Commercial/procurement Officer - East Kilbride, United Kingdom - FCDO Commercial

Description

Commercial/Procurement Officer - Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office - Commercial Directorate

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is the UK government department responsible for protecting and promoting British interests around the world.

We work in the UK and in 178 countries and territories. The FCDO unites development and diplomacy in a single department that brings together the UK's international effort.

In return, we guarantee a fascinating, personally rewarding career at the centre of world events. We regularly score highly in surveys of 'employers graduates would most like to work for'.

The Civil Service has been in the top 10 of the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers over the last decade.

You might associate our activities with diplomatic work in countries, digging wells, building hospitals and delivering humanitarian aid, however not all our projects are of this type.

This is why in FCDO we specialise in many areas of commercial and procurement activity.

So whether you will be involved in projects related to Counter Disinformation, Cyber, Counter Terrorism, Serious and Organised Crime or State Threats, you will have huge influence within our commercial function.

We have a number of Commercial Officer vacancies in the Conflict, Stability & Security Fund Commercial team which provides end-to-end procurement and commercial solutions to deliver FCDO business.

Purpose of Job
This is a fast-paced and exciting role, working on programmes that make a real difference.

The role is an integrated commercial advisory role that supports all parts of the commercial lifecycle: from early market engagement and pre-procurement activity, to procurement procedures and delivery.

The role provides vital commercial advice and recommendations to programme teams, including contract managers, utilising a working knowledge of public procurement regulations.

The role will help to achieve excellent commercial outcomes by using proactive collaboration to build and maintain stakeholder relationships (including supplier engagement) in line with the FCDO Commercial Strategy and FCDO Values.

It also contributes to increasing the Commercial Directorate's influence of procurement and commercial improvement across FCDO's spend to improve Value for Money (VfM) and resulting impact for FCDO and its businesses.

By working closely with internal colleagues to proactively seek opportunities to drive additional value and increase efficiency, this role helps establish business needs and assists in translating this into effective category-based commercial strategies that enable the achievement of VfM, whilst also maintaining commitment and achieving outcomes relating to relevant policy and strategic requirements for the FCDO and HMG.

In these roles you may be responsible for any number of the following:

Lead procurement projects:

drafting specifications, tender documents, evaluation process, recommendation to award report and providing written feedback to suppliers, based on Public Contract Regulations.

Protect the FCDO from challenge and reputational risk.

Prepare draft contracts and contract variations, ensuring procurement delivery abides to the relevant processes (e.g., Open procedure, Framework call-downs/competitions, etc.) and the outputs supports improved VfM for the FCDO.

As part of the category team, contribute to providing a high quality service, including stakeholder engagement, delivery against category strategy, market engagement and supplier selection.

Support on the resolution of complex issues, including those that are perceived to be novel and contentious.

Support development of robust sourcing and category strategies which demonstrate sound commercial acumen to cover key categories and deliver improved results and VfM.

Ensure continuity and consistency of approach, using required tools, systems and processes to guide commercial activity and produce high quality commercial management information.

Support the pipeline of projects and contracts using the FCDO eProcurement platform (Jaggaer) to enable accurate and timely reporting.

Provide support on project governance. This will include drafting governance documentation, as well as presenting cases to the relevant governance boards for approval.

Support development of market awareness, highlighting opportunities for innovation, VfM, improvements to stakeholder engagement and new ways of working for procurement.

Develop and maintain technical expertise through personal, team development and L&D requirements.

Minimum Criteria

Relevant procurement experience, understanding of the commercial lifecycle and knowledge of public procurement procedures.

Strong written & oral communication, presentation and influencing skills with the ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
**Initiative, close attention to detail and accuracy, numerate and good o