Career Opportunity

Purchaser - Office of Contract Administration – Office of the City Administrator (1952) – (121946)

Recruitment: RTF0121767-01131627

Published: November 14, 2022

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal.

About:

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.

This is a Position-Based Test conducted in accordance with CSC Rule 111A.

Specific information regarding this recruitment process are listed below:

• Application Opening: October 17, 2022 (Amended: October 28, 2022 and November 4, 2022)
• Application Deadline: November 14, 2022
• Compensation Range: $93,236 -$113,334 (annually)
• Recruitment ID: #121946

This announcement has been amended to extend the filing period for additional recruitment and clerically amended to reflect the correct duration of the eligible list.

Role description

Under direction, the 1952 Purchaser purchases a wide variety of standardized or specialized materials, equipment and services; analyzes and develops product specifications; achieves considerable economies in the efficient purchase of large quantities of materials, supplies and equipment; makes frequent personal contact with user departments and vendors. 

Examples of Important and Essential Duties:

• Receives requisitions to be processed into purchase orders; analyzes requisitions in order to determine type of purchase, possible vendors, specifications or other factors; checks requisitions for completeness and correctness; confers with the user departments regarding specification requirements.
• Edits product specifications submitted and prepares new specifications when required; establishes contractual conditions; determines type of purchase or bid forms to be used; lists suitable vendors; directs the preparation, distribution and advertisement or proposals for bids.
• Analyzes bids received from vendors; evaluates prices, discounts, delivery conditions and products offered in order to insure proper quality and advantageous price; determines successful bidder and makes recommendations relative to the awarding of contracts; may assist in expediting the delivery of urgently needed purchases or may otherwise act in a liaison capacity.
• Consults with officers and employees of various departments in order to better determine their needs, advise them on new product developments and adjust complaints on vendor compliance; consults with vendors and their representatives in order to acquaint them with methods and procedures and the rules and regulations of the purchasing department and obtain information on their products and services.
• Attempts to combine purchases from separate departments in order to secure quantity discounts when possible; maintains current and complete lists of vendors and files of information on their products based on previous purchases, and maintains information on various other sources; supervises and assigns work to a small clerical staff.
• May be assigned to a specific service, equipment or material commodity group, requiring the development of highly specialized technical knowledge, such as petroleum products or computer hardware.
• May assist in the training of Assistant Purchasers.
• Performs related duties as required.

How to qualify

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Education:
Baccalaureate degree from an accredited university or college.

Experience:
One (1) year of professional purchasing experience with responsibilities such as: identifying vendors and ascertaining quotes, selecting a vendor based on a set of criteria, identifying and negotiating terms and conditions and procuring goods and services.

Substitution:
Additional experience as described above may be substituted for the required degree on a year-for-year basis (up to a maximum of two (2) years). Thirty (30) semester units/forty-five (45) quarter units equal one (1) year.

Note(s):

• One-year full-time employment is considered equivalent to 2000 hours (2000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40 hour work week). Any overtime hours that you work above forty (40) hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full-time employment.
•  Applicants must meet minimum qualification requirements by the final filing date unless otherwise noted.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS
The stated desirable qualifications may be used to identify job finalists at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring.

• Experience in preparing product and service specifications, bids or Requests for Proposals (RFPs), purchasing contracts, reports and documents related to purchasing and contracting activities.
• Experience in interpreting and applying rules and regulations governing procurement activities in a large organization.
• Experience in utilizing procurement software applications such as PeopleSoft and automated data processing applications such as Word, Excel, etc.
• Knowledge of applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations pertaining to government procurement.
• Knowledge of principles, methods and procedures employed in the purchase of large quantities of a wide variety of materials, supplies, equipment and services.
• Ability and skill to prepare specifications for a wide range of commodities and general services.
• Ability to multi-task, prioritize and plan activities to meet deadlines.
• Ability to effectively organize, analyze and interpret data, and present issues and problem-solving recommendations verbally and in writing.

VERIFICATION
Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements 

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. 

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application. 

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores. 

SELECTION PROCEDURE/EXAMINATION REQUIREMENTS 
After application submission, candidates deemed qualified must complete all subsequent steps to advance in this selection process, which includes the following: 

Minimum Qualification Supplemental Questionnaire (MQSQ): 
Candidates will be required to complete a MQSQ as part of the employment application. This MQSQ is designed to obtain specific information regarding an applicant's experience in relation to the Minimum Qualifications (MQ) for this position. The MQSQ will be used to evaluate if the applicant possesses the required minimum qualifications. 

Written Examination (Weight 100%):
Candidates deemed to meet the minimum qualifications will be invited to participate in a [written examination] designed to measure their relative knowledge, skills and abilities in job-related areas, which may include, but not be limited to: knowledge of applicable public and/or private sector procurement principles pertaining to goods and services; ability and skill to apply statistical and other analytical methods to analyze bids and proposals and recommend awards; ability and skill to understand and apply contracting and purchase order terms; ability and skill to establish and maintain effective and cooperative written and oral communication with management, City officials, departmental representatives, vendors, or other agencies; ability and skill to use a personal computer and software programs as utilized in various departments, including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint and PeopleSoft or other Purchasing and Contracting management system. A passing score must be achieved on the written examination in order to be ranked on the eligible list.

What else should I know?

Eligible List/Score Report: 
A confidential eligible list of applicant names that have passed the civil service examination process will be created, and used for certification purposes only. An examination score report will be established, so applicants can view the ranks, final scores and number of eligible candidates. Applicant information, including names of applicants on the eligible list, shall not be made public unless required by law. However, an eligible list shall be made available for public inspection, upon request, once the eligible list is exhausted or expired and referrals resolved. The eligible list/score report resulting from this civil service examination process is subject to change after adoption (e.g., as a result of appeals), as directed by the Human Resources Director or the Civil Service Commission. 

The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be 6 months and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director. 

To find Departments which use this classification, please see https://sfdhr.org/sites/default/files/documents/Forms-Documents/Position-Counts-by-Job-Codes-and-Department-FY-2021-22.pdf. 

Terms of Announcement and Appeal Rights: 
Applicants must be guided solely by the provisions of this announcement, including requirements, time periods and other particulars, except when superseded by federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations. Clerical errors may be corrected by the posting the correction on the Department of Human Resources website at https://careers.sf.gov. 

The terms of this announcement may be appealed under Civil Service Rule 111A.35.1. The standard for the review of such appeals is ‘abuse of discretion’ or ‘no rational basis’ for establishing the position description, the minimum qualifications and/or the certification rule. Appeals must include a written statement of the item(s) being contested and the specific reason(s) why the cited item(s) constitute(s) abuse of discretion by the Human Resources Director. Appeals must be submitted directly to the Executive Officer of the Civil Service Commission within five business days of the announcement issuance date. 

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco: 

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

HOW TO APPLY: 
Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.sf.gov and begin the application process. 

• Select the "Apply Now" button or “I’m Interested” button and follow instructions on the screen

Applicants may be contacted by email about this announcement and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses @sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu). 

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received. 

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines. 

Exam Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the exam analyst at rosalie.platzer@sfgov.org. 

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.