EO Contract Officer, Legal Services Panel Management Team x 3
Government Legal Department
Apply before Midday on Thursday 2nd May 2024
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About the job
Job summary
From energy to security, health to human rights, we help the Government deliver life changing law for citizens.
The Government Legal Department is the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters that are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. Our work includes:
- Developing and drafting legislation
- Providing legal advice on policies
- Securing our economic and trade relationships
- Ensuring value from commercial contracts worth billions of pounds
- Providing the Civil Service’s employment law advice
We are at the heart of delivering the Government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.
GLD is a non-ministerial government department, sponsored by the Attorney General. We are headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary and employ nearly 3000 people, including over 2000 legal professionals. Our offices include London, Leeds, Bristol, Croydon and Manchester as well as overseas. We provide specialist legal services including Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law as well as advising most Government Departments on the policies and services they deliver.
GLD also depends on a range of vital corporate services. These are essential to the smooth and efficient running of the Department and provide the foundation to enable GLD to deliver outstanding legal services. Our corporate functions include Strategy, HR, Finance, Digital, Data and Technology, Communications, Security, Commercial and Project delivery.
Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential. This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.
To find out more about what we do visit the Government Legal Department’s webpage or have a look at this short film which showcases the breadth of work government lawyers and legal trainees are involved in.
Job description
About the Panel Services Management Team, Commercial Law Group
The Panel Services Management (PSM) Team supports GLD and its central Government clients in their use of private sector law firms to supplement the work of GLD across its commercial, employment, advisory and litigation divisions.
GLD and its client Departments use the legal panels set up by Crown Commercial Service when they require legal services that cannot be delivered by GLD alone. The largest and most frequently used of these panels is the RM6179 Legal Services Panel (LSP), which provides access to 17 law firms providing (i) general legal services and (ii) finance and complex legal services. Where GLD or its clients require additional work from a law firm, they select the firm and enter into individual call off contracts with the selected firm. All 17 firms are considered “strategic suppliers” due to their importance to supporting GLD with their legal advice to Government.
The PSM Team perform two key functions to support GLD in its use of these strategic suppliers:
- Relationship management at panel level – acting as the key liaison point between GLD, client Departments and the firms to facilitate them in engaging more collaboratively to improve delivery of government objectives and increase mutual value beyond that originally contracted
- Call off contract management – set up and ongoing management of call off contracts under these panels
Members of the team support Departments in sourcing the correct law firm for each project and manage legal contracts for key departmental priorities and high profile litigation, working alongside our lawyers to ensure that excellent legal services are provided by our firms as and when they are needed.
Both elements of the PSM team work closely together to deliver a professional service to our GLD lawyers and their client Departments to allow them to focus on their legal work and ensure that the panel and the call offs are managed in line with best practice in procurement and contract management. The call off contract management team provide a full service to GLD’s Commercial Law Group, and a lighter touch service support to other areas of GLD.
The team supports teams from all GLD offices and individuals may be based in any of these offices, and all work flexibly. The team is critical in ensuring that GLD and Government uses the law firm panels effectively and appropriately.
The Role
We are recruiting 2 contract officers to lead on managing the invoice payment process for the call off contracts with panel law firms so that we can ensure we meet our contractual requirement to pay invoices within 30 days. We are seeking applications from individuals with an interest in progressing a career in contract management, procurement or finance. The role provides an exciting springboard to these careers, offering the successful candidates good experience in contract administration and management, an understanding of contract and departmental finance management, and provides an introduction into public procurement. This is a fantastic opportunity to work collaboratively with other team members, people in multiple Government departments, GLD lawyers and external panel law firms.
We are looking for a self-motivated team player, with the ability to prioritise your workload and be able to deliver a good quality service at pace. The successful candidate should be able to communicate confidently and effectively with a wide range of stakeholders and be confident in working collaboratively within the PSM Team.
Key responsibilities:
- Leading on managing the invoice payment process for supplier contracts, working to deadlines to arrange payment within the Government’s contractual 30 day payment timescales.
- Reviewing invoices for errors (e.g. wrong rate applied, wrong reference numbers) and ensuring that the invoices are approved for payment.
- Where errors or queries arise, raising these with the supplier and escalating any disputes as appropriate, and as quickly as possible.
- Proactively manage the GLD and Department stakeholders to ensure that invoices are approved within agreed timescales and payment is made as soon as possible within the 30 day payment period.
- Effectively monitor the contracts you are responsible for to make sure that suppliers send in work-in-progress reports and/or invoice regularly so that there are no surprises.
- Accurately update the PSM team’s contract management spreadsheets and save the necessary documents in a timely manner
- Highlight key issues to contract managers (e.g. where spend looks like it may exceed budgets), and work with them to ensure effective contract management across a portfolio of work for one or more Departments
- Develop and maintain good working relationships with positive collaborative relationships within the PSM and with key internal stakeholders e.g. GLD deputy directors, GLD lawyers, GLD accounts payable, budget holders and external stakeholders
- Manage the PSM team group email inboxes, resolving routine queries daily and escalating more complex queries to senior members of the team
- In time, where the opportunity arises, working in partnership with contract managers to support them with contract management beyond having ownership of invoicing
We are keen to ensure that successful candidates have access to a career path within the Civil Service and in particular with commercial and contract management roles. Therefore we are aligning these roles to those at “Commercial Support” standard as set out in the Government Commercial Function People Standards for the Profession (GCF).
Person specification
Behaviours
Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role.
You will be expected to provide evidence to show how you meet the criteria at interview and/or selection stage.
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a quality service (Lead behaviour)
Work with customers to understand their needs and expectations. Create clear plans and set priorities which meet the needs of both the customer and the business. Clearly explain to customers what can be done. Keep colleagues and stakeholders fully informed of plans, possibilities and progress. Identify common problems that affect service, report them and find possible solutions. Deliver good customer service which balances quality and cost effectiveness
- Communicating and influencing
Communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in writing. Take time to consider the best communication channel to use for the audience, including making the best of digital resources and considering value for money. Interact with others in an enthusiastic way. Express ideas clearly and with respect for others. Listen to and value different ideas, views and ways of working. Respond constructively and objectively to comments and questions. Handle challenging conversations with confidence and sensitivity.
- Delivering at pace
Regularly review the success of activities in the team to identify barriers to progress or challenging objectives. Identify who and what is required to ensure success, set clear goals and areas of responsibility and continually assess workloads considering individual needs. Follow relevant policies, procedures and legislation to complete your work. Ensure colleagues have the correct tools and resources available to them to do their jobs. Have a positive and focused attitude to achieving outcomes, despite any setbacks. Regularly check performance against objectives, making suggestions for improvement or taking corrective action where necessary. Ensure that colleagues are supported where tasks are challenging
- Making effective decisions
Take responsibility for making effective and fair decisions, in a timely manner. Analyse and research further information to support decisions. Talk to relevant people to get advice and information when unsure how to proceed. Explain how decisions have been reached in a clear and concise way, both verbally and in writing. Demonstrate the consideration of all options, costs, risks and wider implications, including the diverse needs of end users and any accessibility requirements.
Experience
Essential Criteria
- Excellent professional communication skills (written and verbal), with ability to lead on active and reactive communication
- Ability to prioritise competing tasks to balance completing urgent tasks and routine tasks within deadlines
- Be able to identify issues/concerns timely and raise them with the appropriate stakeholder promptly
- Good working knowledge of using Microsoft packages Word, Teams and Outlook
- Ability to accurately input into and use key functions of MS Excel (e.g. filtering, simple formulas, provide summary data)
Desirable Criteria
- Experience of working within a team and providing support to a team
- Ability to manage own workload proactively, working on own initiative within challenging deadlines
- Experience of working in financial sector or contract administration role
- Knowledge of payment processing within a central government department
- Knowledge of working with lawyers and/or of legal terminology
- GCF Contract Management Foundation level qualification
Civil Service Code
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of you and other civil servants. These are based on the core values which are set out in legislation. As a civil servant, you are expected to carry out your role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values of:
- ‘integrity’ is putting the obligations of public service above your own personal interests
- ‘honesty’ is being truthful and open
- 'objectivity’ is basing your advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence
- ‘impartiality’ is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions
For further information about Civil Service recruitment processes and Success profiles, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Managing a Quality Service
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Application
To apply for this role please submit the following online on Civil Service Jobs before 12:00 Midday 2nd May 2024:
- a name blind CV detailing work history, experience, qualifications which will be scored and assessed.
- a personal statement detailing (i) your motivation to work for GLD in this role and how you feel you will contribute effectively to such a role (ii) your suitability for the role, demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria through reference to your previous experience and how this can be transferred to the role (750-word limit)
- demonstrate Behaviour: Managing a quality service (250-word limit)
You should refer closely to the essential criteria mentioned above for Personal specification, Experience and Behaviours when completing your application, and wherever possible, demonstrate through your examples how your skills match the criteria. It will not be sufficient to reiterate the criteria; you are expected to illustrate how you have met the requirements.
If there is a high number of applicants, the panel reserve the right to sift on the lead behaviour only, otherwise it will be a full sift. The also panel reserve the right to increase the pass mark if there is a high number of applicants passing on the minimum criteria.
Selection Process
After the closing date, the appointing panel shall assess candidates’ suitability for the role based on evidence provided in their application against the behaviours and experience outlined in the person specification
Interview
Should you be successful in being invited to interview, you will be assessed on your performance in all essential criteria as listed in the Person Specification, alongside scenario based exercises and strength-based questions. Candidates invited to interview will be given further information on the day and time to prepare.
- Behaviour: Communicating and influencing
- Behaviour: Delivering at pace
- Behaviour: Making effective decisions
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.
Interviews will probably take place remotely via video conference, full details of the interview format will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview. The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, and all shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter.
Offer
Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible after the final interview.
We appoint in strict order of merit. If you meet the minimum criteria for this position but are not successful for a post, you will be placed on the reserve list for up to 12 months. We then may contact you to see if you are interested in a post at the same, or a lower grade, in GLD should one arise.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Ella Ellis
- Email : Ella.Ellis@Governmentlegal.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : activecampaigns@Governmentlegal.gov.uk
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact Caroline.Anerville@governmentlegal.gov.uk in the first instance.
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.
