Procurement Assistant SC5

The Procurement Assistant provides procurement services in the WFP Kyrgyz Republic Country Office ensuring effectiveness, transparency and integrity. The role supports procurement activities including administrative tasks, contract preparation, supplier coordination, and compliance with WFP procurement policies to enable efficient field operations.

Responsibilities

• Perform administrative procurement activities in a timely and efficient manner, to support Professional staff in the acquisition of goods and services for efficient field operations.
• Compile data, prepare and distribute documents, to support successful procurement programs and operational activities (e.g. issue tenders, evaluate offers and negotiate/award contracts), ensuring standard processes are followed.
• Review, record and prioritise purchasing requests, ensuring all supporting documentation is received, and funding is available, in order to enable the procurement of goods and services.
• Coordinate and monitor the delivery of procurement requisitions, verifying receipt and inspection of deliverables, and performing follow up actions to ensure supplies reach GHQ and field operations.
• Research, collate and present information in standard formats, to enable informed decision-making and consistency of information presented to the stakeholders.
• Update, manage and maintain relevant databases and records, to ensure the information is accurate, organised, and available for others to access, and supports reporting requirements.
• Liaise with internal counterparts to support the alignment of procurement activities with wider programmes and ensure a coherent approach to meeting food assistance needs.
• Provide technical support and/or allocate work to other support staff, in order to assist them in completing standard tasks to agreed standards and deadlines.
• Follow standard emergency preparedness practices to support WFP to quickly respond and deploy food and needed resources to affected areas at the onset of the crisis.
• Prepare contracts and any supporting documentation for approval by the appropriate stakeholder, and approve purchases within delegated authority, to enable the swift purchase of goods and services.
• Support and backstopping of Procurement Associate in local food procurement activities with wider programmes and ensure a coherent approach to meeting food assistance needs.
• Ensure that UN/WFP rules, regulations, policies and strategies and WFP Food and Goods & Services Procurement Manuals and Country Office Goods & Services Procurement Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are carefully studied and strictly followed.
• Support in implementation of effective internal control, proper functioning of a client-oriented procurement management system.
• Ensure proper dissemination of ITB/RFQ/RFP via WFP’s Smart Sourcing Platform among suppliers from WFP roster as well as backward communication with suppliers on any related queries, when/if appropriate.
• Timely facilitation of bids opening, procurement analysis of the received bids, convene Local Purchase and Contract Committee (LPCC) meetings to present tender results, provide LPCC with solid justification, making prior rigid and deep analysis of the bids, market situation, follow up on LPCC recommendations, ensuring that all documentation is properly recorded and filed.
• Identify and recommend potential suppliers and compile data/documents to support the selection of suppliers, ensuring standard processes are followed.
• Carry out roster update/expansion exercise for assigned categories of goods and services.
• Brief the selected vendors on UN general rules and conditions and WFP regulations.
• Contribute to the overall office work, including assigned focal points and tasks beyond the above-mentioned responsibilities, to jointly deliver CSP results as one WFP team and perform other duties as required.

Requirements

• Completion of secondary school education.
• A post-secondary certificate in the related functional area, with internationally recognized certificates in sourcing/procurement and further university education an advantage.
• At least 5 (five) years of progressively responsible support experience in procurement or another related field.
• Fluency in both oral and written communication in English, Russian and Kyrgyz languages.
• Experience conducting analyses and developing reports.
• Experience working with suppliers or other third party on day to day basis.
• Demonstrated familiarity with locally purchased commodities/goods/services (e.g., cash based, in-kind donations) and progressively responsible procurement experience is required (national or international).
• Well organized work with accurate information/databases/reports/records.
• Sound judgment; ability to extract, interpret, analyze and format data and to resolve operational problems.
• Time management, multitasking and prioritizations.
• Ability to work with minimum of supervision; to work effectively with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Ability to work with accuracy under time constraints and pressure; to deal patiently and tactfully with staff members and others and to have a high sense of confidentiality, initiative and good judgment.
• Experience utilizing computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.), advance knowledge of automated procurement systems, experience in handling web-based management systems.
• Experience conducting supplier research and coordinating with retailers, wholesalers and traders.
• Demonstrated knowledge of procurement processes and linkages with other operations (e.g., logistics).
• General knowledge of UN system policies, rules, regulations and procedures governing procurement administration.
• Knowledge of WFP manuals, rule and guidelines in the area of procurement would be desirable.

Skills

• Procurement Support
• Supplier Coordination
• Procurement Analysis
• Report Development
• Locally Purchased Commodities
• Data Interpretation
• Operational problem solving
• Time Management
• Multitasking
• Prioritization
• Automated Procurement Systems
• Web-based Management Systems
• MS Word
• MS Excel
• Supplier Research
• Procurement Procedures
• Logistics Linkages
• UN Procurement Policies
• Contract Preparation
• Procurement Compliance

Languages

English, Russian, Kyrgyz