Contract Management Assurance Officer (Ref:81609)

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Job Description

Job Title:    Contract Management Assurance Officer

Job Grade:    HEO

Reporting to:    Senior Contract Management Assurance Officer

Job Location:     National (click HERE to find your nearest location)     

Contract Type:    Permanent 

Business Area:    MOJ – Commercial & Contract Management Department 

Type of role:    Contract Management Assurance – Middle Management

Working pattern:     Flexible working, Full-time

Number of Posts:    1

About the Department:

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is a major government department, at the heart of the justice system. Responsible for courts, prisons, and probation services, we work to ensure sentences are served and offenders are given rehabilitation opportunities to become law-abiding citizens.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has one of the largest and most complex spend profiles in central government. The Commercial and Contract Management Directorate (CCMD) is responsible for coordinating procurement and contract management across the MoJ, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies. 

The MoJ spends £6.7bn a year and manages over 1000 active contracts, all of which are sourced and managed by CCMD. We are running some of the most groundbreaking programs such as Prison Reform and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service Reform. The scope of our contracts ranges from building, maintenance and the operation of Prisons, Courts, and Young Offender establishments through to food for prison dogs. The directorate also buys and manages contracts for feeding up to 80,000 prisoners, the secure escorting of prisoners from numerous establishments based around the country and translation services. 

CCMD is organised into category teams, each with an interesting portfolio of contracts and diverse customers and suppliers to manage. We also have systems, programme management office, supplier relationship and risk management teams who work across all areas.

Scope

Portfolio – The Contract Management Improvement Team

The role(s) will be an integral part of the Contract Management Improvement Team (CMIT), sitting within the Commercial Operating Centre, contributing to the establishment, development and provision of assurance and business data analysis for MoJ on the delivery of effective contract management across the Department, Executive Agencies and Arm’s Length Bodies, to reduce risk of contract management failure. CMITs role and outputs are likely to be subject to external scrutiny by the National Audit Office and Parliament.

CMIT provides strategic support to colleagues managing contracted-out services, and assurance against contract management control frameworks for the organisation.

By successfully carrying out this role, the job holder will contribute to reducing the risk of contract management failures and associated financial and reputational impacts on MoJ.

Key Responsibilities

Supporting the CMIT in the scheduling of work, including the CMIT Annual Delivery Plan. Supporting and organising the delivery of agreed assurance and support assignments and demonstrating an effective use of resources and focussed management of the tasks within agreed timescales.

•    Responsible for the identification and collation of information and evidence from a variety of sources, utilising it to form intelligence to assess the effectiveness of operational contract management across the wider MoJ.
•    Responsible for planning individual assignments and obtaining the information and evidence required for assurance of effective operational contract management from a variety of sources. This is likely to be through interviews often with more senior grades, surveys, and system and documentation review.
•    Responsible for leading and supporting reviews, utilising relevant business systems ensuring compliance with Department policies and procedures. Analyse information received, identifying any applicable issues and collaboration with relevant stakeholders to build an evidenced opinion on the effectiveness of the contract management activities reviewed.
•    Responsible for the analysis of a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data from a range of data sources drawing out key informed conclusions and/or providing recommendations or solutions to support the MoJ Outcome Delivery Plan.
•    Responsible for building and maintaining effective relationships with key customers and stakeholders, adding value as an influencer to individual business areas and the wider contract management community through the provision of recommendations, signposting and on-going support, acting on feedback from those customers and stakeholders as required.
•    Responsible for reporting and presenting outcomes of assurance activities and ensuring key customers and stakeholders are kept informed of progress.
•    Responsible for drafting, amending, and agreeing key documentation to support allocated assignments.
•    Responsible for developing and present papers and reports to senior leads, strategic level forums and governance boards across the wider MoJ.
•    Responsible for supporting an assigned focus area to ensure that outputs continue to meet the MoJ Outcome Delivery Plan. These areas currently include Assurance & Audit, Capability, Pipeline, Performance, and Risk Management, and the expectation is that you will work flexibly across these areas to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the team.
•    Responsible for day-to-day line management and tasking of others within the team.
•    Responsible for supporting the wider MoJ in the effective application of contract management processes and governance.
•    Responsible for maintaining and analysing the internal and external audit data held within the CMIT Assurance Tracker.
•    Responsible for receiving and reviewing confidential whistleblowing communications on contract management processes, referred by relevant HMPPS/MoJ/Government SPOCs, and analysing and escalating concerns appropriately.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. 

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

•    Evidence of strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly in delivering contract management advice to senior leaders
•    Excellent level of proficiency with Microsoft Office suite of products such as Outlook, Word, Teams, and Excel
•    Evidence of strong data analysis skills and presenting data in a clear and user-friendly way.

Desirable Criteria:

•    A contract management qualification and/or experience within a contract management/commercial environment
•    A qualification in Risk Management and/or Audit, or a willingness to work towards one

Application stage (Sifting):

An initial sift will be performed against the following elements:

•    Statement of Suitability (max 750 words)
•    Behaviour: Managing a Quality Service
•    Behaviour: Making Effective Decisions

Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the Statement of Suitability and Lead behaviour of Managing a Quality Service.

If shortlisted, you’ll be invited to an interview and will be assessed on the selected success profile elements at the interview stage. Please carry a valid proof of Id that has your photo on it (passport, BRP, driving licence etc) at the interview.

Interview stage:

There is one interview stage for this vacancy and as part of the interview process you will be required to provide evidence on the following: 

•    Managing a Quality Service
•    Changing and Improving
•    Delivering at Pace
•    Working Together

Strengths may also be assessed at the interview

Please use STAR approach to structure your examples.

· Situation – Describe the situation you found yourself in and what happened.
· Task – The Hiring Manager will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation that you found yourself in.
· Action – What actions did you take and how did you do it. Make sure to use “I”, not “we” to explain how your actions lead to a result.
· Result – Use facts and statistics to demonstrate the results that your actions produced. Explain whether it was a successful outcome, and if not, what you learned from the experience. 

Further information on the Success profile elements can be found on Success Profiles – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
• Telephone : 0845 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com