Commissioning Projects Manager

Overview

This post is responsible for managing key work to design and deliver commissioning projects that secure services and places for children and young people who are remanded or sentenced to custody in the Children and Young People's Secure Estate (CYPSE) in England and Wales. The CYPSE is made up of Young Offender Institutions (YOIs), Secure Training Centres (STCs) and Secure Children's Homes (SCHs) and a Secure School.

The post holder will directly contribute to the commissioning of complex services in youth custody and will have responsibility for activity that delivers against intended outcomes for children, staff and stakeholders. Responsibilities, activities and duties include:

• Manage commissioning projects and work streams to design and deliver evidence-based services that improve outcomes for children and young people in custody across England and Wales.
• Accountable for applying project management approaches/methodologies to work across the commissioning cycle, ensuring work products are effectively delivered within agreed time, resource and quality tolerances. This includes project planning and developing methods to mitigate and manage risks and to address issues; to deliver benefits; and to analyse equalities impacts.
• Responsible for managing and coordinating the production of key service specifications, performance mechanisms and project documentation (reports, business cases, submissions, etc.) for commissioning work streams in your portfolio.
• Develop knowledge and skills and apply these in commissioning and youth justice to make sound and balanced judgements, to provide robust advice to colleagues and seniors, including Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) and other senior project stakeholders. This includes leading on the preparation and presentation of papers and project documentation for YCS, HMPPS and Departmental governance.
• Work in close partnership with specialists and generalists across the wide array of functions covered by the commissioning cycle, establishing and maintaining strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders at various levels, keeping a transparent dialogue and working in partnership with these to progress commissioning activity and to resolve issues impacting on commissioning decisions.
• In partnership with MoJ CCMD and others, to provide the required CYPSE services and places and inform the development of options for commercial/procurement strategies and plans; develop and build market potential for the CYPSE.
• Support dialogue/negotiations with markets and potential providers as required to secure solutions that match service user needs and that progress desired policy and improve service outcomes.
• Plan and undertake work to understand and inform the cost effectiveness of services within their portfolio and help determine value for money.
• Undertake dialogue/negotiations with markets and potential providers as required at national, regional and local level to inform negotiations and to secure solutions that match service user needs and that progress desired policy and improve service outcomes.
• In partnership with CCMD and others, support the development and implementation of evaluation processes to select supplier proposals and identify preferred bidder(s) that ensure quality, cost and achievability against YCS priorities.
• Work in partnership to mobilise, transition and transform services that are retendered, and be responsible for achieving timely handover of commissioned services and places to those managing ongoing delivery.
• Ensure lessons learned from commissioning projects are captured and widely used to help improve the commissioning and other functions as findings direct.

Existing Civil Servants are eligible to apply and will only be considered on a loan basis (Civil Servants). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant.

This role is advertised nationally, and some national travel is necessary to support effective ways of working –…