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Is Accredited

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Is Apprenticeship

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Skill Overview

The Procurement and Supply Assistant apprenticeship is suitable for those in junior procurement positions or just starting a career in procurement . Upon completion, typical responsibilities can extend to: •	Contributing to the sourcing of new suppliers. •	Challenging the organisational need for the purchase. •	Support and contribution to higher value activities such as construction and capital expenditure. •	Assisting with the monitoring of the commercial benefits and procurement projects. •	Supporting a wide range of procurement processes. •	Working with management to develop procurement documents. •	Basic understanding of regulations, internal policies and procedures. •	Supporting development of consistent procurement processes and procedures. •	Having strong customer focus, commercial acumen. •	Supporting supplier negotiation. •	Collating relevant management information to report to the wider procurement team and in preparation for internal/external audits. •	Working with internal and external clients to facilitate a wide range of procurement processes. •	Ability to set up, facilitate and administer e-tendering and e-evaluation systems, including management of supplier correspondence. •	Ensuring all procurement systems and databases are managed, maintained and information cleansed for accurate reporting.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the apprenticeship, Procurement Assistants will have knowledge and understanding of:  K1: The role of Procurement within the organisation and the relevant organisational procurement regulations, policies and processes which must be followed, such as, procedures for obtaining quotes and tenders, purchase order processing and purchase to pay.  K2: Value for money concepts including the balancing of quality, price and sustainable considerations or most economically advantageous tender (meat), whole lifecycle costing, 5 rights of procurement and added value opportunities.  K3: Supplier approval process and the importance of due diligence checks including legal entity checks, financial appraisal, quality checks and relevant sector approvals, certification and policies.  K4: Demand and spend management, analysis and forecasting techniques including quantitative methods such as historical usage, spend and trend analysis, inventory records and re-order levels or qualitative techniques based on stakeholders estimates using internal databases and spreadsheets.  K5: The importance of developing and managing key stakeholder relationships such as the internal customer and supplier and the need for prompt and effective communication to support efficient and effective procurement.  K6: The need for accurate specifications of requirements which reflect the organisations needs and provides equality of opportunity for suppliers when providing quotes and tenders.  K7: Levels of authority and autonomy both for self and other internal stakeholders and how that relates to the relevant procurement procedure and when issues should be escalated to senior procurement colleagues.  K8: Development and evaluation of requests for quotes and tenders and use of appropriate terms, conditions and templates.  K9: The importance of maintaining accurate records and files for procurement in line with organisational and regulatory requirements and for audit purposes.  K10: Effective and appropriate communication methods according to organisational requirements, service level agreements and the degree of risk involved and appropriate to the task required e.g. expediting supplies, resolving invoice queries and supplier review meetings.  K11: Responsible procurement practices, in making procurement decisions, consideration of the impact of those decisions during the full procurement process on the environment (the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which they operate in) and social (people or groups they work with) elements across the supply chain.  K12: Research methods for Procurement including market, supplier and sector research which may include subscription databases, market reports, internet research, trade bodies, press and events, use of market ‘experts’, supplier engagement events etc.  K13: The legal and regulatory environment effecting procurement, including the supply of goods and services act and/or public contract regulations.  K14: Awareness of the organisation’s contractual obligations towards suppliers e.g. payment terms.  K15: Understand the 4 processes of negotiation (preparation, opening, bargaining and closure).

Funding Option

Funding Eligibility

For apprentices aged 16-21 the training costs are fully funded by the government. For apprentices aged over 21, there is a 5% co-investment which would be paid by the employer. Alternatively, the training costs can be covered by utilising the Apprenticeship Levy Fund.

Skill Price ex VAT (£)

Skill Length

Skill Level

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Delivery Method

Skill Eligibility (Prerequisites for skill/software requirements)

GCSEs at grade 4-9 (A-C) or above (or equivalent) including Maths and English.

Last Application Date

Skill Enrolment

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