Job Details
Job title: Senior Procurement Consultant
Salary/Grade: SMG 2 (£49,074 - £53,751)
Service: Finance (Procurement)
Reports to: Head of Finance
Job purpose
- To participate in the running of the Procurement Hub and to provide professional input to the procurement service, corporate planning and decision-making processes.
- To enable the Council and Hub members to meet their objectives and priorities in the most efficient and effective way within all relevant legislation, Policies, Procedures, Practice guidelines and its Constitution.
- Responsible for complying with the Service Level Agreements as agreed with Hub Members
Principal Accountabilities
- To assist in the Management of the Procurement function, providing a cost effective service to the Hub members.
- Responsible for letting and managing contracts for the supply of works, goods and services.
- To provide comprehensive Procurement advice and expertise, across the Hub membership in all aspects of Procurement and to other Agencies as required.
- To set up National frameworks for the utilisation by all relevant local / national bodies.
- To take a lead role in the contract management of the Councils national framework arrangements
- To Manage the Supply chain, embracing issues such as environmental friendliness / sustainability, ethics, quality, new product / service innovation, and product / service rationalisation.
- To ensure that all services comply with the Contract Procedure rules within the Hub Members’ Constitution in relation to Procurement.
- To monitor expenditure through Frameworks managed on behalf of the Essex procurement hub and to forecast income in terms of retrospective rebates.
- To promote the Councils Procurement policies and strategy to all Hub members, and to other Authorities and Agencies, Voluntary groups, Suppliers and to Citizens of the County and beyond.
- To identify areas of common spend within the Hub, and across Essex in general, and where no existing suitable arrangements are in place, to instigate the creation of such arrangements.
- To advise Hub members, as appropriate on;
- All Procurement related matters in relation to Commissioning, Tendering, Market testing and out-sourcing
- To fully explore, and utilise where appropriate, any existing supply arrangements set up by Consortia, and to explore all possibilities of partnerships / shared services in the Procurement function and in all services supplied by Hub members.
- To undertake any duties allocated by the Procurement Manager from time to time.
Corporate Accountabilities
- To take responsibility for maintaining own health and attendance.
- To support, contribute and comply with quality and governance procedures as directed by management.
- To apply and actively promote the principles of the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy in all areas of employment and service delivery.
- Any other associated duties detailed by Head of Service or his representative.
- To advise Line manager if, at any time, the above duties and responsibilities cannot be performed.
- Any other duties as required to support the business, including maintaining business
continuity and during civil emergencies. - To apply and actively promote the principles of the Council’s Safeguarding Procedure in all areas of employment and service delivery.
Skills, Knowledge and Experience
(Tested at application and interview stage)
Experience and Qualifications
- Relevant professional procurement qualification (Level 6 MCIPS or equivalent)
- Experience of working in a public procurement environment
- Experience of Contract & Supplier Relationship Management
- Full UK Driving Licence (Desirable)
Skills and Knowledge
- Knowledge of latest Procurement developments / innovation within the profession.
- Excellent interpersonal skills & strong experience of stakeholder management
- Extensive knowledge of EU Procurement directives
- Knowledge & understanding of Contract law
- Awareness of United Kingdom / European Union legislation in relation to Procurement issues and Contracting
- Excellent communication skills both written & verbal
- Knowledge and a good understanding of Microsoft Office
Competencies
We test this at interview stage
Communicating Effectively
Demonstrate the effective use of the range of communication methods available: written, spoken, electronic, and use these methods in appropriate ways suitable to the context and situation
- listen well and seek clarification and understanding, avoiding jumping to conclusions or making assumptions
- ensure that communications are open, transparent, appropriate and respectful, and that responses are treated in an objective and constructive manner
- ensure that communications of all types with external contacts uphold the values and reputation of BDC
Performing efficiently and effectively
Promote good performance, developing clear, structured and efficient ways of managing workload and delivering results. Staff should challenge themselves and others to perform well, and to adhere to the Council’s performance management systems
- clearly set out the performance targets for your departments
- focus on results and the achievement of targets and objectives
- take appropriate action on poor service or people performance
Using and managing resources efficiently and effectively
Demonstrate the effective and efficient use of the full range of resources used in and by the Council including time, finances, staffing, equipment, information, materials, buildings, etc.
- set consistent, transparent, fair and ethical standards for the use of resources as an example to your department
- demonstrate and encourage creative and innovative development and use of resources for the Council to maximise efficiencies while maintaining the effectiveness of services
- seek value for money, and maximise opportunities for external funding
Engaging with the customer
Understand the needs and requirements of their customers, to provide excellent customer service, and to involve customers in the improvement of services
- challenge services to consider innovative ways of involving the customer in the design and delivery of services
- be a role model of excellent internal and external customer service
- maintain a culture of continuous improvement
Working well together
Actively foster good working relationships with colleagues and customers in order to collectively achieve the Council’s direction and ambition
- establish a climate of working together within your departments, and across boundaries, ensuring “joined-up thinking”
- encourage and demonstrate cross-boundary working and challenge “silo-thinking”
- co-operate and work well with colleagues at all levels of the organisation seeking collective responsibility for the achievement of goals
Managers and Leaders Competencies
Providing Leadership
Establish and maintain personal credibility as a modern leader in local government
- lead by positive example and be visible in doing so enable the achievement of strategic goals across the organisation, with a joined up, and collective approach, being aware of impacts of own targets, objectives and projects on the rest of the organisation have presence, influence and impact at a high level
Other conditions
- This position does not require a DBS check
- This position does entitle you to a lease car
- This position is not politically restricted
Values and Behaviours
- P - Perform well and get things done
- R - Respect and value customers and staff
- I - Improve and learn
- D - Deliver that bit extra
- E - Efficient and effective
Following a number of workshops, which were attended by more than 100 members of staff from across all levels of the organisation, we have now developed a series of behaviours to support our PRIDE values.
Moving forward these will be implemented across the Council and will be used as part of performance reviews, induction procedures, the apprenticeship programme, and all training interventions.
P, Perform well and get things done
| We will: | We will not: |
| Take responsibility for our actions and be accountable | Be negative or disruptive |
| Be positive, show enthusiasm and energy - it's infectious | Be resistant to change |
| Be flexible and adaptable to get things done | Put things off or ignore colleagues and customers |
| Work well together and be committed to what we do | Fail to manage our own performance |
R, Respect and value customers and staff
| We will: | We will not: |
| Be open and honest | Be unhelpful or say 'It's not my job' |
| Listen and focus on customers' needs | Say one thing and do another |
| Be open-minded and treat everyone fairly | Disregard the views and opinions of others |
|
Support or tolerate a blame culture |
I, Improve and learn
| We will: | We will not: |
| Create opportunities for everyone to improve | Cover up our mistakes |
| Take ownership for our own development | Keep getting the same things wrong |
| Share lessons learnt and help colleagues | Ignore customer feedback |
| Welcome questions and challenges to help us do things better |
D, Deliver that bit extra
| We will: | We will not: |
| Focus on solutions, not problems | Stick to methods that don't work or are outdated |
| Be open to new ideas and aim high | Make promises we can't keep |
| Have a 'can do' attitude | Work in isolation and only care about our own jobs |
| Be proud of what we do |
E, Efficient and effective
| We will: | We will not: |
| Make the best use of the resources available to us | Waste resources |
| Communicate clearly with the right people at the right time | Be unhelpful or rude |
| Respond promptly to customers' requests | Be closed-minded and say 'I've always done it this way' |
| Seek new ways of working to do our jobs more effectively | Undermine change or improvements |
| Be open to new ideas, challenge the status quo and create novel solutions | Fail to support the Council's move towards a more commercial culture |
| Recognise and act upon commercial or efficiency opportunities | Delay responses unnecessarily to colleagues or residents |
| Strive to support new initiatives and a more commercial culture |