Senior ERP Public Sector Selection Consultant - State/Local

Niche Talent Finders - Chicago, IL

Full-time - Senior

Chicago, IL

About the position

The Senior ERP Public Sector Selection Consultant is responsible for overseeing the entire procurement process for enterprise software and services in the public sector, specifically for state and local government clients. This role involves developing procurement strategies, facilitating vendor evaluations, and supporting contract negotiations to ensure a successful selection process that meets the client's needs. The consultant must possess strong organizational, technical writing, and communication skills to effectively lead clients through a structured solicitation and evaluation process.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop and execute procurement strategy.
• Charter the acquisition project, establishing project mission, goals, and objectives, documenting project governance, and developing project standards and procedures.
• Facilitate requirements gathering sessions with stakeholders for enterprise business and technical areas.
• Conduct high-level joint application design sessions with primary client stakeholders and formalize into design document.
• Serve as primary author of the comprehensive procurement documents for client procurement of software and/or services.
• Develop comprehensive statement of work for sample contract in procurement document.
• Draft presentation for and lead vendor pre-proposal briefing.
• Draft and coordinate responses to vendor questions during proposal period.
• Coordinate design and execution of vendor evaluation and vendor selection process.
• Document formal evaluation process for Evaluation Team.
• Facilitate, coordinate and manage vendor presentations during the evaluation process.
• Draft software demonstration scripts and vendor interview scripts.
• Provide expert insight and analysis as requested by the client.
• Support the client Evaluation Team during selection.
• Provide financial and solution alternative analysis for client during contract negotiations and contract execution.
• Organize and support the negotiation process with selected vendors.
• Recommend negotiation strategies based on expertise and experience.
• Finalize statement of work into a clear, actionable, accountable plan document.
• Draft and organize Best and Final Offers as needed.
• Develop and deliver Evaluation Process Summary and results to executive team.
• Manage assignments, milestones, schedules and monitor progress against the plan.
• Monitor that the project is effectively resourced and manages relationships with a wide range of groups.
• Check that all required project management documents are developed, completed and signed off at the appropriate review gate.
• Draft, review and recommend approval of deliverables.
• Facilitate resolution of issues with input from the Client Project Managers.
• Escalate unresolved issues to Project Directors and/or Steering Committee, in accordance with policies, as appropriate.
• Report project progress, budget and status to the appropriate levels and recommend corrective action when necessary.
• Identify, document and manage risks accordingly to include ensuring a risk mitigation plan is in place.

Requirements

• Ten years recent experience with solicitation and vendor evaluation on large, complex public sector IT projects, preferably ERP-related.
• Knowledge and experience in local government procurement strategies.
• Demonstrated experience in successfully leading all phases of a vendor evaluation and selection.
• Adept at learning the client business, creating internal partnerships, fostering collaboration and recommending strategies that fit the client culture and business model.
• Experience developing/creating public sector procurement documents (e.g., RFPs) and related acquisition documents for software products and services.
• Ability to craft evaluation materials including Evaluation Guide, demonstration scripts, interview scripts, scoring criteria, scoring analyses and others.
• Ability to provide high level expertise across a broad range of business and IT-related subject matter areas.
• Experience with procurement policies and procedures.
• Experience negotiating and managing software and services contracts.
• State, local or County experience (prefer five years at multiple client engagements).
• Strong presentation, verbal and written communication skills with the ability to articulate complex ideas in easy to understand business terms to all levels of management including Executive Leaders.
• Ability to effectively manage multiple competing priorities with high attention to detail.
• Possesses strong analytical skills and good listening skills with ability to effectively coach and mentor others; must be able to lead by influence.
• Exhibits effective team skills.
• Ability to make decisions at the project team level and properly escalate those decisions that cannot be resolved on a timely basis.

Nice-to-haves

• MBA or other advanced degree(s) desirable.