Introduction
Charlotte’s local government, with more than 7,000 employees and a $2.39 billion budget, works hard to ensure that the community will be a winning city for everyone – a truly remarkable place to live, work, learn and play.
Charlotte Water is an enterprise department of the City of Charlotte and one of the largest public water and sewer service providers in the southeast with 300,000 customer accounts and over 1000 employees. Our service area includes the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mint Hill, Matthews and Pineville. Charlotte Water’s FY 23 budget is $535M and a five-year capital program of $2.5 billion. We enjoy the highest credit ratings from all three major credit rating agencies as a result of sound financial planning and management and strong support from our City Council. We value competent, skilled candidates with a customer service focus to work in a team environment.
Overview
The City of Charlotte is the largest municipality in North Carolina and the 17th largest city in the United States, with a total population of more than 872,498 citizens. A major commerce center, Charlotte hosts several of the nation’s largest banks and technology companies.
Also known as the Queen City, Charlotte is home to the Carolina Panthers, the Charlotte Hornets and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. We work hard to ensure that the community will be a winning city for everyone – a truly remarkable place to live, work, learn and play. Join us in helping to keep our City thriving, ensuring upward mobility and advancement in the workplace.
Function
Charlotte Water is seeking an experienced Commodities & Services Manager. This position provides procurement and contracting expertise, consultation, and oversight in support of procurement needs and requirements related to commodities and services. This position is responsible for leading the Commodities and Services unit of the Acquisition and Compliance Team which includes the management of procurement staff whose primary duties include commodities and services procurements.
Summary
Work involves conducting procurement and contracting activities while ensuring application and compliance with state and local guidelines, policies, and statutes to ensure the timely completion of assigned procurements. Work also includes project coordination and serving as a liaison to customers and leadership to ensure customers’ needs are met in a timely manner. This position requires in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience with all phases of governmental purchasing, contracting, accounting, and reporting as well as management experience. Work also involves partnering with the department’s Business Diversity Team to establish Minority, Women, and Small Business Enterprise (MWSBE) goals for projects, assisting customers with Requests for Council Action, and communicating regularly with customers, leadership, vendors, project managers, and other city departments. This position will report to Charlotte Water’s Acquisition and Compliance Manager.
Major Duties and Responsibilities
• Provides oversight in the areas of commodities and services. This includes serving as the primary contact to customers for purchasing and contract issues, tracking changes in legislation, maintaining contract templates, providing technical expertise and guidance to customers, and ensuring consistency among contracts and processes conducted by staff.
• Formulates long-term strategic procurement plan for commodities, services, and technology based on historical spend and anticipated needs. Provides strategic level input and assistance to accomplish team-wide initiatives along with the other managers on the team. Provides daily consultation to facilitate procurement and contracting decisions as well as project planning services and the development of requirements. Review and analyze data to support these efforts.
• Supervises and coordinates work activities of assigned staff; assigns work commensurate with their qualifications and existing workload, monitors status of work, and inspects completed work; participates and provides input in staffing decisions relative to hiring, firing, and discipline; evaluates performance; trains and mentors staff; and aids with career development.
• Lead process improvements to best help the Commodities and Services team succeed and develop, coordinate, and facilitate acquisition and compliance training and educational sessions related to commodities and services for department staff.
• Develops and maintains professional relationships with Project Managers, Division Heads, Leadership, vendors, and other City departments such as General Services / City Procurement, Risk Management, Charlotte Business INClusion, and the City Attorney’s Office.
• Develops Invitations to Bid for commodities and conducts bid phase services including, but not limited to, leading pre-bid meetings and bid openings, issuing addenda, developing bid tabulations, corresponding with vendors, performing bid evaluations, updating CLTWater’s Contracting Opportunities website, contract preparation, and providing support to other Acquisition and Compliance Team members in these areas. Will also ensure these efforts are coordinated with Charlotte Water’s Business Diversity Team.
• Develops Requests for Proposals and conducts all necessary activities from the strategy phase through selection, including facilitating project meetings and assisting with the preparation of evaluation criteria, and drafts contracts to awarded vendors.
• Appropriately utilizes federal, state, cooperative, piggyback, and other exempted procurement methods.
• Develops Invitations to Bid for construction, Requests for Qualifications, Requests for Quotes, and other solicitations when necessary, and provides contract and amendment consulting, negotiating, preparation services and execution assistance.
• Negotiates and drafts contracts, service level agreements, master services agreements, interlocal agreements, amendments, renewals, letters of cure and default, and other official contractual documentation as may be required.
• Deals with escalated issues related to procurement protests / appeals.
• Coordinates events related to vendor outreaches and networking.
• Provides contract and amendment consulting, negotiating, preparation services, and execution assistance.
• Performs contract administration, monitoring and reporting as may be required, including methods to ensure vendor performance is in accordance with contract terms and conditions. Represent CLTWater in dispute resolutions as needed.
• Performs procurement functions within enterprise-wide resource management systems, specifically requisitions, purchase orders, contracts, change orders, vendor information, and reporting as well as additional City systems such as e-Builder, EarlyBird, and B2Gnow.
• Assists with Charlotte Water’s Request for Council Action (RCA) agenda process; serves as subject matter expert at RCA review meetings for procurements conducted.
• Assists with procurement initiatives, special projects, and other tasks as needed.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
• Knowledge and hands-on experience of all phases of governmental purchasing, contracting, accounting, and reporting
• Skill in organization
• Skill in written and verbal communication
• Ability to multi-task in a diverse environment
• Ability to manage time to ensure assignments are completed on time or early
• Ability to work independently without constant supervisor review and involvement
• Ability to facilitate meetings
• Ability to read and comprehend contracts, solicitations, and scopes of work
• Ability to negotiate and resolve conflicts
• Ability to conduct research, analyze, and make recommendations
• Ability to supervise employees
Preferred Qualification
• CLGPO, C.P.M., CPPO, or CPPB certifications preferred.
Minimum Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited school.
• Five (5) years of related work experience.
• OR an equivalent combination of education and relevant work/industry/military/job specific experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the essential job duties.
Licenses, Certifications or Registrations:
• Requires a valid driver’s license.
Conditions of Employment
The City’s Background Check Policy requires background checks to be conducted on final internal or external candidate(s) applying for any position with the City of Charlotte. The type of information that will be collected as part of a background check includes, but is not limited to: reference checks, social security verification, education verification, criminal conviction record check, and, if applicable, a credit history check, sex offender registry and motor vehicle records check.
Background checks must be in compliance with all federal and state statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The checks must be consistent with the guidelines set forth by these laws requiring organizations to obtain a candidate’s written authorization before obtaining a criminal background report, motor vehicle records check or credit report; and to properly store and dispose of information derived from such reports.
Final candidates must pass a pre-employment drug-screening test and physical examination. During the selection process, candidates may be asked to take a skills test, and/or participate in other assessments.
The City of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
How To Apply
Apply online.
Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job.
You are welcome to visit the City of Charlotte Human Resources Department lobby where we have workstations available. Our office is located at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. Our hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.
Anyone seeking an accommodation to apply for a job may call (704) 336-2285 for assistance or you may email questions to CityHrJobPostingsNotify@ci.charlotte.nc.us.
Benefits
The City of Charlotte provides a comprehensive benefits package to all employees.
Click here to learn more about the City of Charlotte’s benefits.
The City of Charlotte is a drug and alcohol-free workplace.
In Conclusion
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