I am looking for 2 interim Procurement – Policy & Process Improvement Managers to work within the Client Organisation responsible for the New High-Speed Rail project in the UK this is a multi-billion-pound high-speed railway to directly link the city centres of: London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.   The Policy Improvement Manager supports a Procurement and Commercial team of 150 individuals and the role has interaction with Department for Transport (DfT) and Cabinet Office in relation to procurement and commercial policies and procedures.

The Policy & Process Improvement Managers will work with the wider policy and process team and key procurement and commercial stakeholders to assist them to carry out their duties effectively by building on a continuous improvement environment to support an ongoing programme of change.  Supporting and developing the policies and processes for Procurement and Contract Management.  The team’s focus is primarily Procurement which will account to 80% of the time

The role is to provide good governance, assurance and Continuous Improvement to the Policies and Procedures for Procurement and contract management ensuring the process are fit for purpose altering when necessary, adding to processes as new directives come down from DFt & government (such as Carbon & climate change), making process more efficient or robust as necessary, lesson learnt reviews and making changes accordingly.  Feeding into company’s Integrated management systems providing policies, processes, governance, approvals, Continuous Improvement (both transactional and strategic CI). 

Also great opportunity to be part of the forming new Procurement procedures at HS2 as a result of Brexit the Cabinet office is bringing out new public sector procurement regulations-  Find a Tender' (FTS) , (previously the OJEU process).

Work Situation - Hybrid
The office location is Birmingham Snowhill OR London, Euston they operate a flexible hybrid working model working expectation 1 to 2 days a week.  Overall this is a very flexible modern employer who cares about delivery not where you deliver from, however, if you wish to be based front the office more you can.
 
London / Birmingham                 £500 - £550 INSIDE IR35

Initial 3 month contract highly likely to be extended

Duties & Responsibilities

• Manage the development and improvement of a robust, auditable and transparent Procurement and Contract Management system (Procure to Pay Control Framework), that ensures policies, process and templates are developed to support the need to source, select, manage and deliver the diverse range of works, good and services required by HS2;
• Assist with the implementation and management of measures and review processes to protect HS2 Limited and the commercial programme from non-compliance from Procurement regulations and commercial policies and procedures; inconsistencies of approach to the market, conflicts of interest;
• Take ownership of the delivery of change initiatives from identification through to delivery including approvals and Procure to Pay Control Framework updates;
• To deliver process improvement workshops to identify ideas and solutions to support the delivery of greater efficiency through the identification of better ways of working;
• Work with other team members and procurement teams to devise new Procure to Pay processes and tools;
• Managing a “critical friend” approach to ensure that all procurement documentation is complete, consistent across all procurements, follows the relevant policies and procedures;
• Facilitate Lessons Learned reviews and feedback process improvements into the Procure to Pay Control Framework;
• Delivery of Policy and Process training to new starters within the directorate and development refresher training for the wider teams;
• Regularly liaise with the DfT’s Virtual Procurement Policy Team (VPT) regarding updates to Government procurement policies and procedures and ensuring any updates are communicated to the relevant teams; and
• Actively promoting and embedding Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work. Supporting and complying with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

What that are looking for:

The essential experience is for a Procurement or Contract Manager who has worked and has good knowledge of OJEU / Find a tender procurement legislation and in addition have understanding of Utility Contract Regulations (UCR) or public contract regulations (PCR).  You will have experience in forming policies and procedures and ideally have some related experience or knowledge of continuous improvement.  Your procurement or contract management experience could come from any sector (indirect, construction, equipment), although it would be useful if you have worked for an arms length public body such as Network Rail, Highways England, TFL OR  regulated industry Water Authority, DNO, National Grid or government department of local authority, perhaps as Category Manager

Skills:

• Analytical skills with the ability to review and present improvements to processes, procedures, templates and systems
• Ability to produce and present high quality and consistent documents and reports for a variety of audiences
• Ability to prioritise and organise workload
• Ability to manage and facilitate meetings and workshops with internal colleagues and/or suppliers to achieve desired outcomes
• Ability to develop and maintain positive stakeholder relationships across the organisation

Knowledge:

• Understanding of procurement and contact management processes either using Public Contract Regulations (UCR) Or Utility Contracts Regulations (UCR).
• Knowledge of applicable EU and UK procurement legislation (OJEU/FTC) Official Journal of the European Union.
• Understanding of continuous improvement methodologies and process mapping.
• Knowledge of a range of Contracts:- Government Standard Contracts, NEC, Crown Commercial Services etc (don’t need to know all of them)

Type of experience:

• Experience of working within a procurement, contract management or commercial structure
• Experience of systems and reporting applications
• Experience of managing the gathering and analysing information from multiple stakeholders and sources.
• Experience of working in an environment where quality and consistency of documentation is a business priority.