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Senior Procurement Manager

Employer
National Audit Office
Location
London (Central), London (Greater)
Salary
£52,982 to £63,579 per annum
Closing date
27 Jul 2022

View more

Specialist Area
Contracts, Procurement
Job Level
Manager, Specialist
Sector
Accountancy, Public Sector
Contract Type
Permanent
Hours
Full Time
CIPS Membership
CIPS member

Job Details

The Finance and Procurement Team provides a full range of finance and procurement services to the NAO. The wider Finance team consists of some 12 people and is organised into four main areas: the financial reporting team, financial management team, central procurement team and payroll team, all managed by the Head of Finance and Procurement and overseen by the Finance Director.

The Head of Procurement manages the Central Procurement Team which consists of 3 procurement specialists and a trainee. The Procurement team is responsible for providing high quality specialist procurement management and/or advice to NAO staff at all levels on all the NAO’s procurement activities and contracts, ensuring that all risks including non-compliance with current EU and UK law, government policy and best practice are fully understood. There is between £30 to 40 million of annual resource and capital expenditure which falls within the scope of procurement. These include professional services such as audit and legal services, digital services, human resources, training and development work, and other office and facilities related procurements. As the NAO is the independent auditor of government and comments on how procurement is managed in the wider public sector, it is important to ensure it practices what it preaches.

The Senior Procurement Manager is a new post and will have responsibility for coordinating and leading on the NAO’s strategically important and high value procurements. The role will include the delivery project management of complex procurement processes. This includes monitoring progress against milestones, identifying and maintaining risk logs and organising project team meetings to ensure all stakeholders in the process are kept up to date.

The Senior Procurement Manager will also be expected to support and advise contract managers on best practices in managing contracts and to assist the Head of Procurement in training contract managers across the NAO to develop contract management and commercial capability.

The Senior Procurement Manager will be expected to have prior and extensive expertise on OJEU/FTS procurement as well as excellent knowledge of using government frameworks including the Digital Market Place and Dynamic Purchasing Systems. They will be expected to draw on this range of experience to advise NAO management on the most appropriate procurement route to best meet the needs of the NAO, balancing the need for value for money with the need to achieve optimal outcomes. At times they may also provide technical support and assistance to the NAO’s audit and value for money teams who are reviewing wider procurement practices across the public sector.

Nationality Requirement:
• UK Nationals
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with (or eligible for) status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

Please note, we are not able to sponsor work visas. Please contact us at hrservicedesk@nao.org.uk should you have any questions on your nationality eligibility.

Responsibilities

Procurement
• Responsibility for coordinating and leading on NAO strategic and high value procurement projects including developing project plans, maintenance of RAID logs, defining resource commitment required from relevant teams and clarifying roles and responsibilities of members of the teams. Monitor and report progress against major milestones for each project.
• Develop and apply market intelligence and knowledge of NAO key purchasing categories in order to provide effective support for sourcing, planning, and the delivery of strategic procurement. Proactively identifying and analysing the impact of market changes on each category using the long-term procurement pipeline in liaison with stakeholders and key market suppliers.
• Apply professional judgement to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of procurement strategies and processes. This includes providing quality guidance on the end-to-end procurement process including reviewing and quality assuring business cases, specification, method statements, pricing schedules and evaluation methodology; highlighting any risks that may delay or hinder the procurement process; write tender evaluation/Reg 84 reports and debrief letters to unsuccessful suppliers, contract negotiation and any other activity pertaining to the procurement process.
• Manage procurement projects and contract management by planning and identifying relevant stakeholders and making contributions into discussions and decisions on service delivery options, business case development, market engagement, route to market, assessment of financial viability of suppliers, designing evaluation criteria etc.
• Develop and lead effective, collaborative working relationships with key stakeholders, such as the directors and contract managers of key buying areas such as Digital Services, Human Resources, Financial Audit and Facilities, to agree commercial approaches and deliver excellent commercial outcomes.
• Deliver business as usual procurement along with CPT colleagues where required.
• Contribute to the continuous development of standards and policies within the Procurement function as regulations and practices develop, change and evolve within the profession and raise awareness of effective procurement and contract management practice with internal stakeholders to achieve joint understanding of and commitment to best practices.
• Review any proposals for Single Tenders against good practice and NAO procurement policy and advising the Finance Director
• Identify and report legal and project risk issues to the Head of Procurement so that they can be resolved appropriately.

Contract Management
• Responsible for ensuring that contractual changes to terms, costs, and services due to changing business needs and priorities are properly documented and reflected in the contract management system.
• Provide ongoing contract management advice and support to contract managers in line with NAO contract management policies and standards including contract management processes and reporting in the Contract management system
• Support contract managers in the development and implementation of effective SLAs, KPIs and performance regimes and relationships with suppliers to foster an environment of good performance and continuous improvement.
• Proactively work with other team members to engage with contract managers to identify and implement continuous improvement opportunities to procedures, processes, and the contract management systems.
• Help deliver the Central Procurement Teams vision of increasing capability in procurement and contract management skills in the NAO. These will include supporting the Head of Procurement to develop and deliver training and support colleagues to understand and adhere to compliant processes as required.
• Build relationships, networks and look for further collaboration with other government departments as appropriate to ensure the NAO is abreast with changes and developments in the profession.

Team Management
• Responsible for managing a trainee, providing them with training, guidance and support to help them progress their career in the NAO.
• Hold regular one to one meetings to give feedback on performance
• Liaise with trainee’s performance coach during appraisals and work out training and development plans

Systems
• Contribute to and support continuous improvement projects to ensure processes and practices are in line with procurement legislation and contract management best practice.
• Collaborate with Finance and digital services colleagues to deliver systems and process improvements projects on the contract management systems and other systems used by buyers and contracts managers at the NAO.
• Adept in using e-sourcing portals to issue tenders, issue PINs, contract notices and contract award notices.

Relationships
 Reporting to: Head of Procurement
 Internal/External relationships: Finance Director; Head of Finance; any member of NAO staff with responsibilities for buying goods or services or managing contracts. This will also involve dealing with suppliers and Framework owners such as Crown Commercial Services.
 Budgetary Resources Managed: The Procurement Team ensures good procurement and contract management practices throughout the NAO and influences value for money on all Office external expenditure; the non-salary annual resource and capital budget is between £30 - £40 million.
 Staff Resources managed: Line management of one trainee.

Competencies / Experience
• Substantial experience in sourcing and procurement activities with an excellent understanding of public sector procurement procedures.
• Experience of leading and working within cross-functional teams to develop strategy and deliver sourcing and procurement activities.
• A track record of establishing high quality effective working relationships with stakeholders
• Strong technical knowledge of strategic procurement
• Able to perform, evaluate and draw conclusions from market and industry analyses
• Able to conduct market trend analysis and extrapolate results into evidence-based conclusions
• Able to formulate effective procurement strategies
• Strong technical knowledge of Supplier Chain Management principles and techniques
• Effective problem solving and decision-making capabilities
• Able to build credibility and rapport quickly and establish strong working relationships with stakeholders and suppliers.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively at all levels.
• Self-starter able to work autonomously.
• Flexible attitude to work and willingness to work across different types of contracts if required.
• Highly motivated, energetic and well organised. Able to work to deadlines in a pressurised environment.

Company

The National Audit Office (NAO) supports parliament to hold government to account and to improve public services.  We focus on driving long-term sustainable improvement in public service delivery and work with government and our stakeholders to deliver better performance.  In a nutshell, we help the nation spend wisely. 

Our Value for Money reports identify ways of improving public services and how public money is spent. Our reports are strongly evidence based, drawing on reliable data and rigorous analysis, and conveying strong messages to Parliament and governmen

 

Company info
Website
Telephone
0207 798 7227
Location
157 - 197 Buckingham Palace Road
London
London
SW1W 9SP
GB

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