Position Overview
The Office of Fiscal Strategy (OFS) is a catalyst for ensuring excellence, equity, and efficiency to ensure DCPS achieves our goals for our students. We want employees who recognize and embrace the importance of a strong partnership between schools and Central Services. When Central Services runs efficiently, and provides high-quality customer service, our school-based employees can concentrate on educating our children and leading our schools. By combining financial planning with strategic planning, this office supports DCPS with actively identifying resources, costs and budget and aligning them with our mission and goals.
Divisions/Teams: The Office of Fiscal Strategy is organized into four divisions
Finance: Ensures school and central services finances are allocated and expended in alignment with the agency’s strategic plan, in a manner that fosters transparency, maximizes funds, promotes equity, and ensures compliance with requirements.
Contracts and Acquisitions: Provides procurement services to schools and Central Services programs through contract and purchase order processes in alignment with District and Federal procurement laws and regulations. Manages and facilitates the procurement of goods and services for all DCPS schools and central services, that fosters transparency, maximizes buying power, promotes equity of spending with local vendors, and ensures compliance with contractual requirements.
Operational Finance (Core): Works to improve organizational effectiveness and to ensure daily fiscal operations are managed efficiently across DCPS. The Operational Finance Team advocates for DCPS programs and schools by shepherding collaboration with procurement, budget, and HR teams. Operational Finance provides oversight to ensure equitable, transparent, and compliant personnel and non-personnel spending through quality customer service.
The Contracts and Acquisitions Division within the Office of Fiscal Strategy includes three teams:
Complex Contracts Unit: Ensures all contracting and procurement activity valued at $100,000 and above is consistently executed in accordance with the District of Columbia and Federal laws and regulations. Directs the development, coordination, facilitation, management, and milestone planning for the acquisition of goods and services required by DCPS. Liaises with program and school points of contact, serving as the primary point-of-contact on large and/or complex procurements.
Small Purchasing Unit: Ensures all contracting and procurement activity valued under $100,000 is consistently executed in accordance with the District of Columbia laws and regulations. Facilitates the processing and fulfillment of small purchases in coordination with the needs of schools and Central Office program customers.
The Senior Contract Specialist ensures all contracting and procurement activity is consistently executed in accordance with the District of Columbia laws and regulations while working independently in managing all procurement assignments. As the senior member of a specialist group, the Senior Contract Specialist provides leadership and guidance to contract specialists and junior contract specialists, liaises with program and school points of contact, and serves as the primary specialist on large and/or complex procurements, especially those valued at $100,000 and above. This position has been designated as Security Sensitive. Pursuant to section 410 of Chapter 4 of the D.C. Personnel Regulations; in addition to the general suitability screening, individuals applying for or occupying security sensitive positions are subject to the following checks and tests: Criminal background check; Sex Offender Registry check; Traffic record check (as applicable); Consumer credit check (as applicable); Reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol test; and Post-accident or incident drug and alcohol test.
The Senior Contract Specialist will report to the Director, Contracts & Acquisitions.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other duties may be assigned.
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Serves as a group lead for a small group of contract specialists dedicated to a caseload of schools and programs, including regular communication with school/program points of contact and reporting to senior management.
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Advises program and school officials in procurement planning meetings, advises program and school officials of the procurement objectives to be used, and assists in the preparation of statements of work.
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Monitors and helps manage acquisition plans, appropriate milestone charts, and related procurement tasks until contract award.
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Develops procurement strategies including overall goals and metrics, identifies the level and type of services to be provided, particular groups, or individuals to be contacted, acceptable results, and alternative courses of action.
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Develops procurement acquisition plans and objectives in conjunction with school and key program stakeholders via multiple procurement methods and contract types for $100,000 and above price ranges; and constructs the appropriate contractual vehicle to facilitate the procurement.
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Develops pre-negotiation positions, determines the types of contracts and negotiation authority to be used, prepares applicable justification, and ensures that the negotiation plans are implemented to facilitate savings for DCPS.
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Prepares applicable determination and findings, sole source, and competitive solicitation documents that agree with the procurement methods and requirements, such as Requests for Proposal, Invitations for Bid, and Cooperative Agreements.
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Performs detailed analyses of all elements of cost in contractor proposals, and recommends competitive range determinations.
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Conducts pre-proposal/pre-bid conference(s) with prospective contractor(s) and program staff to arrive at a clear understanding of what is required under the proposed competitive solicitations and resulting contracts; and issues necessary amendments to clarify questions concerning such topics as specification changes, language ambiguities, or clarification of contact clauses.
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Explores new and innovative contracting approaches to arrive at an equitable contract arrangement which supports schools, programs, and C&A operations.
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Serves as lead negotiator for sole source and competitive procurements while planning the negotiation strategy, coordinates strategy with negotiation team, and leads the negotiations that are conducted with contractors to address the contract prices and terms.
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Conducts Post Award Conferences upon contract award and provides contract administration guidance to the school or program, key stakeholders, and the contractors.
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Prepares rate adjustments, cost adjustments, and coordination of time extensions; issues modifications; develops change orders; recommends stop work orders; and documents recommendation cure notices or show causes letters, as applicable.
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Recommends termination of contracts for convenience or contractor default on behalf of DCPS, as applicable and necessary.
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Consistently analyzes and reviews the procurement process to ensure that proper procedures are followed; and recommends changes in the process to improve procurement activities in DCPS.
Qualifications
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Bachelor's degree and five to seven years of related work experience.
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Master's degree preferred.
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Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus.
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Advanced knowledge of contracting methods, contract types, acquisition planning, and implementation of contracts.
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Knowledge of the District of Columbia procurement laws and regulations strongly preferred.
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Demonstrated strong writing, analyzing, and research skills.
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STUDENTS FIRST: We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do.
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COURAGE: We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success.
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EQUITY: We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds.
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EXCELLENCE: We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions.
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TEAMWORK: We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically.
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JOY: We enjoy our collective work and will enthusiastically celebrate our success and each other.
We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to creating an inclusive, accessible workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals with disabilities. Accommodation and/or application assistance is available upon request at all stages of the application and employment process. To request accommodation, please contact [email protected].
