National Procurement and Materials Management Officer (NP1)

Background:

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) is mandated to assist the Host Country in its efforts to ensure security and stability, including the fight against terrorism, violent extremism, drug trafficking and other threats; to support the country’s socio-economic and civil society development; to help protect the country’s environment; and to assist the government in the implementation of its commitments taken within the OSCE framework, including those related to the development of civil society. The Co-ordinator’s activities are carried out on the basis of jointly developed programmes and projects.
The Fund Administration Unit facilitates the implementation of the Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) Mandate by providing administrative support to the Fund and Programme Managers while ensuring compliance with the Common Regulatory Management System (CRMS).

Under the supervision of the Chief of Fund Administration, National Procurement and Materials Management Officer is responsible for ensuring that procurement, materials management, building maintenance and transport support of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan are provided and implemented according to the CRMS. This involves conducting complex and high value tenders and market researches, procurement and asset management planning, coordination of work of the procurement buyers, helpers and drivers. The incumbent plays an critical role in identification of upcoming major procurement needs, organization of complex acquisitions in the office.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

Under the overall supervision of the Chief of Fund Administration, the successful candidate will be tasked with the following duties:

Procurement
• Managing all procurement related aspects of purchasing activities related to procurement of goods, works and services for the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan and its UB and ExB projects in accordance with OSCE policies.
• Initiating tendering processes for establishing and maintaining Local Window Contracts (LWCs) and other purchases, conducting tenders in compliance with tender procedures of OSCE.
• Providing support and advice in preparation of the Terms of Reference for various acquisitions, perform administrative, technical and financial evaluation of received bids and preparing the bid evaluation reports.
• Presenting for approval evaluation summaries and Statements of Award as per applicable OSCE procurement and Contracting rules and regulations. Preparing and presenting award recommendations to the FMMC.
• Negotiating with suppliers the terms of purchases and recommending the course of action to the Program Managers and CFA;
• Conducting market research and screening suppliers, ensuring they meet OSCE requirements. Maintaining the suppliers’ database and registering them in Oracle; Undertaking supplier visits, inspecting vendor facilities and equipment, conducting due diligence
• Raising the purchase requisitions against FAU budget, reviewing purchase requisitions (PRs) raised against program budget and creating purchase orders (POs) in Oracle following the requirements of the Common Regulatory Management System (CRMS). Performing regular reconciliation and final closure of POs. Conduct IRMA trainings for newcomers.
• Maintaining contracts with local and international suppliers, verifying and negotiating the terms of purchase, payment and delivery. Answer queries from requestors on the status of acquisitions. Monitoring the performance of suppliers until delivery of goods to the Mission warehouse, ensure contractual obligations under the Mission's contracts are consistently met.

Material Management
• Advising Chief of Fund Administration and Program Managers on consistent application of the organizational policies on material management;
• Verifying compliance with OSCE CRMS, and maintaining contacts with customs and other authorities to facilitate timely clearance and delivery of goods to PCUz warehouse and regions;
• Ensuring optimal utilization/disposal of surplus or obsolete materials and equipment. Developing an annual asset requisition and disposal plan, submitting it for the review and approval to CFA;
• Managing regular physical verifications and annual inventories of the Office assets purchased for internal use and assets given on loan;
• Ensuring proper inspection, barcoding and registration of all assets in ORACLE inventory module, their proper warehousing and storage;
• Implementing all procedures and measures concerning disposal of assets: organizing sales and provide necessary input, suggesting to the PMs on assets for donation and loan, preparing loan and donation agreements, drafting FMMC and present cases to FMMC members.
• Developing and submitting to the CFA and AMU year-end inventory report in accordance with the standards provided by the AMU of the Secretariat.

3. Logistics/Transport
• Coordinating and providing optimal logistical support to the Office;
• Coordinating the work assignments of drivers and cleaning staff.
• Supporting CFA on the day-to-day management of the vehicle fleet, managing maintenance and ensuring accurate vehicle records in GPS tracking system and Fleet Wave software;
• Checking and signing vehicle daily logs and report on fuel consumption to CFA;
• Monitoring the reports on household consumption. Checking the schedule of annual leaves and overtimes taken by drivers and cleaning staff.
• Providing support to the CFA and Finance Unit in budget planning for feet and premises management expenditures;
• Supervising maintenance, repairing and facilitating management of office premises;
• Performing other related duties as assigned including Alternate CFA during absence of the latter.

Education:
• First-level university degree in business administration, commerce, supply chain management, economics, law or a related field, supplemented by additional training in Procurement/Supply/Logistics.
Experience and knowledge/skills:
• A minimum of two (2) years of professional-level experience in procurement or contracts administration, material/asset management, preferably acquired in an international organization
• Familiarity with purchasing opportunities in the duty station area and with local procurement practices; ability to negotiate with local vendors;
• Familiarity with contract management and administration approaches;
• Familiarity with asset lifecycle management, including inventory control and disposal procedures.
• High level of integrity to avoid bias in the evaluation of tenders and in negotiations with vendors/service providers;
• Practical experience in using Business Enterprise Applications such as Oracle or SAP is desirable;
• Computer literate with practical experience in Microsoft Office and project/task management software applications;
• Ability to work with people of different nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds;
• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities.
Languages:
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and local languages.

Remuneration Package: Monthly remuneration, subject to social security deduction, is USD 2152.00 as per the relevant OSCE salary scale.

Appointments are normally made at Step 1 of the applicable OSCE salary scale. In exceptional cases, an initial appointment at up to Step 3 may be considered. This depends on factors such as relevant experience exceeding minimum requirements or higher previous remuneration. Any such request by a candidate must be reviewed and approved by the OSCE before the appointment.