Senior Procurement and Contracting Officer job at United Nations Department of Operational Support (DOS)

About Organisation:

The Department of Operational Support (DOS) provides operational support to all UN Secretariat entities, including advisory, operational and transactional support services and, where needed, exercises delegated authority on behalf of clients. DOS supports the entire UN Secretariat, consisting of almost 100 entities located around the globe.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Serves as a senior procurement and contracting expert with responsibility for the worldwide procurement of a wide variety of supplies and services associated with highly complex (technically and legally) contracts and procurement activities; may lead procurement work for several large peace-keeping programs.
• Provides technical advice on procurement activities to officials of substantive units during all phases of the procurement cycle.
• Analyzes and evaluates procurement requests and ensures appropriateness of technical specifications.
• Develops and prepares highly complex contracts for procurement of non-routine and technologically advanced commodities or long-range services; issues international tender invitations; evaluates responses to tender, and makes recommendations for finalization of purchases and award of contracts; signs procurement orders up to the authorized limit, and, in cases where the amount exceeds authorized signature authority, prepares submissions to the Contracts Committee for review and subsequent approval by the authorized official.
• Develops new tactical approaches to contracts, as well as new methods for their application, based on market research.
• Contributes to development of category management strategy for the UN, institutional procurement policies and procedures; develops standards and criteria for the evaluation of goods, services, supplier capacity, etc.
• Maintains under constant examination production patterns in exporting countries; evaluates the productive capacities and performance of manufacturers to identify supply sources.
• Establishes approaches for negotiations and conducts or coordinates all phases of negotiations with all concerned parties, including the negotiation of disputes arising from contracts.
• May carry out consultancy missions to the field.
• May lead and supervise a team of procurement personnel
• Provides direction and guidance to more junior staff.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

Education

• An Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) in business administration, public administration, commerce, engineering, law or a related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Job – Specific Qualification

• Professional certification in supply chain such as Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply certification (CIPS Level 4) or equivalent is required.
• A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in procurement, contract management, contract administration or supply chain management or related area is required.
• A minimum of two years of experience in conducting international tender exercises to award contracts for procurement of complex goods and services during the last five years is required.
• A minimum of two (2) years of experience in supervising a team is required.
• Experience working with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems such as SAP or similar systems and/or working with e-tendering systems such as Ariba or similar system is desirable.
• Experience working in procurement process and procedures in support of a field operation (inclusive of peacekeeping operations, special political missions, agencies funds and programmes), or other similar international organization is desirable.
• Experience in developing strategy for category management is desirable.
• Experience in sourcing, cleaning and preparing data, selection and developing visualization/metrics in transportation, procurement, and/or supply chain management that enable easy communication/interpretation by the users is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.
• For this job opening, English is required. The table below shows the minimum required level for each skill in these languages, according to the UN Language Framework

Competencies

• Professionalism: Knowledge of internationally recognized procurement standards and of all phases of international procurement techniques and operations used in contracting for highly complex and technologically advanced goods and services.
• Knowledge of contract law and expertise in handling complex procurement and contract issues.
• Knowledge of quantitative methods to measure supplier capacity systems and ability to identify sources of supply, market trends and pricing.
• Ability to shape and influence agreements with requisitioning units and vendors.
• Ability to apply technical expertise to resolve a range of complex and/or sensitive issues/problems.
• Ability to develop procurement policies, procedures and new programmes.
• Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.
• Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.
• Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.
• Accountability: Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.
• Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

• Serves as a senior procurement and contracting expert with responsibility for the worldwide procurement of a wide variety of supplies and services associated with highly complex (technically and legally) contracts and procurement activities; may lead procurement work for several large peace-keeping programs.
• Provides technical advice on procurement activities to officials of substantive units during all phases of the procurement cycle.
• Analyzes and evaluates procurement requests and ensures appropriateness of technical specifications.
• Develops and prepares highly complex contracts for procurement of non-routine and technologically advanced commodities or long-range services; issues international tender invitations; evaluates responses to tender, and makes recommendations for finalization of purchases and award of contracts; signs procurement orders up to the authorized limit, and, in cases where the amount exceeds authorized signature authority, prepares submissions to the Contracts Committee for review and subsequent approval by the authorized official.
• Develops new tactical approaches to contracts, as well as new methods for their application, based on market research.
• Contributes to development of category management strategy for the UN, institutional procurement policies and procedures; develops standards and criteria for the evaluation of goods, services, supplier capacity, etc.
• Maintains under constant examination production patterns in exporting countries; evaluates the productive capacities and performance of manufacturers to identify supply sources.
• Establishes approaches for negotiations and conducts or coordinates all phases of negotiations with all concerned parties, including the negotiation of disputes arising from contracts.
• May carry out consultancy missions to the field.
• May lead and supervise a team of procurement personnel
• Provides direction and guidance to more junior staff.

• Professionalism: Knowledge of internationally recognized procurement standards and of all phases of international procurement techniques and operations used in contracting for highly complex and technologically advanced goods and services.
• Knowledge of contract law and expertise in handling complex procurement and contract issues.
• Knowledge of quantitative methods to measure supplier capacity systems and ability to identify sources of supply, market trends and pricing.
• Ability to shape and influence agreements with requisitioning units and vendors.
• Ability to apply technical expertise to resolve a range of complex and/or sensitive issues/problems.
• Ability to develop procurement policies, procedures and new programmes.
• Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.
• Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.
• Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.
• Accountability: Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.
• Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

• An Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) in business administration, public administration, commerce, engineering, law or a related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Professional certification in supply chain such as Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply certification (CIPS Level 4) or equivalent is required.
• A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in procurement, contract management, contract administration or supply chain management or related area is required.
• A minimum of two years of experience in conducting international tender exercises to award contracts for procurement of complex goods and services during the last five years is required.
• A minimum of two (2) years of experience in supervising a team is required.
• Experience working with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems such as SAP or similar systems and/or working with e-tendering systems such as Ariba or similar system is desirable.
• Experience working in procurement process and procedures in support of a field operation (inclusive of peacekeeping operations, special political missions, agencies funds and programmes), or other similar international organization is desirable.
• Experience in developing strategy for category management is desirable.
• Experience in sourcing, cleaning and preparing data, selection and developing visualization/metrics in transportation, procurement, and/or supply chain management that enable easy communication/interpretation by the users is desirable.