Procurement Manager - Forth Valley College

The Role

The Procurement Manager (Advanced) reports to the Senior Procurement Manager for College Services Central and South at APUC, and has line management responsibility for two members of staff. The post-holder will play a key role in delivering strategic and operational procurement support across the College.

Forth Valley College is a dynamic and forward-thinking organisation, offering an exciting and varied procurement environment. The procurement portfolio covers a broad range of categories, including Estates, Facilities Management, ICT and Professional Services, providing excellent opportunities to work across diverse projects and stakeholders.

Procurement is a well-established and highly regarded function within the College, with APUC providing a shared procurement service since 2011. The successful candidate will join a collaborative environment where procurement plays a key role in supporting the College's strategic objectives and delivering value across the organisation.

As one of Scotland's leading providers of education and training, Forth Valley College delivers more than 750 courses to students across its main campuses in Alloa, Falkirk and Stirling. This role offers the opportunity to contribute to an organisation that has a significant impact on learners, communities and economic development across the region.

Responsibilities

• Maintain the Procurement Strategy for the institution and deliver the category strategies, jointly with institutional stakeholders;
• Manage senior and operational stakeholder and key supplier relationships;
• Manage routine higher value tendering and implementation of collaborative agreements in the institution;
• Manage the procurement of institution wide specific goods/services/works requirements;
• Develop and facilitate the procurement processes based on the “Procurement Journey” and provide operational guidance for / to those involved in lower value procurement below formal tender levels;
• Increase the Procurement Capability of the Institution;
• Assist in implementing the Scottish Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan and move the institution to raising its attainment level versus the Flexible Framework;
• Assist in the delivery of institutional focussed procurement awareness training;
• Mentor / support / manage less senior procurement staff;
• Provide the key link from the institution to the APUC collaborative procurement team;
• Represent the institution on the various forums and contribute to sector wide joint initiatives in relation to procurement;
• Assist in undertaking statutory UK procurement reporting for the institution and routine procurement reporting from data for the relevant academic year; and,
• Implement the requirements of Procurement Legislation.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Skills

• Be of high intellectual calibre, with the highest ethical standards;
• Membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply or working towards this (preferred);
• Be a professional, credible manager with excellent general management skills and have the essential competencies of clarity of purpose, self-confidence, integrity with strong influencing ability;
• Have expert knowledge of EU & Equality purchasing legislation as it relates to the HE/FE sector;
• Demonstrate sound commercial acumen; and,
• Skilled in contract drafting and negotiation.

Experience

• Have proven project management skills and of meeting demanding targets and deadlines on a day-to-day basis;
• Have extensive procurement experience including the management of end-to-end tender processes, contract negotiation and contract management;
• Experience in production and manipulation of procurement related data and production of management reports;
• Experience of reporting / analytical reporting; and,
• Advanced spreadsheet skills and the ability to use financial models to present efficiency performance.

Contracts and Relationships

• The post holder must build strong working relationships with all stakeholders and develop the reputation of APUC as a source of expert guidance and support both to institutional customers and suppliers; and,
• Must be able to influence, negotiate and achieve consensus with clients, colleagues and…