Position Summary: The New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) is the largest school system in the nation, with nearly 1 million students, 135,000 employees, including more than 75,000+ teachers and an annual budget of $39B.
The Director of School Based Procurement is responsible for overseeing the procurement processes for goods and services to be used by New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) and Central Offices. These goods and services range from instructional learning materials, athletic equipment, furniture, classroom/office supplies, and administrative forms to various types of equipment and instructional supplies to support the success, health, and safety for all NYC students. The incumbent works with schools, superintendent teams, program offices, clients, and personnel to ensure that needs are satisfied in a timely, cost-effective manner and ensures that procurements are structured strategically to provide the best outcomes for programs, school communities, and the NYCPS
The Director reviews recommendations for contract awards and modifications for procedural accuracy and compliance, as well as reviews the work of direct reports for effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance with applicable rules and established guidelines. The role consults with the Executive Director, Procurement of Curriculum, Instruction, and School Support and other senior leaders on purchasing policy, as well as conferring with and advising schools, superintendent teams, and program offices on procurement methods. The incumbent directs a team of procurement analysts, community coordinators and consultants as they conduct investigations pertaining to vendor responsibility decisions and vendor performance.
The role also develops procedures for the administration of contract and procurement activities. In addition to reviewing budgets, the Director negotiates contracts to achieve maximum savings for the NYCPS. The Director also coordinates training activities, manages procurement staff, and utilizes all relevant systems to perform their work, including PASSPort as applicable. Performs related work.
Reports to: Executive Director, Procurement of Curriculum, Instruction, and School Support
Direct Reports: Enterprise Operations Coordinator, Instructional Materials Sourcing Coordinator, Procurement Analysts, Procurement Clerk, NYC Public Service Fellow DCAS, consultants and seasonal staff.
Key Relationships: All levels of DCP staff, including the Chief Procurement Officer, Deputy Chief Procurement Officers; NYCPS Office of General Counsel, Office of Supplier Diversity; New York City Comptroller’s Office, New York City Law Department, New York City Office of Management and Budget, New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, New York State Office of General Services (OGS), various NYCPS Central Offices, Superintendents' Offices, Division of School Leadership, NYC Public/Non-Public Schools, vendors, and others as assigned.
Responsibilities
- Oversees large-scale procurement involving the acquisition of goods and services, which constitutes over 1,000 contracts annually, including equipment, supplies, special education learning devices, professional development, direct student services, and instructional materials.
- Directs, coordinates, and controls the planning, implementation, and supervision of the central purchase of goods and services used by all public and non-public schools, PSAL and some administrative offices.
- Serves as DCP’s liaison to the Superintendents’ offices.
- Provides procurement training to the Superintendents’ offices, principals, and other school administration.
- Oversees the coordination, planning and implementation of contract and procurement activities from pre-solicitation to award and registration, including drafting and/or reviewing Request for Bids, Request for Proposal, and other sourcing methods, conducting responsibility/responsiveness determinations, performance evaluations, and managing other procurement-related documents.
- Advises staff on procurement matters, local laws, City administrative requirements, and Comptroller’s Office policies and procedures regarding purchasing/contracting operations; disseminates alerts and updates as to developments in procurement-related law; recommends and oversees training for procurement staff and develops training guides.
- Implements best practices for increasing contracting opportunities for Women- and Minority-owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE).
- Proactively reviews contract statuses and identifies opportunities for competitive solicitations and opportunities to leverage Minority/Women-Owned Businesses (M/WBE) as either prime or subcontractors.
- Participates in pre-bid/proposal conferences with prospective contractors.
- Represents and monitors approximately 200,000 products displayed in the NYCPS purchasing system, via FAMIS/SHOPDOE.
- Monitors the status of procurements, reviews statistical and budgetary data, and provides recommendations for contract modifications, extensions, or non-renewal. Makes recommendation for cancellation of contract based on contractor's non-responsibility, and poor or non-performance.
- Reviews solicitation documents to ensure compliance with NYCPS requirements, as well as Federal, State and City laws and applicable regulations and clear understanding by vendors.
- Performs strategic sourcing activities and uses price analysis, cost analysis, and various other quantitative analyses methodologies to achieve economies of scale and enhance service levels for program offices.
- Tabulates reviews and analyzes vendor proposals and bids to ensure that proposals meet minimum qualification and solicitation requirements.
- Where applicable, negotiates with prospective contractors on matters of price, scope, and contract performance to secure the best overall value for NYCPS.
- Supervises a staff of procurement analysts responsible for working with instructional leaders and central stakeholders on all aspects of the procurement process for compliance with established rules and guidelines. Oversees procurement team responsible for key functions in formalizing contracts.
- Works collaboratively with other City agencies, including but not limited to the DCAS and NYS OGS to identify contracting opportunities that help to achieve cost savings and logistical efficiencies.
- Conducts supplier identification to promote competition and identify vendors who can be qualified partners with the NYCPS.
- Conducts complex research and studies to validate that RFB/RFP scopes and user requirements are competitive, well-defined and will be consistent with industry standards.
- Obtains corrective action where the contractor has failed to provide contracted goods or services or is deficient in honoring terms of contractual agreement.
- Collaborates with attorneys, internal and external to the NYCPS during contract development to complete various contract execution and administration actions, including the review and verification of the accuracy of contracts, adjusting discrepancies as needed.
- Briefs superintendent teams and leadership on procurement status as needed/requested.
- Populates the contract administration and development databases with the necessary information to facilitate the approval process; develops and maintains records tracking and reporting requirements.
- Supports the registration team by requesting and pulling together relevant documents for registration packets, which will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Comptroller.
- Utilizes a variety of financial and contracts systems, including the City’s procurement system, PASSPort.
Qualifications Requirements:
Minimum
- A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and four (4) years of full-time satisfactory professional experience in purchasing, procurement, contract administration or a related field, at least eighteen months of which must have been in an administrative, managerial or executive capacity or supervising professional personnel performing duties in one or more of the above fields; or
- A combination of education and/or experience equivalent to "1" above. However, all candidates must have the eighteen months of administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory experience described in "1" above.
Note: Possession of an acceptable professional procurement certification may be substituted for up to one (1) year of the experience described in "1" above. However, all candidates must have the eighteen months of administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory experience described in "1" above.
Preferred
- Experienced supervisor, managing a large team in an educational setting.
- National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) certification.
- Ability to analyze a problem or situation and quickly capture the important elements.
- Excellent writing, organizational and presentation skills.
- Ability to read and interpret laws, rules and policies.
- Ability to meet deadlines consistently.
- Attentive to detail, extremely well organized, and able to work under pressure.
- Strong interpersonal and customer-interface skills.
- Experience supervising staff.
- Experience working in a team environment and adhering to deadlines; the ability to multitask.
- Superior organizational, analytical, verbal and mathematical skills and the ability to work in a proactive, independent manner.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office 365 applications.
Salary: $110,969 - $140,000
(Internal candidates who are selected for this position and who currently hold comparable or less senior positions within the DOE will not earn less than their current salary.)
Please include a resume and cover letter with your application.
NOTE: The filling of all positions is subject to budget availability and/or grant funding.
* New York City Residency is NOT Required *
We encourage all applicants from the New York City tri-state area to apply.
