Organisation: ACT Government – Shared Services Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Job Title: Contract and License Coordinator
Location: Canberra
Demonstrated experience in administrating contracts with multiple vendors concurrently in
accordance with ACT Government policy.
As a Purchase Officer with Alstom Power, I gained seven years of experience in administrating contracts with multiple vendors. Alstom Power designs, manufactures and supplies a comprehensive range of state-of-the-art products and systems for the power generation and industrial markets. With some of the biggest, most complex infrastructure projects, a workforce in the tens of thousands, and agreements and obligations across the world, the successful management of vendor contracts was vital to the company’s success.
My role with Alstom Power involved administrating contracts for the purchase of equipment and materials that were required to build power plants. To fulfil these duties I routinely applied established company policies and procedures to select multiple vendors in order to negotiate contracts that met with the project quality, cost and delivery requirements.
An example of this was when Alstom Power was awarded a turnkey Engineer, Procure and Construct (EPC) contract to provide a new power plant for Prony Energies in New Caledonia. My responsibilities included liaising with the project manager, technical staff and site manager to peruse the plans and to specify delivery times in order to compose the materials and equipment list. From there I would refer to Alstom Power’s contact database and choose four to five vendors that met the criteria for the list. I then prepared a quotation package to be sent to the vendors which included contractual terms and conditions as well as the technical specifications of the equipment and materials required for the job of building the power plant. Upon return of the packages I would collate the information, assess it in regards to the budget, make recommendations on which vendor to select and complete an evaluation sheet which was then presented to the project manager for approval. Once the project manager had made a decision it was then my job to prepare the Materials and Equipment Contracts and deliver them to the vendors that Alstom Power were to use and follow them up in a timely fashion.
By ensuring continual negotiation with the vendors, I was able to reduce costs for this project and ensure that each Equipment and Materials Contract met with budgeting and time requirements. Maintaining a positive rapport with the vendors also meant they were more likely to meet their contractual obligations.
In my current role as a Finance Officer with the Department of Health, an aspect of my responsibilities is to issue corporate credit cards and to monitor over 300 staff member’s expenditure in accordance with the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997. By doing this I can ensure the efficient, effective, economical and ethical use of Commonwealth allocated resources that is consistent with the policies of the Commonwealth. This demonstrates that I have the ability to acquire the knowledge of ACT Government policy to successfully administrate contracts with multiple vendors.
Demonstrated sound written and verbal communication and negotiation skills and the ability to
influence stakeholders.
I possess well developed communication skills that I have gained throughout my working career. In particular, my current position with Department of Health requires me to demonstrate sound written and verbal communication and negotiation skills and the ability to influence stakeholders while working to recover debts for the department.
Proven experience of this can be seen in my work to recover salaries for the department that have been overpaid to past or current employees or to contractors. This process involves composing and sending out a final notice to the client to advise that payment is required. If no contact is made by the client within five days I am then to make a call to the client to discuss this outstanding payment and negotiate a payment plan with them if necessary. It is important that I maintain communication with the client through the duration of their payment plans to ensure payments are consistently made. In some instances the payments may stop due to the client being under financial stress and I must use my discretion to take the matter to the Financial Director to decide whether to waive the remaining payments or take legal action.
As a result of this high level of communication with clients and negotiating of payment plans I am able to increase the recovery rate of departmental funds whilst working to reduce any financial stress the client may be under.
My role as Purchase Officer with Alstom Power involved liaising on a daily basis with multiple vendors, project managers, technical staff and site managers. Most of the communication was by telephone, email and face to face meetings. As I was the first point of contact for the vendors, it was very important that I was professional and courteous in my interactions.
One of my key responsibilities was to contact multiple vendors in regards to equipment and material supplies for Alstom Power. I would discuss with them the job description and brief them on all aspects of the job to ensure they understood our requirements. It was then up to me to negotiate the best prices with them that met with company budgeting constraints and to secure the contract with them.
This process required well developed communication skills to ensure that I acquired an accurate understanding of each job and clearly communicated this to the vendors. As a result of my ability to understand and influence company stakeholders and develop effective business relationships with them, Alstom Power was able to secure equipment and material supply contracts that met with budget targets.
Finally, I have strong written skills with the ability to convey information in a concise and clear manner. This is evidenced by my preparation of correspondence to a diverse range of clients and stakeholders in all of my employment positions and submission of reports to senior members of staff.
Demonstrated problem solving, analytical and research skills and experience in developing innovative solutions.
For four years I worked as an Accounts Receivable Officer with Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) where I developed problem solving, analytical and research skills and gained experience in developing innovative solutions. The TGA is a division of Department of Health that is required to recover costs for all activities that fall within the scope of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, including the TGA’s public health responsibilities.
My key responsibilities here involved the creation, review, file maintenance and receipting of TGA Debtor Invoices, follow up and investigating debts, assisting with processing data and preparation of reports, communicating with internal and external stakeholders to provide advice on matters relating to debt management, maintaining records in relation to Accounts Receivable documents and assisting in the day to day operations of the Accounts Receivable team.
At each end of financial year in July the Accounts Receivable team would send invoices out to customers and it was my task to audit and monitor the payments. On numerous occasions I would find that customer’s payments would get lost in transition and I would have to manually sort through their paperwork and corresponding computer entries to try and locate the funds. If there were funds that could not be matched up I would then have to manually raise an adjustment note.
In order to make this tedious task more time efficient I worked collaboratively with the IT team to facilitate the implementation of a tracking spreadsheet that I created to try and minimise discrepancies with the customer payments. As a result of this we were able to reconcile each account and reduce the need to do manual paperwork.
The Accounts Receivable team that I am part of within the Department of Health runs end of month financial reconciliations that had often picked up on excess funds that were not assigned to a Customer. In order to rectify these issues I was required to use my problem solving and research skills to find who the money belonged to and what the payment was in relation to. This process involved checking each bank statement against current invoices, contacting financial institutions to determine who had made a payment and communicating with the Clients to apply the payment to their correct account.
This was often a lengthy and frustrating process for both the department and the Client. I identified that the issue was that the Clients had not been correctly informed of the payment process and what was expected of them. I developed an innovative solution for this by liaising with the Receipting Department to get them to draft and send a letter to all Clients clearly specifying the process and information required for making payments to the department. This is now a standardised document that is given to all new Clients.
Demonstrated ability to work independently or as a member of a team including the ability to consistently display commitment in high quality customer service principles, practices and attributes.
I have a proven record in developing mutual relationships with internal and external clients, sustaining cooperative partnerships to deliver financial outcomes and ensuring the continuing engagement of stakeholders in challenging circumstances.
Whilst employed with Therapeutic Goods Administration I worked collaboratively within the Accounts Receivable team to identify stakeholders who met the criteria to receive an annual discount on their accounts. As a result 30% of revenue was returned each year ensuing in satisfied stakeholders who were guaranteed to bring back their return business.
Often a great deal of the smaller stakeholders would not be aware of this discount and would automatically pay their accounts. To provide a high level of quality customer service I would work independently to ensure that I contacted each of these companies to inform them of the discount terms and process their account accordingly. Presenting this information and maintaining ongoing and honest communication assisted in building a strong business relationship with even the smallest of stakeholders.
Another position with primary responsibilities that demand the provision of excellent customer service is my current position with Department of Health. Upon commencing this position I was allocated the job of debt recovery for the department which had not been carried out for approximately six years. This role requires me to contact customers to find out why they have not paid their accounts. Often this can prove to be quite challenging considering some of them had not been contacted for a number of years.
It is important that I consistently built a positive rapport with the customers in order to discuss the recovery of payments from them. This includes working with them to understand their business with the department, their culture, and their drivers in order to meet and anticipate their needs, and to provide a flexible payment plan if necessary.
By providing high quality customer service I am able to recover and reconcile over 80% of customer accounts thus resulting in raised revenue for the department.
Knowledge of or the ability to understand the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework.
I have recently completed an online ITIL Foundation Course through The Knowledge Academy which consisted of presentations, exercises and discussions about ITIL Foundation best practice framework. This course included participating in graded lesson level assessments, practice mock exams and a final exam to ensure my overall understanding of the ITIL framework.
As a result of completing this course, I have gained comprehensive knowledge and understanding of;
- Service Management as a Practice
- Service Strategy: overall business aims and expectations
- Service Design: developing a solution to meet the needs of the business
- Service Transition: implementing service designs so that service operations can manage the services
- Service Operation: day to day, business as usual activities
- Continual Service Improvement: how to improve the cost effectiveness and efficiency of service provision
- My ability gain the understanding of company software applications has been demonstrated in my current role at Department of Health. Prior to commencing my employment with the department I had no prior knowledge or experience in using the SAP program as used by the Accounts Department. While I have completed the basic training offered in this area, I occasionally find myself lacking in knowledge for certain aspects of the program. In order to overcome this I have used my initiative to further research and obtain information that enables me to use the SAP program more efficiently and effectively.
Commitment to modelling and demonstrating the ACT Government Code of Conduct and leading safe work practices in accordance with the Directorate’s Work Health and safety policies, procedures and responsibilities.
My current workplace at Department of Health has a clear, defined and well-constructed WH&S policy framework. Each employee is responsible for the safety and wellbeing of themselves and others. All work is performed in accordance with the requirements of the health and safety policy and procedures.
I have undertaken regular training on all facets of safe work practices including manual handling, correct workstation set-up, risk and hazard identification and the reporting of all accidents or incidents. I understand the importance of having my workstation set up ergonomically in order to optimise performance and productivity.
The Department of Health conducts regular WH&S audits. All team members share the responsibility of this audit. Any risks or hazards are identified and appropriately dealt with. We currently have a hearing impaired staff member working in our department and it is part of my responsibility as a team member to assist with looking out for him in the duration of an alarm drill. In one instance I identified that there was no visual alarm sign in the staff bathroom. This would pose a potential risk to this staff member in the case of an alarm. I arranged for a meeting with the Workplace Health and Safety consultant to advise on this issue. As a result of this I am hoping that a visual alarm system will be installed in the bathroom to avert any potential risks in the future.
I appreciate that The ACT Public Service (ACTPS) Employee Values and Signature Behaviours define who they are as an organisation and that all Employees should carry out behaviour which reflects respect, integrity, collaboration and innovation. I demonstrate this by taking pride in my work, valuing the contribution of others and relating to all stakeholders in a fair, decent and professional manner. I also take responsibility and accountability for my decisions and actions, work openly and share information to reach shared goals and look for ways to continuously improve my services and skills.
