Job Abstract

The San Mateo County Parks Department (“Parks Department”) serves approximately three million visitors each year. Visitors have many options when visiting the County’s vast parks system. With 24 parks and recreation areas, over 16,000 acres of park land, 190 miles of trail, ten playgrounds, nine campgrounds, and countless picnic sites the Parks Department provides healthy outdoor activities, educational opportunities, and lasting memories.

The Parks Department is seeking highly motivated professionals for the position of Contract Administrator II. The successful candidate will have experience negotiating and executing agreements and contracts for services and strategic sourcing for goods. The candidate will be a self-motivated, highly analytical, and strategic thinker with the ability to solve business problems and deliver insights that enable timely and effective operational decision-making.

Under general supervision, the position will assist management personnel in such activities as purchasing; contract administration; overseeing the regular Board of Supervisors and Parks Department agenda development process, including development, posting, and distribution of agenda items; performance reporting; reviewing and developing policies and procedures; and other related work as required. The position will work with cross-functional teams of the organization to coordinate the development, execution and management of all Parks Department agreements while utilizing County of San Mateo systems efficiently and effectively. The position is responsible for purchasing duties in difficult or complex commodity areas of a wide variety of materials, supplies and equipment, and perform a broad scope of purchasing transactions. The position will provide program support and lead the coordination and facilitation of planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting activities for departmental agreements and purchases as assigned.

The ideal candidate will possess:

• Solid experience in the development of contracts, negotiation of terms, and contract execution.
• Knowledge of the California Public Contract Code, California Department of Industrial Relations requirements, and other relevant laws, rules, and regulations related to the procurement of goods and services in California and public works projects.
• Knowledge of and experience in governmental policies and practices in relation to procurement.
• Ability to develop and analyze purchasing request and evaluate specifications, proposals, bids and contracts for products and complex commodity areas and purchases.
• Knowledge of sources of supply, marketing practices, and pricing methods and differentials.
• Have a high level of proficient writing and editing skills; experienced in doing research to build scopes of work, setting target levels, and develop performance measures.
• Excellent analytical, verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent detail-oriented skills and organization skills.
• Skill to establish and maintain effective work relationships with customers and vendors.
• Knowledge of principles, practices, procedures, and applications of purchasing and governmental purchasing including but not limited to informal bidding.
• Knowledge of sources of supply, marketing practices, and pricing methods and differentials and other public agency purchasing.
• Knowledge of office administrative practices and procedures, including records management and the operation of standard office equipment.
• Strong interpersonal skills with proven ability to develop and maintain effective business partner relations at all levels of the organization. Incumbents at this level are typically assigned complex procurements and contracts.
• Ability to work well both independently and in a team environment.
• Ability to work effectively in a high volume and fast-paced environment.
• Ability to manage a large and varied workload with changing and conflicting deadlines.
• Strong skills gathering, analyzing, and presenting on information and data.

Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Coordinate the contract development and amendment process with the appropriate stakeholders, including securing appropriate signatures, distributing executed copies, and maintaining comprehensive contract files.
• Monitor contract agreements for compliance, report requirements, and possible amendments.
• Maintain the Parks Department’s contract management system.
• Develop request for proposals and contract agreements.
• Assist with the development of policies and procedures and streamline department and program processes.
• Assist with developing performance measures, evaluating performance results, and reporting requirements.
• Purchase equipment and supplies using the County of San Mateo’s financial system and following all policies and procedures related to purchasing.
• Process invoices and track payments.
• Audit and verify various information, including source data as well as manual and computer-produced reports.
• Collect information from a variety of sources and synthesize the data into a report format with recommendations.
• Provide information to County staff that requires the use of judgement and the interpretation of policies, rules, and/or procedures.
• Perform a variety of general office support work such as organizing and maintaining various files, typing correspondence, reports, forms, and specialized documents, and proofreading and checking materials for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with departmental policies and procedures.
• Provide back up to other positions when necessary.
• Assist management staff in budget development support.
• Respond to staff issues and work interdepartmentally to resolve them.
• Assist management staff in acquiring, maintaining, and reporting performance measure data and information.
• Assist with special projects as assigned.
• Conduct research on a wide variety of administrative topics including contract feasibility, cost benefit analysis, budget and staffing proposals, and operational alternatives.
• Develop and standardize procedures and methods to improve and continuously monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of operations and service delivery methods and procedures in order to maximize funding and minimize costs.
• Partner with County Procurement to create strategic procurement vehicles that maximize volume discounts and shorten the timeline of procurements.
• Perform cost-benefit analyses of procurements, proposals, and operational alternatives.
• In collaboration with program, administrative, and financial management, evaluate purchasing processes and timelines to establish efficiencies and effectiveness in business processes.
• Monitor contract agreements for compliance, report requirements, and possible amendments.
• Develop and maintain weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting mechanisms.
• Serve as liaison to branches, departments, governmental agencies, and the public to disseminate information.
• Prepare or assist in the preparation of operating manuals and organization and workflow charts.
• Train staff in work procedures and provide technical and programmatic assistance to staff and subcontractors.
• Receive, review, and check purchase requests to determine needs, market conditions, and product availability.
• Consult and assist with product selection and purchasing methods.
• Invite and accept bids, evaluate prices, discounts, and delivery conditions.
• Prepare and assist in the preparation of product specifications and contracts.
• Review invoices to ensure conformance to contracted price schedule.
• Analyze bids for conformance to specifications; make awards on bids.
• Confer with vendors about products and services.
• Prepare reports, recommendations, and correspondence.
• Perform related duties as assigned.

Knowledge of:

• Principles and practices of public administration.
• Principles and practices of program areas to which assigned.
• Principles and practices of contract development, negotiation and monitoring, including budgeting and financial record keeping.
• Principles, practices and techniques of administrative and programmatic research and analysis.
• Applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations and County and program policies and guidelines.
• Computer applications related to the work.
• Office administrative practices and procedures, including records management and the operation of standard office equipment.

• Develop and evaluate proposals and negotiate contracts and agreements.
• Develop, monitor and analyze budgets and program performance.
• Plan, coordinate and implement administrative and programmatic research and analysis.
• Analyze, interpret and apply various regulations and requirements.
• Train staff in work procedures and provide technical and programmatic assistance to staff and subcontractors.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with grantors, subcontractors, County staff, elected and appointed officials, the public and others.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Compile, analyze and interpret data using research techniques; draw sound conclusions and prepare and present effective reports regarding findings and recommendations.
• Exercise sound independent judgment within general policy and regulatory guidelines.
• Prepare clear and accurate reports, correspondence, procedures and other written materials.
• Organize and prioritize work and meet critical deadlines.
• Maintain accurate records and files.

Education and Experience:
Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to qualify is:

• Contract Administrator I: Two years of professional level administrative or programmatic experience, primarily in the area of contract administration in a community services or related setting.
• Contract Administrator II: Four years of professional level administrative or programmatic experience, primarily in the area of contract administration in a community services or related setting.

Anyone may apply. Current San Mateo County and San Mateo County Superior Court employees with at least six months (1040 hours) of continuous service in a classified regular, probationary, SEIU or AFSCME represented extra-help/term position prior to the final filing date will receive five (5) points added to their final passing score on this examination. Responses to the supplemental questions must be submitted in addition to our regular employment application form.

A supplemental application form must be submitted in addition to our regular employment application form. Based solely on the information provided in the application materials, an application screening committee will select those applicants whose education, training and experience most closely matches the needs of the department. Those selected will be invited to a panel interview (weight: 100%) which may include the evaluation of a written or performance exercise given immediately preceding the interview. Selected applicants will be notified of the date, time and place of the tests.

IMPORTANT: Applications for this position will only be accepted online. If you are currently on the County's website, you may click the "Apply Online" button above or below. If you are not on the County's website, please go to http://jobs.smcgov.org/ to apply. Online applications must be received by the Human Resources Department before midnight on the final filing date.

TENTATIVE RECRUITMENT SCHEDULE
Final Filing Date: Monday, July 15, 2024 at 8 a.m.
Screening: Tuesday, July 16, 2024 through Friday, July 19, 2024
Combined Panel Interviews: Monday, July 29, 2024 through Thursday, August 1, 2024
Departmental Interviews: TBD