About the job

Job summary

Procurement reform is a key component of the Government’s post-EU Exit and economic recovery work programme. Cabinet Office’s Government Commercial Function (GCF) leads for the UK Government on commercial policy, including reforming the UK’s legal framework for public procurement - the Transforming Public Procurement (TPP) Programme. This is an exciting opportunity to take on an important role supporting the senior leadership and wider policy teams, shaping the UK’s future landscape for public sector procurement.

Our team objectives are to:

• Develop and roll-out a comprehensive package of information, tools and engagement events that communicates the benefits and requirements of the Transforming Public Procurement programme to all stakeholder groups (including sector specific strategies).
• Act as intelligent client for Cabinet Office and on behalf of stakeholders for the L&D products, digital change and go-live offer.
• Deliver transparency and digital policy in the Procurement Bill (including primary, secondary legislation and guidance as well as wider government policy on open contracting).
• Design and Implement strategy and monitor Central Government Departments’ readiness for reform to ensure the benefits are realised.

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity to join the policy team leading on the delivery of the transparency and digital policy elements of these reforms.

You will 

• Lead on developing the team’s guidance offering, working closely with policy leads and wider stakeholders, to ensure that all transparency aspects of the new reforms are clearly and accurately reflected in guidance, tools, learning and development materials and digital products.
• Lead on developing and agreeing the New Burdens Assessment for the Procurement Act
• Support development of legislation and platform infrastructure by ensuring effective engagement with the digital platform team and policy leads, providing effective triage on procurement policy to facilitate delivery of the platform.
• Identify policy gaps and misunderstandings and work with policy topic leads and transparency legislation team to find solutions and details and convey those to the digital team.
• Take forward a key government priority working closely with stakeholders to undertake discovery in order to develop the platform to enable payments to be matched to contracts and supporting the development of legislation to drive this measure.
• Ensure delivery of effective user testing as an enabler to L&D and Systems programmes
• Embed transparency by default throughout the realisation of the central platform, across the commercial lifecycle from planning through procurement, contract award, performance and completion.
• Support implementation of the Open Contracting Data Standard by all contracting authorities so that data across the public sector can be shared and analysed at contract and category level.
• Maintain momentum on the government’s open contracting commitments and support the work of the anti corruption policy lead.

We are looking for someone with great project management and delivery skills. You will have excellent communication skills, experience of policy delivery and the ability to form working relations with a range of stakeholders in and outside of the centre.

This is an excellent opportunity to work within a multidisciplinary team to deliver a policy driven digital project at the heart of government.

Person specification

Key Accountabilities:

• Develop guidance on transparency related topics, coordinating input from and into other guidance-related products, learning aids, legislation and platform operation, etc.
• Contribute to digitally enabled change programme across public sector.
• Development of options and detailed plans.
• Delivery against agreed milestones and budget.
• Active management of key stakeholders often with conflicting priorities.
• Briefing senior management and Ministers on progress and on key decisions, to include ensuring Ministers are effectively briefed for debates, supporting Ministers in the box during debates, supporting engagement with MPs and Lords, handling amendments and the concessions strategy, etc.  
• Preparing analysis on data to support policy development.

Essential Criteria:

• Self-starter with excellent project management and delivery skills. Able to quickly get up to speed and lead cross-organisational work streams. 
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to draft high quality technical submissions and briefings, to ensure ministers and senior stakeholders quickly understand the implications.
• Experience of successfully ensuring that competing priorities are delivered to time and at a high quality. 
• Excellent stakeholder management, relationship building skills and ability to influence senior stakeholders.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of policy making and delivery in a complex organisation/ environment.
• Understanding of the UK's public procurement rules regime.
• Analytical competence and interest - able to transform and interpret complex information to form balanced conclusions.
• Practical procurement/commercial experience.
• Experience of working across the wider public sector.

Additional information:

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,850, Cabinet Office contributes £11,029 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

Application process

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, 250 word Behavioural Statement (Communicating and Influencing) and Personal Statement of 500 words. Behaviours will also be assessed at both sift and interview.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour, Communicating and Influencing.

 Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Selection process

Candidates successful at the application stage will be invited to a formal interview focused on the behaviours listed on the vacancy advert, this will be an online video interview. 

We will assess you against these behaviours during the selection process.

• Making Effective Decisions 
• Managing a quality service
• Delivering at pace
• Seeing the big picture

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift date – W/C  6th May 2024
Expected interview date/s – W/C 13th May 2024
Interview location -  online

Further information

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Cabinet Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: 

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 
• Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to  Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Please note that this role requires CTC clearance, which would normally need 3 years’ UK residency in the past 3 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter 

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

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 counter-terrorist 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.