Vendor Contracts Administrator - IT VMO

What you can expect! 

Find joy in serving others with IEHP! We welcome you to join us in “healing and inspiring the human spirit” and to pivot from a “job” opportunity to an authentic experience!

The Vendor Contract Administrator (VCA) – IT VMO is responsible for managing the contract life cycle, which includes participating in selection of vendors, contract development and negotiation, changes, modifications, and enforcement of performance clauses, including incentives and remedies. The VCA acts as the key contact and subject-matter expert for all contract-related activities. This includes assisting with negotiating contract terms, conditions, modifications, incentives, and remedies, while working with key stakeholders to ensure that their requirements are met. Additionally, this position manages the contract execution process, resolving problems, mitigating delays, assisting with audits, mediating disputes, and escalating issues.

Commitment to Quality: The IEHP Team is committed to incorporate IEHP’s Quality Program goals including, but not limited to, HEDIS, CAHPS, and NCQA Accreditation.

Perks

IEHP is not only committed to healing and inspiring the human spirit of our Members; we also aim to match our Team Members with the same energy by providing prime benefits and more.

• CalPERS retirement
• 457(b) option with a contribution match
• Generous paid time off- vacation, holidays, sick
• State of the art fitness center on-site
• Medical Insurance with Dental and Vision
• Paid life insurance for employees with additional options
• Short-term, and long-term disability options
• Pet care insurance
• Flexible Spending Account – Health Care/Childcare
• Wellness programs that promote a healthy work-life balance
• Career advancement opportunities and professional development
• Competitive salary with annual merit increase
• Team bonus opportunities

1. Establish contract management objectives, procedures, templates, and workflow processes for vendor contracts and deliverable schedules. Maintain a contract management database that contains all executed contracts, as well as contracts that are under development but are not yet active. Moreover, track obligations, deliverables, and contract change notes. Manage and control access to documents as appropriate.
2. Develop contracts that clearly outline responsibilities, deliverables and costs that can be translated to effective performance and cost management.
3. Work with legal representatives to develop and insert appropriate legal protections in contracts, as warranted.
4. Work with all teams (security, compliance and tax, HR, accounts payable [AP], etc.) to ensure that vendors are performing in accordance with existing requirements and regulatory obligations.
5. Develop a knowledgebase of negotiating strategies, best practices, and negotiation personnel and teams. Make improvements to processes, procedures, workflow, and organizational structures for contract management.
6. Administer commercial and financial arrangements with vendors to include billing, invoicing, performance incentives and remedies, and internal chargebacks, where appropriate.
7. Work alongside procurement colleagues to assist with developing statements of work (SOWs) and understand any current requests for information (RFIs), requests for quotation (RFQs), and requests for proposal (RFPs) that are in the pipeline.
8. Work with vendors and key stakeholders to establish clear contract change control processes.
9. Perform any other duties as required to ensure Health Plan operations and department business needs are successful.

Education & Experience

• Minimum of four (4) years of relevant experience including negotiating and managing contract life cycles, with an emphasis on technology or IT service agreements
• Experience in managing large complex contracts in one or more IT categories, including hardware, software, service, and communication
• Experience working with all key departments (security, compliance, finance, tax, AP, legal and procurement)
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Psychology, Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or Finance from an accredited institution.
  • In lieu of the required Bachelor’s degree, a minimum of four (4) years of additional relevant work experience is required for the position.  This experience is in addition to the minimum years listed in the Experience Requirements above
  • The four (4) additional years of experience must be in a Purchasing Department or Equivalent Agency, in which primary responsibilities included contract negotiation, development of contract standards and procedures, and development of multi-year or major high value agreements with an emphasis on technology or IT service agreements.

Key Qualifications

• Thorough knowledge and understanding of:
  • Procurement and vendor management practices
  • How to determine contractual and financial exposure and negotiate contracts
  • Contracting trends, licensing models, and traditional and emerging contract and vendor performance models
  • Market knowledge of the category of IT vendor for which the contract manager is responsible
  • Contract risks and to work with other parts of the organization in crafting tactics and strategies for risk mitigation
  • Best practices for IT contract negotiation tactics and strategies
  • How to structure bids, evaluate bids against a broad set of evaluation criteria, and provide recommendations for vendor selection
  • Government and industry regulations that will influence contracting approach and vendor behavior (for example, FINRA for financial institutions, and U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] for healthcare organizations)
  • Knowledge of IT concepts and systems
• Proven ability to:
  • Bridge communications between the IT and business organizations, with a focus on developing an understanding of how to structure contracts to deliver against business needs and goals
  • Protect the enterprise's interests, comply with applicable regulations, and mitigate risks, assembling the appropriate set of clauses and schedules, without hampering delivery methodologies and processes
  • Leverage interpersonal relationship strengths to manage disputes and drive change in vendor behaviors, and create a working environment where vendors receive incentives to change behaviors and meet performance goals
  • Adopt an analytical approach to problem solving, with a focus on managing tasks with appropriate urgency in a results-oriented team environment
  • Manage multiple complex contracting initiatives across organizational boundaries
  • Make decisions efficiently that add value and are achieved in what can be tight time frames
  • Communicate with clarity to internal and external stakeholders and with vendors
  • Use technology and tools effectively in managing the contract life cycle
  • Create a customer-focused, service-based approach to working with stakeholders and vendors that emphasizes the creation and cultivation of cross-organizational relationships
  • Analyze and evaluate change to drive continuous improvement in the process of contract management and incorporate contract management trends
  • Participate in the development of the asset management mission, goals, and objectives
  • Communicate with IT users, legal and procurement staff, and business leaders to craft contracts that align complex needs with contractual requirements to achieve business outcomes
• Customer-focused approach to delivering contract management services to internal customers
• Strong relationship and interpersonal skills to be applied in working with vendors across the entire contract life cycle
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Strong project and process management skills, with the ability to handle multiple vendors and multiple contracts, as well as a wide range of tasks
• ITIL experience desired, but not required
• Preferred Relevant Professional Certifications include, but are not limited to: Certified Professional Contract Manager™, Certified Public Procurement Officer, NIGP Specialization Certificate: Technology Procurement, or NIGP Certified Procurement Professional

Start your journey towards a thriving future with IEHP and apply TODAY!

This position is on a hybrid work schedule. (Mon & Fri - remote, Tues - Thurs onsite in Rancho Cucamonga, CA)