Procurement Officer – S&A – Fixed term Contract job with Essex County Council

Procurement Officer – Strategy and Assurance

Fixed Term, Full Time

Up to £29,058 PA

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date: 7th January 2021

Please note that this position is offered as a 12 month Fixed Term Contract.

This position will initially, in line with current government guidance be based from home, with an expectation of being home based for the foreseeable future. However, if / when government guidelines change the role may then revert to being office based, which we would foresee as being a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 2 days out of 5 being Chelmsford based and we would welcome applications from candidates outside of a traditional commutable distance of Chelmsford.

Procurement Strategy & Assurance Team

The Procurement Strategy and Assurance Team is responsible for procurement best practice in ECC, working in a dynamic project-based environment, ensuring that best in class standards are developed and implemented.

A key member of the team, with an understanding of Procurement, good attention to detail and analytical skills, you will provide valuable support for the team, with the initial focus being the high-profile Tail Spend Project.

This project is expected to drive a significant level of savings for ECC, by analysing and interrogating spend managed outside of the Procurement Function. You will be working with stakeholders from across the Authority, and external consultants, to ensure that savings opportunities are identified, investigated and realised.

Job Purpose

The Procurement Officer will support the Procurement function in various aspects, including managing and fielding supplier queries, supporting market engagement events, providing contract administration, as well as working on lower level sourcing and contract management activities. The Procurement Officer will also support the delivery of research and analysis which informs category plans and potential improvements to the management of suppliers and markets. The individual will seek opportunities to remove waste, implement technologies and automate processes within existing contractual restrictions.

The role requires good analytical skills to explore alternative solutions which meet customer requirements.

Service/Functional Accountabilities

• Manage responses to supplier queries, co-ordinating the support to market engagement events and providing contract administration.
• Lead on the delivery and development of contract and supplier amendment and update processes including, contract novations, price uplifts and on boarding new suppliers to ECC, liaising with internal and external stakeholders as appropriate.
• Manage contracts to ensure that performance standards are achieved and any contractual, commercial or market risks are identified and appropriate mitigations put in place.
• Deal effectively with supplier correspondence, ensuring that messaging is conducted in a fair, transparent and auditable manner.
• Lead the delivery of low risk sourcing processes, ensuring compliance with the Authority’s Procurement Policy and Procedures.
• Lead the development, planning and delivery of improvement projects, ensuring effective stakeholder management and compliance with existing contractual requirements.
• Adopt a continuous improvement approach to systems and processes to support the development of best practice for wider department benefit.
• Plan and implement a risk-based programme of contract compliance audits in conjunction with specialist areas of the organisation such as Internal Audit, Corporate Health and Safety, Corporate Risk and Information Governance.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Educated to ‘A’ Level standard and/or qualification by experience of working in a commercial environment.
• Experience of running low level tenders with a working knowledge of public sector procurement law and experience of managing lower level contracts and monitoring and improving performance and mitigating risks
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Excel. Solid working knowledge of PowerPoint and MS Word.
• Appreciation of working in a political environment and an ability to understand and respond to different perspectives.
• Strong communication; verbal, written and presentation skills.
• Strong customer focus with a drive to provide a valued service.
• A positive attitude: a ‘can do’ approach, good work ethic and willingness to learn
• Interest in pursuing a career in procurement and either studying for or wishing to study for CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply) accreditation.