State of Maryland

A Procurement Apprentice III is an apprenticeship level of professional procurement work in the Office of State Procurement at the Department of General Services. Employees in this classification serve in an apprenticeship program and receive on-the-job training in how to understand State procurement rules and regulations and comprehension of the Maryland Procurement Manual. This position will be a full or part-time student in an academic training program approved for the apprenticeship working to complete an associate’s degree at a program-participating Maryland community college, with a curriculum track of Business Administration. Employees in this classification do not supervise other positions.

Employees in this classification receive close supervision from a Procurement Officer and an approved Apprenticeship Supervisor. The work of employees located at the central procurement authority may require travel throughout Maryland to learn the processes and procedures of on-site procurement audits, training, monitoring, and compliance reviews at State agencies.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology. The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The DGS Procurement Officer Apprentice I, DGS Procurement Officer Apprentice II, and DGS Procurement Officer Apprentice III are differentiated by the level of progression through the apprenticeship standards. The DGS Procurement Officer Apprentice I is responsible for developing a foundational understanding of State procurement rules and regulations and comprehension of the Maryland Procurement Manual under close supervision. The DGS Procurement Officer Apprentice II is responsible for completion of the State’s Certified Maryland Procurement Association (CMPA) program and a Contract Management training course provided by the Maryland State Department of Transportation (MDOT) under close supervision. The DGS Procurement Officer Apprentice III is responsible for completion of the State’s Certified Maryland Procurement Officer (CMPO) program.

Participates in State procurement training programs, learning modules, and curriculum developed by the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO);

Learns the fundamentals of developing contract specifications including performance and acceptance standards, payment terms, contract management elements, contract modifications, contract renewals and advertisement requirements in accordance with State procurement procedures, laws, and regulations for the procurement of all necessary services, supplies, equipment, real estate, construction, indefinite quantity contracts, facilities maintenance, and commodities;

Learns the fundamentals of determining the basis for contract awards and evaluation criteria;

Learns the fundamentals of conducting pre-bid/pre-proposal conferences, site inspections, explains procurement requirements, establishes procurement procedures, and schedules, participates in, and conducts offerors’ discussions and contract negotiations;

Learns the fundamentals of examining bid proposals to determine issues of responsiveness and responsibility and need for additional information;

Learns the fundamentals of conducting bid openings for competitive procurements to determine whether offerors are qualified to be selected for award, and may recommend proposals for awards;

Learns the fundamentals of managing the advertisement of procurement opportunities, distributes specifications to vendors, conducts vendor conferences, receives and secures bids or proposals, and oversees the evaluation process and contract award;

Learns the fundamentals of assisting with or conducting bidder debriefings;

Learns the fundamentals of negotiating the most favorable prices, terms and conditions for noncompetitive sole source and emergency procurements;

Learns the fundamentals of researching materials and provides testimony regarding Board of Public Works items, and prepares documents for BPW contract approval;

Learns the fundamentals of preparing minutes of pre-bid/pre-proposal conferences, addenda to Requests for Proposals (RFP)/Invitation for Bids (IFB) and answers written questions from potential bidders and offerors;

Learns the fundamentals of assembling statistical and narrative data and prepares reports for use in evaluating State procurement activity and performance measurement;

Learns the fundamentals of providing testimony in bid protest disputes;

Learns the fundamentals of evaluating contractor’s performance against terms and conditions of contracts and recommends corrective actions, such as the application of damages, withholding of payment, or termination of contract;

Learns the fundamentals of conferring with Assistant Attorney General’s Office regarding bid irregularities, contract disputes, protests, vendor compliance or appeals, and Public Information Act requests;

Learns the fundamentals of verifying Certificates of Insurance, Bonds and references for compliance with contract requirements;

Learns the fundamentals of verifying Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) participation;

Learns the fundamentals of implementing new and revised fiscal policies, procedures, and standards to capture complex procurement costs;

Fulfills all Departmental training requirements;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of English, spelling, punctuation, grammar, and basic arithmetic;

Knowledge of basic computer proficiency;

Knowledge of business writing, including standard formatting for procurement related documents

Skills in effective communication for collaboration with teams and management staff;

Skill in reporting and understanding of reporting functions

Ability to learn and apply knowledge of procurement regulations and practices;

Ability to work in a team environment;

Ability to represent the Department at procurement and training events;

Ability to prepare and present reports.

Education: Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: Two years of experience as a DGS Procurement Officer Apprentice.

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System. All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions. Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is assigned to Bargaining Unit G, engineering, scientific and administrative professionals unit. As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining. Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

Employees in this classification are eligible to receive overtime compensation. An employee who works more than the normal workweek is entitled to be compensated for that overtime as provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 8-305.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series. NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance level in a classification series. In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class as defined in the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification, and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.