Procurement Assistant

As a Procurement Assistant, you will be part of the CSU. CSU’s responsibilities in terms of consulting services include: (a) providing policy advice on consulting services to user departments; (b) advising on consulting services transactions during project design and implementation; (c) processing and approving consulting services transactions as specified in consulting services guidelines, and related sections of ADB’s Procurement Policy, Procurement Regulations for ADB Borrowers, and associated staff instructions; (d) preparing, negotiating, and amending contracts for consulting services; (e) reviewing, revising, and advising on principles and procedures for consultancy, and preparing guidelines, manuals and handbooks on consultant recruitment and management; (f) maintaining the ADB Consultant Management System (CMS) and proposing design enhancements to improve transactional efficiency; (g) maintaining data and records on consultants and consulting contracts; (h) actively participating in interagency engagement on consulting services and procurement issues; (i) actively participating in consulting services innovation and efficiency initiatives, including conducting selected studies; (j) reviewing and administering the performance of ADB’s consultants and consulting contracts; (k) supporting the resolution of disputes and complaints that may arise during consultant recruitment and contracting; and (l) designing and delivering trainings, knowledge materials, and outreach to internal and external clients on various aspects of consultancy procurement.

You will:

• support the delivery of multimedia training, knowledge products, and outreach by CSU staff on consultancy, including to arrange meetings, prepare necessary request forms, edit training materials, take minutes, and disseminate event advertisements and post-event messaging through relevant internal or external channels;
• support CSU staff with performance audits of completed consultant engagements, including to prepare standard notification correspondences, arrange for document requests, digitize files for review as may be needed, and edit audit reports for publication;
• respond to standard questions from internal clients and coordinate responses to questions from consultants related to the processes and authorities involved in the individual consultant recruitment process, including to arrange meetings and take minutes between CSU staff and clients/consultants as may be needed;
• support consultant selection and contract processing in CMS through data inputting, verification, and system setup as may be needed;
• assist clients and CSU staff in the timely delivery of their tasks related to consultant selection, contracting, and management by following up on pending items and coordinating out-of-office cover within CSU as may be needed;
• support the technical evaluation process for consulting firm selections, including to arrange and take formal minutes of Consultant Selection Committee (CSC) meetings and to support proposal compliance checking and technical due diligence to the CSC Chair for decision as needed;
• coordinate correspondence among the lead negotiator, CSU staff, and the consulting firm during consulting firm contract negotiations, arrange negotiation meetings, compile required contractual and due diligence documentation, draft the letter of contract and other appendixes as may be needed, ensure appropriate signatories and dates on the final contract package, and provide advice to the lead negotiator on other contractual matters that may arise;
• input consultant contract and variation details into CMS and/or the ADB “Integrated Disbursement System (IDS)” where necessary, accurately and within service standards;
• receive, file, and track the progress and approval of contract variation requests through the responsible CSU staff;
• ensure consultant requests for debriefing are scheduled in line with standard operating procedures and that disputes, complaints, or performance-management issues that may be received to CSU are acted upon by the responsible CSU staff in a timely manner;
• schedule and take minutes of any necessary special committee meetings to decide on consultant performance or conduct issues, and processing requests to access archived performance evaluation reports (PERs) and post-assignment questionnaires (PAQs) in line with standard operating procedures;
• coordinate meetings and action points arising from design, review, and testing sessions for enhancements to related IT systems, including CMS and IDS, and proposing enhancements to improve efficiency and quality of these systems based on own experience;
• serve as standard document focal for external and internal client use and disclosure onto the adb.org website and internal Sharepoint sites;
• support the compilation of data and making inputs to regular and ad hoc reports and statistical exercises by CSU, including support to the unit’s management dashboards;
• maintain procurement and contractual data and records in line with organizational and divisional record management policies;
• arrange meetings and international travel for CSU International Staff and National Staff and handle calls and correspondence arriving for CSU staff as may be needed from time to time; and
• provide other technical and administrative support to the work of CSU and PFP2 with respect to consultancy as may be needed, including to support new initiatives and special projects that may arise.

Qualifications

You will need:

• At least a Bachelor’s degree in human resource management, procurement, supply chain management, business administration, commerce, project management, accounting, audit, law, public administration, information technology, international relations, communications, or related fields. Candidates with a related Master’s degree or other advanced credentials such as accreditation by CIPS, CIPD, PMI, PRINCE2, CPA, CMA, bar admission, CFE, or the like will be considered favorably.
• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience, preferably in an area of work that involved providing professional services to clients, supporting project management tasks, reviewing documents, and/or engaging consultants or service providers.
• Proven ability to work independently on assigned tasks and to undertake accurate and timely analysis and computations.
• Ability to prioritize work, remain organized, and meet deadlines.
• Effective report writing and communication skills in English.
• Interpersonal skills to communicate and liaise effectively with internal and external clients and consultants from over 68 nationalities, and a proven ability to work constructively in multicultural teams.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint).

Source: https://www.adb.org/careers/240322