Contracts Specialist 3 - Advertisement & Award

About WSDOT

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is a multimodal agency with a global reputation for excellence. Our dedicated workforce plans, designs, builds, and operates an integrated transportation system that safely and efficiently moves people and goods throughout the state. In addition to maintaining over 20,000 lane miles of state highway and 4,100 bridges, WSDOT leads an award-winning Active Transportation Plan, manages the world's longest floating bridge, and operates the largest ferry system in the nation!

The Opportunity

WSDOT is currently seeking is currently seeking a Contracts Specialist 3 to serve as a unit supervisor in the Contract Ad & Award (CAA) Office in Tumwater, WA. In this role, you will help oversee the advertisement, bidding, and award of WSDOT highway, ferry terminal, and facility projects statewide—up to 250 contracts each year. You will exercise judgment on complex contracting matters, help develop and implement policies and procedures, and represent WSDOT with contractors, industry representatives, agency personnel, legal counsel, government officials, and the public. You will also supervise Contract Specialists and help ensure contracting practices are consistent, transparent, and compliant with applicable laws and rules.

What to Expect

Among the varied range of responsibilities held within this role, you will:

• Review contractor and project engineer comments and recommend bid opening schedules that support competition and account for addenda, competing contracts, project office feedback, and other factors. • Review contract addenda to determine impacts and time requirements for bid preparations or the bid opening delays. • Assists with public bid openings, receiving and publicly opening and reading bids in concert with all applicable laws and rules. • Review contract proposals and assist with determinations of responsiveness. • Review all bid that are determined to be non-responsive and assists with bid rejections. • Assist with bid protests, recommendations of merit, and carrying out appropriate follow up actions. • Assist with legal reviews through the Attorney General’s Office. • Recommend awarding contracts to the lowest responsive bidder, and assist with soliciting and reviewing justifications for award when low bid exceeds engineer’s estimates. • Develop and maintain manuals, forms, desk procedures, policies, and guidance related to contractor prequalification, advertisement, bidding, and award. • Support legislation and administrative rule and updates related to public works bidding and prequalification of contractors. • Develop processes for evaluating and tracking contractor performance, review performance reports, and assist with corrective action. • Review contractor financial information, work histories, applications, references, and other submittals to recommend prequalification levels, work classifications, maximum bidding capacities, and related adjustments. • Review plans, specifications, and estimates to recommend work classes or combinations of work classes for contractor prequalification.