Senior Procurement Officer at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

The Senior Procurement Officer leads, oversees, coordinates, and supports the procurement activities at global, regional, or country operations level. The incumbent will lead a procurement team, whilst discharging her/his duties and in doing so s/he will supervise staff in the international professional and general service category. The incumbent will manage the procurement processes in a timely and cost-effective manner, in conformity with UN/UNHCR's procurement rules and regulations. S/he is responsible to lead the development of complex goods and services contracts, clearly define terms and conditions, ensure best value for money, and pro-actively manage associated risks. Thus, the Senior Procurement Officer must ensure that high quality acquisition process is combined with faster turnaround of end-to-end procurement actions (from planning to contract establishment and order placement) and timely delivery of goods and services for effective program implementation. The incumbent acts as Ex-Officio to the HCC

Duties

• Design and continuously improve procurement planning tools and procedures to be used by UNHCR and partner Organizations.
• Establish strategic procurement plans to improve value for money and monitor procurement forecasts versus actual requirements, factoring in sustainably, economic, environmental and/or climate considerations. 
• Develop procurement and supply chain strategies for important commodities and services and ensure adequate capacity to respond to emergencies.
• Make recommendations to improve contract clauses and processes to ensure the best delivery and service terms.
• Coordinate, manage and support the procurement process to ensure timely, cost-effective, and adequate delivery of goods and services to support operational needs.
• Conduct market surveys, identify, assess, and select vendors based on their capability for timely and effective delivery.
• Advise on relevant purchase requests to ensure they are complete and in accordance with specifications, standards, procurement policy and procedures, available resources, and delivery time. 
• Clear and approve relevant tendering documents for procurement of goods and services up to delegated authority. 
• Negotiate and conduct interviews with suppliers as required. 
• Prepare, clear, approve and present relevant submissions to the relevant Committee on Contracts in conformity with UN/UNHCR Financial Rules and Regulations, in the role of Ex-Officio.
• Prepare contracts and Purchase Orders based on Statement of Works or Terms of Reference from requesting sections and send confirmations, requests for inspection and other correspondence.
• Approve and sign contracts and purchase orders, as well as frame agreements according to delegated authority. 
• Support and guide the office, on the procurement aspect, should they need additional office space or extensions to their office leases, lease hold improvements or other construction. 
• Coordinate with CBI stakeholders the design and implementation of the market assessment and market monitoring to determine if CBI is option. Carry out the procurement action to contract Financial Service Providers (FSP).
• Ensure Vendor review and administration is properly conducted and managed, including maintenance of the vendor and item master databases.
• Organize and conduct periodic contract performance reviews in conjunction with requesting units and provide feedback to relevant parties. 
• Monitor the quality and accuracy of supply chain related data in relevant business systems. 
• Analyse statistical information; identify trends and developments in procurement related matters that will assist in decision making.
• Resolve difficulties in the local supply chain by finding solutions to problems and bottlenecks, and provide regular reports on supply chain activities, the status of requests and the availability of items in the supply chain.
• Disseminate, promote, and monitor compliance with UNHCR's global policies, standards, and guidance on supply chain management.
• Coordinate the work of the procurement function to achieve operational objectives in a timely and cost-effective manner. Ensure the effective and efficient use of financial and material resources within the rules and procedures of UNHCR.
• Identify partners for supply chain projects based on objectives, priorities, strengths, and resources of the Partner and/or contractor, according to criteria consistent with UNHCR rules and regulations.
• Coordinate activities of Partners and/or contractors performing supply related activities and ensure that they understand and adhere to relevant UNHCR rules and procedures. 
• Advise operations and colleagues on partner procurement multifunctional team role and Partner Procurement Qualification processes and requirements. 
• Maintain an up-to-date overview of the location`s supply chain capacity and preparedness, as well as, that of its partners to ensure that adequate capacity exist also to cover emergencies.
• Develop relevant contacts and build constructive relations with government authorities, partner Organizations, UN Agencies, and other external counterparts to foster mutual cooperation for timely delivery of goods and services, avoiding bottlenecks such as streamlining green light processes and customs clearance processes.
• Ensure effective information flow in the supply chain.
• Establish and maintain an efficient and skilled workforce that can support on-going operations.
• Manage staff performance and coordinate procurement activities ensuring broad understanding and adherence to the relevant and prevailing procurement rules and procedures.
• In coordination with GLDC and the Supply focal points, contribute to the development and provision of procurement training.  
• Monitor infrastructure and ensure that it is optimally aligned with the operational needs.
• Implement practical projects to improve supply performance that has clear objectives, timescales, tasks, and resources defined and monitors the project execution against the plans and acts when actual implementation deviates from plans.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Regional Bureaux

• Advise Country Operations in implementing procurement strategies based on requirements, risks, and emergency context. Contribute to the elaboration of contingency planning whenever needed. 
• Provide advice, capacity-building, coaching and guidance on policy and operational issues to ensure compliance with UNHCR procurement rules and regulations.
• Advise and review the sourcing/procurement aspects of the supply function, as Bureau remains a procurement-prone region requiring a sound level of risk management tools. 
• Mainstream UN procurement principles, as well as UNHCR internal policies throughout the region. 
• Secondary review for RCC Submission.
• Act as Ex-officio of the Regional Committee on Contracts.  
• Capture analyse and report on procurement data from the different Country Operations of the Bureau. 
• Monitor adequate implementation of procurement KPIs for the region and draft regional ones, as required.
• Design procurement regional training materials and deploy adequate training tools of regional supply staff and relevant stakeholders. Country Operations
• Coordinate procurement activities of UNHCR Partners and/or contractors within the AoR, ensure that they understand and adhere to relevant UNHCR rules and procedures.
• Engage with MFT on delegation of procurement to partners. Clear the recommendations made by the supply function under comparative analysis 
• Adapt standard supply chain structures to the local environment that are consistent with the operational needs.
• Engage with local authorities to facilitate timely green light processing and customs clearance of consignments.
• Coordinate local inter-agency procurement activities.
• Act as ex-officio in the LCC Review and clear procurement cases for the relevant procurement authority.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level

• For P4/NOD 9 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 8 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 7 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education 

• Procurement,Supply,  Logistics, Business Administration,  Law,   Engineering, or other relevant field.