Procurement Specialist

Rome

Organization: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Location: Rome
Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Procurement
- Procurement Service, CSDA
Closing Date: Closed

Organizational Setting

Procurement Service provides policy and operational support to ensure that the Organization procures good, works and services based on 'Best Value for Money' principles.

The Procurement Consultant will be located at FAO HQ and will perform a variety of procurement activities aimed to assist headquarters units and field offices requiring specialized procurement support.

Reporting Lines

The Procurement Consultant will work under the general guidance of the Senior Procurement Officer/Senior Contracts Officer and under the direct supervision of a Contracts or Procurement Officer, as appropriate for functional and policy guidance.

Technical Focus

Procurement of goods and services.

Tasks and responsibilities

The Consultant will provide support to ensure that procurement activities comply with FAO's established policies and procedures and reflect best practice for public procurement. The Consultant may also be requested to carry out functions relating to monitoring and reporting of procurement activities. The key functions of the Consultant will be as following\:

Review and analyze procurement requests for completeness and conformity with established FAO rules, procedures and practice; liaise with the requesters, as necessary, and recommend to supervisor appropriate strategy/approach to best serve institutional interests including requests from decentralized offices to undertake procurement locally;
Assist in preparing evaluation criteria, for more complex procurement actions, tender documents and contracts.
Perform operational functions relating to the procurement process including, but not limited to, preparation of documents in FAO’s ERP system and other office applications related to assigned procurement actions, issuance of tenders and purchase orders, evaluation of bids, follow-up with suppliers including follow-up on orders to ensure timely delivery, etc.
Assist the supervisor in providing guidance to Organization staff particularly in country offices on procurement matters and on the implementation of procurement strategies and processes in conformity with the relevant rules, procedures and practices;
Make recommendation of awards for procurement activities relating to the purchase of goods or services/works;
Review and analyze requests for ad-hoc re-delegation of authority received from country offices;
Provide advice and guidance to colleagues on the use of IT applications, including e-tendering tools, utilized in the Procurement Service;
Participate in procurement missions worldwide, providing support and training to decentralized offices as necessary;
Produce relevant reports to support contract monitoring;

• Perform other duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

Advanced university degree (for Consultants)/University Degree (only for PSA) in Law, Business, Administration, Economics, Public Administration or Commerce or a related field.
A minimum of three years (level C) or five years (level B) or 7 years (level A) of relevant experience in procurement related activities;
Working knowledge of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two or Arabic, Chinese, Russian (for PSA only English may be required).

FAO Core Competencies

Results Focus
Teamwork
Communication
Building Effective Relationships
Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

Demonstrated knowledge of internationally recognized procurement standards and international procurement techniques and operations used in contracting for goods and services;
Extent and relevance of experience in public sector procurement dealing with contractual issues;
Extent and relevance of experience in identifying clients' procurement-related needs and in providing support and guidance from clients' point of view;
Experience in logistics operations is an asset desirable;
Knowledge of procurement-related IT tools and systems (i.e. enterprise resource planning, inventory management, procurement, database management applications, etc.) is desirable.