Consultancy – Supply Chain – Procurement Officer

Are you a Supply Chain specialist and interested in humanitarian work?

If yes, this opportunity is for you!

We are looking for candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. We select our candidates on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

Currently, we are looking for candidates to support our operations in Rome, Italy.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian organisation delivering food assistance to over 90 million beneficiaries in 80 countries on a yearly basis. With over 5000 trucks, 50 ships and close to 100 planes on the move every single day, WFP, together with its partners, operates a global network to deliver life-saving food assistance to the most hard-to reach places.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2020 to the World Food Programme for its efforts to combat hunger and its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas.

JOB PURPOSE

Under the direct supervision of a Procurement Officer, the Consultant will be responsible for the execution of food procurement contracts. To this end, the consultant will manage and coordinate effective relationships with suppliers and inspectors’ firms to ensure quality control, specification conformity, volume assessment, monitoring and verification of deliveries.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

• Work in close collaboration with internal counterparts (Shipping and Food Safety & Quality) and external partners including suppliers, inspection companies, etc. to align procurement activities with wider programmes and ensure a coherent approach to meeting food assistance needs.
• Track and analyze data to monitor the execution of contracts and to support formulation of recommendations for process improvement.
• Collaborate with general staff assistants, acting as a point of referral and supporting them with more complex analysis and queries.
• Support tender preparation and evaluation of offers to be presented to the Procurement Committee on Contracts**.**
• Contribute towards the development of procurement plans and processes ensuring compliance with wider procurement policies and WFP standards.
• Participate in development of procurement programs and operational activities by supporting the Commodity Specialist, (e.g. issue tenders, evaluate offers and negotiate/award contracts), following standard processes to contributing to successful procurement of food commodities.
• Support and advise Country Offices for execution of contracts when needed to promote a strategic and proactive approach to the procurement of food and non-food commodities and services e.g., through provision of training sessions.
• Follow standard emergency preparedness practices to ensure WFP is able to quickly respond and deploy food and needed goods and services to affected areas at the onset of the crisis.
• Other duties as required and agreed.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT

• Streamline procurement execution process in coordination with internal and external stakeholders.
• Optimize cargo production/delivery schedule as per recipient operation pipelines and in close cooperation with suppliers.
• Resolve or escalate to higher level the disputes arising from the contract implementation.
• Keep records of contract implementation, review lessons learned, constraints and bottlenecks.
• Minimize the risk of delay and in case find mitigation measures (e.g. negotiate with suppliers, revised shipping period and duly inform the Country Office and The Global Commodity Management Facility (GCMF) when required.
• Review and process the interim and final Invoices and cargo documents in line with the contractual terms and conditions.

STANDARD MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Education

You have a Bachelor degree in administration, economics, political science, international relations, law or equivalent, supplemented with experience and training.

Experience

You have:

• A minimum of four years of progressively responsible experience in supply chain, procurement, administration or related fields, including handling transactions/ purchase of commodities/goods/services.
• Experience developing timelines and cost reports for suppliers (e.g. retailers, wholesalers and traders).
• Demonstrated experience coordinating procurement processes with other units/ teams (e.g., logistics, ICT, Administration).
• Incoterms, contract management, dispute resolution skills.

Language

• You are fluent in oral and written English and have technical writing skills;

• Intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, French, Chinese, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is desirable.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP:

http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.