Modern professional standards for public procurement specialists 2020

Finding a job that suits you today is not easy. After all, she should not only help support herself and her family, but also allow her to realize herself as a professional in her field. And most applicants who want to get an official job expect to receive a full social package and related benefits. Among the available vacancies, the position of procurement specialist is often found. What do these types of employees do? In what enterprises is there a need for them? What responsibilities should this specialist perform? Is it necessary to obtain a full-fledged higher education for this or is it enough to take courses? Purchasing specialist is a popular vacancy these days. Therefore, further in the article we will consider the answers to the above questions.

Substance of the document

What is the job description of a procurement specialist? This is a special internal document of a certain organization, which clearly and clearly sets out the basic requirements for the applicant for this position, describes the range of all his professional responsibilities, as well as official rights, the framework defining the degree of his responsibility for negligently performed work. Its presence is mandatory in any enterprise where the position of “purchasing specialist” exists. An employee's responsibilities must be properly defined in order for his function to be implemented in the company as expected. What is the latter?

Specifics of the document

Building productive working relationships involves writing a job description. It defines the basic aspects of the relationship between the company’s management and the specialist invited to work.

The heads of the organization, based on the provisions of this instruction, expect the specialist to strictly perform the specified functions. The specialist also has the right to organize his activities, avoiding the risk of imposing additional loads on him that are not specified in the DI.

The instruction is a legally binding document that serves, among other things, as a means of neutralizing conflict situations. The parties, relying on its provisions, can resolve the conflict through negotiations rather than litigation.

Specialist functions

Despite the fact that the position in question appeared relatively recently, the professional standard “Procurement Specialist” is fully formed and contains strict requirements. After all, such employees were required before. For example, similar professional functions were performed by workers enrolled in the staff of enterprises and production organizations. Then this position had a different name: logistics engineer.

So, what does the job of “purchasing specialist” mean? To put it briefly, without revealing to the reader the numerous nuances of professional duties that reflect the characteristics of work and production of a particular company, the main task of such an employee is to permanently provide the organization with any necessary materials or goods.

The general function, which is reflected by the professional standard “Procurement Specialist” (namely: providing the enterprise with the inventory and material assets necessary for its adequate functioning), among other things, also includes a fairly large number of indirect responsibilities, such as analyzing the actual quality ratio products offered by suppliers and their market value.

Purpose and structure

It is the job description, as noted above, that is one of the two main documents (the second is the employment contract concluded with the employee), which determine what a procurement specialist must do in the course of his work. The formation of this document is the primary task of management, because, according to current legislation, an employee cannot perform any duties other than those that were clearly described in the contract that he concluded during the employment process. And this document, as a rule, makes a link in the specified place, calling for reference to the job description. That is why many experts pay so much attention to it.

What should the job description of the specialist in question look like? It is important that it be drawn up in accordance with the standards and forms that are accepted in the region. So, the document in question should be drawn up in such a way that it necessarily contains the following sections:

• The first section is entirely devoted to data on the coordination and approval of the text of this document itself. To do this, everyone who took part in these processes must record this fact by putting their personal signatures with their transcripts, and also indicate the corresponding dates. As a rule, the coordination involves the legal department, the human resources department, as well as the department directly to which a certain employee will belong.
• In the next section it is necessary to list all current requirements for the candidate for the position in question. They should detail the required education, knowledge and practical skills, required work experience, as well as age and other characteristics that may be relevant to the specific position. In addition, you should provide a complete list of all documentation (including both internal regulations of the company and legislative acts of national importance), which the new employee will need to carefully read. The section in question also describes the position of the position in the general staffing table, the procedure and conditions for hiring a candidate for the position, the mechanism for dismissing or replacing an employee during his short-term absence. It is important to indicate the new employee's immediate supervisor.
• In the main section of the instructions in question, it is necessary to list everything that is expected of the employee in the course of his professional activity (all his job responsibilities, as well as rights). The more accurately the responsibilities of a specialist are described in the instructions, the greater the likelihood that the work will be performed correctly, which will benefit the enterprise. Rights are inextricably linked with responsibilities. These usually include: the right to decent working conditions; the right to receive the data necessary to perform their duties; the right to propose activities designed to improve the work process.
• The last section usually deals with what liability the employee will bear if he performs his professional duties improperly.

Sample and rules for drawing up instructions

The document must contain several mandatory sections - these are the requirements for the professional knowledge and skills of the specialist, his work tasks, a detailed description of job responsibilities (in the form of a list), as well as the employee’s responsibilities.

Expert opinion

Chadova Svetlana

Leading HR specialist, lawyer, labor law consultant, website expert

We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with a legally correct sample of an employment contract with an employee; an example of its drafting can be found here.

Requirements for knowledge and skills

The section can be placed at the beginning of the job description - for example, in “General Provisions” or highlighted as a separate paragraph. At the beginning of the document, you need to leave a space for the director’s visa “I approve”, give the full name of the specialist’s position, identify his replacement in the event of the absence of the main employee due to illness, vacation, business trip and other reasons.

The purchasing specialist must know :

• fundamentals of legislation - civil, administrative, budgetary, antimonopoly and other branches of law;
• features of accounting when evaluating purchases;
• pricing in the market, price tracking methods;
• all types of basic documents, rules for their preparation, risks of the parties (supply agreements, purchase and sale agreements, etc.);
• classification, main characteristics, assortment of product groups that the organization needs to purchase;
• procurement principles/rules;
• features of documentary support of this process;
• labor regulations and other features of working in a particular company.

A purchasing specialist must be able to :

• select suppliers based on specified criteria;
• monitor pricing, master the methodology for determining and justifying initial contract prices;
• draw up procurement and other documentation and check it;
• conduct commercial negotiations, draw up proposals;
• computer skills at the level of a confident user (office programs and programs used in the field of procurement);
• develop information databases, enter information into them, process information, correct it if necessary;
• analyze and select applications;
• evaluate completed purchases based on approved criteria, adjust further actions if necessary;
• organize payment or return of funds in cash, by bank transfer, and be able to interact with banking organizations.

The specialist must be guided in his work by :

• legislation of the Russian Federation (primarily No. 44-FZ and other laws);
• job description;
• employment contract;
• internal acts of the company.

Separately, you can prescribe the labor functions of a specialist , which essentially coincide with his responsibilities, but are formulated in a generalized form, for example:

1. Analysis of data on the needs of the organization, as well as prices for goods/services.
2. Ensuring procurement from various suppliers to meet the company's needs.
3. Preparation of documentation for the procurement procedure.
4. Carrying out procurement, drawing up all related documentation.
5. Processing the results.
6. Carrying out individual instructions from the manager within the agreed responsibilities.

Employee rights

You can separately specify the rights of the employee. He has the right to act on behalf of the organization and represent its interests before contractors, state and municipal authorities. The specialist has the right to adjust his work, make independent decisions within the framework of his authority, and also make proposals for improving the organization of activities in the prescribed manner.

Responsibility of the specialist

Responsibility is established primarily for insufficient performance or evasion of duties. In this case, a reprimand, reprimand or dismissal is applied on appropriate grounds. Liability also arises for causing damage to the company and for failure to comply with labor discipline.

At the end of the text, the employee puts a signature confirming familiarization, a transcript of the signature (last name, initials) and the date.

Features of the document

What determines the responsibilities of a procurement specialist? 44-FZ, or Federal Law, which reflects current legal requirements. According to him, the document in question has much in common with the job description of a supply specialist. However, there are a number of differences that distinguish the position of “purchasing specialist”. The responsibilities of these two workers are not identical. It is especially necessary for employees and management of large enterprises, which, as a rule, have two of these positions, to know these differences.

That is why, even before finalizing the job description, it is important to thoroughly understand the basic requirements for candidates. So, you need to know what the qualifications of a procurement specialist should be, as well as how to delimit the responsibilities of these employees.

Practice shows that the employee who is involved in purchasing has significantly more responsibilities than the one who is involved in supply. In the job hierarchy, the first position is listed significantly higher than the second. The salary level also differs in a similar way. That is why it would be logical that the requirements for a candidate for the position of “purchase specialist,” whose responsibilities are significantly more significant, should be much higher and stricter. This should be taken into account when drawing up a job description. A procurement specialist (or rather, a candidate for this position) can successfully write a resume only if he familiarizes himself with the standard requirements for the applicant in advance.

Likewise, the professional responsibilities of employees should also be clearly delineated. This will help to establish coordinated interaction both between the specialists themselves and between entire departments that are under their subordination.

Regulatory regulation of the use of professional standards

In 2015, with the adoption of Federal Law No. 122-FZ, the introduction of standards for professions into widespread practice began. Based on this Federal Law, the following acts were put into effect:

• Article 195.3 was introduced into the Labor Code, obliging the use of professional standards if qualification parameters are established for a profession in the legislation. Also, Article 57 of the Labor Code prescribed their use in cases where benefits or restrictions are legally established for a position.
• The government approved Resolution No. 584, obliging state-controlled organizations to apply professional standards. This applied both to institutions with a budgetary form of ownership and to companies from the private sector in which the state share exceeded 50 percent.
• The Ministry of Labor issued an explanation on the application of professional standards in Letter No. 14-0/10/B-2253 dated April 4, 2020.

Based on these acts, the mandatory procedure for professional standards was established:

• When an organization is controlled by the state - and this applies not only to budgetary institutions, but also to companies from the private sector.
• When aspects such as benefits, restrictions, and qualification parameters are legally established for a certain position.

In other cases, the application of professional standards occurs on a voluntary basis. Within the meaning of Part 2 of Art. 195.3 of the Labor Code they are needed as a basis for developing qualification requirements for employees. To this we must add that their use brings the following advantages to employers:

• Establishing correct criteria by which employee competencies are assessed.
• Documenting qualification requirements for job applicants.
• Updating current labor documentation, which not only facilitates personnel records management, but also reduces the likelihood of conflicts with inspection organizations (Federal Tax Service, Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, etc.).
• The emergence of a basis for requirements for employees for their additional training and retraining.

Attention! Along with professional standards, the EKS and ETKS job classifiers remain relevant. In the future, it is planned to merge them, but for now the employer can choose the preferred document.

Requirements for a purchasing specialist

The specifics of a particular profession determine a number of special requirements specific to a particular specialty that are presented to candidates for the position. And in the area under consideration there are also certain criteria. A procurement specialist is selected based on existing skills and knowledge. Thus, the candidate must:

• have an analytical mind;
• be able to make decisions even under constant stress and take full personal responsibility for their results;
• be able to process large volumes of information and competently maintain current documentation;
• have the skills of conducting business negotiations in order to achieve the desired result for the company;
• clearly understand how customs work is organized and how transport companies operate;
• be a confident user of a personal computer, as well as be able to use all the programs necessary to perform professional functions.

Among other things, any employer has the right to formulate other requirements that are necessary to ensure that the work is performed efficiently. A purchasing specialist is an important component of a company's success. For example, if a company is engaged in foreign economic activity, then such an employee may be required to know foreign languages. Therefore, it is important to write your resume correctly. Purchasing specialist is a position that allows many people to clearly realize their abilities. It's worth the risk.

Principles for implementing professional standards

Proper application of professional standards in the company’s activities requires the following measures:

• Approval of regulations, which contain key information on implementation processes: those responsible for them, deadlines, documents involved.
• Conducting research on the activities of the company and its employees. The industry specifics, the degree of workload, and the nature of the duties performed are analyzed.
• Search for professional standards and their application for changes in labor documentation.
• Implementation of evaluation criteria for employees and job applicants based on these changes.
• Implementation of changes in the organizational structure of the company: renaming positions, releasing employees from non-core functions, etc.

The results of these processes for the employer will be the opportunity to send employees for retraining, select suitable candidates for positions, and also correctly, from a legal point of view, recertify employees.

Attention! The Labor Code does not make it possible to dismiss an employee due to his non-compliance with the criteria given in the professional standard. An employer may try to apply Article 72.1 of the Labor Code by moving a subordinate to a less responsible position.

Rights

The job responsibilities of a public procurement specialist will be discussed further, but now it is important to understand what rights he has.

• Take the initiative to make a variety of proposals that could improve or facilitate the flow of the work process related solely to the performance of this employee’s functions.
• Demand absolute assistance from your immediate superior in matters related to the implementation of the employee’s rights or responsibilities.
• Require the company management to provide the department with all the necessary organizational and technical conditions, as well as the timely preparation and execution of working documents and reports that the employee needs to carry out his professional duties.
• Establish relationships between the company's divisions and certain divisions of certain third-party organizations that are necessary in order to promptly resolve emerging procurement issues, which invariably fall within the purview of the chief purchasing manager.

Responsibility

What does a leading procurement specialist include in his responsibilities?

• Monitoring and ensuring the implementation of the procurement plan for each month.
• Administrative responsibility for the disclosure of secret information, which internal company documents define as a corporate secret, and which is officially the property of a particular enterprise.
• Personal compliance with all existing house rules, as well as compliance with discipline standards.
• Carrying out procurement transactions, as well as concluding relevant contracts with various organizations or individuals, if necessary.
• Compliance with fire safety requirements and safety regulations, in order not to cause any harm to the company’s employees or its material property.
• Careful implementation of all received instructions, instructions, assignments, instructions, orders of the immediate superior, as well as the general director of the company.
• Liability for causing or facilitating the causing of both material damage and direct damage to the business reputation of the company.
• Responsibility for neglecting one’s own official duties, which is determined by the current instructions, as well as the current legislative acts of the Russian Federation.

What are professional standards?

Today, the most advanced experience is in the UK, where professional standards are one of the important elements of a complex structure for ensuring the quality of the workforce. This system includes Sector Skills Councils, which win open competitions and identify and predict the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary for the development of the country's economy. These councils are personally responsible for the quality of the standards they develop, maintain and update standards, and ensure that standards are freely and freely available to all organizations.

The UK also has vocational education and training programs that cover age groups from 14 years of age and provide links between different types of training (from foundation to postgraduate degrees). The qualifications framework consists of six levels and combines possible educational and training pathways, etc.

The specific format of the professional standard depends on the specifics of a particular industry and profession. For example, the British standard for a mechanical engineer consists of 5 sections and takes up 10 pages, the standard for an information technology technician consists of 5 sections with a total volume of three pages, and the standard for a computer game designer is presented in one table of 4 columns, contains 28 points and fits on one page.

In Russia, the term “professional standards” was first officially used in 1997 in the Program of Social Reforms in the Russian Federation for the period 1996–2000 (approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 26, 1997 No. 222).

In 2006, on the basis of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), the National Agency for the Development of Qualifications was formed and in 2007 the first layout of the professional standard was developed.

Professional standard layout:

I. General information

II. Description of labor functions included in the professional standard (functional map of the type of professional activity)

III. Characteristics of generalized labor functions

IV. Information about the organizations that developed the professional standard

In 2007–2008 The first professional standards appeared in Russia.

Working conditions

What does the job description of a procurement specialist tell us about the working conditions under which this employee must work? The employment regime of a person occupying the position in question in a company is determined by internal labor regulations drawn up specifically for an individual enterprise, as well as by an agreement concluded with new employees during the employment process. Among other things, these conditions include the need to periodically travel on business trips to perform official assignments.

Procedure for familiarizing yourself with the job description

The conclusion of an employment contract, which, in fact, marks the moment of employment, is the ideal time for the future employee to carefully study what the responsibilities of a procurement specialist are, that is, to familiarize themselves with the job description. How to record the fact that the employee was provided with all the necessary information? There are several ways. Among them are the following:

• personal signature (and its transcript), as well as the date, which indicate that the procurement specialist has already carefully studied his duties and is ready to confirm this; placed in a special magazine, which is specifically designed for these purposes;
• a separate note that the employee is fully informed, which is certified by the personal signature of the individual employee directly under the text of the job description itself, intended for familiarization of each new candidate;
• a similar mark, also certified by signature and date, which is placed under the text of an individual job description, personally prepared for an individual employee, which is subsequently attached to his personal file opened at the enterprise.

Conclusion

A purchasing specialist is a special employee of an enterprise who carries out and controls the process of supplying the company with goods, all kinds of materials, and various raw materials necessary for its production activities. This employee is also involved in the preparation and verification of all reporting documentation that is related to his direct responsibilities. Among other things, the specialist in question must have developed analytical thinking and good communication skills in order to be able to correctly assess the profitability of the proposed transaction and competently negotiate with suppliers.

It is equally important to know in practice how exactly products should be tested for compliance with the stated quality criteria. Such a specialist must be able to operate a personal computer and have a high level of knowledge of computer programs that he will need in the course of performing his main job duties; make important decisions in a short time, even under pressure and in conditions of constant stress, because the success of the entire enterprise directly depends on their effectiveness; process large amounts of information in a timely manner and draw appropriate conclusions; have an excellent understanding of the current operating conditions of customs, as well as the peculiarities of the work of individual transport companies with which this organization cooperates. These employees must understand the basic intricacies of choosing the necessary materials, understand exactly how they should be transported, and also stored so that they do not lose their useful properties and presentation. It is also desirable, and sometimes a prerequisite, to have some experience in procurement. Typically, active and energetic people are hired for this position. It is these candidates who have the chance that they will fill this vacancy.

If you are thinking about working as a procurement specialist, it is important to first study a typical job description (a standard document that precisely defines the rights, duties and responsibilities of a particular employee). This will help you get acquainted with the upcoming working conditions and find out all its subtleties in advance. This way you can understand whether it is worth continuing your attempts to get a job or whether it is better to look for something else. If everything suits you, then you need to try to make sure that you also meet all the company’s requirements. To do this, it is necessary to find out as much as possible about the organization itself, as well as about its business activity, production and sales volumes, and at the same time about the main technical features.

You should take the issue of your own employment extremely seriously. It is important to study in advance as much information as possible about the company you want to work for, as well as directly about the desired position. To do this, you need to carefully study the job description for the chosen specialty. The standard form of this document for most professions is freely available, so anyone can always familiarize themselves with it if necessary. The more seriously you are prepared, the higher your chances of getting what you want. And may your work give you only pleasant emotions!