Commercial Manager - Sourcing/Contract Management

Location

Salisbury & Fareham

About the job

Summary

Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory) works to maximise the impact of science and technology for the defence, security and prosperity of the United Kingdom. In order to do this, we need people who can use their skills to innovate and develop technologies, which give our country the winning-edge. We work in niche areas, which are sensitive, operationally critical and international in nature.

We are currently recruiting for a number of Contract Management focussed Commercial Managers to support the enhancing Contract Management capability within Dstl and to manage a number of our highest value, more complex and critical contracts.

We are also seeking experienced Commercial Managers with experience of public sector procurement regulations – PCR & DSPCR. You will have a varied pipeline of procurements ranging from buying lab assets to buying research and development and all that’s in between.

These are key roles in Commercial where you will be empowered to make a difference, as well as benefiting from further learning and development offerings to further grow your career.

Job description

We are looking for someone who has:

A Commercial Practitioner within the Commercial function covering Contract Management / Sourcing assignments.

Acts as the Contracting Authority for all contracts up to the level of delegation agreed.

The role provides working level direction and support to Divisions and/or Functions, operating as a supervised practitioner in their specialist area and can have a Commercial and/or Sales delegation as required.

An individual will be responsible for their own outputs, utilising knowledge gained through relevant Commercial Professionalism Programme (CPP) training and on-the-job learning.

This role may include management of a variety of contracts of varying degrees of complexity. The role is authorised to make changes to the cost and schedule for such contracts, accept deliveries (compliant and non-compliant), take enforcement steps as appropriate, conduct contractor performance management assessments, dispute resolution, post costing and close out.

The role may also support the Senior Commercial Manager to manage more complex and/or higher value contracts including complex contracts with multiple supply chains and Frameworks.

This role requires you to be familiar with the Government Commercial Operating Standards, the People Standards for the Profession and the Contract Management Handbook, available via MOD’s Commercial Hub.

Contract Management responsibilities include:

· Implementation of effective contract and supplier management strategies, to extract maximum value from contracts, motivate performance and drive innovation;

· Development and implementation of contract management plans, compliance and obligations matrices;

· Proactive monitoring and contract management, to deliver enduring through-life value for money solutions;

· Providing contract management inputs to the project schedule (project action tracker);

· Monitoring supplier performance against KPIs, to deliver successful outcomes (time, cost, performance);

· Establishing effective contract management information systems;

· Providing timely feedback on supplier performance issues, successes, and contractual risk to project leads;

· Enforcing contracts through generating considerations, identifying performance trends and taking appropriate action, evaluating non-conformance, dispute resolution, applying enforcement tools and remedies to secure consideration and compensation as appropriate; and

· Supporting allocated project team engagement with suppliers, when commercial aspects might be affected.

In this role you will:

The role involves providing advice on more complex decision making or influencing customer requirements. This would include day-to-day contact on customer issues or dealing with situations where choices are wide ranging meaning judgment or advice is required.

The role requires contract negotiation and contract management engagement with suppliers and the frequent application of commercial judgement and expertise to manage the potential complexity of these contracts and any sourcing activities. The role requires the ability to identify any potential commercial, political, and reputational risks - such as poor value for money; lack of defense equipment and support capability; or potential litigation with associated punitive costs.

Examples of the activities this role is authorised to complete include, but are not restricted to:

· Accepting deliveries (compliant and non-compliant), applying remedies, taking enforcement steps as appropriate, managing risk and reward mechanisms and terminating contracts in accordance with relevant business case approvals;

· Conducting purchasing and procurement activities within level of delegation and ensuring that sound commercial practices are being applied; and

· Negotiating with suppliers, including contract changes, when the complexity and value of the contract falls within the role's level of delegation.

The role has responsibility for making decisions that impact on the tasks and activities of others. The role also makes decisions that require complex and conflicting information, which requires that understanding, assessment and judgement be applied accordingly. These decisions may also include the allocation and rearrangement of work and staff to meet customer demand levels or internal deadlines.

Examples of the activities this role will be accountable for include but are not restricted to:

· Conducting day-to-day commercial project activities including negotiations with suppliers and entering into contractual commitments within the role's level of delegation;

· Providing commercial advice and guidance to commercial team and relevant project colleagues, to enable effective contract management activities and to improve commercial awareness;

· Conducting assessments of the potential commercial risks and implement appropriate risk mitigation strategies;

· Implementing changes to prices and schedules, negotiating and managing contract variations and conducting contractor performance management assessments;

· Conducting dispute resolution on contracts within the role's level of delegation;

· Identifying opportunities to incentivise contract delivery and driving continuous improvement including supplier development;

· Actively managing the value provided by the contract through-life, including quality of service, price reductions, and other relevant considerations;

· Considering and adjudicating contractor claims or requests for equitable adjustment; and

· Recommending (to allocated project colleagues) a balanced commercial position, taking into account subject matter expert advice (e.g. Legal, IPR, Policy).

Much of the work of the role is non-routine. The Commercial Manager is required to develop and implement significant new ideas within their own work area, which affects other service areas (e.g. policy development).

The Commercial Manager will plan in order to manage their own workload and the workload of those for whom the role is immediately responsible.

The Commercial Manager is required to develop and implement new ideas within their own work area to reach successful outcomes in contract negotiations and contract management.

The nature of the role means there is a frequent requirement to think of new ways of working and to continually improve contract delivery.

Examples of activities conducted by the role, which will require creative/innovative thinking, include but are not restricted to:

· Assisting project colleagues to develop commercial strategies that deliver value for money solutions and meet business needs;

· Applying lessons learnt from previous experience to improve contract management activity, within legislative and policy frameworks;

· Leading the development of contract and supplier management strategies for contracts within the role’s level of delegation, and assisting with those above the level of delegation, including incentive mechanisms to leverage improved equipment and service capabilities and value for money solutions;

· Making innovative recommendations to improve supplier performance and deliver best value for money solutions; and

· Assessing risks to project commercial success and implementing appropriate risk mitigation strategies, including contract enforcement and supplier development.

The Commercial Manager’s responsibilities include:

· Conducting peer contract assurance prior to internal Dstl and MOD approvals, ensuring the correct commercial policy has been implemented and assessing the commercial decisions made and the level of risk to the Department in progressing to contract award;

· Ensuring the implementation of commercial policy and cascading to staff;

· Developing of commercial staff through on the job training; skills gap analysis and informing demand priorities for forward planning;

· Supporting the allocation of commercial staff to Project Teams; reviewing timescales and resource allocation; and ensuring the required skill sets are in place;

· Supporting the provision of long term succession planning;

· Ensuring that sound commercial practices are being applied within their area of responsibility, including personally assuring the procurement strategies and proposed contracting approaches for all service provided, over which they have control;

· Consulting the Senior Commercial Manager (SCM) and/or via the Commercial Services technical management hierarchy on any novel and/or contentious cases before final decisions are taken; and

· Assuring the SCM that the Commercial elements of all requirements within their area of responsibility are robust and suitable to be presented to the Dstl Stewardship Executive Sub-Committee, the Dstl Investment Panel and/or the MOD Investment Approvals Board or other approving authorities as necessary.

The role involves responsibility for supervising people, including leading a team on a day-to-day basis, allocation of routine duties, checking of work and involvement in formal staff appraisals.

The role also requires regular direct contract negotiation and contract management engagement with suppliers.

Additional activities requiring people skills include the following:

· Responsibility for providing commercial advice and guidance to the allocated project team;

· Management of commercial resource to meet customer and project output requirements, including monitoring progress and performance; and

· Responsibility for coaching, developing and supervising allocated commercial resource, sharing knowledge and expertise; and

Deputising, as required, for the Senior Commercial Manager (SCM) contract managers.

Please see job profile for essential Skills & Experience required for this role

Responsibilities

The practitioner in role will develop their experience covering both Contract Management and Contract Placement.

Examples of these skills may include:

· The ability to demonstrate Commercial Functional competence and skills at Developing or Practitioner level, for pre-market, sourcing and post-award contract management;

· Applying commercial expertise and judgement through analysis of evidence and appropriate risk-taking;

· Identifying the most suitable commercial approach to the circumstance, including assessing the potential trade-offs and the level of risk mitigation required to achieve the best commercial outcome;

· Understanding and applying project management tools and techniques;

· Conducting a range of dialogues and/or negotiations with suppliers;

· Taking ownership of decisions at tender evaluation stage and applying commercial expertise and judgement accordingly; and

· Understanding and applying tools to monitor supplier performance including EVM, cost analysis, contract related management information systems.

The Commercial Manager may have a letter of delegation and be a commercial license holder. The letter of delegation defines commercial authority to perform the role and to enter into contractual commitments, and is dependent on gaining and demonstrating the skills and expertise required.

The role is required to provide specialist advice on their subject area to multiple stakeholders on complex issues.

Important Information

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be British Citizens who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to understand the work you will undertake to protect us from any security threats. For this reason, we regret that only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.

This role will require full UK security clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years.

Qualifications

The role requires specific knowledge acquired from obtaining the CIPS Level 4 Diploma, and the candidate is expected to be working towards the Level 5 (Advanced) and Level 6 (Professional) Diplomas.

The above represents the minimum level of knowledge required by a Commercial SME. In addition, the role requires the following:

? Completion of all Level 4 Diploma courses as defined by the Commercial Professionalism Programme; and

? The practitioner has been assessed as meeting the functional competence standards, as defined by the Commercial Professionalism Programme

Memberships

Membership of Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) (a minimum of Level 4 CIPS should be attained; the candidate should be working towards Level 5 / 6 qualification.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Working Together

Communicating and Influencing

Changing and Improving

Delivering at Pace

Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

We'll provide a great range of benefits including;

- Fully flexible working, including alternative working patterns, annualised hours, compressed hours and job share, to name a few.

- Flexible Working hours, a 12 month reference period and the ability to bank hours. Up to 20 hours can be taken in any calendar month

- Excellent learning and development to ensure everyone fulfils their potential.

- Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks full pay followed by 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid, and paternity leave of 2 weeks full pay.

- Chartership and accreditation support.

- Pension.

- Generous annual leave, with the ability to buy and sell up to 5 days holiday per year.

- A competitive salary.

- Onsite gyms and restaurants.

- Staff discounts for high street and online shopping, restaurants and days out.

Our Diversity Networks

Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution. We have a number of support networks to ensure all employees feel supported at work.

These include the following;

- Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Network

- Faith and Culture Network

- Parents and Carer Support Network

- Alternative Working Network

- Gender Equality Network

- New Starters Network

- Enabled Network, for people with visible and non-visible disabilities