ACDI / VOCA
Vacancy
Advertisement: Procurement
Manager – RLA & USAID KUZA Projects
RLA
& USAID KUZA Background
The
Resilience Learning Activity (RLA) is a five-year, USAID-funded initiative
(2019-2024) that supports regional, national, and local organizations and institutions
in Northern Kenya, Somalia, and the Horn of Africa to undertake analysis while
strengthening their capacities for analytics.
Facilitating
learning for adaptive management; and improving knowledge management and
communication to align with USAID’s Journey to Self-Reliance and the Horn of
Africa.
USAID
Kuza) was issued under USAID/Kenya’s Feed the Future Leader with Associates
(LWA) award as Associate Award 4 (AA4) to develop and support economic
opportunities in northern Kenya.
The activity works in in ten arid and semi-arid counties of northern Kenya (Garissa, Isiolo, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir and West Pokot).
The
goal of this activity is to improve the enabling environment for economic
opportunities, accelerate public-private investment, expand, and deepen
county-level capacity to build resilience, foster self-reliance, and reduce the
need for humanitarian assistance.
The
activity is implemented by ACDI/VOCA, in close collaboration with Frontier
Counties Development Council (FCDC) and is supported by an investment manager
and select financial institution partners.
Job
Summary: The position will be based in Nairobi and is responsible for
managing and executing procurement operations pertaining to Resilience Learning
Activity and USAID KUZA Projects operational activities and grant portfolio.
Leads
on procurement initiatives and prepares and processes requisitions, purchase
orders and contracts for materials, supplies, lease contracts and services.
Ensures
they are in conformity with company policies and procedure and USAID
regulations.
Ensures
all regular and ad hoc procurement reports and requisitions are completed in a
timely manner and met the minimum quality standards.
Position
holder reports to the Chief of Party.
Essential
Duties And Responsibilities:
· Oversees
the procurement operations in the project and ensures that procurement
functions follow ACDI/VOCA’s Procurement Manual, USAID rules and regulations,
and if applicable Kenyan law. Identify potential procurements which may require
additional USAID approval (e.g., restricted goods) and work with appropriate
project technical staff and HQ staff to obtain approvals in a timely manner.
· Liaises
with appropriate ACDI/VOCA office staff regarding procurement issues, including
compliance, as well as to ensure that the Procurement Department is adequately
meeting the needs of the project staff. Ensures all capital assets are
registered in the assets database and tagged prior to use by staff.
· Manages
the work of an assigned employee. Prioritizes, organizes, distributes, and
coordinates the flow of procurement activities. May provide necessary training,
guidance and recommendations on procurement management, job performance, and
employee professional development.
· Manages
and executes procurements associated with the project’s grant portfolio. Leads
in developing the standard pre-assessment criteria for prospective grantees.
Prepares solicitation documents, solicits all competition requirements
including advertisements for services, drafts final vendor selection or
non-competition justification for files. Maintains appropriate procurement
trackers. Maintains an inventory of grant funded items as part of the project’s
inventory tracking. Monitors the grants procurement process and ensures
completion.
· Leads
in preparation and process of requisitions, purchase orders and contracts for
materials, supplies and services. Ensures they are in conformity with ACDI/VOCA
and USAID policy. Provides advice and guidance to staff on procurement matters
for all office administration-related procurements. Analyzes procurement
requirements and selects the most appropriate methods based on interpretation
and assessment of established policies, practices and experience. Measures
vendor performance and manages vendors concerns and questions. Develops and
maintains and updated vendor list by category of items. Creates and maintains
procurement records and ensures accuracy and integrity of data.
· Plans,
organizes, and leads the bid solicitation process including drafting and
issuing RFQs and RFPs, developing bid evaluation criteria and guiding staff on
processes involved. Manages the bid evaluation process ensuring the integrity
of the competitive process. Facilitates bidder debriefings. Organizes and coordinates
technical review committees for RFQ and RFP responses. Analyzes, negotiates and
prepares contractual agreements, ensuring appropriate terms and conditions are
included to protect the interests of ACDI/VOCA. Conducts negotiations with
project vendors during the contracting stage, including: rates, discounts,
alternative fee arrangements and leverage spending. Monitors and reviews
progress of contractual agreements. Reviews invoices prior to approval for
payment, resolving any problems that arise. Performs post contract evaluations.
· Ensures
all regular and ad hoc reports regarding procurement activities are completed
in a timely manner.
Qualifications:
· Bachelor’s
degree in in relevant field is required. Preferably Business Administration,
Purchasing and Supply. A Master’s degree in a related field will be an
advantage.
· At
least five years of procurement experience, with a minimum of three years in an
equivalent position with an International NGO or an international organization
project providing development assistance.
· Must
have a minimum of one year of procurement/ contracting experience with
USAID-funded projects.
· Demonstrated
ability to manage complex procurement operations with shifting priorities and
deadline pressure.
· Strong
analytical skills, including ability to gather and analyze a variety of
information pertaining to issues and to develop appropriate recommendations for
action.
· Ability
to communicate effectively with persons on all levels both inside and outside
the company on issues that could be complex or sensitive in nature.
· Strong
written communication skills, including demonstrated ability to write required
documents in a clear, concise, well-organized manner.
· Proven
ability to effectively use databases, spreadsheet, word processing, and
position-specific software.
Application
Qualified
candidates should submit their applications to HRKenya@acdivoca.org by 13th
January 2023 indicating the position in the subject line.
Only
shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
ACDI/VOCA
is an equal opportunity employer.
