About the job

Job summary

I would like to add my personal welcome to you, and I hope that you will be inspired to join us. After 20 years working in procurement in the private sector across several industries, including manufacturing, construction and utilities, I wanted a change to work in an environment that was more personally and socially rewarding and to bring my skill set and make a difference across government spend.

The opportunity to work in the Civil Service arose and was closely followed by the creation of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), which I joined in 2016. The opportunity to work on some of the most complex and high value contracts was a challenge that was just too exciting to turn down. 

Joining the GCO has been an exciting professional challenge combined with the chance to create amazing outcomes for all of us in society and work with dedicated teams. 

The Home Office works to keep our citizens safe and our country secure. As well as working to reduce crime, enforce the law and protect our borders, it also works to protect the most vulnerable and is at the cutting edge of public policy making - our work is among the most challenging and rewarding in Government.  Our commercial teams have been at the forefront of the Department’s responses to the COVID 19 pandemic, the protection of our borders and society. 

The Home Office spends approximately £3bn each year with third party suppliers and this is managed by Commercial Directorate, a team of around 300 procurement and contract management professionals.   The range of goods and services acquired is huge and includes services to complex programmes that are unique in Europe with multi-million-pound contracts.  

At the Home Office, you will have the chance to make a real and tangible positive impact to the country’s future structure, impacting the lives across the UK and work on a broad range of Missions from Borders and Migration, Public Safety and our Homeland security, the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme, Digital Data & Technology.

What we do matters and the opportunity to turn policy into reality is at the forefront of the commercial work we do and seeing the difference it makes to our country is hugely rewarding.

Job description

These posts are within the Commercial Property Portfolio, which is there to support the HO in providing suitable, safe, secure and sustainable buildings incurring a spend over £250m per annum on outsourced Facilities Management (FM) contracts to a wide range of service providers. It is not uncommon for individual contract spend to be over £50m per annum and include a wide range of complex and innovative contractual mechanisms. We also generally spend between £150-200m each financial year on a range of projects from major refurbishments and security upgrades, to lift and boiler replacements and £180m on energy and sustainability. 

The Commercial Property Portfolio is part of the larger HO Commercial Directorate, which employs over 400 commercial professionals (including those through GCO). 

Role Summary:

The successful candidates can expect themselves to be working across a varied portfolio leading procurement and strategy development. 

One role will involve leading the property professional services category, developing a new category strategy, and leading on procurement activity for all specialist property services that support the operation and maintenance of the HO estate. This area includes procurement of contracts for estates professional services to manage property disposals, acquisitions and management of rents and rates, as well as contracts for audit and monitoring of FM suppliers, property surveys and strategic planning advice. You will also support wider strategy development for the Property category and work to proactively manage the commercial pipeline across the portfolio. 

An additional role in this portfolio will involve working as part of a wider commercial team leading procurement activity to deliver the business objectives. This Programme will aim to deliver new FM contracts across the estate that deliver an improved operating model that best meet the needs of the department. 

All roles will involve the opportunity to lead individuals or a small team of other commercial professionals. You will develop and maintain positive relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders and encourage collaborative relationships as appropriate. Your professional expertise and judgement will be relied upon and valued by senior colleagues.

Person specification

• Contract administration of a range of FM contracts, including developing and managing variations/change control and other contract mechanisms. 
• Managing the pay and performance mechanism, including validation of contractor performance and verification of payment applications. 
• Analysis and resolution of contractual issues - making effective decisions, risk mitigation and driving continuous improvement of processes.
• Provide commercial advice and support to colleagues. Addressing and resolving commercial issues and risks. 
• Comply with all Departmental controls relating to commercial practice and otherwise, including strict adherence to their delegated authorities, governance, legislation, and policy as appropriate.
• Use electronic management systems appropriately to ensure all commercial decisions are evidenced.
• Collaboration with key stakeholders, suppliers, and commercial colleagues across the department and GCO.
• Proactively work with service providers to develop innovative commercial solutions and value-added proposals.
• Support the re-procurement of the FM contracts by providing advice to the Property Transformation Programme (PTP)

Benefits

As a valued employee of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), you will have access to all the benefits the centre has to offer; including flexible working, generous benefits, Career Coaches, Mentors, L&D, a Commercial College, active talent management and, most importantly, access to commercial projects that will far exceed the scale and complexity on offer elsewhere in the UK.

For existing Civil Servants:  For full details of the impact on any move across the civil service on your existing terms and conditions, please read the candidate pack.  Please note that any move across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to continue to claim childcare vouchers.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on 14th June 2024 and will require a full day's attendance. 

If you are invited to attend a virtual ADC, but for any reason are unable to meet the date outlined then please get in touch with the team at commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible. The ADC is booked and paid for in advance by departments, therefore it is only in certain circumstances we are able to accommodate alternative dates. 

Details of schemes available are attached in the advert.

For full details of our process, and a likely timeline, please read the explanation provided in the attached candidate pack.

Throughout our selection process, we will make decisions about your capability to do the job, based on evidence you provide against the essential criteria for the role which are detailed in the attached Candidate Pack.

Your application will be reviewed by a panel and should you be successful at sift we will invite you to attend a Virtual commercial Assessment and Development Centre (VADC). The panel will review results of the VADC and determine which candidates will go through to a subsequent final panel interview.

IMPORTANT: If you do not receive an acknowledgement of your application within 2 working days please contact: commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.