efficient, equitable, and performance based.  Given its role as a central procurement oversight and administration agency, the Office of Contract Administration will play a critical role in this multi-year, citywide “procurement reform” effort.  As a first step, OCA leadership is undertaking a restructuring of the organization to create efficiencies, to improve supplier and departmental contract compliance support, and to implement more specialized procurement auditing and reporting functions.

Role description

The Assistant Director of Purchasing is one of two assistant directors within the Office of Contract Administration. Under general direction from the Director and the City Administrator, the Assistant Director of Purchasing is responsible for a portion of the operational functions and activities of the department.

Why join the Office of Contract Administration?
In this capacity, the Assistant Director of Purchasing will play a significant role in monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of OCA’s service delivery systems, organizational structure, staffing levels, financial systems, and other internal operations. This position will play a critical role in the Citywide procurement reform efforts, analyzing City procurement processes, identifying and recommending alternative approaches or improvements to the City’s procurement processes, and assisting in the corresponding implementation and creation of revised policies, procedures, and business processing in support of the recommended changes.

The Assistant Director of Purchasing will exercise considerable independence, discretion and judgment in managing the day-to-day operations of OCA including overseeing the City’s contracting processes, compliance with legal requirements and ordinances, and providing timely customer service.  This position will also identify and recommend alternative approaches or improvements to the City’s procurement processes and assist in the corresponding implementation and creation of revised policies and procedures in support of those changes.  This individual in this position will oversee a majority of the division's ten purchasing teams, comprising of approximately 45 purchasing and contract analyst staff.

What you will typically be responsible for:

• Directly supervise and provide day-to-day procurement oversight for several OCA procurement teams, including Supervising Purchasers (direct reports), Purchasers, and Contract Analyst staff, administering one-time purchases as well as 200-300 as-needed contracts
• Develop, implement, and maintain purchasing procedures, administrative/monitoring practices and controls in order to achieve efficient, cost-effective, transparent, and ethical public procurements, minimizing risk and financial loss to the City;
• Design purchasing strategies and help plan and prioritize the work of the department and client agencies to ensure the availability of inventory of goods and services for City departments.
• Manage relationships with City departments, managers, vendors, and/or contractors to understand needs and requirements of proposed purchases and/or services and to resolve difficult and complex issues; meet, confer, and negotiate with executive-level City managers and legislative leaders.
• Work closely with the City Attorney General Counsel's staff on complex negotiations, actions required to resolve protests, and the interpretation and implementation of legal aspects of procurement.
• With Director, co-Assistant Director(s), and Deputy City Administrator, support the City’s multi-year contracting/procurement reform initiative, which will include active engagement and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders to ascertain procurement challenges and bottlenecks, identify solutions and recommendations for improvements to policies, processes, and systems, and assist in the development of and/or revision of citywide procurement rules and regulations to streamline procurement processes for all City departments.
• Collaborate with the Director and co-Assistant Director(s) to establish periodic business review meetings regarding industry trends, City department purchasing trends, and OCA performance, entailing the collection, review and analysis of citywide procurement data and the preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual reports.
• Assist in the development and implementation of OCA’s annual and long-term goals, objectives, and priorities, and assist in the determination of resource allocation, levels of service, hiring, and budgeting.
• Train OCA staff and helps to establish ongoing training mechanisms for OCA staff and City departments to ensure compliance with City regulations and provide fair and open competition for all suppliers.
• May participate as lead or committee member on: Local Business Enterprise Advisory Council (LBEAC); Controller’s Office Financial & Procurement System Executive Steering Committee; Committee on Information Technology (COIT) Budget and Performance Sub-committee; COIT Privacy and Surveillance Advisory Board; City Emergency Planning Working Group(s); City Administrator’s Office Racial Equity Steering Committee.
• Act for the Director and/or the other Assistant Director in their absence.
• Perform related duties as assigned.

We are looking for someone who:

• Demonstrated project management skills in a deadline-driven environment
• Is experienced with complex federal, state or local procurements and public procurement regulations 
• Has experience developing agency programs, policies, and procedures
• Has experience with stakeholder engagement and achieving consensus
• Is creative and has proven problem-solving skills 
• Is flexible and adaptable 
• Has experience with an enterprise-level online financial and/or procurement system such as PeopleSoft

A few reasons you might love this job:

• Your voice will be heard and valued
• You will play a critical role in the Citywide procurement reform efforts
• We have a strong team that works together cohesively
• You will have the ability to be innovative and creative in developing new programs, processes, and tools

Nature of Work:
Incumbent must be willing to work a 40-hour per week schedule.

How to qualify

Baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; AND
Five (5) years of full-time professional experience in implementing agency programs, policies and procedures, (3) years of which must be supervising professional staff engaged in the aforementioned work.

SUBSTITUTION:
Additional qualifying work experience may be substituted for the required education on a year for year basis (30 semester/45 quarter units equals one year).; OR
Possession of a Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in Public or Business Administration, Management, or a related field may be substituted for one (1) year of the required experience.

What else should I know?

What else should I know?

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

Compensation: $151,918 to $193,856 annually

• Applicants are encouraged to apply immediately as this recruitment may close at any time, but not before Friday, August 5, 2022. 
• Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered. Mailed, hand delivered or faxed documents/applications will not be accepted. 
• For questions or inquiries, please contact: Connie Poon, Senior Human Resources Analyst at Connie.Poon@sfgov.org
• Your application MUST include a cover letter and resume.  To upload these item(s), please attach using the "additional attachments" function.

Verification: Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point in the application and/or departmental selection process. Written verification (proof) of qualifying experience must verify that the applicant meets the minimum qualifications stated on the announcement. Written verification must be submitted on employer’s official letterhead, specifying name of employee, dates of employment, types of employment (part-time/full-time), job title(s), description of duties performed, and the verification must be signed by the employer. City employees will receive credit for the duties of the class to which they are appointed. Credit for experience obtained outside of the employee’s class will be allowed only if recorded in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Commission Rules. Experience claimed in self-employment must be supported by documents verifying income, earnings, business license and experience comparable to the minimum qualifications of the position. Copies of income tax papers or other documents listing occupations and total earnings must be submitted. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at http://sfdhr.org/index.aspx?page=456.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco. 
Applications will be screened for relevant qualifying experience. Additional screening mechanisms may be implemented in order to determine candidates’ qualifications. Only those applicants who most closely meet the needs of the Agency will be invited to participate in the selection process. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview. Qualified applicants with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodation in the selection process must contact the Agency by phone at (415) 554-6065 or, if hearing impaired at (415) 554-6015 (TTY).

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:  All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Someone is fully vaccinated when 14 days have passed since they received the final dose of a two-shot vaccine or a dose of a one-shot vaccine. Any new hire must present proof of full vaccination status to be appointed. Any new hire who will be routinely assigned or occasionally enter High-Risk Settings, must provide proof of having received a COVID-19 booster vaccine by March 1, 2022, or once eligible.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.