Vendor Support Manager, Grade VI.

Children’s Hospital Group

Job Specification and Terms & Conditions

Job Title and
Grade / Vendor Support Manager
Grade VI (Grade code 0574)
Campaign Reference / VSM-CHG.001
Closing Date / Friday 2nd February2018 by 5pm
Duration of Post / Specific Purpose Contract: The term of this post is for the duration of the project, which is expected to be approximately 3 years and will be reviewed in light of the programme of work, related to the new children’s hospital and the Paediatric OPD & Urgent Care Centres.
Location of Post / Within the geographical area of the Children’s Hospital Group (hereafter known as CHG). Exact location will be indicated at job offer stage. The CHG is based at Block A, Herberton, St James’s Walk, Rialto. Dublin 8
Context/ Background / Context/Background
The Children’s Hospital Group (CHG) is part of the acute health sector reform programme and consists of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, and the National Children's Hospital at Tallaght Hospital. The three children’s hospitals and the CHG will be moving from four separate, independently governed entities into one new single organisation in 2018 to govern and operate paediatric services in Dublin.
This new organisation will operate as a single service across the existing locations before transitioning to the new facilities at the two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres at Connolly and Tallaght Hospitals and thenew children’s hospital on the campus shared with St James’s Hospital.
The Children’s Hospital Programme is a major programme of work led by the CHG, focused on transformative service change to integrate the three existing hospitals, while maintaining existing and new services, ensuring patient safety and quality until transition is complete. It will:
  • Establish an integrated paediatric healthcare network
  • Transition the three existing independently governed children’s hospitals into a new entity
  • Act as client for the government funded capital project to build the new hospital and the two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres at Connolly and Tallaght Hospitals, and a separately funded research and education centre
  • Act as client to a major ICT programme
  • Commission, transition to and operate the new children’s hospitals and the two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres

Reporting Arrangements / The role will report directly to: Programme Director, The Children’s Hospital Group
Key Working Relationships /
  • The leadership team in the Children’s Hospital Group (CHG) including the CHG programme wide team
  • Account managers from all external support resources/vendors
  • Resources from external vendors
  • Human Resources and Finance staff within the Children’s Hospital Programme
  • Programme Management Office

Scope of the Role / This is an exciting and demanding role for a post holder who is used to working under pressure, who has strong administrative experience from a hospital, healthcare or public sector environment. In addition they will have strong communication and organisation skills, and the ability to collaborate with a wide variety of people and job functions.
The scope of this role is accountable for all activities associated with the fulfilment of the current external support contract (3 partner associations). This to include contract management, budget management, resources tracking. Resource drawdown and roll off. Knowledge transfer arrangements, induction and exit functions. Resource requirements forecasting and planning. Risk and issue management. In addition this role will oversee the change control process for resource requests both internal and externally sourced.
Purpose of the Role / The Vendor Support Manager will be responsible for contract management, driving value and performance, ensuring that contractual arrangements and activities are in line with overall sourcing policies and analysing potential risk factors of their vendors.
He/she will work with the CHG Programme Director and the CHG management team to oversee the day-to-day management of external support vendor relationships. He/she will also participate in the development of staff resource and vendor management strategies for the programme.
This role is accountable for all activities associated with effectively building and maintaining external vendor relationships, between the Children’s Hospital Programme (CHP) internal staff, vendors and other vendors working in partnership on the CHP.
The Vendor Support Manager must be comfortable working in a fast-paced, highly energised work environment and be able to maintain a high-level of tasks while handling highly sensitive, confidential information. The individual must also be able to interact with a wide variety of stakeholders, including external vendors, senior management, and all CHG colleagues
Principal Duties and Responsibilities / Relationship Management:
•Act as the primary contact with CHG staff, business partners and vendors on; performance, resources allocation, quality, timeframes and service level agreements – provide the resolution for escalated vendor-related issues
•Manage the vendor on-boarding process and going forward define and ensure the vendor meets agreed SLA’s, KPI’s and all other obligations as set out in the relevant contracts
•Work with the CHG Programme Director and the CHG management team to oversee the day-to-day management of external support vendors. He/she will also be required to participate in the development of vendor management strategies for the programme
•Establish, track and build the vendor management services under the Children’s Hospital Programme
•Meet regularly with internal staff to keep them apprised of strategic direction of current and future resource and vendor relationships
•Work closely with Finance and Human Resources on aspects of resources forecasting, budgeting and costing
Contract and Vendor Management:
•Work with the vendors to ensure greater leverage of their agreements, drive innovation and effective change, improve value for money and increase efficiencies
•Provide liaison between external support vendors, other external support vendors and the Programme leads
•Work with the procurement function as required to ensure all change requests, issues, commercial requests or changes are worked through and appropriately documented
•Act as the a contact where and as required with business functions (both CHG and HSE)
•Coordinate gathering of materials to support litigation if required
•Maintain agreement repository/history and apply record retention rules
•Ensure vendor compliance to agreement terms and conditions, company policies, standards, etc.
•When and as necessary liaise with procurement to procure additional external support for the programme as and when necessary
•Liaise monthly with each work stream to ensure that all external support resources and vendor issues are known and being met
Reporting Vendor Performance:
•Facilitate regular meeting and communications concerning resources working on projects to ensure that agreed KPI’s are achieved and maintained, monitoring results against deliverables
•Compile and analyse trends that affect budgetary needs
•Assist in the development of internal monthly management reports
•Gather performance data and provide feedback to programme leads to ensure quality
•Coordinate and track resource costs, managing cost creep and reporting issues to CHG’s finance lead
•Oversee the accuracy and timeliness of all business partners reporting
•Plan and conduct formal monthly performance reviews with each vendor
•Liaise with vendor to facilitate Quality Assurance sessions
Process and Procedures:
•Review and ensure that an agreed vendor management process is embedded and applied throughout the programme.
•Review industry/government best practices and select/implement those that would apply to the Children’s Hospital Programme
•Define and deliver effective metrics regarding supplier performance in relation to contracted services and develop vendor scorecards and dashboards
•Support the Requests for Resources Process (RFR) and the resources change control process, in line with the Programme Directors approval
•Maintain vendor information and contact list
•Develop approach and plan for knowledge transfer and ensure vendors comply with our stated objectives and that value is achieved.
•Define and deliver an induction process in relation with the Human Resources function
•Define, develop and imbed a knowledge transfer process to facilitate knowledge transfer from external support vendor resources to internal resources
•Define and deliver a roll off process; hold exit interviews with resources to glean feedback on their experience working for the CHP
•Ensure that any exiting external resources have returned security swipes and locker keys to CHG HR department on their last day
•Ensure CHP wide but external vendor specific adherence to GDPR requirements
•Take part in a yearly forecasting exercise to determine programme resources over timelines and projects from various sources
•Determine, assist and oversee resources tracking for the programme using Project Vision, Excel spreadsheet tracking
Benefit Delivery:
•Minimise or remove any overlap in services
•Improve communication between programme leads, vendors and other vendors
•Improve audit and regulatory compliance
The above is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office.
Eligibility Criteria / Essential criteria:
Qualifications:
  • Possess a relevant third level qualification in a related discipline e.g. (Business Management, Finance)
  • A minimum of 3 years post graduate experience in a relevant business environment
Skills & Experience:
  • Demonstrated strong business acumen is essential for this role
  • Demonstrated strong stakeholder management skills
  • Previous experience in a health related environment or public sector
  • Understanding of Commercial sensitivities and the need for confidentiality
  • Highly developed interpersonal, group process, organisational, and project management and documentation skills
  • Demonstrate the ability to interact in a professional manner with other health care staff and other key stakeholders
  • Strong inter-personal skills, with the ability and confidence to develop and build good relationships with key external support vendors
  • Business and Commercial Acumen
  • Strong financial and analytical skills
  • High level of Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio
Desirable criteria:
Qualifications:
  • Project Management qualification/training
Skills & Experience:
  • Vendor support experience in a similar type role, managing third party relationships
  • Experience supporting a vendor management function, vendor performance management and a strong understanding of project management methodologies
  • Experience and understanding of key principles of organisational design & workforce sizing and planning
  • Demonstrated leadership ability, proactive development, motivation and engagement skills
  • Proven ability to:
  • Work effectively at all levels in an organisation
  • Focus on predefined goals and deliver results
  • Demonstrated report writing and presentation skills
  • Excellent interpersonal skills
Health
A candidate for and any person holding the office must be fully competent and capable of undertaking the duties attached to the office and be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service
Character
Each candidate for and any person holding the office must be of good character
Age
Age restrictions shall only apply to a candidate where he/she is not classified as a new entrant (within the meaning of the Public Service Superannuation Act, 2004). A candidate who is not classified as a new entrant must be under 65 years of age.
Knowledge, Skills & Competencies / Leadership & Direction
  • Develops networks and communications systems to ensure that they are fully informed in a dynamic and challenging environment.
  • Balances change with continuity – continually strives to improve service delivery, to create a work environment that encourages creative thinking and to maintain focus, intensity and persistence even under increasingly complex and demanding conditions.
Working With & Through Others - Influencing to Achieve
  • Has significant experience in engaging with stakeholders.
  • Demonstrates the ability to work independently as well as work with a wider multidisciplinary / multi-agency team in a complex and changing environment.
  • Is persuasive and effectively sells the vision; commands attention and inspires confidence.
  • Sets high standards and puts their work and the work of the organisation into meaningful context.
  • Demonstrates understanding of role boundaries and when it is appropriate to consult and refer before acting.
Managing & Delivering Results
  • Places strong emphasis on achieving high standards of excellence.
  • Commits a high degree of energy to well directed activities and looks for and seizes opportunities that is beneficial to achieving organisation goals.
  • Perseveres and sees tasks through.
  • Champions measurement on delivery of results and is willing to take personal responsibility to initiate activities and drive objectives through to a conclusion within acceptable and predefined limitations.
Critical Analysis & Decision Making
  • Has the ability to rapidly assimilate and analyse complex information; considers the impact of decisions before taking action; anticipates problems.
  • Recognises when to involve other parties at the appropriate time and level.
  • Is willing to take calculated risks in the interests of furthering the reform agenda.
  • Makes timely decisions and stands by those decisions as required.
Building Relationships / Communication
  • Possesses the ability to explain, advocate and express facts and ideas in a convincing manner, and actively liaise with individuals and groups internally and externally.
  • Is committed to building a professional network to remain up-to-date.
  • Is committed to working co-operatively with and influencing senior management colleagues.
  • Has a strong results focus and ability to achieve results through collaborative working.
Personal Commitment and Motivation
  • Is personally committed and motivated for this complex role.
  • Demonstrates a strong willingness and ability to operate in the flexible manner that is essential for the effective delivery of the role.
  • Demonstrates a commitment to further education

Health & Safety / These duties must be performed in accordance with the hospital health and safety policy. In carrying out these duties the employee must ensure that effective safety procedures are in place to comply with the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work Act. Staff must carry out their duties in a safe and responsible manner in line with the Hospital Policy as set out in the appropriate department’s safety statement, which must be read and understood.
Quality, Risk &
Safety Responsibilities / It is the responsibility of all staff to:
  • Participate and cooperate with legislative and regulatory requirements with regard to Quality, Risk and Safety.
  • Participate and cooperate with the Children’s Hospital Group Quality and Risk and Safety initiatives as required.
  • Participate and cooperate with internal and external evaluations of hospital structures, services and processes as required, including but not limited to:
National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare
National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections
HSE Standards and Recommended Practices for Healthcare Records Management
HSE Standards and Recommended practices for Decontamination of Reusable Invasive Medical Devices (RIMD
Safety audits and other audits specified by the HSE or other regulatory authorities
  • To initiate, support and implement quality improvement initiatives in their area which are in keeping with the hospitals continuous quality improvement programme.
It is the responsibility of all managers to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements for Quality, Safety and Risk within their area/department.
Specific Responsibility for Best Practice in
Hygiene / Hygiene in healthcare is defined as “the practice that serves to keep people and the environment clean and prevent infection. It involves preserving one’s health, preventing the spread of disease and recognizing, evaluating and controlling health hazards.”
  • It is the responsibility of all staff to ensure compliance with hospital hygiene standards, guidelines and practices.
  • Department heads/ managers have overall responsibility for best practice in hygiene in their area.
  • It is mandatory to attend hand hygiene and sharps awareness workshops yearly

Competition Specific Selection Process
Shortlisting / Skills Match Meeting / In order to apply for this position, candidates should submit a C.V., highlighting relevant qualifications and experience, this must be accompanied by a covering letter, setting out their reasons for considering themselves suitable for the role and pointing to the relevant experience that illustrates how the essential criteria listed above is met.
Only those successful at the short listing stage of this process (where applied) will be called forward for interview.
The closing date for submissions of CV’s and letter of application is Friday 2nd February 2018, by 5pm. You can send your application by email to or these can be posted to Jenny Campbell, HR Officer, Children’s Hospital Group, Block A Herberton, St James’s Walk, Rialto, Dublin 8.
Informal enquiries or further information can be obtained from:
Ms Lesley Smith, Programme Director, Children’s Hospital Group,
CHG Organisational Wide Policy Unit
Grade VI (Grade code 0574)
Terms and Conditions of Employment
Duration of post / This is a specified purpose contract; the term of this post is for the duration of the project/body of work, which is approximately 3 years. This will be reviewed in light of the programme of work, related to the new children’s hospital and the Paediatric OPD & Urgent Care Centres.
Remuneration / Remuneration is in accordance with the salary scale approved by the Department of Health:
Grade VI (Grade code 0574), point 1 €46,308is the confirmed point on the scale for new entrants on the DOH payscale.