The role of purchasing coordinator becomes centralized
Purchasing and procurement, a sub-project within the project Harmonised professional services, has come to coordinate and centralize the purchasing coordinator organisation. Six to seven full-time positions within the organisation are being reorganized and will now be incorporated in the Central Administration.
The steering group for the project Harmonised professional services has decided on a centralized purchasing coordinator organisation where six to seven full-time positions are reorganized and incorporated in the Central Administration, thus becoming central purchasing coordinators who will coordinate and provide support to the departments.
“The central purchasing coordinators will be part of the unit for purchase and procurement. Each coordinator will be assigned to one or more departments with the expectation of providing the best possible service and support to each department. The main task is to meet the departments' needs for procurement below the threshold value, and to be a first-line support for issues concerning public procurement,” says Hannes Olsson, head of the unit for purchase and procurement and project manager for the sub-project. “There may remain a certain type of purchasing work at departmental level that does not fit into the purchasing coordinator’s role.”
Good cooperation results in good agreements
The work in the sub-project has been based in the unit for purchasing and procurement with the addition of a project group which includes purchasing coordinators from the departments. The unit for purchase and procurement is part of the finance office at the university administration.
The current challenge in purchase and procurement is to get as many agreements as possible and to manage and follow up these agreements.
“Getting a good agreement is based on good cooperation with the organisation so that the requirements are as optimal as possible. Forward planning is always a challenge when it comes to procurements,” says Hannes Olsson.
Professional and harmonised organisation
Eva Tegelberg, sub-project owner and CFO, expects the change will give KI a professional and harmonised organisation for purchasing coordination, which will hopefully lead to even better support for the core organisation.
“It has been useful to be included in a Harmonised professional services as there has been a broad anchoring of the project. The process was improved when the project was run with internal resources instead of consultants,” says Eva Tegelberg.
The goal is that the new coordinator organisation is in place before the summer. In order to begin recruitment, decisions regarding funding need to be in place.
What does a purchasing coordinator do?
The purchasing coordinator works primarily with purchases up to the threshold value of SEK 615,000 and handles direct procurement or direct purchases (sometimes also called operational purchasing), while the procurer is responsible for all types of advertised procurements.
The tasks that the central purchasing coordinators are to perform, according to the decision, made in a coherent operational support, are the following:
- advice / support
- support for call-offs (renewed competitive tenders and more)
- carry out direct procurements including quotation requests
- assist in deviation management / preparation of document templates
- assist in drawing up contracts
- handle record keeping / archiving and delivery matters for the department's purchasing matters
- first line support in education and information issues towards the department
- RFIs (request for information) and other office-based market research
- participate in supplier contacts, for example in follow-up of agreements / contact supplier when there are complaints from customers
- monitor and initiate contract extensions in consultation with the departments
- participate in reference groups for new framework agreements / find suitable participants
A Harmonised professional services
The goal of the assignment “A Harmonised professional services” is to create a harmonised, needs-adapted and optimized operational support for KI's researchers, teachers, students and leadership functions. The assignment is a part of realizing path choices and priorities in Strategy 2030.