Procurement Policy Development Coordinator

The State of Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management (OPM) seeks to fill a Procurement Policy Development Coordinator position in the Office of Finance. This is an exciting opportunity to assess options and develop strategic plans to implement policy decisions; coordinate development of policies for the state, towns, or municipalities; develop required recommendations for legislative or administrative actions in order to institute required policies; and to represent the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management on various boards or commissions.

In accordance with Chapter 55a of the Connecticut General Statutes pertaining to consultants and personal service agreements, the Office of Finance is responsible to:

• establish standards for state agencies to follow in entering into purchase of services agreements and personal service agreements; 
• approve the written procedures established by each state agency to implement such standards; 
• approve requests from state agencies to enter into purchase of services agreements and personal service agreements; and 
• approve requests from state agencies to waive contracts from competitive negotiations or competitive quotation.

Recently passed legislation in Sections 103 and 104 of P.A 19-117 also requires the Office of Finance to: 

• post any approvals of requests for a waiver on the State Contracting Portal; and 
• approve three-year procurement plans from state agencies.

Please ensure that your application is complete and have included a resume within the "Resume Tab" of your application. Candidates who do not submit the required documents above will not be considered. Questions about these required documents should be directed to the hiring agency's human resources office: Carolyn Kozak at opm.recruitment@ct.gov.  

NOTE: At any point during the recruitment process, applicants may be required to submit additional documentation which support their qualification(s) for this position. These documents may include: a cover letter, performance reviews, supervisory references, college transcripts, licensure, etc., at the discretion of the hiring agency. 

In the Office of Policy and Management this class is accountable for the cost analysis and research used to develop state government policy for the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. It coordinates the review, analysis, development and implementation of policy and programs for state agencies, towns and municipalities.

In this position you will be responsible for the following:

• Formulate policies and procedures related to state agency procurement, including purchase of service contracts for health and human services and personal service agreements for consultants; 
• Design, develop and implement statewide procurement standards, goals and objectives for contracting, rate setting, payment, accounting, budgeting, auditing and other fiscal and administrative procedures to assure fiscal accountability for contracting; 
• Provide direction, interpretation and guidance to state agency fiscal/administrative staff involved with contracting; 
• Research, interpret, and administer pertinent laws and regulations; 
• Implement and develop standardized procurement reporting to meet relevant statutes (i.e., Annual Purchase of Service/Personal Service Agreement Report, Three-Year Procurement Plans, Monthly Waiver Reports) and conducts ongoing data analysis to recommend procurement reform changes; 
• Work with state agency staff to develop high-priority requests for proposals (RFPs) and contracts with a results-driven approach (e.g. clearly defined problem statement, outcome goals and related performance measures, targeted population); 
• Encourage outcomes-oriented RFP drafting by facilitating cross-agency training workshops and by refining relevant RFP development tools/templates to achieve greater standardization; 
• Support the scaling of best practice procurement adoption across state agencies, including strategic planning, performance outcome measure development, and active contract management; 
• Liaison between Department of Administrative Services, Office of State Comptroller, State Contracting Standards Board, and OPM for procurement; and 
• Perform related duties as required.
  

Considerable knowledge of principles and practices of public administration including policy development, coordination, cost benefit analysis and implementation; considerable knowledge of state, federal and municipal legislative processes; considerable interpersonal skills; considerable oral and written communication skills; ability to analyze and evaluate policy and programs; ability to coordinate and implement policy development activities and prepare and present effective reports and presentations.

Six (6) years of experience with major responsibility for the review, analysis, coordination and administration of policies and programs in a large governmental, public affairs or business organization.

1. College training may be substituted for the General Experience on the basis of fifteen (15) semester hours equalling one-half (1/2) year of experience to a maximum of four (4) years for a Bachelor's degree.
2. A Master's degree in public administration or political science may be substituted for one (1) additional year of the General Experience.

The preferred candidate will have six (6) years of experience with major responsibility for the review, analysis, coordination and administration of policies and programs related to procurement and contracting in a large governmental, public affairs or business organization; be a Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) or Certified Purchasing Professional (CPP); will have certification in Public Procurement and Contract Management; and/or a Master’s degree in Business Administration or Public Administration.

AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

The State of Connecticut's Office of Policy and Management is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.