Procurement Officer – AR

The Royal Borough of Greenwich is transforming its approach to procurement. Like all local authorities, the Council is under increasing financial pressure. Everything it does and delivers must ensure best value for money, including the external services which it procures. The Council also recognises the impact which these services can have on residents’ lives and has implemented a new strategy to establish social value as a core procurement principle to ensure that every one of its services achieves the best possible outcome for residents across the borough.

The Council’s procurement team will play the central role in guiding and advising other departments to achieve those twin objectives of achieving social value and value for money from all its procurement exercises. Operational work for the Procurement Team is split into three categories: People, Place, and Resources. Each category has a Category Lead, one or two Category Managers, and one or two Procurement Officers. The Procurement Officer will report to the Category Lead for the team in which they are based and will support the team as well as provide procurement advice and guidance to individual directorates within the Council to ensure that they deliver effective procurement exercises which seek social value outcomes and value for money within a procurement regulatory environment.

Main Duties:

• Support the Category Lead in providing advice and guidance on procurement regulatory matters and corporate governance relating to procurement processes to ensure national and local procurement regulations and policies are followed.
• Be responsible for leading and managing the tendering and awarding of a portfolio of contracts of up to £5-10m per annum in line with the Council's best value duty.
• Contribute to the development of a culture of performance management of contracts to ensure maximum value and social value benefits are achieved from contracts within the defined service area.
• Assist in the development and promotion of best practice in supplier relationship management to minimise potential risk to the Council as a result of suppliers failing to deliver a contract.
• Contribute to the development of the service area’s procurement strategy, setting targets which contribute to medium-term financial savings and other Council policies.
• Be a critical friend; promoting a commercial approach to contract award decisions, processes, and practices and positively influence key stakeholders in achieving efficiencies, effectiveness, and economies of scale from procurement exercises.
• In the absence of a Category Lead or Category Manager, attend and contribute to key Service Management team meetings that develop a culture of high professional standards and continuous improvement in the delivery of contracts.
• Where appropriate, represent the Council at national, regional, and sub-regional forums relating to procurement matters.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Work alongside the Category Lead in ensuring the Council’s procurement Strategy, Social Value Policy, and Procedures are continuously developed to meet changes in national and local policy and best practice in the public sector.
• Interpret government procurement regulations and policies to contribute to the development of strategies, policies, and practices that help maintain regulatory compliance and ensure the Council satisfies its duty to achieve best value from its procurement exercises.
• Contribute to producing decision-making reports, respond to Members' enquiries in collaboration with the Head of Procurement, and provide procurement comments on decision-making and other relevant reports.
• Maintain knowledge of procurement legislation, best practice, and latest developments in the procurement profession.
• Work alongside the Category Lead and Category Manager/s to analyse and interpret local, national, and international market conditions and trends to determine and advise on the most appropriate procurement model.
• Lead and manage the end-to-end procurement exercises of contracts up to £500,000 within the wider workstream of the Category Team.
• Ensure that the Council’s centralised contracts register is populated and maintained.
• Maintain and update a supplier portal for the advertising of contracts and receiving supplier responses.
• Ensure proficiency in the use of the Council’s e-procurement system.
• Promote an environment of continual review and ongoing development of all procurement processes to ensure best value for the Council.
• Contribute to procurement board and project meetings to ensure successful delivery and achievement of corporate plans and objectives.
• Produce and implement procurement plans and roadmaps that outline future procurements.
• Ensure, in conjunction with the Council’s legal function, that council contracts are developed to provide clear and robust commercial arrangements.
• Own and lead elements of workshops for SMEs and VCSE organisations.
• Assist in delivering any procurement training and/or communicate information to their area of responsibility.
• Be an advisor to business managers in their areas of responsibility regarding procurement policy and procedure.
• Develop and maintain excellent working relationships with individual procurers and commissioners.
• Report and manage risk and issues within individual workstreams.
• Supervise the Procurement Support Officer in terms of allocation and monitoring of workloads.
• Represent the Council at meetings with external contractors, consultants, and partners.
• Maintain professional peer networks, enabling benchmarking and bringing best practice to the Council.
• Report and record identified irregularities to Corporate Anti-Fraud.
• Attend court on such cases if required and ensure that external and internal audit queries are responded to correctly.
• Perform all duties in line with the Council’s staff values.
• Carry out duties in accordance with the Council’s Health and Safety Policy and relevant legislation.
• Undertake any other work appropriate to the level and general nature of the duties of the post.
• Manage up to one directly reporting member of staff (Apprentice procurement support officer).
• Responsible for effective people management, recruitment and selection, training, performance, sickness absence, and disciplinary matters.