Procurement
- Description
- Tasks
- Skills
- Useful Knowledge
- Entry Qualifications
- Professional Qualifications
- Trends
- Resources
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Organisations need to know that anything and everything they are purchasing from third-party suppliers and contractors will live up to their expectations on the basis of price, quality, delivery times and services support. This could range from a relatively small stationery order to appointing an advertising agency or an IT contractor. There’s a vast variety of goods and services, which would all filter through the procurement/purchasing team. Although the role of procurement is very closely aligned to accounting functions, many large financial organisations employ people to specifically oversee the tendering process from suppliers. You may be expected to prepare the initial tender document, cascade this out to your ‘preferred supplier list’ and ensure any open tenders are advertised accordingly. After the closing date, the assessment starts. In some instances, this may involve meeting with business managers and stakeholders to discuss each proposal. For highly valuable contracts, those shortlisted may be invited to a formal presentation or business pitch. This is when contracts are usually fine-tuned and negotiations, including costings and delivery timescales are agreed. You may then liaise with legal experts to draw up and issue formal contracts. Another aspect of procurement is ensuring suppliers and contractors are paid for their services. This may involve checking purchase orders have been issued and invoices are processed and paid.
Salary
Entry level positions, such as administrative or assistant roles, start at approximately £14,000 per annum. With the right experience, qualifications and skills you could progress to management roles and earn in excess of £50,000 per annum. This does not include potential bonuses and additional benefits. Salaries will vary considerably based on location and employer.
- Liaising with suppliers and contractors and all relevant internal departments requiring goods and services
- Developing your organisation’s purchasing strategy and communicating this to all relevant managers and teams
- Preparing open and closed tender documents, inviting responses from interested parties/suppliers
- Evaluating tenders and more detailed business bids/pitches, sharing your recommendations based on commercial and technical factors
- Negotiating prices and agreeing contracts, monitoring their progress
- Processing payments and invoices, ensuring contracted work has met expectations and been delivered on time
- Training and supervising other more junior staff members
- Ensuring all tender invitations and assessments are conducted in an ethical and fair way
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Meticulous, with good attention to detail
- Good planning, analytical and organisational skills
- Articulate, with excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Commercial awareness and good all-round business skills
- A high standard of numeracy in order to analyse facts and figures
- Comfortable leading negotiations and networking
- Confident making important decisions
- Ability to cope with the pressure of demanding targets and tight deadlines
- Tact and diplomacy
A new entrant will not always be required to have this knowledge. Employers usually provide training to acquire skills for:
- Procurement issues that affect your specific sector and organisation
- Appropriate conduct, including how to assess tenders with integrity, honesty and fairness
- The process of overseeing or drawing up contracts
- Documentation that suppliers and contractors need to complete and supporting information required
How to extract income and expenditure details for departments and assign them to appropriate cost centres
Qualifications or practical experience in business administration, accounting or credit management can be useful. Studying business, supply chain management, or even contract law, may be considered very relevant. Working in procurement requires a good understanding of numbers and the ability to communicate with customers verbally and in a written format. One way to start is as an administrator or assistant in a company's purchasing department, progressing into management positions with experience and professional qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS).
In order to gain an entry level position, employers will look for people who have:
- GCSEs, Scottish Standard Grades or equivalent qualifications such as Business, Administration and Finance (BAF) Diploma, BTEC First, Welsh Baccalaureate (BAC) Foundation and Intermediate Diploma, and Scottish National Qualifications and Intermediate 2 (SCQF Level 5)
Apprenticeships can be a useful way to gain entry and to progress on in the profession:
- Level 2 Apprenticeship in Accounting (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
- Level 3 Apprenticeship in Accounting (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
- Level 4 Apprenticeship in Accounting (England, Scotland and Wales)
Procurement staff are usually encouraged to study for NVQs or professional qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), available from Level 2 to 7. Completion of Level 6 Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply means members can use the letters MCIPS. CIPS also accredits a number of degrees in supply chain management. The Level 3 and 4 qualifications have been designed to support purchasing administrators and people new to the industry. With experience, or if working at a management level, you may enter the CIPS programme at a higher level.
The increased use of technology is driving many changes, especially in the public sector where e-procurement is being adopted, enabling more effective management of multiple suppliers. Purchasing and procurement are increasingly recognised as key to the successful business development and performance of companies across a wide range of industries and organisations. An increasing number of the professional services and accountancy practices also offer purchasing and procurement support to firms on a consultancy basis. Jobs are nationwide.
