The Procurement Specialist 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.
Timely, efficient and effective procurement of goods and services and Quality Assurance for Letters of Agreement in
compliance with the relevant FAO Rules and Regulations.
Responsibilities :
• 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 Headquarters divisions or decentralized offices to undertake procurement locally;
• Assist in preparing evaluation criteria, for more complex procurement actions, tender documents and contracts.
• Assist in preparing office procurement plans, developing and implementing directly or indirectly simple procurement strategies for requested goods/services/works taking into consideration the associated risks and the related mitigation measures.
• 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/contracts, evaluation of bids/proposals, follow-up with suppliers/contractors including follow-up on orders/contracts to ensure timely delivery/contract execution, etc.
• Assist the supervisor in providing guidance to Organization staff working in different offices / divisions on procurement/contracting matters and on the implementation of procurement strategies and processes in conformity with the relevant rules, procedures and practices;
• Make initial recommendation of awards for procurement activities directly undertaken as responsible buyer relating to the purchase of goods or contracting of services/works based on solicitation results/offers received;
• 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 procurement-related applications, including e-tendering tools, utilized in the Procurement Service;
• If required, be available/ready to 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.
Minimum Requirements :
• Advanced University Degree in Law, Business, Administration, Management, Economics, Public Administration or Commerce or a related field.
• Work experience: 1 year in Procurement, and/or contracts/agreements drafting/review/management within an international, development, public sector or relevant private sector setup and interested in gaining experience working at FAO’s HQ in a multicultural team
• Full proficiency/Working knowledge of English
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.
