Procurement Specialist

Work for Our Water Resources.

Help protect one of Florida’s most vital resources — water — with a career at the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District).

The District is a government agency whose mission is to protect water resources, minimize flood risks, and ensure the public’s water needs are met. We serve a population of nearly 6 million people in west-central Florida as directed by state law.

Join our Procurement Services Office

Support our Procurement Office by using your expertise in public sector purchasing. With this opportunity, you'll have the chance to procure supplies, materials, services, and equipment necessary for the District to operate in a manner that is responsive, promotes integrity and fairness, and encourages diversity. The Procurement Specialist confers with vendors to obtain product or service information, such as price, availability, and delivery schedule, administers procurement-related policies and procedures, and provides work direction and training to internal customers. You’ll have the chance to work with a wide range of project managers, internal customers and a fun and welcoming Procurement team.

The District supports employees who prefer flexible schedule or a remote work schedule so that they can enjoy their time outside of the District through work-life balance. This role is considered hybrid, which means the employee will be required to come on-site for periodic meetings and work a portion of their time remotely (must live in Florida).  Come build a career that is challenging, fulfilling, and helps support the District’s mission to protect Florida’s water resources. This position specifically has the ability to work up to three (3) days remote after successful three (3) months.

District employees are offered an excellent total rewards package that includes:

Starting Compensation:  
Procurement Specialist 3: $53,589.00 - $72,931.50
Procurement Specialist 4: $61,254.00 - $84,422.50

The starting salary range for the Procurement Specialist position reflects the minimum to 50% of the compensation. The starting salary will be based on the education and experience of the successful candidate. The District conducts annual performance evaluations that may award applicable pay increases based on positive employee performance.

Essential Functions

• Verify needs with District staff and negotiate prices, terms, discounts, services, delivery, and transportation with vendors for goods and services consistent with applicable federal and state laws and District policies and procedures. Develop requests for quotes/bids/proposals, conduct pre-bid meetings, openings and debriefings, coordinate questions, answers, and addenda. Evaluate suppliers, negotiate contracts and review product/service quality. Apply, interpret, and adhere to relevant laws, legal codes, government regulations, and District rules, procedures and practices. 
• Determines or recommends method of procurement, such as direct purchase or bid. Prepares bid specifications, receive bids, and make purchases of commodities or goods.
• Recommend procurement process; draft, evaluate and finalize agreements of varying types, such as non-disclosure, sales/purchase, sub-contract, consulting, license, distribution, commercial and public contracting, construction, cooperative funding or other agreements as needed. Review procurement and contractual terms and conditions proposed by other internal and external stakeholders. Investigate new sources of supply and environmentally preferable products and services by gathering and analyzing market intelligence on suppliers, products, services, and costs. Estimates values according to knowledge of market price.
• Work with Finance, the Office of General Counsel, Risk, and others to coordinate financial, legal, insurance, and others contractual terms and ensure adherence to broader operational requirements such as contractual or statutory/rule requirements.
• Serve as a point of contact and provide guidance as needed for employees, customers, and stakeholders on contractual and procurement matters. Orient, train, and advise staff, vendors, and other government agencies on regulations, District policies, procedures and current solicitations. 
• Establish and maintain relations with suppliers and internal customers exercising personal initiative and sound business judgment and employ process quality improvement and cost reduction efforts. Apply, interpret, and adhere to relevant laws, legal codes, government regulations, and District rules, procedures, and practices. 
• Maintain appropriate records and documentation, such as correspondence, data, and reports needed or used in development of contracts, stakeholder contact information, contract modifications, issue identification/resolution, significant events, status reports, and other procurement-related documents. Identify and establish monitoring and reporting methods and requirements for procurement. Identify potential problems or areas of recurrent concern or pressure within the course and scope of contract or procurement efforts and identify/implement effective solutions.
• Contribute to, influence, develop and implement procedures for procurement management and administration in accordance with District policy. Expedite, track, monitor, and report on processes, documents, and performance. Administer the District's Procurement Card Program, including P-card establishment, training, disputes, and closeout. Manage vendor relationships.