Contract Management Team Leader, Panel Services Management Team

Location

Bristol, Leeds, London, Manchester

About The Job

Job summary

About The Government Legal Department

From energy to security, health to human rights, we help the Government deliver life changing law for citizens.

The Government Legal Department is the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters that are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. Our work includes:

• Developing and drafting legislation
• Providing legal advice on policies
• Ensuring value from commercial contracts worth billions of pounds
• Securing our economic and trade relationships
• Providing the Civil Service’s employment law advice

We are at the heart of delivering the Government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.

GLD is a non-ministerial government department, sponsored by the Attorney General. We are headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary and employ nearly 3000 people, including over 2000 legal professionals. Our offices include London, Leeds, Bristol, Croydon and Manchester as well as overseas. We provide specialist legal services including Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law as well as advising most Government Departments on the policies and services they deliver.

GLD also depends on a range of vital corporate services. These are essential to the smooth and efficient running of the Department and provide the foundation to enable GLD to deliver outstanding legal services. Our corporate functions include Strategy, HR, Finance, Digital, Data and Technology, Communications, Security, Commercial and Project delivery.

Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential. This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service .

To find out more about what we do visit the Government Legal Department’s webpage or have a look at this short film which showcases the breadth of work government lawyers and legal trainees are involved in.

About The Panel Services Management Team

The Panel Services Management (PSM) Team supports GLD and its central Government clients in their use of private sector law firms to supplement the work of GLD across its commercial, employment, advisory and litigation divisions.

GLD and its client Departments use the legal panels set up by Crown Commercial Service when they require legal services that cannot be delivered by GLD alone. The largest and most frequently used of these panels is the RM6179 Legal Services Panel (LSP), which provides access to 17 law firms providing (i) general legal services and (ii) finance and complex legal services. Where GLD or its clients require additional work from a law firm, they select the firm and enter into individual call off contracts with the selected firm. All 17 firms are considered “strategic suppliers” due to their importance to supporting GLD with their legal advice to Government.

The PSM Team perform two key functions to support GLD in its use of these strategic suppliers:

• Call off contract management – set up and ongoing management of call off contracts under these panels.
• Relationship management at panel level – acting as the key liaison point between GLD, client Departments and the firms to facilitate them in engaging more collaboratively to improve delivery of government objectives and increase mutual value beyond that originally contracted.

Members of the team support Departments in sourcing the correct law firm for each project and manage legal contracts for key departmental priorities and high profile litigation, working alongside our lawyers to ensure that excellent legal services are provided by our firms as and when they are needed.

Both elements of the PSM team work closely together to deliver a professional service to our GLD lawyers and their client Departments to allow them to focus on their legal work and ensure that the panel and the call offs are managed in line with best practice in procurement and contract management. The call off contract management team provide a full service to GLD’s Commercial Law Group, and a lighter touch service support to other areas of GLD.

The team supports teams from all GLD offices and individuals may be based in any of these offices, and all work flexibly. The team is critical in ensuring that GLD and Government uses the law firm panels effectively and appropriately.

The Role

We are recruiting for an enthusiastic and knowledgeable manager to lead and motivate a team of up to 10 staff in the PSM team who work on the call off contract management side of the PSM team. The successful candidate will have a unique opportunity to manage a high-profile team working across multiple Government departments and with external partners.

Key responsibilities and deliverables:

Leading and managing the team, ensuring that the team’s workload is effectively managed and recruitment is completed when this is required.

They should be able to train, motivate and develop team members in line with their job role and career aspirations, promoting a culture of inclusion, mutual support, knowledge sharing and continuous improvement throughout the team

Monitoring individual and the team performance and troubleshoot any issues or questions that arise and handling escalations and queries from the team and the lawyers and Departments that it supports

This person will lead on implementing and embedding appropriate contract management processes in the PSM Team, in line with Government Commercial Function best practice, so that GLD can ensure (and evidence) effective service delivery, legal quality and best value for money is achieved from the panel

They will manage and monitor the service provision for GLD’s Commercial Law Group (CLG) and wider GLD separately learning lessons on how each area works, and advising on best practice for the future

They will be able to encourage and facilitate the flow of market knowledge about the panel law firms and the service delivery to facilitate risk and issue management and continuous improvement, learning lessons quickly to inform future service delivery

They will be responsible for developing and continually improving the teams service to aid GLD and its client Departments with procuring and accessing legal services from panel law firms, supporting the development of procurement pipelines and strategic procurement activity where possible and optimising the use of the panel

They should have an ability to confidently communicate with a wide range of stakeholders to promote and support delivery of the team’s service, building and maintaining good relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to support PSM team members and GLD teams with developing pipelines of work and navigating governance procedures.

Person specification

Behaviours

Below are details of the Success Profile that make up this role.

You will be expected to provide evidence to show how you meet the following criteria.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service

Develop, implement, maintain and review systems and services to ensure delivery of professional excellence. Work with stakeholders to set priorities, objectives and timescales. Successfully deliver high quality outcomes that meet the customers’ needs and gives value for money. Identify risks and resolve issues efficiently. Involve a diverse range of colleagues, stakeholders and delivery partners in developing suggestions for improvements. Establish ways to find and respond to feedback from customers about the services provided.

• Developing Self and Others

Identify capability gaps for self and team. Ensure development objectives are set and achieved to address any gaps and enable delivery of current and future work. Take time to coach, mentor and develop other colleagues to support succession planning. Promote inclusiveness by respecting different personal needs in the team and use these to develop others. Reflect on own work, continuously seek and act on feedback to improve own and team’s performance.

• Leadership

Ensure colleagues and stakeholders have a clear understanding of objectives, activities and time-frames. Take into account different individual needs, views, and ideas, championing inclusion and equality of opportunity for all. Consider the impacts of own and team’s activities on stakeholders and end users. Role-model commitment and satisfaction with role. Recognise and praise the achievements of others to drive positivity within the team. Effectively manage conflict, misconduct and non-inclusive behaviour, raising with senior managers where appropriate.

• Changing and Improving

Work with others to identify areas for improvement and simplify processes to use fewer resources. Use technology where possible to increase efficiency. Encourage ideas for change from a wide range of sources. Clearly explain the reasons for change to colleagues and how to implement them, supporting individuals with different needs to adapt to change. Encourage an environment where colleagues know that they can challenge decisions and issues safely. Take managed risks by fully considering the varied impacts changes could have on the diverse range of end users.

• Communicating and Influencing

Communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner, choosing appropriate styles to maximise understanding and impact. Encourage the use of different communication methods, including digital resources and highlight the benefits, including ensuring cost effectiveness. Ensure communication has a clear purpose and takes into account people’s individual needs. Share information as appropriate and check understanding. Show positivity and enthusiasm towards work, encouraging others to do the same. Ensure that important messages are communicated with colleagues and stakeholders respectfully, taking into consideration the diversity of interests.

Experience

Essential Criteria

• You have excellent professional communication skills (written and verbal), managing active and reactive communication including leading difficult discussions and communicating with senior stakeholders
• Line management of at least one person, and preferably a small team of people including performance management and managing workloads across the team
• Active contract management of contract(s) that are key to support your organisation or its service to its clients
• Ability to manage a busy workload, prioritising to meet deadlines and planning to complete high value and important tasks

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of contract management in a public sector environment
• Knowledge of working with lawyers and/or of legal terminology

Technical

Essential Criteria

• Ability to use Excel at an intermediate level (e.g. creating basic formulas, using drop down boxes) and PowerPoint
• Proficiency in using MS Teams and Word
• Awareness of Public Procurement Regulations and GCF public procurement policy (publicly available)

Desirable Criteria

• Government Commercial Function Contract Management Foundation level qualification

Civil Service Code

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of you and other civil servants. These are based on the core values which are set out in legislation. As a civil servant, you are expected to carry out your role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values of:

• ‘impartiality’ is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions
• ‘integrity’ is putting the obligations of public service above your own personal interests
• Objectivity’ is basing your advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence
• ‘honesty’ is being truthful and open

These core values support good government and ensures the achievement of the highest possible standards in all that the Civil Service does.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Developing Self and Others
• Managing a Quality Service
• Changing and Improving

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Developing Self and Others
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,792, Government Legal Department contributes £10,204 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• An environment with flexible working options

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Application

To apply for this role you will need to complete

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities, achievements and experience.

Please note CVs will be assessed during the selection stage.

• Demonstrate behaviour Managing a Quality Service (250 word limit)
• A personal statement detailing (i) your motivation to work for GLD in this role and how you feel you will contribute effectively to such a role (ii) your suitability for the role, demonstrating how you meet the experience and technical criteria through reference to your previous experience and how this can be transferred to the role (500 word limit)
• Demonstrate behaviour Developing Self and Others (250 word limit)

You should refer closely to the essential criteria mentioned above in the Personal specification, Experience and Behaviours when completing your application, and wherever possible, demonstrate through your examples how your skills match the criteria. It will not be sufficient to reiterate the criteria; you are expected demonstrate how you have met the requirements.

For further information about Civil Service recruitment processes and Success profiles, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

Selection Process

After the closing date, the appointing panel shall assess candidates’ suitability for the role based on evidence provided in their application against the behaviours and experience outlined in the person specification.

Interview

Should you be successful and invited to interview, you will be assessed on the following during the interview stage:

• Presentation - The interview will include a presentation. Candidates will be asked to prepare a 5 min presentation on leadership and will be given one weeks’ notice of the topic.

The presentation will assess the Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing.

• Behaviour: Changing and Improving
• Experience
• Behaviour: Leadership (Lead behaviour)
• Technical

Where possible, interviews will take place in the office that you have indicated you would like to be based at. If this is not possible, they will take place remotely via video conference. Full details of the interview format will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview. The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, and all shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter.

Offer

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible after the final interview.

We appoint in strict order of merit. If you meet the minimum criteria for this position but are not successful for a post, you will be placed on the reserve list for up to 12 months. We then may contact you to see if you are interested in a post at the same, or a lower grade, in GLD should one arise.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality Requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• UK nationals
• Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window) .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : [email protected]
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]