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 Job Title:   Procurement
Associate 

Organization: Medical Research Council (MRC UK)
/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit

Duty Station: Entebbe, Uganda

Position Code: PA-820

Reports to: Head of Procurement

 

About US:

The Medical Research Council (MRC UK) is an internationally
recognised centre of excellence with dominant research themes in the areas of
HIV and emerging infections, vaccines and immunity, and chronic diseases and
cancer. Through a multidisciplinary approach, intersecting basic science,
epidemiological research, social-behavioural research and the conduct of new
intervention evaluation studies, the Unit contributes knowledge on changing
epidemics and diseases, the evaluation of innovative health care options,
treatment and prevention and the development of health policy and practice in
Africa and worldwide. Following the signing of strategic transfer agreements
between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and
the Medical Research Council (MRC UK), the Unit formally joined LSHTM on 1st
February 2018. The exciting new partnership will boost research capacity into
current and emerging health issues in Africa and throughout the world. The Unit
is based at the UVRI Entebbe campus with established outposts in Kalungu,
Masaka, Wakiso and Kampala Districts.

 

Job Summary:  The Procurement Associate will be in charge of
coordinating timely flow of information, updates, and documents between the
procurement team, and stakeholders; collecting analyzing procurement data and
publishing procurement performance reports. Also assists Procurement Officers
in performance some buying functions and acts in Procurement Officer Capacity
in the event of leave/ absence of a Procurement Officer.

 

Key Duties and Responsibilities:  

Collecting and providing regular updates on pending purchase requests
to users

·       
Develop, a tracking/update tool that contains
all pending purchase requests and user inquiries; update the status of each
inquiry daily and share an update with requesters daily;

·       
Check the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
tool (Microsoft Dynamics Navision) for all new purchase requisitions and add
these to the tracking/ update tool. In addition, add any new inquiries arising
outside of the ERP tool to the tracking/ update tool;

·       
Collect regular updates from Procurement
Officers and Head of Procurement on progress of their respective pending
purchase requests and update the tracking/ update tool each week with updates
that are accurate and useful to users;

·       
Check weekly shipping plan and shipping
pre-alerts from the shipping agents and update the tracking/ update tool to
show import orders that are planned for shipping, in transit, under customs
clearance or delivered to stores, rejected/ returned, pending payment, paid;

·       
Contact Shipping agents and clearing agents for
updates on import orders that are planned for shipping or undergoing customs
clearance and update tracking/update tool accordingly;

Coordinating delivery of importation orders

·       
Regularly contact and liaise with shipping
agents to inform them of orders requiring collection and orders to be delivered
to shipping agent by suppliers;

·       
Support Procurement Officers in following up
with suppliers on orders that are due for collection or delivery or delayed and
push for fulfilment or new delivery dates;

·       
Require shipping agent to provide pre-alert
documents including invoices, waybills/ bills of lading, export certificates;

·       
Contact suppliers for certificates of
conformity, certificates of analysis, material safety data sheets and any other
documents required by shipping and clearing agents for successful shipping and
customs clearance of imported consignments;

·       
Liaise with the Unit pharmacist to lodge
applications for National Drug Authority Import Verification Certificates (NDA
VCs) and with the clearing agent to apply for Uganda National Bureau of
Standards (UNBS) destination inspection for all import shipments that require
them;

·       
Request Cash or Bank Transfer payments (per Unit
Accounts Payables Policy) and coordinate with drivers and/ or accountants and
regulatory agencies to ensure payments for permits/ inspections are made in
timely fashion, and permits are provided/ inspections are conducted
accordingly;

·       
Respond to inquiries of shipping agent on orders
to be consolidated or separated from weekly shipping consignments;

·       
Instruct shipping agent when required, on
treatment of different orders, pickups, deliveries and shipments;

·       
Consult Procurement Officers on any information
needed by shipping agents and act as single point of contact between Unit and
shipping agent/ customs clearing agent.

Managing the ‘Logistics’ procurement category

·       
Be accountable for procuring logistics
requirements of the Unit, in compliance with the Unit Procurement Policies and
Standard Operating Practices, including procurement of shipping agent and clearing
agent services;

·       
Manage sourcing, selection and ordering of
services of couriers for shipment of samples, biological shipments and courier
shipments both locally and internationally;

·       
Receiving payment schedules and invoices from
logistics and clearing agents, checking accuracy of the same, submitting these
for requisitioning, approval and following up their timely payment.

Coordination of procurement component of the Unit purchase-to-pay
process

·       
Track all procurement deliveries to the Unit and
ensure these are appropriately forwarded for payment and settled in accordance
with the Unit’s Accounts Payables Policy;

·       
Regularly update the tracking/update tool with
the payment status of each outstanding order;

·       
Coordinate with the Stores department,
Procurement department, Finance department and Suppliers to troubleshoot/
investigate and resolve any contested or ‘on-hold’ deliveries and ensure these
are escalated for resolving or resolved and payments settled;

·       
Receive the Finance ‘Outstanding Pre – payments’
report and follow up with Procurement Officers, Requesters, and Stores to
provide correct updates on the status of open pre-paid orders;

Procurement performance reporting

·       
Keep track of the annual tender and initiatives
plans and produce a monthly dashboard/report on progress of completion of
tenders and initiative projects;

·       
Keep track of the annual Procurement team
targets and publish a monthly update on progress towards achieving Procurement
objectives;

·       
Collect and analyse data from the ERP tool and
other sources, on each purchase request and the different stages from need
realization to delivery. In addition, use this data to report on Procurement’s
performance in achieving service levels and turnaround times, for each purchase
request;

Provide Support to Procurement Officers

·       
Relieve Procurement Officers and perform
Procurement officer functions when a Procurement Officer is on leave, out of
office or when assigned to do so by Head of procurement;

·       
Perform any reasonable clerical actions
requested by Procurement Officers including filing, inspecting deliveries
following up with suppliers and/ or requestors on specific requests;

·       
Performing any other reasonable duties as may be
requested by the Head of Procurement from time to time.

 

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

·       
The ideal candidate for the Procurement
Associate job placement should preferably hold a Bachelor’s degree in
Procurement, Logistics, Supply Chain management, Commerce, Business
Administration, Economics, Statistics, Commerce, Accounting, or related field
required;

·       
CIPS qualification, minimum Level 5 as an
alternative to Bachelor’s degree may be considered;

·       
At least 2 years of experience in procurement or
experience in a supply chain role with significant purchasing exposure;
preferably in a donor funded setting;

·       
At least 2 years’ experience in an analytical
role, working with spreadsheets, analyzing data and producing reports;

·       
At least 2 years’ experience working with an
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system;

·       
Intermediate level user of Microsoft Excel
(Knowledge of use of MS Excel FORMULA tab and the function library therein,
DATA Tab tools and functions, consolidating data, using PivotTables and
Subtotals beyond the introductory level, Charting data and formatting Charts,
able to create compound and complex formulas, such as array formulas, able to
build spreadsheet models, dashboards and automated templates for use by lower
level users of Excel)

·       
Good knowledge of standard workplace IT – tools
such as use of computers, printers, scanners and the Windows Office suite.

·       
Good understanding of international trade,
logistics, laws, practices and Uganda customs requirements

 

How to Apply:

Follow the link below to fill a form and submit your
application documentation:

 

Click Here

 

Filling the form more than once will lead to automatic
disqualification. High level of integrity while filling the form is required
and will be considered during shortlisting.

 

The applications should be addressed to:

The Head of Human Resources,

MRC/ UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit,

P.O. Box, 49,

Entebbe, Uganda.

 

Deadline: 28^th August 2020 by 5:00pm.

 

Consider your application unsuccessful if not contacted
within eight (8) weeks after the closing date of the advert. Any form of
lobbying at any stage will lead to automatic disqualification. By submitting
your personal information, you consent to the MRC/ UVRI and LSHTM Uganda
Research Unit holding and using it in accordance with its recruitment policy
and procedure. The Unit reserves the right to verify documents attached with
the relevant awarding institutions to authenticate their validity.

 

NB: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for
interview. This position is open to Ugandan nationals only. Strictly follow the
application procedure as failure to do so will lead to automatic
disqualification.

 

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