Vendor Relations Specialist (DC Medicaid) in Washington, DC – CareFirst

 
 

Resp & Qualifications

This position is responsible for the governance of all DC Medicaid vendors and suppliers in partnership with the business owners for the contracts.  The corporate focus on centralized procurement, contracts and vendor governance requires focused leadership of the procurement activities for DC Medicaid.  DC Medicaid requires significant supporting procurement documentation; therefore this position will support business owners in DC Medicaid with creating, maintaining and storing procurement documentation which will withstand audit scrutiny.  This position will strive to influence budget reductions. A significant focus will be on vendor spend management through effective cost tracking, reporting, and performance management.  The integration of Ariba, SharePoint and shared drive information will be critical to successful and consistent procurement practices.  Corporate attention to Trading Partner controls and supplier risk assessment has resulted in additional analysis of vendor access to sensitive information that if not handled properly can result in negative exposure and adverse audit findings.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Under the direction of the Director of Strategic Planning and Development accountabilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Contracts & Procurement Management

  • Provide coordination of the contract management process in support of DC Medicaid functions
  • Serve as the key liaison and interface with DC Medicaid Vendors and Corporate Vendor Oversight and Procurement
  • Develop and maintain an enhanced database of all contracts and vendors
  • Ensure that business owners within DC Medicaid take timely action to renew and competitively bid contracts prior to contract expiration.
  • Create, maintain and store supporting documentation related to the procurement process including, but not limited to:

 
 

  • Executive Summaries (Contracts and Projects)
  • Risk Control Matrices
  • Sole & Single Source Justifications
  • Requests for Information
  • Requests for Proposals
  • Purchase Requests
  • Sourcing Requests
  • Work collaboratively with Strategic Sourcing & Procurement (SS&P) and business owners to manage the sourcing function by identifying, interviewing and prequalifying vendors.
  • Work in partnership with DC Medicaid management and SS&P to develop customized procurement strategies to strengthen the vendor selection and contracting process
  • Support the DC Medicaid management team in developing Statements of Work that clearly define business requirements to be reflected in Requests for Proposals
  • Create and refine a process and document workflow for procurement activities
  • Produce routine and ad-hoc reports for senior management. 
  • Enforce CareFirst Finance and Procurement Policies by ensuring that DC Medicaid complies with all corporate policies related to Purchasing and Expense Authorization.

Vendor & Contract Spend Analysis

  • Report upon the actual expenses incurred with contract vendors in DC Medicaid especially costs incurred against approved Executive Summaries.
  • Perform routine evaluation of contract cost and expenditure approval status in compliance with company policies (in particular policy FIN.09)
  • Conduct spending analysis of vendor spend against budget, expenditure approval and contract limits.
     

Vendor Governance

  • Act as subject matter expert over the vendors and their contracts
  • Work with business owners to develop strong and measurable performance indicators for key vendors and embed within contracts
  • Develop tools and methods to measure vendor performance against performance standards. 
  • Ensure all regulatory reports are being received timely and are organized and made available to all business owners.
  • Act as Liaison between the vendor and the business owner.
  • Ensure that quarterly vendor oversight meetings occur and are documented with minutes.
  • Act as Secretary of the DC Medicaid Delegation Oversight Committee; sit on all corporate vendor committees; and regularly reports out to various committees as needed.
  • Work with business owners to ensure that vendors have achieved performance standards and notify vendors that have not complied while managing a corrective action plan to address performance issues.
  • Routinely rate and measure vendor quality and satisfaction of end users.

Other

Performs other duties as assigned including various projects in support of other departments in DC Medicaid.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Required Education and Experience

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance or related field or equivalent work experience.
  • 3 to 5 years of experience in Purchasing, Corporate Services, Contract Administration, or Finance
  • Experience reading contracts including vendor contracts and SOWs.
  • Experience with Medicaid preferred.
  • Experience in interpreting business requirements and writing statements of work.
  • Experience with Procurement practices and handling various types of contracts, SOWs, amendments and Purchase Orders.

 
 

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills (ability to write high quality drafts with minimal turnaround time, and to speak extemporaneously). Ability to interact with multiple levels of management.

Skills/Abilities

  • Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills to work effectively with internal and external customers.
  • Excellent ability to organize large projects and manage multiple priorities.  Must be self motivated.
  • Ability to independently apply principles, theories, concepts and practices to difficult problems and makes recommendations and decisions concerning courses of action.
  • Demonstrated innovation and creativity in problem solving.
  • Individual must be detail oriented with a strong desire to ensure accuracy of reports and information.
  • Excellent analytical skills.
  • Excellent PC skills particularly in Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and Adobe Acrobat.
  • Ability to travel to various CareFirst locations and vendor locations will be required from time to time

Preferred

  • Experience in Contract Management
  • Experience in vendor governance and managing vendor relationships
  • Experience with reviewing and interpreting legal documents. 
  • Master’s degree or advanced degree in Business Administration, Finance or related field
  • Legal experience is a plus especially in the areas of contract law and business law.
  • Oracle financial system experience
  • Ariba procurement system experience
  • Previous experience in coordinating and ensuring timely response to internal and external audits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is an Equal Opportunity (EEO) employer.  It is the policy of the Company to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

Hire Range Disclaimer

Actual salary will be based on relevant job experience and work history.

Where To Apply

Please visit our website to apply: www.carefirst.com/careers

Closing Date

Please apply before: 11/19/2020

Federal Disc/Physical Demand

Note:  The incumbent is required to immediately disclose any debarment, exclusion, or other event that makes him/her ineligible to perform work directly or indirectly on Federal health care programs.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The associate is primarily seated while performing the duties of the position.  Occasional walking or standing is required.  The hands are regularly used to write, type, key and handle or feel small controls and objects.  The associate must frequently talk and hear.  Weights up to 25 pounds are occasionally lifted.

Sponsorship in US

Must be eligible to work in the U.S. without Sponsorship

 
 

Clipped from: https://carefirstcareers.ttcportals.com/jobs/5742314-vendor-relations-specialist-dc-medicaid?tm_job=14066-1A&tm_event=view&tm_company=2380&bid=538