Purchasing/Contracts Specialist

Security Clearance required:

Public Trust

Do you want to make a difference?

Cognosante employees are passionate about improving people's lives. With an innovative mindset and an unwavering commitment to those we serve, we partner with healthcare, civilian and defense agencies to deliver exceptional public services and programs. Our multi-faceted technology and customer experience (CX) solutions achieve program outcomes, solve critical challenges and create meaningful change. Whether we are helping Veterans access healthcare faster, ensuring that members of the military complete their missions safely, or helping people obtain health insurance, our work touches millions of people. Are you ready to make a difference?

Come Join Our Team The USPS has approximately 8,000 highway transportation service contracts responsible for transporting mail between approximately 1,600 postal facilities. The USPS works with numerous processing facilities to ensure there are network adjustments for efficiency. As needs arise, the associated transportation services operating to and from those facilities will need to be adjusted. The USPS has more than 600,000 employees and is a great place to work. This is a hybrid opportunity requiring both in office work and working from home 2-3 days per week as work requirements dictate.

What is the position?

The Purchasing Specialis will work to achieve the USPS goals on this initiative based on a combination of three different purchasing approaches listed below:

1. Terminating contracts in both closing and gaining facilities (two or three suppliers providing all contracted services in the consolidated facility).

2. If a gaining facility already has an Area Contract, negotiating the consolidated services from closing facilities with the existing supplier(s).

3. If the projected timeline will not allow implementing the approach listed in #1 above, negotiating service changes with the existing suppliers without consolidation may be necessary to protect the service. In cases where there is reduced service or new lanes are created and more than one supplier is impacted, a limited competition may be held between those suppliers that are serving the originating or destination facilities.

Work during USPS defined core business hours. Core business hours are from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm, which includes an eight-hour work day, plus a minimum half-hour lunch break. Work hours are designated by the Surface CMC Manager, or designee. Supplier will follow USPS time and attendance policies for inclement weather or in the event of an emergency. Only hours directly worked may be charged to the USPS. Supplier will adhere to USPS dress code policy.

What will I get to do?

• Review service requirements to implement contractual activities that meet customer needs for services, supplies, and equipment.

• Plan, develop, and establish purchasing strategies for major procurements; participate in the evaluation process of supplier proposals, and conduct contract negotiations.

• Perform market and industry trend analysis to improve the supplier base and to determine availability of services, equipment, and producers; perform market surveys to determine availability of products and producers; monitor industry factors related to the purchase of items or services, such as strikes, shortages, and inflation; analyze market trends and the impact of socioeconomic consideration; review industry publications and meet with industry representatives to obtain information.

• Conduct supplier value and cost analysis to address logistics, pricing, leverage, competitive advantage, and other industry factors related to transportation purchasing.

• Manage a variety of contractual activities to include planning, determining resource requirements, developing timelines, risk analysis, monitoring progress, and provide technical guidance and feedback.

• Develop and prepare complex solicitations, contract terms, and conditions; including special language, clauses, and contract type.

• Interact with USPS information technology systems to conduct research and process contract activities.

• Assist in drafting, reviewing, and modifying contracts and agreements in collaboration with the Contracts Manager and government professionals.

• Maintain and update a comprehensive database of all contracts, ensuring accurate filing and easy access.

• Monitor contract timelines, alerting relevant stakeholders of key dates like renewals, expirations, and other significant milestones.

• Coordinate across departments, including legal, finance, and operations, to collect necessary information and secure approvals.

• Generate regular reports on contract statuses, compliance, and performance metrics for senior management.

• Address and help resolve contract-related queries and issues, serving as a liaison between internal teams and external parties.

• Conduct administrative tasks such as document scanning, filing, and record-keeping.

What qualifications do I need?

• Bachelor's degree and 8 years experience in contract administration or related discipline

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and familiarity with contract management software.

• Excellent organizational skills with an acute attention to detail.

• Strong communication abilities, both written and verbal.

• Capable of working independently and collaboratively within a team environment.

• Contracting experience, particularly in the transportation commodity

• Possess or ability to obtain a Public Trust Clearance.

What additional characteristics will help me thrive?

• Familiarity with the USPS Supplying Principles and Practices and Transportation Contract Support System (TCSS) is a plus, however not required.

• Knowledge of legal terminology and contract law is a plus.

• Associate or Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Legal Studies, or related field preferred.

What We Offer ?

Our mission is to provide comprehensive and competitive pay, benefits, services, and programs to eligible employees and their dependents that:?

• Ensure optimal health and productivity of our employees??

• Support employee retention and attraction?

• Provide work/life balance to ensure our employees succeed inside and outside of the office?

Compensation

$86,897.81 - $143,386.60

The pay range for this job is determined by various factors, including but not necessarily limited to location, responsibilities of the job, and alignment with market data. When determining a salary for this role, the following factors may be taken into consideration - contract-specific affordability, education, knowledge, skills, competencies and experience. The estimate displayed represents the salary range for this position and is just one component of Cognosante's total compensation package for employees. It is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific employee.

Cognosante will not provide sponsorship for employment-based immigration benefits for this position.

What We Promise ?

Cognosante employees are inspired by our bold mission to improve lives. To achieve this mission, we put our people first. No matter where?they're located around the nation, our innovative workplaces enable individuals to apply their?skills and experience to work toward a greater good.

We foster a winning culture of solution?creators built on innovation, collaboration, flexibility, and work-life balance.?And we invest in the?next generation of diverse talent to foster an inclusive, progressive, adaptable workplace?that prioritizes advancement for all. As an affirmative action employer, we are committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status, or any other protected class.??

Your safety during your job search is important. Recruiting communications will always be sent through one of the following corporate domain emails (@~~~ or @~~~).

We will never send communications through any other domain, including @~~~, @~~~ or @~~~). We will never request payment from you, nor will we send payment to you, prior to your start date. If you have been asked to send or receive any payment, or if you have any doubt about whether you have been contacted by a Cognosante employee, please contact us at ~~~

At Cognosante, we innovate with purpose. Each day, we create meaningful change by delivering mission-driven solutions for?healthcare, civilian, and defense government agencies. When you work at Cognosante, you'll apply your talents and grow your career with an organization that believes in the?missions of our customers - and the right every employee has to an inclusive, flexible, and collaborative workplace. Work with us, and you'll be challenged and supported-and have the platform to?elevate your career to wherever your professional aspirations lead.?

Get to know Cognosante employees

• We're driven by our customers' missions, and measure success by how we improve lives.

• We believe innovative solutions start with an innovative culture.

• We believe customer understanding is the key to creating innovative solutions.

• We know we are stronger together, and we value the diversity of our people.

• We believe growth should be a core job benefit.

Like many other companies, Cognosante has been targeted by scammers making fraudulent job offers to potential candidates. As shared on our company website (~~~/) , communications from Cognosante recruiting are only sent with an official corporate domain email (e.g., @~~~) and not a commercial domain e-mail (e.g., @~~~ or @~~~)). We will never request payment from an applicant, nor will we send payment to an applicant, prior to that individual's start date.

We want to recommend a couple of ways that you can report this incident and take action against these scams:

-The FBI: File a Complaint (~~~)

-The FTC: Report Fraud (~~~/#/)

Also, if you're not sure where to report the scam, you can find some guidance here: Where to report scams | USAGov (~~~) .