Procurement and Commissioning Lead

SMARTresources are exclusively partnering with an Education charity who have embarked on their procurement journey.

Last year the charity undertook an extensive review of their procurement practices and functions. As a result of the findings, they have recently moved towards a centralised procurement model. With the award of a recent large government contract the charity has grown substantially over the last 3 months and the Head of Procurement and Commissioning is now looking to grow the departments headcount from 2 to 5.

We are recruiting for two Procurement and Commissioning Leads who will report directly to the Head of Procurement and Commissioning. We are also looking for a Procurement and Commissioning Partner who will report into the new Procurement and Commissioning Lead.

This is a greenfield opportunity with a spend of £25m and all three roles will be instrumental in providing high quality specialist procurement, commercial and contract expertise across the whole of the commissioning and procurement cycle

Various changes that will be taking place over the coming months include:

• Working with programme and performance teams to better understand contract requirements and support work requirements around this
• Development and roll out of new 'Toolkits', which will have templates, best practice guidance and procedures and which supports the Commissioning and Procurement Policy

Longer term strategy:

• Longer term the role will develop specific strategies that support work areas and help evidence value for money.
• The changes will help the charity to move its procurement approach forward. The team will continue to focus on supporting both delivery, compliance and value for money, as well as developing internal staff knowledge of contracts and procurement.

Key responsibilities of the Procurement and Commissioning Lead

• Influence the initial decision to commission / review medium / high risks contracts based on pre-market engagement and market sector intelligence to inform the appropriate commissioning approach (short and long term), where sometimes limited and complex markets operate
• Lead on any subsequent tendering and contract activity to help ensure legal compliance and value for money
• Ensure effective collaboration with all of the charities teams involved in this successful delivery, particularly with teams with regard to the design of programmes, performance / quality management and other internal experts that can provide key expertise in the delivery
• Promote and engage with internal stakeholders regarding the purposes, benefits and their responsibilities with regards to procurement and contracts on goods and services that support the charity operationally
• Build the commercial commissioning and procurement skills of staff across the charity, through team training sessions and individual 1-2-1's as necessary. Foster a culture of seeking to share and embed commissioning and procurement skills and knowledge, for long term organisational benefit.
• Review spends and develop specific goods and services procurement strategies to seek best value for money on IT, Marketing, HR and Governance contracts. Initiate pre-market engagement as appropriate to develop market sector intelligence to inform the strategy (particularly for IT).
• Review, negotiate and amend contractual documentation, mainly based on existing terms and conditions.
• Maintain and ensure compliance with legal procurement requirements (PCR 2015) and internal policies and procedures.
• Monitor and review spend of budget holders for compliance against procurement policy and resolve any issues with stakeholders.
• Support colleagues in Business Development in reviewing internally prepared bid submissions and advising on evaluation and technical structure of bid opportunities.
• Support with procurement (non-commissioning procurement) activity as requested by the line manager.
• Manage and develop a Commissioning and Procurement Partner

• Support the charity in its move towards ISO 20400 sustainable procurement

Skills and experience:

This role requires the post-holder to demonstrate capabilities, skills and knowledge in the following areas:

• Experience in strategic procurement category management techniques, including the ability to devise appropriate procurement strategies for unique requirements that occur for the commissioning of learning programmes
• To undertake defined commercial and contract's role in respect of the selection of suppliers, produce commercial documentation for invitation to tenders, participate in tender evaluations, negotiation meetings and agreement of contracts with winning bidders.
• Analyse, review and prepare the financial and contractual part of proposals, identifying commercial and contractual conditions favourable for the charity.
• Comprehensive knowledge and practical experience of managing complex procurements in services with multiply stakeholders / experts and ideally public sector procurement / EU procurement legislation.
• Relevant, demonstrable experience in contract and commercial management, with demonstrable ability of strong judgement in commercial situations and experience in resolution of contractual / performance disputes.
• Experience of building networks and partnerships and of developing strong relationships with a range of stakeholders and within complex stakeholder environments.
• Experience of developing robust contracts and commercial agreements, for complex and diverse service requirements.

How to apply:
The discuss the Procurement and Commissioning Lead role in more detail please contact Paula Page at SMARTresources by emailing your CV paula.page@novo-k.com or call +44 (0)079 69669604