Vacancy -- Procurement Reform Senior Project Manager

Working for the Civil Service

The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

Vacancy Details

Economy, Skills and Natural Resources
Commercial Procurement
SEO - £41,700 - £49,370
40,100
Full time (applications are welcome from people who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time)
Permanent
Pan Wales
'Pan Wales' means that the location in which the vacancy can be based is flexible, subject to the needs of the business. Please note it may not always be possible to accommodate a preference for a specific office location, but requests will be taken into consideration.
TBC

Purpose of Post:

The Procurement Reform Senior Project Manager will play a crucial role in supporting the Procurement Reform Team with the development and effective delivery of procurement reform and the day-to-day monitoring and delivery of the activities against the Project Plan, including ensuring that the proper governance arrangements are in place and maintained.

The Procurement Reform Senior Project Manager will be responsible for managing the weekly activities of the Procurement Reform team, monitoring and planning the requirements of the procurement reform against the Project Plan.

Key tasks:

  • Managing and monitoring delivery of Procurement Reform against the project plan;
  • Ensuring appropriate project management arrangements are in place and maintained;
  • Reporting and providing advice on the progress of the Project and any delivery issues / risks.
  • Coordinating the contributions of the wide range of officials contributing to the Project, both within and external to the department;
  • Develop and oversee plans and schedules, identifying and setting appropriate project controls, managing performance;
  • Working closely with the team to understand the stages of the procurement reform development and implementation to build the programme of work;
  • Identify, monitor, and proactively manage project risks and issues;
  • Managing resource effectively to ensure that deadlines are met;
  • Liaison with the Procurement Reform Stakeholder Policy Lead to ensure stakeholder evidence is gathered as appropriate; and
  • Undertake such other duties and responsibilities as are commensurate with the post.

Development opportunities:

The high profile of the Commercial Procurement function means that there is exposure to senior officials in the Welsh Government. Procurement Reform is very high profile both internally and externally to Welsh Government allowing interaction with many key stakeholders across the UK Governments and the wider Welsh Public Sector.

Closing Date:

21/10/2021, 16:00

Eligibility

Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:

Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.

Equality and Diversity

The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.

We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.

Disability Confident

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Welsh Language Requirements

The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace. 

The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

Not necessary to undertake the duties of this post

Social Partnership

In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.

Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
•         PCS
•         Prospect
•         FDA

This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
•         pay
•         terms and conditions
•         policies and procedures
•         organisational change.

Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.

The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.

Competencies / Job Specific Criteria

Competencies:

Seeing the Big Picture

  • Develop an understanding of own area’s strategy and how this contributes to Departmental priorities

Delivering at Pace

  • Regularly monitor own and team's work against milestones or targets and act promptly to keep work on track and maintain performance

Managing a Quality Service

  • Make effective use of project management skills and techniques to deliver outcomes, including identifying risks and mitigating actions

Collaborating and Partnering

  • Deal with conflict in a prompt, calm and constructive manner

Job Specific Criteria:

  1. Programme and project Management experience including organisational skills, Identifying, monitoring, and proactively managing project plan, risks and issues to ensure that deadlines are met (desirable);
  2. PRINCE2 or other recognised project management qualification (desirable);
  3. Understanding of procurement policy and/or legislation (desirable).

Assessment Process

Throughout the entire assessment process, candidates will be assessed on a mixture of Behaviours from the Success Profiles.

Sift Stage:

All applications received by the closing date will be sifted by representatives from the procurement profession.
Your Personal Statement will be assessed against the Behaviours listed in the 'Competencies' section of the advert . Candidates should make sure they provide sufficient evidence in their Personal Statement to ensure that their experience can be tested during the sift stage against the behaviours listed in the competencies section.
Your Personal Statement should not exceed 1500 words - any content that exceeds the 1500 word limit will be discounted.
Your CV will be used to help inform the panel of your career history, however it will not contribute to your overall sift score. CV's should be no longer than 2 sides of A4 - a CV template is available should you wish to use it.

When evidencing your suitability for the post in your Application Form and Personal Statement, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

Sift outcomes are expected to be issued w/c 28th October. Some of your sift scores will contribute to your overall assessment outcome. If you are successful at sift, you will not be able to request your sift scores until the full assessment process has completed.

Assessment Stage:

All candidates that are successful at sift, will be invited to attend an Assessment event where you will undertake two exercises;

Analytical

This involves the candidates being presented with a large amount of information from various different sources, relating to Procurement Reform. These may take the form of graphs, tables, government papers, advisory documents and newspaper articles. The content is complex and the candidate must provide a reasoned response and deliver an oral briefing to the interview panel.
Behaviours being assessed – Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Making Effective Decisions, managing a quality service and Seeing the big picture.

Interview

The interview will involve a blend of behaviour and strength-based questions along with profession specific behaviour questions. The behaviour questions will be used to explore in detail what you are capable of and strengths questions to also explore what you enjoy and your motivations relevant to the grade requirements.
Behaviours being assessed – Leadership, Developing Self and Others, Working Together, Making Effective Decisions and Delivering at Pace.
There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.
Strengths that will be tested during the interview – Confident, Inclusive, Challenger, Preventer and Organiser.

When evidencing your suitability for the post at Analytical and Interview Stages, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Success Profiles - Civil Service Behaviours (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Other Information

  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
  • For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.
Tracey Mayes - 03000 25013

How to apply

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have an impairment which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to an impairment in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).

When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

Grievance and Complaints

Anyone who believes they have been treated unfairly, or has a grievance or complaint, about how the process was conducted should either write to the Head of Resourcing, Welsh Government, Cathays Park 2, Cardiff CF10 3NQ or email SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales.  If you are unhappy with the outcome of the complaint raised with the Welsh Government and feel that the principles of appointment on merit through fair and open competition have not been met you have the right to pursue your grievance with the Civil Service Commission.

This vacancy is closed to applications.