Procurement Associate [Open to internal and external applicants]

UNDP • Panama City, FL

14h

About The Position

The UNDP Regional Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean is located in Panama and serves 25 country offices (covering 42 countries and territories) in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, offering regional policy and advisory support to country programme needs, and a trustworthy source of knowledge, experiences, and resources provided by a group of experts and professionals. 

The Regional Hub works through its country offices with governments and people to create customized solutions to development challenges and thus contribute to strengthen national and local capacities and achieving sustainable development.

The Procurement Associate provides support for the execution of procurement processes for goods and/or services under the Regional Hub/RBLAC and other requesting units, implementing methodologies according to each requirement, complying with the Organization's Procurement Policies and Standards, focusing on the achievement of the following functions:

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Procurement Analyst, the Procurement Associate provides support for the execution of transparent and efficient procurement services and processes in the Regional Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean/RBLAC. The Procurement Associate promotes a service-oriented, and consistent with rules and regulations approach in the Unit.

The Procurement Associate works in close collaboration with the operations, programme and projects’  staff in the Regional Hub for LAC, HQs, UN Agencies and UNDP Country Offices in the LAC region to exchange information and ensure consistent service delivery.

Requirements

• Secondary Education is required; or bachelor's degree in economy, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, Public Administration Social Sciences or other related areas, will be given due consideration.
• Minimum 6 years with Secondary education or 3 years with bachelor's degree of progressively responsible procurement or contracting experience is required at the national or international level. 
• Proven experience in the preparation or organization, management and compendium of technical files, terms of reference, bases and evaluation tables.
• Experience in procedures for the procurement of goods and contracting of services.
• Intermediate and/or advanced knowledge in the use of computers and office software packages, especially Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Fluency in Spanish and English, both oral and written

Nice To Haves

• Experience or familiarity with the interpretation and application of United Nations or UNDP procurement policies, rules and regulations is desirable.
• Experience or familiarity with UNDP operational and reporting systems, including experience using an ERP system (i.e. Oracle Cloud, SAP or PeopleSoft), is desirable.
• Work experience with the United Nations system or international organizations is an advantage.
• Specialized certification in Procurement is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Support the review, implementation and monitoring of the Procurement Plans for the Regional Hub/RBLAC.
• Organize, coordinate and execute calls for each procurement process according to the correspondent categories and strategies: terms of reference revision, invitations, advertisements, completion of forms and requests, organize and facilitates the evaluation panels assignments, minutes preparation, review of procurement cases and submission to the Procurement Committees when appropriate, communication with bidders, contract processing.
• Prepare Purchase Orders implementing the internal control framework. Take timely corrective actions on purchase orders with budget verification errors and others. Support the projects in issues related to the delivery process of complex purchase orders, ensuring that all aspects of the logistics chain are carried out successfully and in accordance with the contract and applicable customs regulations.  Provide advice to the projects on procurement policies and strategies, as well as on complex aspects such as storage, product distribution, consultancy development, etc.
• Assist the projects in cases of non-compliance with delivery or dispatch conditions, at any point of the logistics chain, supporting the Procurement Analyst and the Head of the Operations Unit, in the follow-up and case solutions.
• Collaborate to strength the knowledge and capacities of Regional Hub/RBLAC requesting units on procurement issues.
• Perform, within the framework of experience and technical skills, other activities assigned to support the management of the Procurement Unit.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: High school or GED