Purchasing Agent

POSITION SUMMARY

Under the general direction of the Area Manager, Materiels Management, the incumbent is involved in all aspects of procurement in a health care setting.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Overview:

• Receives and reviews non-stock requisitions, checks for established standards and contractual agreements, negotiates price (for non-contracted items), negotiates delivery terms and issues purchase orders.
• Completes department requisitions and checks for accuracy, verifies discrepancies.
• Checks the specifications of requested materials in order to standardize where possible and buy materials which are the best value for the intended purpose.
• Prepares reviews and issues requests for quotations, ensuring that requirements and evaluation criteria are clearly identified.
• Achieve the best price possible from vendors on cost of product , delivery terms, etc. and to gather information on new products and technology.
• Expedites orders, ensuring the timely arrival of goods and/or services and promptly relaying any late deliveries and/or substitutions to the user departments.
• Reviews any discrepancies in vendor invoices and takes corrective action.
• Claims for damaged goods, short shipments or other discrepancies; preparing documentation, negotiating freight and restocking charges and ensuring that any vendor indebtedness has been settled.
• Charges any costs incurred by the Region as a result of a vendor’s failure to meet contractual obligations back to the vendor.
• Monitors vendor performance pertinent to factors such as quality, lead time, delivery performance, etc.
• Prepares, records and updates computer files with all contracting information. Works in collobaration with the vendors to establish volumes and cross-referencing.
• Makes recommendations to the Area Manager on systems development to procure materials in the most cost effective and efficient manner.
• Reviews inventory requirements and makes recommendations to the Area Manager in order to make decisions regarding replenishment of inventory order points and recommendations for the addition or removal of items to inventory.
• Develops alternate sources of both critical and single sourced items to ensure ongoing supply.
• Organizes workload and work methods in order to resolve priority items while maintaining overall effectiveness.
• Develops a high level of expertise in assigned commodity areas.
• Other duties as assigned.