External/Internal Vacancy Announcement: Procurement Assistant, GS-5, (Fixed Term Appointment) New Delhi, South Asia Region (SAR), Post Number 51980

Contract

This is a G-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as General Service and related categories. It is normally only for nationals. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about G-5 contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better world. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. And we never give up!

Click here to learn more about what makes us proud working for UNICEF!

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. Our workplace policies promote flexible work arrangements, to support all staff in maintaining a healthy life balance, both in and out of the office. UNICEF. prides itself on fostering a multicultural and harmonious work environment, guaranteed by a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, and on any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

For Every Child, Support…

The Procurement Assistant at the G-5 level shall report to the Procurement & Supply Manager, P4. The Procurement Assistant is responsible for assisting the uninterrupted supply of affordable and good quality supplies and services, adapted to the particular context and through compliance with UNICEF’s policies, procedures and ethics standards.

How can you make a difference?

The Procurement Assistant’s impact directly affects the quality and timeliness of the delivery of a range of different services for which the unit is accountable. The impact of these services indirectly affects the timely completion of other processes for clients and reflects directly on the overall reputation of the supply team in terms of quality and responsiveness to client needs.

The Procurement Assistants’ client interface focuses on the coordination and planning of routine supply chain activities, including the transportation of goods and materials, purchase orders, contracts, delivery and payments. These relationships are important to ensure that deadlines are met and that work results adhere to regulations, rules and guidelines.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks: Supply Chain Service Delivery and Response:

Procurement/contracting:

• Provide input to the formulation of the annual Supply Plan. Conduct data review and analysis for category management and assist in the development of procurement strategies. Support market research in relevant areas for UNICEF and assist in gathering evidence on the best approaches to sustainable and best value for money procurement.
• Where relevant, support product innovation and market shaping initiatives for specific categories of supplies and services providing relevant data.
• Liaise with colleagues from respective programme sections in planning procurement and contracting initiatives, supporting development of relevant specifications, terms of reference, and logistics arrangements and timelines. From lessons learnt, contribute with good practices to strengthen sustainability of supply chains.
• Prepares documentation for the establishment of Long Term Arrangements (LTAs) and act on specific procurement requisitions as might be required. Prepare and process Request for Quotations (RFQs), Invitations to Bid (ITBs) and Requests for Proposals (RFPs), as might be requested by the Supervisor. Assists with bid openings, and technical and financial analysis of offers as might be required. Conduct clarifications with suppliers.
• Prepare requests for award including submissions to Contract Review Committee. Prepare purchase orders and contracts in SAP (ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning system), and submit for relevant approvals, ensuring completeness of documentation in UNICEF systems.
• Keep stakeholders/partners informed on the progress of procurement processes. Liaise with suppliers, ensuring timely follow-up on delivery schedules Implement appropriate vendor management practices e.g. supply performance reviews.
• Regularly monitor dashboard reports and coordinate to ensure necessary supply action is taken in a timely manner in support of UNICEF Programmes.
• Regularly extract reports on the status of the existing LTAs, contracts, Purchase Orders (POs) and take necessary action in coordination with the relevant Programme.
• Conduct local market surveys on ongoing and regular basis for identification of potential suppliers to procure the goods and services at competitive costs.

In-country logistics:

• Provide input on the logistics component of the supply plan, including advising on infrastructure constraints (e.g. customs clearance, port capacity, transport options and warehousing capacity) and different delivery mechanisms. Keep track of demurrages and detention charges. Negotiate with Airport/Port/Shipping Line for waiver of demurrage/detention charges whenever required. Calculate budget requirements for various delivery modalities and ensure establishment of budget with the colleagues from the respective programme sections.
• Liaise with supply colleagues as well as colleagues from respective programme sections, use supply dashboards to ensure pipeline monitoring establishment of appropriate logistics capacity. Monitor progress of offshore and/or regional procurement and take action to ensure timely customs clearance of supplies entering the country. Perform research, collect data and conduct analysis produce reports and ensure information accuracy in corporate systems to enable informed decision-making.
• Provide support in logistics, following standard processes and contributing, directly or indirectly, to the effective delivery of programme supplies. Liaise with internal and external stakeholders to support logistics operations management and contribute to effective service delivery.
• Review needs for contracting of logistics third party services (e.g. customs clearance, warehousing, transport, distribution) and transmit all supporting information for contracting of such service providers including establishment of KPIs and performance monitoring mechanisms.
• Maintain and process documentation for execution of logistics operations (e.g. customs clearance, invoice verification), and take appropriate actions to resolve operational issues, escalating complex issues to the supervisor.

Alternative delivery mechanisms and procurement services as required:

• Ensures continuous availability of data related to procurement, including forecasting, requisitions received, orders placed, incoming goods, actual delivery schedules. Prepares periodic reports, and ad-hoc reports as needed.
• Assist in activities that lead to building partnerships and collaborative relations with UN organizations to support harmonized and collaborative procurement and logistics arrangements.
• Support Procurement Services (PS) transactions and projects in collaboration with programme sections and UNICEF Supply Division (SD). As appropriate, support partners on forecasting and costing of PS-channel supplies. Monitor the submission of requests, PS cost estimates, Purchase Orders (POs) and/or Copenhagen Warehouse Stock Transfer Orders on PS Sales Orders. Follow up with SD and UNICEF freight forwarders as needed on timely delivery/shipment of PS orders. Support communications and follow up with programme colleagues and partners regarding partnership requests and negotiations as required.
• Maintain up-to-date files for all Procurement Service transactions, including a system for monitoring the various stages of each transaction.
• Monitor the incoming pipeline of PS shipments. If required based on the division of responsibilities agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Cost Estimate (CE), assist the arrival, customs clearance, storage, packing and in-country distribution of PS commodities to the agreed delivery point.

Other duties/responsibilities:

• In collaboration with supervisor, Supply Division, Regional Office and the global supply community, provide input to help ensure knowledge exchange and learning is prioritized to continuously build capacity of individuals and the team. Develop and facilitate training of newcomers, provide inputs towards establishment of processes or manuals to support effective workflows.

To qualify as a champion for every child, you must have…

Education: Completion of secondary education is required, preferably supplemented by technical or university courses related to supply chain, business administration, contract/commercial law, or another relevant technical field.

Experience: A minimum of 5 years of relevant administrative experience in procurement and supply chain management or a commercial context is required. Understanding of development and humanitarian work is an advantage.

Language: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

For every Child, you will demonstrate…

Core Values:

• Care, Respect , Integrity, Trust, Accountability For more details on competencies visit Here

Core competencies (Level 1):

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Innovates and embraces change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others To view our competency framework, please click here