Main purpose of job:

This role is based in Singapore within the Commercial Directorate team.

The Commercial Directorate provides end-to-end procurement and commercial solutions to deliver FCDO business, whether that’s development programmes, corporate and people services, or managing and improving our overseas estate, IT and security. Overall, the Commercial Directorate provides robust and proportionate review and assurance of FCDO’s third party spending.

Our Commercial Vision is to deliver better diplomatic and development outcomes through global commercial excellence. Our Mission Statements describe who we are:

• A trusted partner within the FCDO and by our 1HMG Partners, recognised for our skills, expertise and impact.
• We collaborate to develop innovative commercial solutions enabling the delivery of effective global diplomacy and development outcomes.
• We provide the UK taxpayer with best value for money and protect the FCDO against reputational, legal and financial risk.

This role serves a vital part of FCDO Commercial’s overall Contract Management oversight. Providing commercial support throughout the whole lifecycle of commercial activities, with a particular focus towards regional & local stakeholders whilst also developing and maintaining relationships across FCDO Commercial UK and wider Gov depts.

Responsibility will also include oversight of the FCDO Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reporting requirements to meet our Cabinet Office commitments, supporting Contract Managers across the business to achieve their required reporting commitments across the FCDO contract portfolio.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve:

1. Collaborating and Partnering:

• Represent Commercial in local and regional meetings supporting project teams in developing good Contract Management;
• Develop and maintain relationships with other key stakeholders within FCDO’s network, including JFU and other Government Departments;
• Provide experience to CBS staff, incl. regional hubs, and working with Commercial Policy Teams in the UK to develop and implement standardised Contract Management policies and processes and ensure compliance across the region.

2. Capability building:

• Act as a global liaison to support teams at post with a focus on coaching and continuous improvement through learning and development (based on International experience);
• Development of strong and supportive delivery of Commercial capability training at a regional, national and international levels;
• Identifying training gaps and progressing major trends and opportunities in training, shaping capability building and supporting activities in the geography, including regional conferences and specific accreditation training;
• Successfully articulates the learning needs addressing regional posts and can indicate clear learning objectives and outcomes.

3. Delivering a quality service:

• Monitor Contract Management performance, including through KPIs – reporting FCDO’s Global KPI performance via the Cabinet Office KPI Initiative;
• Provide training on Contract Management process, ensuring full compliance with regulatory and auditory requirements;
• Identify Contract Management strategies and opportunities to mitigate risk and drive value;
• Promote a culture that identifies and tackles fraud;
• Develop the Programme leads’ capabilities to enable them to take on more strategic commercial elements.

4. Achieving Commercial Outcomes

• Working with stakeholders, identify more effective methods of contract and supplier management to drive value and mitigate risk, both on a global & local level;
• Identify and understand any local legal and commercial limitations / constraints to help deliver agreed outcomes;
• Ensuring commercial activities delivered are compliant to Procurement Policy;
• Directly supporting team members with more complex procurement processes, ensuring the teams at post are correctly prepared to engage with Commercial;
• Develop an Engagement Tracking, so as to ascertain Commercial training and skills across the FCDO footprint.

5. Contract Management

• Take a lead in developing, implementing and delivering approved education and training so that contract management skills are enhanced across the stakeholder base;
• Leading and assisting the development and implementation of contract management plans, compliance and obligations matrices;
• Leading and assisting with contract management and performance monitoring, to deliver enduring thru-life value-for-money solutions;
• Ensure FCDO teams know how to monitoring supplier performance against KPIs, to deliver successful outcomes (time, cost, performance);
• Assisting with contract enforcement through identifying considerations, identifying performance trends, evaluating non-conformance, dispute resolution, and identifying enforcement tools and remedies;
• Specialist contract advice to teams including development of statement of requirements and contracts in close contact with the Regional Procurement Hubs and Commercial teams in the UK;
• Working closely with procurement professionals at the Embassy and in London to ensure oversight of procurement / commercial issues, including the procurement and call-offs from frameworks;
• Work effectively with customers across the network to deliver value for money and sustainable outcomes, based on Global background.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure): 

Whilst the role will be managed from the UK, there will be an expectation of an in-country reporting line to be determined via the Singapore office.

• Strong IT skills (a degree of the role will require utilisation & analysis of MI provided via various Gov systems)
• Good communicator with stakeholder engagement experience