Administrative Program Specialist
Southeast Louisiana Area Health Education Center
Position Assignment: Bureau of Nutrition Services
Location: Baton Rouge
The Office of Public Health (OPH) is the office within the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in Louisiana by providing public health services to protect and promote the health of all individuals and communities in Louisiana through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, prevention of disease and injury, and dissemination of information impacting population health. In order to carry out the above responsibilities, OPH is organized into three centers which include the Center for Community and Preventive Health (CCPH), Center for OPH Operations, and the Center for Community Preparedness and Health Protection. The Bureau of Nutrition Services (BONS) is one of five Bureaus within CCPH.
BONS is responsible for the administration and management of two federally funded nutrition programs: the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Commodity Supplemental Nutrition Program (CSFP). WIC has an annual budget of approximately $110 million ($70 million is dedicated to supplemental food costs) and provides supplemental foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to healthcare services to approximately 95,000 participants (low income women, infants, and children up to five years of age) monthly. Through the WIC Program, BONS also administers the
Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Grant Program. CSFP has an annual budget of approximately $4 million and provides supplemental foods to approximately 40,000 participants (low-income individuals over 60 years of age) monthly. These services are provided to eligible Louisiana residents at over 60 CSFP distribution sites and 105 WIC clinics across the state. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) provides guidance for both of these federally funded programs. With approximately 60 BONS state agency staff, the Bureau oversees programmatic operations, executes and monitors 50 contracts, provides technical assistance to local staff and authorized vendors, and conducts monitoring site visits and investigations to ensure compliance with federal regulations and state statutes and policies.
SECTION DESCRIPTION:
The Administrative Program Specialist functions in support of the Business Operations Unit and is supervised by the Division of Remittances & Account Services Manager within BONS. This role will perform responsible, administrative duties related to the proper operation, coordination, and management of budget and fiscal (accounts payable, receivable, etc.) administrative functions.
The Business Operations Unit is divided into 3 Divisions: The Program Support, Operations, & Fiscal Management Division, The
Contracts, Procurement, & Stakeholder Assistance Division, and The Division of Remittances & Account Services:
- Contracts, Procurement, & Stakeholder Assistance Division: responsible for the coordination, processing, and payment of over 70 professional services contracts for the Bureau, including cooperative endeavor agreements (CEAs), memoranda of understanding (MOUs), request for proposals (RFPs), and grants; the implementation of sub-recipient monitoring activities to ensure compliance with federal and state laws and regulations as well as the grant funding requirements; and financial audits, including the design, development and implementation of audit plans, managerial reports and contract performance assessments.
- Program Support, Operations, & Fiscal Management Division: responsible for the development of budget activities and the organizational budgets, revenue and expenditure monitoring; forecasting and budgetary control over all BONS programs;
Bureau-wide telecommunication systems, property control and tagging, acquisition and maintenance; mail service, copy and message/courier service; travel authorization and parking assignments; and safety program and risk management assessment.
- Division of Remittances & Account Services: Responsible for all actual accounts payable as well as program income management. This includes processing accounts receivable and payable as well as maintaining credit accounts with all vendors doing business with the Bureau.
The duties and responsibilities of this position are as follows:
90% Exempt Formula & Physical Goods/Service Accounts Payable
- Processes statewide exempt formula procurement activities for BONS/WIC
- Works with other Divisions within Business Operations to ensure invoices are ready for payment for professional services and uploads/processes same
- Provides technical assistance to exempt formula purchasers throughout the State of Louisiana
- Serves as point of contact for material goods purchase orders, including statewide exempt formula purchase orders for use by regional WIC staff
- Serves as the final level of review (After other Divisions and Signing Authorities) and approval for financial transactions relative to accounts payable, accounts receivable, and credits to ensure accuracy and completeness of calculations, legitimacy of transactions, and proper authorization
Maintains, tracks, and reconciles invoices, proofs of receipt, and payments for vendors providing goods in support of complex statewide programs
- Prepares payment memorandums and forms without errors prior to routing for final approval; Uploads into SharePoint and updates necessary trackers accordingly
- Downloads invoices from vendor online portals as needed and logs same
- Reviews vendor statements submitted for accuracy and coordinates outstanding payments needed
- Monitors and sorts LA WIC Finance shared email account for invoice collections
- Monitors Monday.com goods receipt form submissions to reconcile with outstanding payments
- Ensures all expenditures are accurately coded in accordance with the proper Bureau cost center, grant, and general ledger (G/L) account codes
- Ensures accounts payable standing for assigned vendors is satisfactory
- Follows up with vendors, LDH Fiscal office, and state purchasing on past due invoices to avoid stop shipments of physical/material goods
- Ensures that material goods purchase orders are appropriate and accurate in regards to the item ordered, cost of the item ordered, and the grant and G/L account to which the item is to be charged
- Verifies calculations and makes adjustments to purchase orders in the appropriate system
- Resolves errors and discrepancies in payment documentation
- Assists with the tracking of expenditures against the approved budget
- Generates expenditure reports
- Prepares reports to assist with budget monitoring and programmatic decisions
- Maintains the confidentiality of contract and participant information as required by program policy
- Maintains working knowledge of federal and state contracting and procurement legislation, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures
10% Other
- Performs other duties not listed above but necessary for the effective operation of BONS
- Participates in continuing education by attending in-services, workshops, and conferences at local, state, regional and national levels to maintain current knowledge of required areas
- Fulfills obligation for State’s emergency preparedness and response efforts as assigned during an emergency and assists impacted
clinics/vendors/local agencies to assure they are back in operation as soon as possible following the event
- Travel as required to complete tasks associated with the effective operation of BONS
- Maintains a working knowledge of policies and procedures relative to the Louisiana Department Health, State Travel, and State Procurement
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $44,000.00 - $54,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Experience:
- professional level: 2 years (Required)
- federal grants and budget: 1 year (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
