GPS Procurement Leaders Skills Framework

The Government Procurement Service (GPS) Procurement Leaders Skills Framework (RTF, 1.3MB) has been developed to enable current and aspiring Procurement Leaders to assess their skills and identify development needs when planning and progressing their careers in the procurement profession.  It can be adopted or adapted to meet the needs of individual organisations and has a number of additional  applications, including:

• Developing job descriptions;
• Career development planning; 
• Succession planning; and
• Job redesign. 

As a tool, it will be most effective if used in conjunction with Departmental behavioural competence frameworks.

This version of the Procurement Leaders Skills Framework focuses on those skills required by Procurement Leaders who are:

• the most senior procurement professional with overall responsibility for leading and managing the procurement function and activity within a Government Department, Agency, Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), or other non-Ministerial Crown Body, or
• the person who leads and manages a procurement team that represents a significant proportion of the procurement function and that is of a size and scale to meet the criteria detailed within the Framework.

There are three key skill areas for Procurement Leaders within this Framework: 

• Specific skills required when leading a public sector procurement function - these form the main body of the framework and are structured around the Procurement Capability Review criteria.
• Generic skills required by any Civil Service senior manager - the skills most relevant to leaders within the procurement environment are identified from the Professional Skills for Government Core Skills.
• Technical procurement skills - relevant related skill areas within the GPS Skills Framework for Procurement Practitioners are referenced.

The Procurement Leaders Skills Framework has been created as a Government-wide standard to help those Departments that either do not have skills frameworks in place for Procurement Leaders or  may wish to enhance existing frameworks.  Procurement Leaders from nine Departments contributed to the design of this product.

Future Developments

The Framework is expected to change and develop over time to reflect emerging trends in the procurement profession, changes in Government priorities and procurement policy, and new delivery systems.  It may also widen in scope to encompass other senior procurement professional roles e.g. procurement professionals in senior policy roles.  A refresh is planned during the summer of 2008, to incorporate any early enhancements from user feedback."  Thereafter, it will be reviewed twice a year.  If you have any comments or contributions to make, or have questions about how to use the GPS Procurement Leaders Skills Framework, please contact  the OGC Service Desk via ServiceDesk@ogc.gsi.gov.uk or phone 0845 000 4999 or by contacting the OGC GPS direct: Toni Wynn via Toni.Wynn@ogc.gov.gsi.uk.