POLAND Reimbursable Advisory Services Agreement on Supporting Poland in the Implementation of its State Purchasing Policy (P179835) DELIVERABLE 1b Report on dissemination and communication of the proposed guidelines for the competency framework June 2024 Revised August 2024 Disclaimer This work is a product of the staff of the World Bank. The findings, interpretation, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work and does not assume responsibility for any errors, omissions, or discrepancies in the information, or liability with respect to the use of or failure to use the information, methods, processes, or conclusions set forth. 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This report has been delivered in June 2024, revised in August 2024, under the Reimbursable Advisory Services Agreement on Supporting Poland in the Implementation of its State Purchasing Policy (P179835) signed between the Polish State Treasury, acting through the Minister of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Poland for the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Poland and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development effective December 21, 2022. It corresponds to Deliverable 1b under Component 1 Professionalization, activity (iii) provide technical advice to two procuring authorities selected by the Client in their application of the guidelines endorsed by the Client as well as the ProcurCompEU toolkit and facilitate two (2) online dissemination sessions of the guidelines endorsed by the Client, including the preparation of communication materials, taking into account the evidence generated as part of the application by the selected procuring authorities. Acknowledgements This report was written under the co-ordination of Carmen Călin (co-Task Team Leader / Procurement Specialist) by Valeria Nikolaeva (Int. Procurement Expert), Piotr Bogdanowicz (Public Procurement Expert), Dorota Kowalska (Communications Expert) and Joanna Bazylak (Local Coordinator). The Team is grateful for the constant support provided by Olga Katarzyna Kucharska (Program Assistant). The report was written under the guidance of Simon Chenjerani Chirwa (Practice Manager, Procurement - Europe and Central Asia) and Marcus Bernhard Heinz (Resident Representative). The Team is very grateful for the excellent cooperation with the officials of the Economic Regulation Improvement Department within the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology: Mr. Przemysław Grosfeld (Deputy Director), Łukasz Malinowski (Chief Specialist) and Mariusz Ciosek (Coordinator). The Team would like to express its gratitude to the representatives of the two entities who joined the pilot projects and provided valuable feedback, namely Ms. Ewa Ropka from Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Budgetary Management Institution and Ms. Anna Krasińska from Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Olsztyn. The Team is grateful to all other stakeholders who took time to meet during the online interviews and the dissemination sessions, including during the World Bank mission organized within the scope of the project: Ms. Agnieszka Tyburek-Andrzejewska and Ms. Anna Majewska from Regional Center for Blood Donation and Blood Treatment in Bydgoszcz, Ms. Monika Sarach and Ms. Agata Zaborowska from Provincial Police Headquarters in Gdansk, Senior captain Ph.D. Eng. Bartłomiej Tatka from Municipal Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Krakow, Mr. Bartłomiej Szpilarski from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Mr. Ryszard Gajewski and Mr. Andrzej Konarzewski from the Ministry of Finance, as well as Ms. Agnieszka Dubaj- Presia from the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy for providing valuable feedback. 1 Table of Contents Summary ............................................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1 Current implementation of ProcurCompEU within the State Purchasing Policy’s framework ... 7 1.1. Overview ............................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2. Guidelines for contracting authorities on the introduction of ProcurCompEU .................................... 9 1.3. Pilot projects ....................................................................................................................................... 15 1.4. Lessons learnt from contracting authorities on the introduction of ProcurComp EU ........................... 19 Chapter 2 Communication to enhance the implementation of the ProcurComp EU ...................................... 22 2.1. Why communication matters? ............................................................................................................. 22 2.2. Communication within the current SPP .............................................................................................. 22 2.3. Communication plan to advance the implementation of the ProcurComp EU ...................................... 23 Chapter 3 Conclusions and way forward ......................................................................................................... 25 3.1. Key findings and recommendations .................................................................................................... 25 3.2. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 28 Annex 1 Revised guidelines for contracting authorities on the introduction of ProcurComp EU ................. 29 Annexes to the ProcurCompEU guidelines ............................................................................................................ 48 Annex A: Competency Matrix for Public Procurement Professionals ................................................................. 48 Annex B: Example job profiles and target proficiency levels from the SPP (Chapter VIII and Annex 3) ........... 81 Annex C: Examples of job profiles and target proficiency levels where procurement is only part of the job ...... 86 Annex D: The self-assessment questionnaire (from Annex 4 of the SPP)............................................................ 92 Annex E: Example Question & Answer handout to support communications with staff ..................................... 98 Annex 2 Communication brochure/brief ................................................................................................. 100 Annex 3 List of representatives of contracting authorities that participated in online focus groups (22-23 November 2023) ................................................................................................................................................ 105 Annex 4 Who are the entities participating in the pilots? ............................................................................. 107 Annex 5 List of questions for collecting feedback on the guidelines and experiences in implementing ProcurCompEU (lessons learnt) ........................................................................................................................ 110 Annex 6 List of participants in the Workshop on the dissemination of the ProcurComp EU guidelines and sharing of experience (24 May 2024)............................................................................................................... 111 List of Figures: Figure 1 Roles and responsibilities of the main actors in SPP implementation in the professionalization area and the link with the civil service HRM process ........................................................................................................... 8 Figure 2 6Es approach .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 3 Possible strategies to catalyze change depending on the potential/ability to act and willingness to change. .................................................................................................................................................................. 12 Figure 4 Location of the CAs that participated in the focus groups. .................................................................... 13 Figure 5 Contracting authorities that participated in the focus groups by number of procurement procedures, number of practitioners and stage of ProcurComp EU implementation. ................................................................. 14 Figure 6 Challenges and benefits from ProcurComp EU imlpementation .............................................................. 20 List of Tables: Table 1 Contracting Authority Survey: Responses on the highest stage of ProcurCompEU implementation reached compared to the number of procurement procedures carried out in 2022 ............................................... 11 2 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations EC European Commission EU European Union HCS Head of the Civil Service HR Human Resources HRM Human Resource Management OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development MEDT Ministry of Economic Development and Technology PCJ BMI Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Budgetary Management Institution PP Public Procurement PPO Public Procurement Office PSES Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Olsztyn RAS Reimbursable Advisory Services SME Small and Medium Enterprises SPP State Purchasing Policy 3 Summary Context 1. The public procurement function plays a key role in meeting the European Union’s (EU) strategic goal of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge- based economy in the world and securing the benefits of sustainable economic growth and social cohesion for Poland, in addition to ensuring value for taxpayers’ money. As part of its Strategy for Public Procurement (PP), the European Commission (EC) issued the Recommendation on the professionalization of public procurement in 2017 1 which highlights the need for adoption of professionalization policies to support the capacity development of contracting authorities. At the same time, ProcurCompEU - the European competency framework for public procurement professionals - was developed to support the professionalization of public procurement. 2. In line with the European Commission’s Recommendation on the professionalization of public procurement, the Polish State Purchasing Policy (SPP) recognizes professionalization of public procurement as one of its key objectives . This report provides insights on the ProcurCompEU implementation in Poland based on the interactions with and feedback from selected contracting authorities during the preparation, refinement, and dissemination of the ProcurCompEU guidelines and communication brief as part of the Reimbursable Advisory Service (RAS) Agreement between the World Bank and the Polish Government. The report corresponds to activity (iii) of Component 1 Professionalization, namely: provide technical advice to two procuring authorities selected by the Client in their application of the guidelines endorsed by the Client as well as the ProcurCompEU toolkit and facilitate two (2) online dissemination sessions of the guidelines endorsed by the Client, including the preparation of communication materials, taking into account the evidence generated as part of the application by the selected procuring authorities. 3. The activities are a follow up of the previous work conducted by the Bank under the Professionalization component, summarized under Deliverable 1 Report on the analysis of the status of professionalization in public procurement and proposed guidelines for the implementation of ProcurCompEU, approved on December 15, 2023. Main contents are presented below: a. The analysis of the current status of professionalization of public procurement professionals in Poland provided an overview of the main functions and the institutional landscape for public procurement and reviewed the legal and policy framework for public employees and the current treatment of public procurement professionals in that context. It described the HR management of public administration, the different categories of public officials, and the recruitment pathways for these. It also explored the opportunities and constraints in relation to performance management, professional development, reward (both financial and non-financial) and retention. It provided an assessment of capacity and capability, highlighting the central role played by the PPO, and outlined approaches to professionalization and skills development, how training needs are identified and sources of training provision, including 1 English version: https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/tools-public-buyers/professionalisation-public- buyers_en#recommendation-on-professionalisation Polish version: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/PL/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32017H1805 4 through the public sector, private sector and universities. It also provided an overall high level assessment of how the public procurement system performs, identified the main gaps and challenges and recommended potential ways to address them. b. The guidelines for contracting authorities on the introduction of ProcurCompEU focuse on the practical aspects related to the application of the different tools of ProcurCompEU which were incorporated into the SPP. The guidelines are intended for managers in contracting authorities responsible for implementing the SPP who are encouraged to apply them during the staged process of introduction of ProcurCompEU. The guidelines provide details on the main aspects to be take into consideration when going through each stage of the process explained in the SPP. In addition to the existing job profiles set out in the SPP, several new example job profiles were provided to cover hybrid roles with a substantial procurement component, to fit in with the needs identified at interview and in the survey. The guidelines have been developed for use as a standalone document, that can be grouped and disseminated as a tool on its own once agreed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology. As highlighted in Deliverable 1 Report, the available data at system level shows a low implementation rate of ProcurCompEU. The SPP requires the central government authorities to go through the first 4 phases of ProcurCompEU by the end of 2023 and inform the Public Procurement Office (PPO) accordingly. So far, the PPO has received aggregated information from only 2 authorities for 92 supervised entities2 in total, which is less than 5 % (4.5%) of all central government authorities3. Within the above context and as a natural continuation of the previous work done under the project, the first chapter of this report provides an overview of ProcurCompEU implementation experience from selected contracting authorities4. The overview is complemented with lessons learned and recommendations from the two contracting authorities piloting the application of the ProcurCompEU guidelines developed under the project. The document provides details on how the insights, shared by both procurement managers and procurement professionals, were used for refining the the ProcurCompEU guidelines and for development of a communication brief to facilitate the ProcurCompEU uptake rate at country level. The report’s second chapter is focused on the potential of communication to enhance the ProcurCompEU implementation. The report provides an analysis of the communication measures envisaged in the current SPP and recommends additional ones, including a detailed communication plan for the current and a communication strategy for the future SPP. The third chapter of the report is focused on findings and recommendations at system level which could further enhance the ProcurCompEU uptake and the professionalization process. The recommendations are based on the feedback provided by all contracting authorities met during the project implementation, the analysis reflected in the Deliverable 1 on Analysis of professionalization status in Poland as well as on evidence from contemporary behavioral research. The report recommends phased approach to ProcurCompEU implementation and professionalization as a whole, so that the initial efforts could be concentrated on those groups 2 The SPP requires general administrative bodies and voivodes to aggregate information on ProcurComp EU implementation from their supervised entities prior to submitting it to the PPO. 3 As per the Contracting Authorities Survey conducted by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology in June 2023, the total number of central government authorities respondents was 2 053. 4 The Bank team met and got feedback from representatives (both managers and procurement professionals) of 23 contracting authorities from 10 cities around Poland 5 of stakeholders where the change would bring the greater impact at system level. This presupposes tailored interventions at central level, which presumes (i) availability of data both on procurement system performance and on professionalization of procurement professionals and (ii) central authority/ies trusted by most stakeholders to lead the reform, collect data, design interventions to enable, engage, exemplify and encourage the specific group/s of stakeholders to take action, and frequent evaluations to adjust the process. Good coordination and timely exchange of data should be ensured in case more than one authority is involved in the process. The findings and recommendations on the way forward could be summarized as follows: 1. Lack of timely and sufficiently accurate data on procurement system performance and public procurement profession to inform the interventions at system level in Poland. Recommendation: Attempts should be made for ensuring availability of timely and sufficiently accurate data on both procurement system performance and the public procurement profession at system level. 2. The Public Procurement Office is uniquely positioned to lead the reform process, but the agency lacks the required resources and its statutory responsibility in the professionalization area is not well clarified. Recommendation: The statutory responsibility of the President of PPO for supporting the implementation of professionalization set out in the SPP should be clarified and made explicit. The PPO should be given the additional resources required to enable it to carry out work on professionalization in other recommendations. 3. According to the available data at system level the ProcurCompEU has a low implementation rate. Recommendation: The ProcurCompEU implementation could be enhanced with wider dissemination of the ProcurCompEU guidelines and the communication brochure as part of a well-thought through communication plan. Recommendation: The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology should consider developing a communication strategy to supplement the next SPP. Its development and implementation should be based on evidence, with targeted interventions tailored for the different stakeholders’ group profiles so that to achieve the desired impact. 4. Communication, data exchange and coordination between the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and the PPO on professionalization of public procurement is not sufficient. Recommendation: The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and the PPO should consider designation of a joint MEDT-PPO team responsible for the overall coordination of the professionalization activities, including the communication plan. Recommendation: The joint team MEDT-PPO should ensure that the results achieved under the SPP are communicated to a wider audience in a transparent manner and on regular basis. 6 Chapter 1 Current implementation of ProcurCompEU within the State Purchasing Policy’s framework The ultimate result of this exercise is that our jobs and professions will gain appreciation and raise public awareness about what we do and how important our public procurement work is. At the end of the day, public authorities and institutions are spending taxpayers’ money, and it is in their interest to ensure that the process es are open, transparent, and delivered by competent professionals. Anna Krasińska, Head of Public Procurement and Organization Section, Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Olsztyn Procurement staff and managers should be appreciated and recognized for their work. Numerous high-level competencies are required to carry out the procurement process correctly and effectively. It demands focus and engagement from staff who must possess diverse qualifications and work at different organizational levels of public institutions. Ewa Ropka, Director, Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Budgetary Management Institution 1.1. Overview In line with the EC’s recommendations the reform activities envisaged in the State Purchasing Policy (SPP), including the professionalization agenda, have high level political support. The relevant provisions in the current public procurement legislation also ensure policy’s continuity across political cycles as well as SPP’s alignment with the objectives and directions set out in the country’s medium-term development strategy. The main responsibility at central level for the overall management of the public procurement professionalization agenda envisaged in the State Purchasing Policy lies with the Minister responsible for the economy, who is in charge of SPP’s development, coordination, monitoring and evaluation. The President of the Public Procurement Office, as the government administration body competent in matters of public procurement, is required to support the Minister for the monitoring of the SPP’s implementation as well as for providing training and education activities at central level. The main addressees of the policy are the central government authorities and bodies reporting to the government administration. They are responsible to take action to enhance their capacity and the competencies of their staff in the PP area. While the SPP’s measures are not mandatory for the remaining contracting authorities, they are strongly encouraged to follow them. Figure 1 provides more details with regard to the roles and responsibilities of the main actors in the implementation of the SPP in the professionalization area. The figure also shows the link between the procurement professionalization process and the civil service human resource management process. 7 Figure 1 Roles and responsibilities of the main actors in SPP implementation in the professionalization area and the link with the civil service HRM process Even with high level political support, transforming public procurement from a purely administrative to a strategic function is still quite a complex endeavor. The highly decentralized system in Poland with 14 000 contracting authorities and the fact that the main responsibility for staff training lies with the individual contracting authorities makes a consistent behavioral change at system level quite a challenging task. It requires not only change in public procurement practitioners’ mindset and behavior but demands also similar changes by their colleagues in the line departments and the respective managers. Such a transformation anticipates a shift in societal attitude towards the public procurement function as well. The current State Purchasing Policy therefore envisages the professionalization of public procurement to be implemented at three interrelated levels – individual, institutional and societal. At the level of the individual public procurement practitioner, the policy envisages active participation in the implementation of the ProcurCompEU competency framework complemented with training activities and access to best practices and guidance via a new online knowledge exchange platform. All these activities aim at building the capacity and competences of public procurement practitioners. At institutional level, the measures provide contracting authorities with a powerful new approach to assess, manage and to further develop their human resources in the public procurement area. In addition to the adoption and use of the new human resources management approach represented by the ProcurCompEU, the contracting authorities are encouraged to participate in horizontal and vertical cooperation to supplement their capacity and enhance the procurement efficiency of their teams. 8 At societal level the SPP provides for measures to facilitate interactions and enhance the communication with and feedback from the public so that the government could improve its performance and image as a public service provider. All those measures are planned to be complemented by promotional and communication campaigns aiming to facilitate the envisaged changes at all three interaction levels – individual, institutional, and societal. The ProcurCompEU implementation, as one of its first and most critical steps, has a multipurpose role and has the potential to bring multiple benefits for all participants in the procurement professionalization process. The individual procurement practitioners could use the tool to inform their training and professional development plans and to improve their career prospects. Similarly, contracting authorities could use the tool to further improve the capacity of their procurement teams and enhance their performance in the public procurement area. At system level, the SPP’s mechanism for data collection on competency gaps could help the PPO to have a better overview of the training needs and thus be better prepared to organize training and educational activities. Finally, if the summarized data on the competency gaps is shared publicly with training providers/ universities this could help the market meet the demand for external training. It will also provide a clear positive signal to the public that the government administration has identified its gaps in terms of knowledge and skills in the procurement area and is making efforts to overcome those. The uptake rate among the contracting authorities of the ProcurCompEU is therefore critical for the success of the professionalization agenda. One of the main tools for enabling and facilitating contracting authorities in this process is the guidelines on the introduction of ProcurCompEU drafted under the RAS project. 1.2.Guidelines for contracting authorities on the introduction of ProcurCompEU The main objective of the guidelines is to ensure consistency at system level and to enable and encourage the contracting authorities and procurement practitioners to consider and implement the changes implied by ProcurCompEU. Influencing behavior change is not a linear process5. Changing current behaviors or encouraging the adoption of new ones requires a lot of interventions and interactions and according to contemporary change theories “models of change tend to be circling, incorporating feedback loops”6. To ensure that most of the available behavioral change tools are considered in the process of drafting and disseminating the guidelines, the Team referred to and customized the 6Es model – one of the contemporary overarching approaches for influencing behavior7 used in policy contexts (Figure 2). The approach provides a tool of possible interventions which, depending on the willingness and potential for change of the different stakeholders, could be used in various combinations to catalyze change. For example, some stakeholders who are willing and have the potential to change, including the potential to be among the frontrunners of the change process, would benefit from more active engagement/involvement in the process’ design and/ or to become a member of a peer group. Later, they could be used to lead by example and encourage those who are reluctant to initiate the change. There may be others who are willing to change but are not capable of due to lack of resources and know-how. Provision of guidance 5 Darnton, A. (2008). Reference Report: An overview of behaviour change models and their uses. 6 Ibid. 7 The initial 4Es framework was developed by DEFRA in 2005. Later the approach was further developed by the UK Behavioural Insights Team through its Mindspace report (Dolan, P., Hallsworth, M., Halpern, D., King, D. and Vlaev, I. (2010) MINDSPACE: influencing behaviour for public policy. Institute of Government, London, UK) 9 and resources could enable them to initiate the change. Other stakeholders lacking the willingness and capacity to change, may need a different mix of measures – in their case to encourage them (with incentives and /or regulatory measures), enable them (additional resources, guidance and training) and provide practical example from their peers which they could easily follow. Each group of interventions includes a suite of potential measures, some of which are indicated in Figure 2. The same approach could be used for the whole professionalization process. Figure 2 6Es approach Source: Adapted from Darnton (2008) and Dolan et al (2010) Considering the approach and the tools it provides, the Team planned the drafting and dissemination of the guidelines in the following main stages and steps: Drafting of ProcurCompEU guidelines 1. Analysis of the status of ProcurCompEU implementation and plan a way forward (Explore and plan) – July – October 2023 2. Development of the first draft of the guidelines on the basis of the analysis and the initial feedback – October – November 2023 3. Use focus groups to get feedback/get key insights from different stakeholders (Explore and engage) – November 2023 Dissemination of ProcurCompEU guidelines and further finetuning 4. Pilots - provide technical advice to pilot contracting authorities in their application of the guidelines as well as the ProcurCompEU toolkit and get their feedback on the guidelines (Enable, encourage and engage) 10 5. Get additional feedback on the guidelines and collect lessons learnt from ProcurCompEU frontrunners (Engage and exemplify) 6. Conduct a dissemination workshop of the guidelines combined with exchange of experiences and lessons learnt (Engage, enable, encourage and exemplify) 7. Drafting of a communication brochure (based on the feedback provided during the pilots, additional discussions and the workshop) to further disseminate the guidelines and enhance the ProcurCompEU implementation (Encourage, exemplify and engage) Monitoring and Evaluation 8. Development of M&E framework to trace progress and close the feedback loop (Evaluate) (subject to a separate report under the project) The following paragraphs provide more details on the first stages of drafting of the ProcurCompEU guidelines. The analysis of the Y2023 survey of contracting authorities by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology showed that most of the central level contracting authorities, including most of the larger ones, had not made much progress in ProcurCompEU implementation after one year of SPP implementation (Table 1). Number of procurement procedures completed in 2022 Stage 101 501 6 to 11 to 21 to 31 to 51 to > 0 1 2 to 5 to to Total 10 20 30 50 100 1 000 500 1 000 Not yet completed 673 245 425 170 180 72 73 76 31 2 1 947 Stage 1 Stage 1 10 2 11 5 5 2 7 2 2 46 Stage 2 2 3 8 6 8 3 3 3 1 37 Stage 3 1 1 3 3 1 9 Stage 4 3 3 2 1 3 1 1 14 Total 688 251 442 187 194 82 87 82 37 2 1 2 053 Table 1 Contracting Authority Survey: Responses on the highest stage of ProcurComp EU implementation reached compared to the number of procurement procedures carried out in 2022 Source: World Bank Team analysis of survey results Among the main reasons for the lack of progress pointed out by the respondents in the survey are lack of knowledge, lack of guidance and lack of time. In order to get further insights from various stakeholders, the Team planned to organize three focus groups – one focus group with procurement managers from central contracting authorities, one focus group with procurement managers from local contracting authorities and one focus group with procurement practitioners from both central and local contracting authorities. As contracting authorities differ in size, capacity, location, availability of resources, etc. their involvement and engagement in the professionalization process would require different approaches and different mix of interventions. Figure 3 presents possible strategies to enhance change depending on the entities’ potential/ability to act and willingness to change. 11 Figure 3 Possible strategies to catalyze change depending on the potential/ability to act and willingness to change. Source: Adapted from Defra (2008)8 To ensure widest possible representation, the Team used the following criteria, based on the survey results, for selection of the participating entities: location, stage of ProcurCompEU implementation, number of procedures conducted in 2022 combined with the number of procurement practitioners. While the number of conducted procedures on its own, without information about their complexity, size and type, does not give much information about the contracting authority, combined with the number of procurement practitioners, it provides some indication about the size of the contracting authority. The selection exercise resulted in 3 focus groups, comprising representatives of 13 contracting authorities, 7 based in Warsaw and 6 from different parts of Poland (see the different location on the map - figure 4). 8 Defra (2008), A Framework for pro-environmental behaviors 12 Figure 4 Location of the CAs that participated in the focus groups. Source: Google MyMaps Figure 5 provides more information about the contracting authorities that participated in the focus groups in terms of number of procurement practitioners, number of procurement procedures conducted in 2022 and reached stage of ProcurCompEU. The CAs that have not completed stage 1 at the time of the conduct of the survey are colored in red, the ones that have reached stage 2 are in yellow and the ones that have completed stage 3 are in green. As could be seen from figure 3, the selected entities represent contracting authorities of various sizes and at various stages of ProcurCompEU implementation. Annex 3 includes a list of contracting authorities and their representatives that participated in the online focus groups in the period 22 -23 November 2023. 13 Figure 5 Contracting authorities that participated in the focus groups by number of procurement procedures, number of practitioners and stage of ProcurCompEU implementation. Source: World Bank Team analysis of survey results The focus group discussions outlined the following key points to be taken into account in the guidelines: • Top management’s support and involvement is critical – thus they could ensure the participation of all relevant stakeholders. • Coordination with other units is important (HR, line departments). • Line departments’ staff should be involved in the process as well. • A lot of preparatory work is needed prior to initiation of the process (solid knowledge). • It is important to reassure staff about the aim of the ProcurCompEU. Communication therefore is vital both prior to and during the process. • Need for simplification for smaller contracting authorities. 14 The revised guidelines part of the Deliverable 1 Report included the following features, covering the key points outlined during the focus groups: • The guidelines are intended for managers in contracting authorities responsible for implementing the SPP. • One additional step “Step 0” is included focused on preparation and communication. • Additional guidance is provided on how to simplify the process for smaller contracting authorities. • Additional examples are included of job profiles and target proficiency levels where procurement is only part of the job. • Example Question & Answer handout is included to support communications with staff. 1.3. Pilot projects 1.3.1. Objectives and approach In agreement with the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, three entities were invited to participate in the pilot of the European competency framework for public procurement professionals ProcurCompEU: • Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Budgetary Management Institution (PCJ BMI), a centralized procurement body for the judiciary with 11 people within the Public Procurement Department and other 16 people within the Control and Contract Execution Department, • Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station (PSES) in Olsztyn, a small contracting authority with four procurement staff and 10 employees from line departments involved in public procurement, • a local authority (i.e. a municipality). Further details on the mandate and structure of the entities are presented in Annex 4. The main objectives of the pilot projects were to: • guide the entities throughout the process of application of the ProcurCompEU tools, based on the guidelines developed under the project (part of Deliverable 1) (Enable), • gather feedback on the guidelines, in particular related to their practical application and need for adjustment so that they better support the ProcurCompEU implementation (Explore), • obtain information on what else, if anything, entities need to manage ProcurCompEU implementation (Explore), • gather experiences and lessons learned that could be communicated to a wider audience, both central and local authorities (Explore and exemplify). The implementation of the pilot projects began in January/February 2024 with an online opening meeting with each entity to discuss the organization of their procurement processes, the training activities undertaken for procurement practitioners, the scope of the ProcurCompEU 15 implementation process done so far, the planned course of the pilots and details of support from the Team while moving through the next stages of the process. The implementation of the pilot projects lasted until the end of April 2024. Representatives of contracting authorities shared experiences and insights gained during the implementation of ProcurCompEU, as well as opinions on the guidelines developed by the Team, during online debriefing meetings and the wider dissemination workshop organized in Warsaw on May 24, 2024. Ultimately, two entities completed the pilot as the local authority decided to withdraw their participation in the pilot considering that they had already designed and implemented their own process (modelled on ProcurCompEU) aimed at professionalising the entire procurement process, from the creation of relevant IT tools to the analysis and implementation of training needs of all participants in the process. The Team worked with the designated representatives of the two entities to guide them during the implementation of the ProcurCompEU toolkit, including providing technical advice on the use of the ProcurCompEU implementation guidelines. The advisory activities focused on providing clarification of the steps for implementation and advice on how to address the issues faced during the process as well as overall guidance and recommendations on the wider topic of professionalization and its benefits. Their experience during the process, the challenges they faced and the recommendations they would have for other contracting authorities were documented at the end of the process. 1.3.2. The course of the pilot projects The implementation of the pilots was limited in time, however it revealed useful information on the different approaches taken by the entities and the way they responded to the challenges faced during the process. When joining the project PCJ BMI was at a fairly advanced stage of ProcurCompEU implementation, and therefore did not require much support from the Team. The entity's goal for their participation in the pilot project was to complete Stage 3 and move on to Stage 4. After adapting self-assessment tools and carrying out communication activities about ProcuCompEU, the entity organized a meeting with the employees to conduct the self-assessment and listen to their concerns and answer to their questions as they moved through the ProcurCompEU questionnaire. The opposite situation was with PSES in Olsztyn; until joining the pilot project, no significant steps had been taken to implement ProcuCompEU. During the introductory meeting, it was assumed to reach Stage 3 by the end of the pilot. While they were able to quickly identify the employees that will participate in the project, they needed support on what further actions they would need to take. The first discussions with the entity revolved around adjusting the competence matrix (Stage 1) and the need for adaptations to the six profiles listed (what to do if the organization does not have a particular job position) (Stage 2). In addition, some of the employees were not sure how to self-assess their level for some competences (e.g. e- procurement). The Team assisted them during the process and provided clarifications and recommendations on the way forward. 16 Finally, PSES in Olsztyn was able to perform all tasks related to the first three stages of ProcurCompEU, despite the fact that some members of the staff did not respond to all the questions contained in the ProcurCompEU questionnaire and sometimes employees underestimated or overestimated their actual level of competence in some competencies (e.g. some of the staff was hesitant to respond to the questions related to their self-assessment or others did not consider the exercise a priority). As noted by the representatives of PSES in Olsztyn the collected results may not be 100% accurate to inform Stage 4 of the ProcurCompEU, nevertheless going through the process was considered valuable as it provided better insights on the employees’ behaviour when faced with a new process, in particular related to their skills and abilities to perform their tasks. In addition, as a result of the process the staff from the line departments got a better idea about the knowledge and competencies that are required from the procurement practitioners, which made them appreciate more their work. 1.3.3. Feedback from the pilots The general opinion was that the guidelines are very helpful and without them the whole exercise would not be possible. There were even views that the guidelines could have been even more detailed and point out what exactly should be done, at what specific stage, who should precisely participate, etc. That said, one should not lose sight of the nature of the guidelines, the main role of which is to provide guidance, not to serve as a manual, as some might expect. The essence of ProcurCompEU is to facilitate the professionalization process and to allow sufficient flexibility to contracting authorities to adapt it to their needs. The need for flexibility in the process precludes too prescriptive guidelines. Specific comments on the guidelines / requests for more clarity and the way they were reflected in the improved version of the guidelines (Annex 1): 1. Comments on stage 1 Adapt the competency matrix: i) Adjusting the competence matrix: Additional clarification was needed on the number of matrices that should be prepared – i.e. whether separate matrix should be prepared for each group of employees. Additional clarifications were reflected in the guidelines in this respect. ii) Assigning relevant competency level: Additional clarifications were needed with regard to the relevant level which should be assigned (for example for the e- procurement). In the case of innovative procurement, a question was raised whether /how it should be included as currently the entity did not have innovative procurement but wanted to implement it in the future. Additional guidance was provided in the guidelines on assigning competency levels for competencies which will be needed in the future. iii) Considering other specialists who are involved in the procurement activities: Additional clarifications were sought on whether accountants, IT specialists or lawyers should be included in the implementation process as some competences apply to these groups, but they are not typically members of the procurement team. Additional guidance was provided in the guidelines in this respect. 2. Comments on Stage 2 Define the job profiles: 17 (i) Adopting the listed profiles: Additional clarifications were needed on whether or not the 6 profiles listed should all be adopted. For example, if a Contracts Manager and a Standalone Public Buyer is missing in the current structure of an entity whether this entity should appoint such specialists. Additional paragraphs were added in the guidelines to clarify those aspects. The following main modifications were made into the Guidelines: (i) In Section 7.2, an additional Step 0B has been added, suggesting the appointment of a project manager to support the employees and the process of implementation of ProcurCompEU in the entity. (ii) In paragraph 25 (Section 8.1), the approach to adapting the Competency Matrix has been described in more detail. (iii) In Section 8.1, paragraph 27 has been added on the other specialists who are involved in the procurement activities. (iv) In Section 8.2, paragraph 33 has been added to explain how the level of proficiency can be determined according to the introduction of new developments in the entity. (v) In Section 9.2, paragraphs 41 and 42 have been added to indicate more precisely the approach to defining job profiles in the entity. Specific feedback and lessons learnt from the pilots which was taken into account in the preparation of the communication brief as well as in the overall recommendations for the professionalization process: • Good communication from the beginning of implementation and presentation of the ProcurCompEU tools are very important and can bring real benefits at later stages (e.g., better understanding of the self-assessment process by employees). The process should not be seen as a sanction by staff and staff should not be concerned about it. On the contrary, it is all about how managers can help staff grow and develop and this should be clearly communicated from the beginning. • ProcurCompEU implementation takes place in parallel with the execution of daily duties, which is a challenge for employees (additional workload) and may affect the implementation schedule. This should be taken into account when planning the process. • Implementation of ProcurCompEU is a major challenge, so additional assistance (e.g., implementation templates from other countries, consultations with experts, dedicated hotline, online forum, online database of good practices) would be welcome. • Implementing ProcurCompEU in Poland is worth it. It is an important step to ensure the public procurement profession is recognized and appreciated. The management, public procurement staff and relevant staff from line departments have to meet and work together for things to come together. Ultimately, this cooperation has value for everybody. • ProcurCompEU can help recruit, pool talent, and onboard new employees. The competency map could be shared with the candidates during the recruitment process to 18 ensure that they understand what is required and considered valuable by the organization. This helps the candidates determine whether they want and are ready to engage and whether they have the right mindset. 1.4. Lessons learnt from contracting authorities on the introduction of ProcurCompEU 1.4.1. Additional online meetings with ProcurCompEU frontrunners In the course of the project implementation the Team felt the need for additional feedback from other contracting authorities on the guidelines and on their experience in implementing ProcurCompEU. The additional feedback was sought to further finetune the content of the guidelines and to inform the development of the communication brochure aimed at enhancing the implementation of the ProcurCompEU. As the Team wanted to get feedback from contracting authorities which are among the frontrunners in the implementation of the ProcurCompEU, the profile of the five authorities that participated in the online discussions in the period April – May, 2024 is as follows: contracting authorities which are at stage 3 or stage 4 of ProcurCompEU implementation, willing to share their experience (based on the their replies to the open questions in the survey), with between 3 and 22 procurement practitioners, three of the CAs are based in the countryside and two are based in Warsaw. Prior to the meetings the Team shared with them a list of questions to help them summarize their experience, lessons learnt and recommendations for other contracting authorities that are at the beginning of ProcurCompEU implementation. The list of questions could be seen in Annex 5. The results of the discussions with those five contracting authorities could be summarized as follows: Feedback on the ProcurCompEU guidelines and how it was reflected by the Team: The feedback on the guidelines was quite positive. The guidelines were described as “pertinent and concrete” and “a clear, transparent and understandable tool, useful for the implementation of ProcurCompEU”. In addition to some editorial changes in the Polish version of the document, the feedback providers recommended formalization of the process with respect to designation of responsible person, timetable and progress reporting. The Team therefore included a recommendation in the guidelines for medium or large organizations to consider the appointment of a project manager who will familiarize themself with the guidelines, create an implementation plan and timetable, and then guide the employees through the successive stages, and report on the progress of the implementation. Feedback on the process of ProcurCompEU implementation: Most of the contracting authorities which participated in the online discussions outlined as key success factors management’s involvement/support in the process, good time management (“organized haste”), good communication (to overcome the initial natural resistance) and numerous iterations and discussions among the participants to clarify the meaning and the logic of the different stages. In addition, they underlined the need for handholding and closer coordination with and support to the people in the line departments who are involved in the 19 procurement process. One example of good practice developed by one of the contracting authorities is the appointment and training of procurement coordinators in the line departments. Another good example was the regular training sessions in public procurement provided to staff in the line departments. In some of the contracting authorities the procurement staff provided support to the people in the line departments prior to and during the self-assessment exercise. This improved the communication between the departments and in addition raised the appreciation of procurement practitioners’ work. In summary, the following benefits and challenges were identified by the participants in the additional online discussions based on their experience (table 2). As could be seen from the examples in many cases the benefits outweigh the challenges once the initial resistance is overcome and the process is initiated. Initial challenges/barriers to ProcurCompEU Benefits from ProcurCompEU implementation implementation The assessment process resulted in Lack of time due to regular work recommendation and justification for new staff position/s Valuable time spent to discuss their A lot of time is needed to familiarize with problems, becoming aware of own and then to implement ProcurCompEU competencies, realizing own needs Improved procurement process due to Initial resistance and lack of willingness and additional knowledge gained and additional ability to understand their weaknesses and time invested in reconsidering current work problems (what they lacked as knowledge) processes Permanent shortage of funds for training (if Easier access to funds for training – it is you go through the process, you must easier to convince managers that such a ensure funds for training otherwise it’s training is needed based on the evidence pointless) from the self-assessment and gap analysis Challenge to convince line departments to Improved communication and work participate in the process relations with line departments Figure 6 Challenges and benefits from ProcurCompEU imlpementation 1.4.2. Workshop on the dissemination of the ProcurCompEU guidelines and sharing of experience The dissemination workshop was conducted on May 24, 2024. Representatives of ten contracting authorities participated in the event – 7 from Warsaw and 3 from Krakow and Olsztyn. Some of the participants were selected to be among the frontrunners in the ProcureCompEU implementation (including the two pilot entities) while the remaining ones were at the beginning of the process. While most of the participants represented small contracting authorities there were representatives of very large ones as well. Representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology as well as the PPO were also present. The list of participants is included in Annex 6. The main objectives of the workshop were to: • To disseminate the ProcurCompEU guidelines among contracting authorities (Enable) 20 • To connect contracting authorities which are at the beginning of the ProcurComp EU implementation with the frontrunners in the process and provide a forum for exchange of experiences, challenges, benefits and lessons learnt. (Engage and exemplify) • To obtain information on what else, if anything, entities need to manage ProcurCompEU implementation (Explore), • To gather experiences and lessons learned that could be communicated to a wider audience, both central and local authorities. (Exemplify) • To provide an opportunity for the Ministry of Economic Development and Technologies and the PPO to get direct feedback from both frontrunners and beginners on the ProcurCompEU implementation and the additional resources, incentives/tools/interactions needed for its further enhancement (Evaluate) The key takeaways from the ProcurCompEU dissemination workshop could be summarized as follows: • The importance of communication, collaboration and change management for enhancing the professionalization process was emphasized by all representatives of the contracting authorities participating in the workshop. Communication and collaboration between managers and staff, between different departments within contracting authorities as well as between different authorities were among the main topics of the presentations and group discussions. • Transparent and open communication of benefits and impacts could secure both managers’ and public procurement practitioners’ buy-in for the change. The point of view of managers and public procurement practitioners about the benefits, challenges and ways for overcoming those in implementation of ProcurCompEU were therefore the main focus of the group discussions. • Understanding and influencing the change process requires close monitoring and evaluation. The Team presented draft monitoring and evaluation framework to support the current and inform the future SPP development and implementation in the professionalization area. The need for a M&E mechanism with responsible institutions for regular collection of data was further emphasized. • The demand for similar events for capturing and sharing good practices and lessons learnt was acknowledged by all participants. In this respect, the features of the future knowledge sharing platform for networking, common forum and exchange of experience and information between all stakeholders in the public procurement area were found valuable by all representatives of contracting authorities. 21 Chapter 2 Communication to enhance the implementation of the ProcurCompEU The need for effective communication was underlined by all contracting authorities9 whose representatives provided feedback and shared experience during the project implementation. 2.1.Why communication matters? Communication within and across public sector organizations as well as communication with the public is important for enhancing government’s effectiveness including by improving consistency, transparency and accountability in developing policies and providing services.10 Efficient internal communication11 could be used more strategically to engage and motivate civil service to improve their performance.12 The need for active communication is most critical when changes in behavior are expected from large number of employees as in the case of ProcurCompEU implementation. In such cases communication is one of the tools that could catalyze change. When change is required, it is natural for employees to feel uneasy and threatened. Questions arise, such as what it means for them, why it is happening, and whether it threatens their status quo. Acceptance and enthusiasm begin when employees shift from viewing change as burdensome and unnecessary to seeing it as highly beneficial and achievable. Effective and well-planned communication at all stages of implementing ProcurCompEU reassures staff, reduces resistance, fosters a sense of involvement, and ultimately ensures smoother and more successful adoption of the changes that lead to the skills enhancement, knowledge, and raised competencies of public procurement professionals. This transformation aims to elevate the role of public procurement from a transactional function to a strategic one, contributing significantly to an organization's overall success. 2.2.Communication within the current SPP The SPP envisages communication activities at different levels, both external and internal within the government structures. The document includes external/public and internal communication activities aimed at promoting the policy, engaging with various stakeholders and getting their buy-in. The external/public communication activities include a communication campaign through social media, press releases and articles. In addition, the policy encourages constant interactive dialogue between the public administration and society which is expected to result in improvement of the public service delivery. The SPP’s internal communication activities include conferences on the implementation and evaluation of policy priorities for public procurement practitioners. The SPP envisages also development of a special tool – the knowledge sharing platform - which will provide options for both internal and external communication. The platform is designed to 9 The Bank team met /sought feedback from 23 contracting authorities located in 10 cities around Poland 10 OECD (2021), OECD Report on Public Communication: The Global Context and the Way Forward, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/22f8031c-en 11 Understood as the communication within and across public sector organisations – a definition provided in OECD (2021), OECD Report on Public Communication: The Global Context and the Way Forward, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/22f8031c-en 12 Ibid. 22 include communication channels/forums to facilitate communication between procurement practitioners and between economic operators. It will also provide opportunities for exchange of information and knowledge between different external and internal stakeholders. The SPP however does not provide sufficient details and guidance on how those activities will be approached and implemented. Considering that the representatives of all contracting authorities met during the implementation of the project underlined the importance of communication as one of the key factors for success of the professionalization reform, there is a clear need for additional guidance and for a communication strategy. A comprehensive joint MEDT-PPO communication strategy is recommended to help plan communication activities aligned with the 4-year State Purchasing Policy (SPP) cycle. In line with the recommendations of Deliverable 1 under the project, the communication strategy should ensure a consistent approach, good coordination and communication among the bodies responsible for procurement professionalization and regular messaging to contracting authorities as well as other key stakeholders around expectations, SPP priorities and implementation results13. Such a document could as a minimum include the following components – strategic aims, communication channels, target audience (internal/external), responsible institutions, success metrics and milestones. The development and implementation of the communication strategy should be evidence based, so that the messages are tailored for the particular group/s of stakeholders and have the intended impact14. 2.3.Communication plan to advance the implementation of the ProcurCompEU Considering the limited time until the current SPP full implementation, a communication plan could suffice at this point. The below recommendations are aimed at supporting the MEDT and the PPO in shaping a communication plan to advance the implementation of ProcurCompEU at both central and local level. When developing the plan, the following steps/activities could be considered: a. Designation of a joint MEDT-PPO team responsible for the overall coordination of the professionalization activities and for the related communication plan to advance the implementation of ProcurCompEU. This will ensure closer/more informal communication, better coordination and quicker exchange of information between the two entities which will facilitate the project implementation. b. Further dissemination of the ProcurCompEU guidelines and the communication brochure developed under the project (Annex 2). Both documents could be published on the PPO’s website (as the knowledge exchange platform is under development) and in addition distributed via email to all central government contracting authorities. The brochure provides brief description of ProcurCompEU as an instrument, outlines its benefits for different stakeholders – procurement professionals, contracting authorities, general public, and includes a link to the ProcurCompEU guidelines. In addition, the brochure shares experiences of contracting authorities/procurement professionals who underwent the process. Thus, the good examples and positive experiences could encourage other contracting authorities to follow them and initiate the process. 13 As per Deliverable 1, Report on the analysis of the status of professionalization in public procurement and proposed guidelines for the implementation of ProcurCompEU 14 OECD (2021), OECD Report on Public Communication: The Global Context and the Way Forward, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/22f8031c-en 23 c. As a priority, MEDT should ensure that the results achieved under the current SPP are communicated to a wider audience and set the ground the new SPP. d. Communication campaign. The MEDT and the PPO might want to launch a targeted communication campaign to encourage central and local authorities to professionalize public procurement. A more extensive reach out to the procurement entities across the country could be accomplished via the PPO’s website and later on via the new online platform currently under development. The progress of professionalization and ProcurCompEU implementation could be tracked with regular updates, feature stories, and interviews. Attention should be given to highlighting the benefits of implementing ProcurCompEU and professionalization process. The collected experiences and lessons learned from the contracting authorities can be used to start the campaign. The communication brochure on the professionalization of public procurement in Poland and the ProcurCompEU guidelines could complement the communication kit to support the project. e. Promote the future Knowledge Sharing Platform The online platform currently being developed by MEDT should be integrated with the PPO platform to become a one-stop shop made available to all central and local contracting authorities and public procurement professionals. The platform should incorporate on-the-job best practice examples, training programs, resources, the guidelines to implement ProcurCompEU toolkit, and the communication brochure. f. Measures to facilitate the internal communication for the ProcurCompEU implementation One issue that emerged clearly from the consultations with the contracting authorities is the need for management to be more actively involved in the ProcurCompEU implementation process. As the body responsible for developing and launching subsequent SPPs, the Ministry might consider preparing internal communication guidelines for contracting authorities to support them in implementation of ProcurCompEU and other activities related to professionalization. The current SPP does not cover this topic, and there is a need for the communication component to be reflected in the document. The communication kit should include guidance on the importance of involving management in the process to give it validity and a sense of urgency. Step-by-step instructions should include the type of communication channels best suited for the task, a description of a communication process, and how it can support the various stages of implementing ProcurCompEU in contracting authorities. A designated team of communications experts should be involved in this task. 24 Chapter 3 Conclusions and way forward This report provides insights on the ProcurCompEU implementation in Poland based on the interactions with and feedback from selected contracting authorities during: (i) the focus groups for the preparation of the ProcurCompEU guidelines, (ii) the pilots for the application of the guidelines, (iii) the additional meetings with ProcurCompEU frontrunners and (iv) the dissemination workshop. The following section presents the key findings and related recommendations on the implementation of the ProcurCompEU as well as on the overall implementation of the professionalization process in Poland. It should be noted that some of the findings and recommendations are similar to the ones reflected in Deliverable 1. The Team considered that it is important to repeat those mainly because: (i) they are still relevant, (ii) it’s important to outline all the challenges on the way forward and (iii) those findings and recommendations are now based on the shared experience and feedback provided by contracting authorities and procurement practitioners – the main addressees of the State Purchasing Policy and the ones that are expected to make the transformational change in the long run. 3.1.Key findings and recommendations a. Lack of timely and sufficiently accurate data on procurement system performance and public procurement profession to inform the interventions at system level Transforming public procurement from a purely administrative to a strategic function is a complex endeavor which requires a consistent behavioral change at all levels – individual, institutional and societal. Influencing behavior change is not a linear process15. It is more like an upward spiral, with regular cycles of exploration, careful planning, a mixture of enabling, encouraging, engaging and exemplifying interventions followed by frequent evaluations to close the feedback loop. Such process requires close monitoring and good management to timely adjust the interventions when attitudes and behaviors change over time. As “human mind is a social mind”16 i.e. social groups strongly influence the individual’s behavior17, the success of the process will depend on the good knowledge and understanding of the different groups’ specificities and whether the change interventions are designed to take those into account. Considering the large number of contracting authorities in Poland, availability of data could support a phased and focused approach to ProcurCompEU implementation and professionalization as a whole, so that the initial efforts could be concentrated on those groups of stakeholders where the change would bring the greater impact at system level. This presupposes availability of data on both procurement system performance and the public procurement profession. There is a critical need therefore for sufficiently accurate and timely data to support the SPP’s implementation process and ensure that the change interventions are well focused and bring the expected impact (as already outlined in Deliverable 1 Report18). Otherwise, the professionalization process could be hindered by uninformed decisions potentially leading to wasted resources and/or missed opportunities. 15 Darnton, A. (2008). Reference Report: An overview of behaviour change models and their uses. 16 Toomey, A. (2023), Why facts don't change minds: Insights from cognitive science for the improved communication of conservation research, Biological Conservation, Volume 278, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109886 17 C. Schill, J.M. Anderies, T. Lindahl, C. Folke, S. Polasky, J.C. Cárdenas, A.-S. Crépin, M.A. Janssen, J. Norberg, M. Schlüter (2019), A more dynamic understanding of human behaviour for the Anthropocene, Nat.Sustain., 2 (2019), pp. 1075-1082 18 Deliverable 1 Report 25 Recommendation: Attempts should be made for ensuring availability of timely and sufficiently accurate data on both procurement system performance and the public procurement profession at system level b. The PPO is uniquely positioned to lead the reform process, but the agency lacks the required resources and its statutory responsibility in the professionalization area is not well clarified. Insights from behavioral science19 suggest that people could change their behavior provided the source of information is trustful – i.e. the information comes from trustful authority and/or well-acknowledged experts and/or from their peers. The PPO is the key agency for procurement matters in Poland and has very high reputation amongst contracting authorities. It is therefore uniquely positioned to drive the culture change by providing what the contracting authorities identified as mostly needed: guidance, support, training, collecting and publishing good practices and maintaining active dialogue with contracting authorities, procurement practitioners and the public. To be able to do this however the recommendations from the Deliverable 1 Report need to be considered – i.e. (i) the statutory responsibility of the President of PPO for supporting the implementation of professionalization should be clarified and made explicit and (ii) the entity should be given the required additional resources to lead the change. Recommendation: The statutory responsibility of the President of PPO for supporting the implementation of professionalization set out in the SPP should be clarified and made explicit. The PPO should be given the additional resources required to enable it to carry out work on professionalization in other recommendations. c. According to the available data at system level the ProcurCompEU has a low implementation rate. The implementation of the ProcurCompEU is one of the critical activities envisaged in the current SPP to enhance the professionalization process and lead to behavior change. The data available at system level in Poland (although quite insufficient and not up to date) and the Team’s discussions with contracting authorities’ representatives suggest low implementation rate. Among the main reasons for the limited progress pointed out by the contracting authorities are lack of knowledge, lack of guidance and lack of time. On the other hand, efficient communication, good guidance, practical examples from peers, training, workshops, and similar events to exchange knowledge and share experiences, were identified as important factors which could contribute for the professionalization’s success. In this respect, the wider dissemination of the ProcurCompEU guidelines and the communication brochure (with practical examples from peers) could provide a good impulse to reignite the ProcurCompEU implementation process provided it is part of a well-thought through 19 Dolan, P., Hallsworth, M., Halpern, D., King, D., Metcalfe, R., and Vlaev, I. (2012) Influencing behaviour: The mindspace way, Journal of Economic Psychology Volume 33, Issue 1, February 2012, Pages 264-277, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2011.10.009 26 communication plan. Considering the importance of efficient communication underlined in the Team’s discussions with all contracting authorities, as well as the lessons learnt from other EU member countries20 , it is highly recommendable that the next SPP is supported with a communication strategy. Its development and implementation should be based on evidence, with targeted interventions tailored for the different stakeholders’ group profiles so that to achieve the desired impact. Recommendation: The ProcurCompEU implementation could be enhanced with wider dissemination of the ProcurCompEU guidelines and the communication brochure as part of a well-thought through communication plan. Recommendation: The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology should consider developing a communication strategy to supplement the next SPP. Its development and implementation should be based on evidence, with targeted interventions tailored for the different stakeholders’ group profiles so that to achieve the desired impact. d. Communication, data exchange and coordination between the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and the PPO on professionalization of public procurement is not sufficient. While the two entities work together and exchange information, this is done in a very formal and therefore not quite efficient manner. Such an ambitious agenda as professionalization requires efficient interagency collaboration and regular coordinated planning and exchange of information. Considering the complementing and interrelated roles and responsibilities of the PPO and the Ministry for the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the SPP and its professionalization component, there is a clear need for a closer/more informal and coherent collaboration between the two entities. In this respect, designation of a joint MEDT- PPO team responsible for the overall coordination of the professionalization activities and the related communication plan, could greatly facilitate the advancement of the implementation of ProcurCompEU. Thus, the contracting authorities’ expectations could be met in more efficient and consistent manner. Recent research based on the experience of the New Zealand’s Government, shows that among the main features for ensuring success for projects that require interagency collaboration are goal commitment, administrative data sharing, public commitments and transparent reporting21. As SPP is a public document and both agencies are committed to implement its goals, the additional steps which could be taken are to ensure regular data exchange on the SPP implementation between the two entities and public and transparent reporting on the results achieved under the SPP. In this respect more detailed 20 According to European Commission (2020), ProcurComp EU – Study on professionalisation of public procurement in the EU and selected third countries – “Communication is a key element of effective change management for the take-up of procurement professionalisation measures”. 21 Scott, R., Boyd, R., (2020), Determined to succeed: Can goal commitment sustain interagency collaboration?, Public Policy and Administration. 38.095207672090500.10.1177/0952076720905002. 27 guidance on data, monitoring and impact evaluation for results reporting could be found in Deliverable Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Professionalization22. Recommendation: The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and the PPO should consider designation of a joint MEDT-PPO team responsible for the overall coordination of the professionalization activities, including the communication plan. Recommendation: The joint team MEDT- PPO should ensure that the results achieved under the SPP are communicated to a wider audience in a transparent manner and on regular basis. 3.2. Conclusion There were a number of issues identified from Team’s interactions with contracting authorities’ managers and procurement professionals. The key findings and related recommendations identified above outline the most important areas that need timely attention and follow up interventions. Provided they are implemented in a coordinated and consistent manner they could enhance the ProcurCompEU implementation and will support the overall professionalization program. 22 The Monitoring & Evaluation framework is delivered as a separate report. 28 Annex 1 Revised guidelines for contracting authorities on the introduction of ProcurCompEU This annex comprises the guidelines for the introduction of ProcurCompEU which were developed by a World Bank Team as part of a wider project to support the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology on the implementation of three aspects of the State Purchasing Policy (SPP) – green public procurement, increasing SME participation in public procurement and professionalization of public procurement. These guidelines are dedicated to contracting authorities who are encouraged to apply them during the staged process of introduction of ProcurCompEU. They provide details on the main aspects to be taken into consideration when going through each stage of the process. The below sections can be grouped and disseminated as a tool on its own once agreed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology. 1 Introduction 1. The SPP recognizes the importance of public procurement as a strategic function to achieve the best outcomes for citizens. The aim of the professionalization strand of the project is to make recommendations for action which will continue to raise the status of public procurement in Poland and ensure that procurement professionals are supported to develop their skills and progress their careers. Professionalization will not only ensure efficient public spending, but also help to secure social, environmental and economic benefits from public contracts and help public procurement practitioners respond effectively to rapidly changing markets for innovative goods and services. 2. By defining 30 key competences, ProcurCompEU provides a common reference for public procurement professionals in the European Union and beyond. Implementing the ProcurCompEU competency framework is a central part of the overall approach to professionalization of public procurement in Poland and will help procurement managers and practitioners in contracting authorities to take a systematic approach to training and development. 3. The European Commission has produced a brief introduction to ProcurCompEU which may be helpful in communications within organizations. There is also a full set of ProcurCompEU materials available online. These materials include case studies on implementation of ProcurCompEU in Estonia, Malta, Romania and Slovenia which may be of interest to you. The main elements of the ProcurCompEU framework have been incorporated into the SPP, which should be regarded as the definitive source for use in Poland. We have included some elements of the SPP version of the ProcurCompEU materials in these guidelines for ease of use. 2 What are the benefits of implementing ProcurCompEU? 2.1 Benefits for the organization 4. Most organizations spend a significant part of their budget through public contracts for deliveries, services and/or works. A well-managed approach to procurement can have a very significant impact on the outcome of public contracts – for instance by: • getting a good level of competition amongst potential suppliers to ensure that the organization can secure a good quality at a fair price and in some cases generating budget savings; 29 • ensuring that products, works and/or services meet high environmental standards and contribute to priority social outcomes; • managing contracts effectively and fairly to ensure that contractual outcomes are delivered but also that good suppliers are keen to bid for future contracts. Conversely, poorly-managed procurement can waste money, lead to contracts which fail to deliver what is required and miss opportunities to secure additional benefits for the organization. 5. Raising the skills and knowledge of public procurement staff is recognized internationally by organizations such as the World Bank and the OECD as a priority area for governments and individual public sector bodies. The European Commission developed ProcurCompEU as a world-class framework covering not only definitions of the core skills required for work on all aspects of public procurement but also a tool to allow assessment of skills and a generic training curriculum for each aspect. The framework has already been implemented in several EU countries and is being implemented by countries outside the EU also. By implementing ProcurCompEU and supporting managers and staff working on public procurement to address any skills gaps that are identified in the process, senior managers can have confidence that their organization has the right capability to manage procurement well. 2.2 Benefits for the Head of the Procurement Department or Procurement Manager 6. Procurement managers know very well the importance of public procurement to organizations’ budgets and achievement of their overall objectives. They also know only too well the level of risk and the many relationships with other teams and departments which have to be managed by procurement staff to deliver successful public contracts. Good procurement managers already know their staff, probably understand their training needs and are also probably aware of areas of work where the team or unit does not have as much capability as they would wish – but they are often too busy to really tackle these issues in a systematic way. 7. Implementing ProcurCompEU allows managers to take a full overview of the skills and knowledge required to carry out the work in their teams or units and to have an assessment of the current level of skill available, so that plans can be made to address any gaps or weaker areas. By using ProcurCompEU, a manager can have confidence that they are working with internationally-recognized standards, which will strengthen the case for any additional investment required in training or development and which covers the full range of soft or inter- personal skills as well as technical skills to help teams perform well. This in turn can give managers greater assurance in the quality of work being done in their teams. Managers will also participate in the exercise so can also get the personal benefits of assessment against a recognized standard and opportunities to develop their own skills and confidence. 2.3 Benefits for staff working on public procurement 8. Public procurement work is complex and demanding, and this is not always recognized by people working in other areas. Even relatively low value contracts need a lot of thought and care in the way that they are awarded and managed. The benefits for the government and citizens when public contracts are delivered well are substantial, but often there is only a focus publicly on contracts which don’t deliver. At international level, however, organizations such as the World Bank and OECD recognize the strategic importance of public procurement and have made a strong case for governments investing in their public procurement staff to ensure that they reach their full potential. 9. The European Commission developed the ProcurCompEU framework to ensure that there was an internationally-recognized standard for the skills and knowledge required by 30 people working on public procurement. The framework has already been implemented in several EU countries and is being considered outside the EU as well. It covers all of the different aspects of procurement work, including personal and inter-personal or ‘soft’ skills as well as technical skills and knowledge. 10. Going through the ProcurCompEU process enables a member of staff working on public procurement to identify any areas where they may benefit from additional training or development to increase their skills. They can use this to develop further in their current job or to start to raise their skills to work towards future jobs. Setting clear standards for public procurement will not only benefit the staff and their managers, it will help organizations to secure better contract outcomes in future and raise the status of public procurement as a strategically important career. 3 Who are these guidelines for? 11. These guidelines are intended for managers in contracting authorities responsible for implementing the SPP. They are written for managers in charge of procurement units or in charge of staff who undertake procurement, but may also be useful to heads of contracting authorities and HR managers. 12. All bodies which undertake public procurement will benefit from increased professionalization. We recommend that all managers of staff carrying out public procurement as a significant part of their job consider implementing the ProcurCompEU competency framework, even if their body is not required to implement the SPP, and we hope that they will also find these guidelines useful. 4 How to use these guidelines 13. These guidelines have been written based on the implementation of ProcurComp EU in the stages set out in the SPP and start from the initial preparatory stage. If work on implementation of ProcurCompEU is already underway, you can start from a later stage but we recommend that you read the guidelines for the earlier stages to assure yourself that everything is fully in place. 5 How to simplify the process in a smaller contracting authority 14. The process set out in these guidelines may seem daunting, especially in a small organization with limited time and resources. We recommend that you read through all of the guidelines anyway to understand what the full process would involve, but there are three key areas where it is possible to reduce the effort: a. at Step 1, you can decide to use the competency matrix without any adaptations, as it is already very comprehensive and should cover core requirements for most small contracting authorities – choosing not to adapt the matrix would cut out all of the work required at Step 1; b. at Step 2, you can use the example job profiles and their associated target proficiency matrices with no amendment or only very limited changes – doing this would cut out most of the work required at Step 2; c. at Step 4, you can ignore the EC spreadsheet and produce a very simple table of the target proficiencies for each role and the agreed self-assessment scores for the 31 person currently undertaking that role – this will identify gaps easily, and there is no need for a sophisticated aggregation of scores in a small organization. 6 ProcurCompEU overview 15. ProcurCompEU is a tool designed by the EC to support the professionalization of public procurement. ProcurCompEU consists of three elements: • a competency matrix, which defines 30 procurement-related and soft competences and with four proficiency levels; • a self-assessment tool which public procurement professionals and organizations can use to assess their levels of proficiency and organizational maturity in the competences identified in the competency matrix; • a generic training curriculum for public administrations to use to plan and commission or deliver training to upskill their procurement professionals. 16. The implementation of ProcurCompEU will involve you working through five steps as set out in the SPP: • Step 1 – Adapt the Competency Matrix • Step 2 – Define the Job Profiles • Step 3 – Perform self-assessment • Step 4 – Identify the gaps • Step 5 – Address the gaps 17. The competency matrix and the self-assessment tool are the main tools you will use. How to use them is covered in these guidelines. During the implementation process, you will identify gaps between the targeted level of competence for staff and their current level. You will continue to support staff through coaching, mentoring, on-the-job learning and providing access to training opportunities, but you will also report those gaps annually to the Public Procurement Office (PPO) so that there is a national overview of the training need. This will be taken into account in planning centrally-provided training each year. 7 Step 0: Preparing to implement ProcurCompEU 7.1 Step 0A: Familiarize yourself with ProcurCompEU 18. As you start to implement ProcurCompEU, it would be helpful to ensure that you are familiar with the purpose of the framework, the benefits it can bring and the steps that you and your organization will take to implement it. This will build your confidence when making decisions on how best to implement it and will make answering questions from colleagues and staff much easier. It will also help you to set realistic timescales for working through the stages. 7.2 Step 0B: Appoint a project manager 19. For a medium or large organization, it would be worthwhile considering the appointment of a project manager who will familiarize themself with the guidelines, create an implementation plan and timetable, and then guide the employees through the successive stages, and report on the progress of the implementation. 32 7.3 Step 0C: Coordinate with other units 20. The implementation of ProcurCompEU may affect both job profiles and standard competences defined within your organization. You should ensure that your HR unit and senior management are aware of the steps you will be working through with your procurement staff and that you have agreed with them how any changes will be incorporated into existing internal regulations, policies and arrangements. This should avoid confusion if staff ask questions later about how changes will be managed. 7.4 Step 0D: Manage communication with staff 21. One of the most important things to do at the outset as you prepare to implement ProcurCompEU is to ensure that a communication plan is in place. Feedback suggests that staff at all levels can be concerned about what ProcurCompEU might mean for them and for their future careers. A good communication plan which clearly sets out how ProcurCompEU is about enhancing overall skills and raising the status of the profession can help alleviate concerns and ensure that there is positive engagement as you go through the process. We recommend that you read the whole of these guidelines carefully before preparing your communication plan, as staff may ask questions about later stages quite early in the process. 22. A good first step on the communication plan would be to share the brief introduction to ProcurCompEU with all staff and managers who may be affected. This provides a simple two- page overview of what ProcurCompEU is, who can use it, what the benefits are, and some links to additional materials. You should also provide an indication of the timescales for the various stages of the process. Another positive step would be to have a meeting with all the staff who will be involved in the implementation so you can answer any questions at this stage. You should reassure staff that: • this is an exercise to help them take their skills to the next level, to support the implementation of the SPP; • they will keep involved in this throughout the process of implementation; • you will review progress with them at key points in the process; • they will work with their managers to assess their current skill levels and identify any areas where they should undertake further development; and • training and support will be provided to help them further develop their skills. A Question & Answer (Q&A) summary is a very useful way to provide information to your staff. This can be kept up to date as the implementation progresses and additional material can be added as staff get more engaged in the process. An example of a Q&A summary is included at Annex E: Example Question & Answer handout to support communications with staff for you to use to help develop your own version. 23. As described in paragraph 9 above, there are clear steps to implement ProcurComp EU set out in the SPP. These should be followed in order to make the implementation more manageable for an organization and for the individuals tasked with doing it. Figure 18: Steps to implement ProcurCompEU 33 Source: https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2020-12/procurcompeu-sat_user_guide_0.pdf 24. It will be helpful to explain these five steps to all staff and, if possible, to share an estimated timetable for working through the steps so that staff know what to expect. 8 Step 1: Adapt the Competency Matrix See Section 1 of Chapter VIII and Annex 2 of the SPP 8.1 Step 1A: Familiarize yourself with the Competency Matrix 25. The first step in performing the self-assessment process is to get familiar with the ProcurCompEU Competency Matrix and assess how closely it fits the situation of your organization. The ProcurCompEU Competency Matrix aims to provide a European reference point for all public procurement professionals and organizations. However, as organizations vary in size, sectoral focus, and may function differently, organizations should therefore adapt the matrix to their local context and needs to ensure that the matrix is relevant to their organization. Only one matrix will usually be prepared for an organization but a very large organization with different parts having significantly different procurement responsibilities, might prepare more than one matrix. 26. The ProcurCompEU Competency Matrix outlines the core competences public procurement professionals should demonstrate in order to perform their job effectively and efficiently and carry out public procurement procedures that bring value for money. 27. In addition to procurement professionals, you may also wish to consider other specialists who are involved in the procurement activities e.g. accountants, lawyers etc. There are aspects of the competency matrix which are relevant to their roles in the procurement process i.e. some of the procurement-specific competencies but particularly the people and personal competencies Box 1: SPP text on the Competency Matrix The State Purchasing Policy (Step 1 in Chapter VIII) says: 34 The Competency Matrix identifies key competences, attitudes and knowledge that public procurement practitioners should have. These competences can be divided into two categories: procurement specific competences and soft competences. Each of these categories is divided into 3 subcategories. Accordingly, for procurement competences a distinction can be made between competences that should be considered essential pre-award, post-award and horizontal. Soft competences can be refined through personal, people and performance. (Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/procurcompeu-in_a_nutshell_pl.pdf) Procurement-specific competences: • The “horizontal” cluster – encompasses competences applicable to all stages of the public procurement lifecycle; • The “pre-award” cluster - includes all competences required to perform all the tasks and activities taking place before the award of a public contract; • The “post-award” cluster - contains competences necessary for the contract management after the award of a public contract. Soft competences: • The “personal” cluster captures the behaviors, skills and attributes, public procurement professionals should possess, as well as the mind-set they should display according to their job profile; • The “people” cluster comprises those competences enabling public procurement professionals to interact and cooperate with other professionals, and to do so in the most professional manner; • The “performance” cluster includes all competences public procurement professionals need to have in order to increase value for money in public procurement procedures. Horizontal 1. Planning 35 2. Lifecycle 3. Legislation 4. e-Procurement and other IT tools 5. Sustainable procurement 6. Innovation procurement 7. Category specific 8. Supplier management 9. Negotiations Procurement 10. Needs assessment specific 11. Market analysis and engagement 12. Procurement strategy Pre-award 13. Technical specifications 14. Tender Documentation 15. Tender evaluation 16. Contract management 17. Certification and payment Post-award 18. Reporting and evaluation 19. Conflict resolution and mediation 20. Adaptability and modernization 21. Analytical and critical thinking Personal 22. Communication 23. Ethics and compliance 24. Collaboration Soft People 25. Stakeholder relationship management 26. Team management and Leadership 27. Organizational awareness 28. Project management Performance 29. Business and performance orientation 30. Risk management and internal control The above-mentioned specific competences should be developed and classified according to 4 proficiency levels, i.e. basic, intermediate, advanced and expert. In order to achieve a higher level of proficiency in a given competence, it will be necessary to improve your skills and knowledge in order to comply with the minimum requirements set out in the ProcurCompEU European Competence Framework for Public Procurement Professionals. 36 Competences with detailed recommendations in the field of knowledge and skills, which a public procurement practitioner should have at each level of proficiency, are indicated in the Competence Matrix in Annex 2 to the State Purchasing Policy. 28. Proficiency level descriptions define the skills and responsibilities procurement professionals should be able to demonstrate at a specific level. As a general rule, the mastery of the skills required at a specific level implies the mastery of the skills required at all preceding proficiency levels. 29. A summary of what is expected at each of the four proficiency levels for each of the 30 competences is provided in Annex 2 of the SPP, and included in Annex A of these guidelines for ease of reference. 8.2 Step 1B: Adapt the Competency Matrix to your organization’s needs 30. There are three types of changes you may need to make to the Competency Matrix: • Adapting the content of the existing competences – Changes to the content of the existing competences can be made by, for example, adapting the list of tasks in the different proficiency levels. • Excluding some of the existing competences – Some competences can be excluded if they are not considered relevant for your organization or if they are already covered by an existing competency framework, for example for transversal or specialized skills. • Adding new competences to the existing list – Organizations may wish to define competences additional to those listed already. 31. If you are making changes to the Competency Matrix, you may need to write new descriptions for the skills expected at some or all proficiency levels. The generic descriptions of each proficiency level in Table 5 below may be helpful to you. Table 5: Generic descriptions of proficiency levels ProcurCompEU Description of the proficiency levels proficiency levels • You demonstrate basic factual knowledge/awareness of the procurement field; • You have basic practical skills, required to use relevant information in order to carry out simple tasks and activities of Basic public procurement processes; • You perform quality work and acquire new skills under direct supervision and within a structured context. • You demonstrate factual and theoretical knowledge of public procurement and related fields; • You have a range of cognitive and practical skills required to use relevant information in order to carry out recurring Intermediate procurement tasks and solve simple problems; • You are able to carry out public procurement processes and tasks with little supervision. 37 • You demonstrate advanced practical and theoretical knowledge of the public procurement field; • You display a range of advanced practical skills required to tackle complex and less frequent tasks and problems using Advanced innovative methods and approaches; • You take responsibility and ownership for completion of public procurement tasks, manage inputs by other procurement specialists and take key decision at different stages of public procurement procures. You know to quickly adapt your behavior to others’ and specific circumstances. • You demonstrate comprehensive, specialized, practical and theoretical knowledge of the public procurement field at expert level; • You possess an extensive range of techniques, methods and Expert skills required to address complex issues, develop innovative solutions, and contribute to expand the public procurement knowledge of your organization; • You exercise leadership and keep abreast of latest developments in the field of public procurement by attending and participating in key procurement related events with both expert and non-expert audiences, based on which you shape your organization’s policy and vision. 32. When adapting the Competency Matrix, think about what will be required to implement the SPP in full, not only what is required in your organization at present. In addition to professionalization, the SPP sets out priorities for action on developing the potential of SMEs and on sustainable and innovation procurement. All of the competences are important for public procurement professionalization, but it would be sensible to think particularly carefully about your future needs for the following three competences related to SPP priorities: • Sustainable procurement • Innovation procurement • Market analysis and engagement 33. The competency level required for these three competencies may only need to be at a basic or intermediate level at this stage. As your organization starts to use, for example, sustainable or innovative procurement methods, the proficiency level in these competences may need to rise to advanced or expert levels. 34. If you decide you need to make changes to the Competency Matrix, you should also think about how you will explain these changes to staff. You may need to add an extra step into the communication plan. 9 Step 2: Define the job profiles See Section 1 of Chapter VIII and Annex 3 of the SPP 38 9.1 Step 2A: work out which jobs in your organization need to be included 35. The ProcurCompEU framework is designed to be flexible. It will be important for staff working entirely on public procurement, in a wide variety of roles, but the reality in many organizations is that there are staff who work regularly on public procurement but as only a part of their job. There may for instance be staff who: • are regularly involved in defining requirements and taking part in tender evaluation panels; • manage contracts; or • carry out regular, relatively low value procurement as part of a wider administrative role. 36. You will need to identify all of the staff to whom you want ProcurCompEU to apply. A good starting point would be to include all staff who are regularly involved in any aspect of public procurement for more than 50% of their job role. You may also want to include staff who are regularly involved in particular aspects of procurement for a smaller percentage of their time, perhaps between 25% and 50%, if the work they are doing means that it is important that they have certain competences. 37. If you are in a smaller contracting authority which does not have a public procurement unit, you should include any staff who routinely carry out public procurement in your organization. In larger contracting authorities, you should consider including any staff who regularly work on requirements, take part in tender evaluation panels and/or manage contracts. You should also consider including any specialist legal or finance staff who are involved in key aspects of the public procurement process. 38. Once you have identified the staff who need to have ProcurCompEU competences, the next action is to define job profiles. 9.2 Step 2B: Define the job profiles 39. The organization can define, using the Competency Matrix, the desired level of knowledge and skills expected from public procurement professionals, by setting target proficiency levels for all the job profiles existing within your organization. You do this by assessing what competences are involved in carrying out the job and the proficiency level (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced or Expert) that the jobholder needs in each competency. 40. A really good way to start is to use the six standard job profiles created for ProcurCompEU and included in the SPP: • Procurement Support Officer • Standalone Public Buyer • Public Procurement Specialist • Category Specialist • Contract Manager • Department Manager 41. These are only examples of job profiles which you might expect to have within your procurement function, however in smaller organizations, one individual might carry out a number of these functions, or the function might be carried out elsewhere. 39 42. Within the organization if an individual member of staff has a unique role, then you would have a specific job profile for that particular role. However, if there are a group of staff operating at a similar level with the same responsibilities, then a standard job profile could be created for the group which each individual within that group could use. 43. Each of these job profiles is described in Section 1 of Chapter VIII of the SPP, and in Annex 3 of the SPP there is a table showing a sample allocation of target proficiency levels for these roles. These are included in Annex B of these guidelines for ease of reference. You may well find that these standard job profiles are quite a good fit for many roles in your organization and if so, you can take the sample target proficiency levels as a starting point and adjust them as needed. 44. As discussed above, you may need to define aspects of job profiles and set target proficiency levels for jobs where procurement is only a part of the responsibilities. We have provided some additional examples of job profiles and target proficiency profiles in Annex C which may be helpful to you, covering: • Procurement client who manages several small contracts • Procurement client who manages one larger contract • Procurement client who specifies requirements and takes part in tender evaluation panels • Administrator who regularly carries out small procurements as part of their role 45. As with the procurement practitioner job profiles at Annex B, the job profiles and target proficiency profiles in Annex C are only illustrations. You should decide what competences are required for all of the roles in your organization to which you have decided ProcurCompEU should apply based on your understanding of the organization’s current and future needs, but the examples may be a useful starting point. For small contracting authorities where staff who are not procurement specialists carry out procurement, we recommend using the Administrator profile at Annex C as the starting point. For small contracting authorities where the member of staff is a procurement specialist but also carrying out non-procurement tasks, we recommend using the Standalone Public Buyer profile at Annex B as the starting point. 46. Job profiles are always specific to each organization and can change over time with the evolution of procurement tasks and the individuals available to perform those tasks. You should decide what is needed for your organization, and you should also review the profiles from time to time to ensure that they continue to meet the organization’s needs. 10 Step 3: Performing self-assessment 10.1 Step 3A: Ensure staff and managers are prepared to carry out this task 47. Staff who are working in roles where you have decided that ProcurCompEU should apply will need to be supported to carry out the self-assessment. They will already have received communications from you about what ProcurCompEU involves earlier in the process. When you notify them that it is time to carry out the self-assessment, you may need to remind their line managers that staff will need to be given time to do this. You should also remind line managers that they will need to set a time to discuss the self-assessment with each member of staff affected. 48. It may also be helpful to remind line managers at this stage that their staff may need support to carry out the self-assessment without fearing any negative consequences. It is very important that staff feel they can be honest in the self-assessment and that if their skills do not 40 fully match the target proficiency profile for their current job, this is not a failure and does not reflect badly on their current performance. All line managers and staff should be reminded that this is an exercise about building the capability needed in future, and that they will be supported to develop their skills further and if necessary to develop new skills. 10.2 Step 3B: Staff carry out the self-assessment 49. The self-assessment questionnaire is set out in full in Annex 4 of the SPP. We have included it as Annex D to these guidelines for ease of reference. 50. Section one starts with a set of six general questions which give an overview of the individual’s background in public procurement. These questions do not have a score and therefore do not count for the individual self- assessment results. However, they provide useful contextual information complementary to the individual self-assessment. 51. Section two moves into the knowledge questions which capture the knowledge the individual has in public procurement against the expected knowledge (target proficiency level) set for the individual’s job profile. Answers to the knowledge questions are scored from 0 to 4 – as a score of 0 will indicate that the individual has no knowledge of a particular competence. Section three covers skills questions, again with one question for each competence, and again scored from 0 to 4. Staff members can choose whether to work through all of the knowledge questions and then all of the skills questions, or to work through all of the competences answering the knowledge and skills questions for each. 52. Since there are 30 competences and several descriptions to consider for each one, staff members will need some time to complete these two sections of the questionnaire. It may make sense to ask the individual to complete these over a period of time, rather than try to do all at one time, but that will depend on individual preferences and business needs. 10.3 Step 3C: Line managers review and discuss the assessment with the individual 53. Once each member of staff has completed their self-assessment, the line manager should review the results with the individual to test the responses and to check that the responses are consistent over the 30 competences and are in line with the line manager ’s experience of working with the individual. 54. Due to the nature of procurement roles, it would be entirely appropriate for the individual’s assessment of their proficiency in certain aspects to be quite different from that in other areas. For example, someone with a lot of experience in pre-award activity, may be much less knowledgeable and skilled in post-award or performance activity. Staff members should again be reassured that they are not expected to be advanced or expert in all areas, and that they should not worry if their self-assessment shows that they have not reached the target proficiency level for their current job in every competence. It is important to emphasize that a rigorous and realistic assessment is the best outcome for the individual and the organization as training can be organized to develop the individual. 10.4 Step 3D: Moderate (benchmark) the self-assessments 55. If there are several staff in your organization who carry out similar roles, it may be helpful for the line manager(s) of those staff to review the self-assessment results for those staff and perform a process of moderation (benchmarking). 56. The purpose of moderation (benchmarking) is to ensure that line managers review the self-assessments in a consistent way; that there is a common and consistent understanding of the proficiency levels required for each competency; and that the integrity of the system is protected. Moderated self-assessments ensure that the organization has a consistent view of 41 the state of the professionalization of its procurement staff and of the training and development needs. 57. Line managers will have a view on the proficiency of their staff and can compare their self-assessment results with those of others within the organization to ensure the results are consistent. Self-assessments can be adjusted following this process of moderation if necessary to ensure a consistent standard. 58. It can help to start the moderation (benchmarking) meeting by comparing the self- assessment results of, say, two individuals who are known to those present and to choose to compare some competences which the line managers who are moderating feel that they are in a position to offer a view. This helps to set a baseline on the level of proficiency evidenced by an experienced procurement professional and other self-assessments can be measured against this baseline. 59. If there is a disagreement of views on how proficient an individual is in a particular competency, it is sensible to revert to the lower proficiency and the individual can benefit from some development to boost their skills in that area to avoid any organizational concern about a lack of skills or experience. 60. If your organization is too small to allow for a meaningful moderation (benchmarking) process within the organization, you could consider working with other organizations in your sector or local area. This may be more difficult in practice, as managers in one organization will not necessarily have seen much of the work of staff in other organizations, but even discussing how you reached conclusions about the self-assessments may help to ensure some consistency and give managers confidence that they have assessed standards properly. 10.5 Step 3E: Report the outcomes of the moderation to the staff members 61. It will be important for line managers to provide the feedback from the moderation session. Where the self-assessment is unchanged, the staff member and the manager can have confidence that they have completed the assessment process to the expected standard, which should be reassuring. Where any self-assessments have been uprated, staff may be pleased – but if they are keen to consolidate their skills, they can still discuss with their line manager the scope to undertake further training. 62. It can be difficult for managers to provide feedback which the individual might find disappointing, so it will be important to be able to explain the process and why a particular decision was taken to change a self-assessment. It will be very important in those circumstances to reassure the member of staff, once again, that this does not reflect badly on their current performance, but is about looking ahead to their further development. Provided the organization can ensure that the staff members get the training and development to support them to develop and to progress, even a reduced self-assessment can be a positive thing. 11 Step 4: Identify the gaps 11.1 Step 4A: Collate organizational results 63. Once all of the staff members have carried out their self-assessments and any moderation has been carried out, you should collate all of the results to build up a picture of the competency gaps across the organization. The way this process is described in the SPP is set out in Box 2 below. 64. The European Commission provides a spreadsheet which you can download to analyze the gaps. You will need to enter the job profiles and the self-assessment results and then the 42 spreadsheet will produce summaries of gaps at individual, profile (each job profile) and organizational level, including the radar charts as shown in Box 2. You can also assess the gaps manually, or using your own spreadsheets. Box 2: SPP text on identifying the competency gaps The State Purchasing Policy (Step 4 in Chapter VIII) says: When a team of practitioners submits individual self-assessment questionnaires, the role of the head of contracting body is to analyze the results collected at both individual and organizational level. These results at individual level should be confronted with the job profiles that each contracting body has defined for himself at stage 2. This will enable the head of contracting body to discover the strengths and weaknesses of his team and potential competency gaps. Using, e.g. a radar chart, comparing the job profile with the score of each employee individually or the average score of all staff to perform the tasks within this profile, it is possible to identify in a simple way the gaps in the team’s competence and room for action. Procurement specific competences Soft competences (Source: ProcurCompEU – Self-assessment tool user guide for organisations, currently available on ProcurCompEU webpage at https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/32178584-5903-48e3-a5ff- c97621b0f9c4_en?filename=procurcompeu-sat_user_guide.pdf In conclusion, at this stage, the contracting body is required to carry out the actual evaluation of the results of the questionnaires, moreover, the data collected as a result of these questionnaires should be collected by the contracting body and on their basis monitor the professional development of employees. 65. The aggregation of the results for all the individuals who occupy the same job profile, within a department or a team, or for the organization as a whole is important to enable you to identify priority development needs at the next step. Some things that may be worth doing as part of your analysis are: • calculating the average performance for each competence which enables the Head of Profession to identify the maturity and competence of the organization as a whole; • spotting the highest or lowest scores of individuals, which allows the identification of individual talent or development opportunities; 43 • Identifying development needs across the organization which have to be addressed to ensure business priorities are met and key risks are minimized. 11.2 Step 4B: Report results to the PPO President 66. The SPP requires that aggregated data on skills gaps should be reported to the PPO President. This is described in the SPP at the end of Step 3, but in practice it may be easier to return the results after you have carried out the analysis at Step 4A above. 67. Providing this aggregated information on competency gaps to the PPO President will provide an overview of development needs across the procurement profession. The PPO President will take this information into account in planning training at the national level. The activities of the PPO President will focus on common and recurring element throughout the whole public procurement market. These activities will be complementary to the activities of the heads of contracting bodies. Regardless of the action taken by the PPO President, heads of contracting bodies will still have a responsibility to undertake their own activities to develop their staff. 12 Step 5: Address the gaps 12.1 Step 5A: Identify priority development needs at organization level 68. Based on the competency gaps identified at individual, profile and organization level, organizations can define targeted actions to fill these gaps. To make best use of limited resources, organizations should identify key development needs based on business priorities and risks. You should also take into account the priorities identified in the SPP, as you may need to prioritize competences which will help you with implementing the SPP. 12.2 Step 5B: Identify ways to meet the priority development needs 69. You should look at the ways the priority development needs can be met at organizational level in order to give line managers the information they need to agree development plans with their staff. 70. At an organizational level, gaps can be addressed in several ways, such as: • developing the skills of existing staff through: o staff attending national training provided by the PPO; o staff attending other external training courses; o commissioning training from an external provider to meet priority development needs in the organization; o developing and running training within the organization, or shared with other organizations in your sector or local area; o staff undertaking online training, including any training provided online through the planned Internet Platform (see Box 3 below); o one-to-one on-the-job training for staff by a manager or more experienced staff member; o coaching or mentoring staff, or encouraging them to exchange knowledge through the planned Internet Platform (see Box 3 below); o staff undertaking secondments to other contracting authorities; • recruiting new staff from outside the organization with the relevant skills; 44 • bringing in contract staff with the relevant skills; • cooperating with other contracting authorities through exchange of good practice or joint procurement; • arranging for some work to be taken on by central purchasing bodies who have teams with the relevant skills. 71. You should consider what options are available to you to meet each of the priority development needs you have identified. At the previous step you will have reported the competency gaps to the President of the PPO, which will ensure that there is a national overview of needs to inform plans for training. Nationally-available training will be a good option when it is available, but you will need to consider the other options. 72. If you decide to develop in-house training, it would be really helpful to share this with other contracting authorities so that their staff can also benefit – and you may be able to benefit if they can share their training on a different topic with your staff. A shared approach may also be helpful if you decide to commission external training, so that you can potentially share the cost with other contracting authorities. If you decide to design or commission training, the ProcurCompEU Generic Training Curriculum may be very helpful. This is available in Part III of the ProcurCompEU European Competency Framework for Public Professionals guidance document. 73. If you decide to recruit contract staff to fill an immediate need or new permanent staff, consider how those staff can pass on their skills to existing staff within your organization to increase your overall organizational capability and resilience. 74. The SPP sets out plans to build an online Platform for participants in the public procurement market. Information about this is shown in Box 3 below. Once available, the Internet Platform will play a very important role in supporting contracting authorities to meet development needs and share good practice. Box 3: SPP text on the planned Internet Platform The State Purchasing Policy (section 2 of Chapter VII) states: 1) Internet Platform The implementation program will build an online platform for participants in the public procurement market, hereinafter referred to as the “Internet Platform” or “platform”. The role of the platform will include: • collection of materials, guidelines, good practices and knowledge on public procurement developed in the framework of the implementation of the purchasing policy; • enabling practitioners to exchange knowledge and experience in public procurement; • providing training in the form of e-learning, which will cover the most important elements of the public procurement system; 45 • ensuring that control bodies are able to exchange information on the results of their control of the award of contracts. Ultimately, the platform will also provide access to a database of entities and institutes that carry out research and development and would be interested in providing content-related support and assistance to contracting bodies from government administration, in particular in the field of innovation and green procurement. The Internet Platform will be a repository of knowledge, which will include analyses, recommendations, good practices, examples of evaluation criteria. It will also be possible to access the jurisprudence of the National Appeal Chamber, the Public Procurement Court — the District Court in Warsaw and selected judgements of common courts, administrative courts, the Supreme Court and the CJEU. An Important point of the Platform will be sharing complete modules relating to the possibility of integrating sustainable and innovative aspects into procurement: • module on green public procurement — where you will find information, guidelines and practical recommendations on how to include GPP. This will include information on the latest news and developments in the area of green public procurement. • module on social procurement — with information on the appropriate purchasing tools to take social aspects into account, promote socially involved entities and promote corporate social responsibility, take into account accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities and design for all users, awarding contracts to socially involved entities such as sheltered workshops, social cooperatives and prison work establishments and other social economy entities. • module on innovation procurement — with recommendations and examples of the use of pre-commercial procurement, innovation partnerships, dynamic purchasing system, negotiated procedures for awarding contracts, design contests, etc. The platform will also include sets of environmental criteria developed by the European Commission, as well as guidance to be developed by the Green Procurement Council on this basis. The platform will be addressed to all participants in the public procurement market, i.e. employees of the public procurement units of the contracting body, economic operators and public procurement departments of companies, as well as employees of control bodies and other interested parties. The platform will be developed by 2024. 12.3 Step 5C: Managers agree development plans with staff 75. Once you have taken decisions about actions to address priority development needs at organization level, you should communicate this information to all managers and staff. At individual level, managers should agree a development plan with each member of staff. This should take account of the actions to meet the organization-wide priority development needs, but also include development for the individual to meet their priority development needs. 46 76. Managers will need information on the training budget available before holding these discussions with staff members. If managers are struggling to find good options to address development needs for staff members, they should feed that back to senior management who should look at the range of options, including those set out above. It is very important, particularly in the early days of implementing ProcurCompEU, that staff should see action being taken to help them with their development. If they are not supported to develop, they may become disillusioned and either leave the organization or underperform in their jobs. 13 Further support on implementing ProcurCompEU 77. The World Bank Team would like to thank all of the people who made time in interviews and focus groups to assist with the development of these guidelines. We hope that they are helpful to you in implementing ProcurCompEU and implementing the procurement reforms in the State Purchasing Policy. If you have any questions or comments on these guidelines, please contact The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology or the PPO. 47 Annexes to the ProcurCompEU guidelines Annex A: Competency Matrix for Public Procurement Professionals Copied from Annex 2 of the SPP Procurement specific Horizontal 1. Planning The formulation, development and implementation of procurement planning translate the policy choices of the organization into where and how public procurement should be used to cost-effectively purchase the required supplies, services or works in line with the desired policy impact. The planning should take into account: a) The political and policy priorities of the organization, b) The relevant policies at national level, c) The adopted budget plans and available resources. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Coordinate the Perform basic Provide research and preparation of the procurement planning gather input for the organization's Set the vision for the tasks, such as procurement planning procurement plan, and organization’s 1. collecting and in line with the policy make procurement and consolidating and political goals of recommendations for adjacent policies contributions from the organization the final planning and various department timeline Anticipate potential Help implement the Establish the opportunities and Implement the organization’s procurement plan and challenges and 2. procurement planning procurement planning budget focusing on mitigate risks in the in their daily work in line with the budget policy outcomes and implementation and timeline benefits process Act as a reference Ensure their daily point for high level work aligns with and Monitor policymakers on contributes to the implementation of the 3. procurement issues, procurement planning plan to ensure the including giving in line with political success of the policy feedback to the and policy priorities political level 48 Provide feedback to Promote the policymakers on the procurement function 4. implementation of the in the overall strategy plan of the organization 2. Lifecycle The procurement lifecycle includes the various phases from planning and pre-publication to post-award and contract management. Each step affects the nature of subsequent steps. Understanding the overall lifecycle and the interactions between the steps, over a number of procedures, is necessary for the design and implementation of robust procurement procedures. It allows to anticipate risks and opportunities, thus improving efficiency and value for money. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Help monitor the Implement the implementation of the different phases of the Manage the different steps of the procurement lifecycle, implementation of all Oversee all phases of procurement lifecycle, with an understanding phases of the the procurement 1. of the interactions procurement lifecycle, lifecycle across with an understanding between the phases, understanding how multiple contract of the interactions the risks and each interacts with the types between the phases, opportunities they others and the risks present Shape internal policies Consistently apply and tools to exploit their procurement links between 2. lifecycle knowledge to procurement phases to maximise efficiency and value for money maximise efficiency and value for money 49 Anticipate potential Act as a reference challenges, risks and point on procurement lifecycle management 3. impacts of the various for those within and phases of the outside the procurement lifecycle organization Guide others in implementing 4. procedures to capitalise on links between phases 3. Legislation Public procurement professionals need to understand and be able to apply the relevant national and EU level legal frameworks and the principles of non-discrimination, equal treatment, transparency, proportionality and sound financial management. This includes adjacent areas of law and policy, e.g.: a) Competition, administrative, contract, environmental, social and labor laws, accessibility obligations and Intellectual Property Rights; b) EU funding, budgetary and accounting rules; c) Remedies. Knowledge of the legislation is also essential to understand and ensure the desired impact on the procurement system and on the supply chains. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Understand the Apply diverse implications and aspects of the Monitor developments impacts of procurement Contribute to the in national legislation procurement law on legislation, as creation of public 1. to support the the well as other legal procurement policy of organization’s procurement frameworks impacting the organization procurement decisions system and the procurement supply chain 50 Apply procurement Make procurement Take deliberate steps Act as a knowledge procedures in line decisions in line with to ensure sharing agent on EU 2. with the legal policy requirements specific impact of and national framework and best and provide clear procurement law on procurement law practices advice and solutions supply chains Help develop the organization's Promote the adoption Perform research and procurement of nonbinding and analysis of the impact practices in line with innovative legal 3. of EU or key issues provisions that national regulation on and the broader procurement represent new procurement. policy context opportunities Take part in expert 4. working groups on procurement law 4. e-Procurement & other IT tools E-Procurement and other IT systems and tools support the procurement lifecycle, from the publication of tenders to the final payment. They reduce administrative burden, improve efficiency, and strengthen transparency and accountability of procurement procedures. Key tools include: a) Preparatory phase tools, e.g. TED and national procurement platforms, e-notification, standardized tender documents and templates; b) Submission phase tools, e.g. e-submission, the European Single Procurement Document, e-Certis; c) Tendering phase tools, e.g. e-catalogues, electronic procurement platforms, dynamic purchasing systems, auction systems, and e-invoicing; d) Other IT tools for data transparency, anti-fraud and anti-corruption, such as business and public contract registers. The digital transformation of public procurement requires a continuous proactive approach to take advantage of the best available tools. It also requires continuous training. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Perform basic Use the systems and Implement the use of Promote procurement operations using the tools available for a wide range of systems and tools and 1. available procurement supporting procurement systems encourage a systems and tools, procurement and tools professionalization 51 such as uploading procedures and culture within the data perform the main e- organization procurement procedures Use procurement data Use template to identify Collect and centralise Analyse procurement documents, the required template data for budget procurement trends national e- 2. documents to monitoring and and to improve the procurement prepare tender forecasting upcoming organization’s platform and public documentation procurements procurement contract registers procedures Contribute to the introduction and/or development of new Use relevant Identify inefficiencies procurement procurement in the organization's systems and tools, or systems and tools in use of systems and to the improvement of 3. existing ones, as well order to ensure the tools and make transparency of the suggestions for as advocate at the procurement process improvements political level for the uptake of the latest systems and tools available Use available data Ensure that all users Take part in expert from the systems in have the appropriate working groups aimed order to assess the risk access and training at developing and of anticompetitive and act as a change fostering the uptake of 4. management agent practices by suppliers the procurement (for example, during systems and tools collusion or bid implementation of a nationally and newly adopted system rigging) internationally or tool 5. Sustainable procurement Sustainable public procurement incorporates strategic public policy goals into procurement procedures, such as green public procurement (GPP), socially responsible public procurement (SRPP), and ensuring genuine competition and SME participation. It contributes to reducing the environmental impact of procurement, to achieving social goals, and to improving value for money for the organization and for society at large. Sustainable objectives can be implemented in many ways: a) Exclusion criteria that require a minimum level of compliance with environmental and social law by contractors and sub-contractors; b) Selection criteria that verify the bidder’s qualifications to achieve environmental and social goals; Technical specifications that include social and environmental considerations such as label requirements or sustainable production processes; c) Evaluation techniques such as life-cycle costing and use of environmental or social award criteria; 52 d) Contract performance clauses in order to monitor and enforce high sustainability standards; e) Sector specific legislation requiring, for example, minimum energy-efficiency standards, as well as horizontal rules such as accessibility obligations; f) Member State level green or social action plans outlining support measures or setting targets. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Implement sustainable Implement the Master the concepts Understand the scope procurement aspects organization’s and application of and benefits of sustainable in technical sustainable sustainable procurement strategy specifications, procurement procurement for 1. selection and award in terms of the targets, aspects and prioritise achieving the priorities and criteria, contract based on impact, organization’s timeframes to achieve clauses and key budgetary importance sustainability the organization’s performance sustainability and influence on the objectives indicator objectives market Understand how Make decisions about sustainable integrating procurement aspects sustainable Secure political are implemented and procurement support and the resources available Use sustainable promote the aspects into e.g. to implement them; procurement tools and technical organization's 2. methods, such as Support the specifications, sustainable implementation of standards, life-cycle selection and procurement sustainable costing and labels award criteria, strategy and priorities procurement contract clauses and approaches within the key performance organization indicators Design the organization's Promote and Carry out research, sustainable encourage the use of Gather data to monitor analysis and procurement strategy, sustainable the networking activities setting clear scope, that support procurement tools and targets, 3. performance of sustainable techniques, such as sustainable priorities and standards, lifecycle procurement project procurement timeframes, costing decisions and ensure it is techniques and labels implemented effectively 53 Get an overview of the products and Define priority services available on sectors with high- Monitor the the market by sustainability impact impact and identify engaging approaches to and performance of suppliers and make a the project, including tendering in the 4. business case for commitments made by selected sectors such sustainable as construction, food contractors and procurement and catering, subcontractors vehicles, and based on lifecycle costing and social ICT impact Reach out to Integrate sustainable stakeholders who are procurement good conducive to practices to the 5. developing organization sustainable and among peer procurement markets organizations and opportunities Advocate for the development and widespread use of sustainable procurement within and Ensure there is a beyond the system for organization, take monitoring the part in sustainability impact expert groups and 6. of contracts, networks and create including partnerships commitments made by with other public contractors and authorities and subcontractors stakeholders (e.g. civil society and NGOs) to promote and improve implementation of sustainable public procurement 6. Innovation procurement Innovation procurement refers to a public procurement that involves either: a) Buying the process of innovation (e.g. buying research and development services), or b) Buying the outcomes of innovation created by others (i.e. buying innovative solutions). Innovation procurement helps modernize public services while creating opportunities for companies to develop new markets. By developing a forward-looking innovation procurement strategy and considering alternative competing solutions, contracting authorities can drive innovation from the demand side to meet short term as well as medium to long term needs. A 54 well-designed innovation procurement strategy will reduce the risk of low- or non-performance of the purchased innovations by providing a step-by-step approach from solution design, prototyping, and development to development and product testing. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Master the concepts and Understand why and Implement the application of how innovation organization’s innovation Prepare a business procurement procurement aspects innovation case for starting an are implemented and procurement and prioritise based on 1. innovation how they can add strategy in line with innovation impact, procurement (incl. budgetary value to the the cost/benefit analysis) organization’s importance procurement process for the organization objectives and potential influence on the market Design and implement a forward-looking Understand how strategy for innovation innovation procurement for the procurement aspects, Make decisions about organization based on Support the including key key performance high-impact implementation emerging indicators to integrate 2. process of innovation opportunities technologies, are within tender procurement within implemented and (e.g. ICTs and key specifications and an organization how they can add enabling technologies) contracts and on the impacts value to the objectives achieved by of the organization completed innovation procurements Set the public procurement procedure parameters Advocate for the (e.g. by using development and functional or widespread use of performance based innovation requirements instead Maintain a good procurement within of prescriptive overview of the and beyond the Perform basic tasks requirements, products and services organization, for conducting examining the use of available on the innovation take part in key variants, innovation- market by 3. procurements using innovation friendly selection and engaging with available tools (e.g. award criteria, suppliers and procurement related standards, stakeholder events, expert groups template documents) certifications, quality groups involved in and networks to labels, key innovation promote and improve performance the implementation of indicators innovation and IPR conditions) to procurement enable innovative solutions to compete with established ones 55 Incentivise the industry to invest in research and development and expand Gather data for Establish strategic commercialization to agreements and monitoring the Monitor the bring innovative cooperation structures expenditure level and innovation impact and solutions, 4. with other buyers that the impact of the performance of the including key emerging enable regular innovation project technologies, to the coordinated or joint procurement procurements market with the quality and price needed for mass- market deployment Promote and encourage the use of 5. innovation procurement tools and techniques 7. Category specific Category specific expertise is at the core of the procurement procedure. The characteristics of the category of supplies, services or works to be acquired need to be well understood, including by involving experts and stakeholders (professionals and end-users). The procurement strategy and documents have to be tailored to fulfil the identified need and maximize value for money # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Check if any legal and regulatory Perform research and requirements apply to Arrange or categorise Act as a reference provide relevant their category of planned spending point for information on a supplies, services or according to markets procurement 1. category of supplies, works (e.g. ensuring a trends, keeping in professionals and minimum stock level services or works to users at organizational for health care mind quality, service, make informed and even national supplies, transport and risk and cost. purchasing decisions level storage requirements for hazardous materials) Shape organizational Contribute to the or national policy for definition of product Technical procurement or use of 2. the supplies, requirements in preparing technical services or specifications works in their category 56 Prepare targeted thematic guidance 3. and disseminate best practices developed by similar organizations. 8. Supplier management Supplier management involves building and maintaining effective relationships with current and potential future suppliers. It is essential to ensuring the successful delivery of current contracts and of future calls for tender. In addition, increased understanding of suppliers can help procurement professionals drive more robust, ethical, responsible and economically advantageous supply chains through open channels of communication with suppliers, especially SMEs. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Maintain structured and strategic relationships with suppliers and Interact directly with Maintain high level potential Reply to simple suppliers on relationships 1. suppliers based on queries from suppliers low complexity with strategic trust, contracts commitment, suppliers integrity and an awareness of mutual obligations Support the work of Advise economic Provide support to Explore opportunities other procurement operators and suppliers in for increased value professionals in suppliers 2. particular on added in complex meetings and other on the conduct of e- the use of the projects with political communication with procurement e-procurement system implications suppliers procedures Analyse supplier Monitor supplier trends and draw Define topics and performance, identify conclusions in terms design 3. trends and take of the content necessary actions opportunities for of support to suppliers improvement Develop sound working relationships Shape and exploit with suppliers based Handle cases of ethical and 4. on trust, commitment, disputes with economically integrity and an suppliers advantageous supply awareness of mutual chains obligations 5. Identify and 57 foster ethical and economically advantageous supply chains 9. Negotiations Negotiations can be used to secure and advance the interests of the organization, and ultimately of the final beneficiary, in achieving best value for money. They aim at reaching a mutual agreement between the contracting authority and the supplier, despite potentially opposing interests, on how to improve the submitted tenders to better satisfy the terms and conditions stated in the procurement documents. Negotiations must respect the general procurement principles (i.e. non-discrimination, transparency and equal treatment), as well as ethical and integrity standards. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Prepare negotiation strategies and Lead complex Collect input, data elaborate operational and information, negotiation and strategic Perform basic tasks including negotiations 1. related to the from internal experts, positions based across a wide range of negotiation process to help prepare on research and contract negotiation analysis, and types, issues and strategies input from internal stakeholders stakeholder Attend negotiations Lead complex Support the and solve negotiations for high- negotiation process Attend and actively complex issues that complexity 2. with data and input participate in arise for and high-risk, gathering, and data negotiation meetings different types of politically- analysis procurements and sensitive contracts procurements Run the majority of Obtain the best Run negotiations and negotiations of high value for money and solve straightforward complexity projects best solution in terms 3. issues for routine, (in of Low complexity terms of risk, contributing to the projects technicality, and/or achievement of the procedural aspects) policy objectives Provide support in negotiations for 4. higher complexity projects 58 Procurement specific Pre-award 10. Needs assessment The needs assessment is the process of determining the needs, including possible impacts in terms of value for money or environmental impacts, regarding the subject matter of the procurement by various means, including: liaising with internal and external stakeholders, within the organization itself or third parties to identify their needs, translating identified needs into procurement planning of supplies, services, or in line with the organization’s budget plan, considering aggregation of needs related to the same subject matter. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Oversee the full Interact with internal process of needs Gather relevant and external assessment with an information stakeholders to Manage the full eye for from multiple understand the range process of needs opportunities to 1. sources in a of analysis and data increase value for structured current and interpretation money and manner (e.g. using foreseeable impact on policy templates) needs objectives across the organization Advise on possible Analyse and Interact with Bring in technical distinctions interpret collected internal and external expertise as between data, and 2. stakeholders to required for complex investment costs and draw conclusions in understand procurement current the identification of organizational needs procedures expenditure for a potential needs specific budget Influence key stakeholders to Liaise with implement the Identify similar colleagues to broader cases and make gather advanced procurement Draft the first needs 3. suggestions for technological strategy of the assessment knowledge for organization needs aggregation to generate savings drafting technical including the specifications identification of synergies across organizations Propose alternative Drive and challenge Act autonomously in options and the organization’s identifying the need solutions to better needs 4. for and running address the identification standard underlying needs strategy and procurement and priorities and creates a culture of procedures makes performance and recommendations innovation 59 Put in place solutions and strategies that help anticipate and 5. create innovative ways to meet internal and externals needs (e.g. needs aggregation) Communicate convincingly to internal and external 6. stakeholders on the recommended approach 11. Market analysis & engagement Market analysis provides an in-depth view of which supplies and services can or cannot be provided by the market, and under what conditions. It involves collecting information on key market drivers (e.g. political, environmental, technological, and social) and on the potential bidders. This information can be used to define the procurement strategy (e.g. division into lots), the reference price, and selection and award criteria to better advance the organization’s objectives. Market engagement is a consultation process that helps identify potential bidders and solutions, identify the gap between the procurement need and what the market is able to offer or inform the market about an upcoming procurement. Different market engagement techniques, such as questionnaires, technical dialogue, open days, and direct emails to suppliers, can be used as long as they are conducted in accordance with the public procurement principles (i.e. nondiscrimination, transparency and equal treatment,), and ethical, privacy, confidentiality and integrity standards, in order to ensure genuine and fair competition. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Take advantage of the Apply the principles Apply the principles of transparency, Review market market of non- conditions and non-discrimination discrimination, analysis and ensure and equal treatment, completeness; opportunities to align transparency and the procurement 1. as well as ethical, undertake market equal treatment as strategy to emerging privacy, research on complex confidentiality and well as ethical and market trends and organizational needs integrity standards to integrity standards to shape it to best meet in line with principles market consultations the policy goals of market consultations the organization Collect information Identify market Advise on best market Analyse and interpret 2. from available opportunities and engagement market research to sources without propose mitigation techniques 60 engaging suppliers, to estimate cost and measures to any risk and propose ways to support market forecast budgets identified mitigate risks assessment on associated to them straightforward requirements Set up processes for enabling a Supervise the market Evaluate the potential relevant number analysis process and Prepare supporting impact of of suppliers to 3. take relevant documentation market factors using take part in market decisions based on the relevant tools consultations and assessment competitive dialogue procedures Ensure that procurement strategies are Anticipate future designed to developments and 4. reflect market potential risks in the conditions, policy supply chain goals, and opportunities identified Identify risks to genuine competition in the Promote a culture of case of meeting and limited market exceeding 5. internal needs and offer, either due maximising value for to the number of money at the active suppliers or the organizational level nature of the service or supply Understand and open up markets by influencing supply chains (e.g. 6. consulting with SMEs) through market engagement. 12. Procurement strategy The design of the procurement strategy is the deliberate use of different elements in the procurement lifecycle to reflect and exploit the conditions of the subject matter of the procurement and define the most appropriate and impactful process in order to reach the organization’s objectives and ensure genuine competition. It includes the identification of the most appropriate option between: types of procurement procedures, standalone or joint 61 procurement, features of the procedure, such as scope, duration, and division into lots, techniques and instruments for electronic submission (electronic auctions and catalogues, and dynamic purchasing systems), types of contract (e.g. direct or framework agreement) and contract performance clauses. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Make Provide expert advice Understand commonly suggestions for the to practitioners on the used use of various procurement design procurement Understand the procurement process and 1. procedures, different steps of the techniques for procedures and support the use of procurement strategy techniques in alternative electronic submission order to design the procurement and contract types procurement strategy procedures Gather the Oversee the research Support research on information and analysis Help shape the procurement necessary to make process and organizational procedures, 2. data driven make the final and national policy to techniques and procurement strategy decision on the most support good instruments for the decisions and appropriate procurement strategy procurement strategy recommendations procurement process Make effective use of Provide input to the whole range of support the Analyse and procurement procurement strategy Ensure that the right implement procedures, decision-making resources are the findings of techniques for 3. process; e.g. available market analysis and electronic summarise and report for the research and market engagement submission, contract information gathered types and contract analysis process to shape the on procurement procurement strategy performance clauses options where appropriate Using the results of the market analysis, assess and take action to 4. mitigate any risk of anticompetitive behaviours by suppliers linked to various options Decide on the design of the procurement 5. strategy using the full range of procurement procedures and techniques 13. Technical specifications 62 Drafting technical specifications involves transforming the findings of the needs assessment and market analysis into concrete specifications and evaluation criteria that can be used in assessing bids and awarding the contract. This includes setting objective and not over prescriptive minimum requirements for the subject matter to avoid unnecessarily limiting competition. Ensuring that technical specifications are outcome-focused and future-proofed is key to enable innovation and continuous improvement. When drafting the technical specifications, public buyers should already define the exclusion, selection and award criteria which will be used to evaluate the offers in order to identify the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT). Technical specifications can also contain references to standards in order to ensure common understanding, transparency and equal treatment. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Collect information Draft specifications and analysis on that take advantage of Contribute to the technical content to evolving markets and Provide advice or lead 1. preparation of clear keep pace with development of very support the technical specifications changing needs complex specifications specification development Drive the development Liaise with relevant Apply the selection of innovative and colleagues and Adapt standardised or forward-looking and award criteria and services to gather previously used specifications with the 2. understand their advanced tender specifications relevant specialists influence on the technological to current needs and experts, including market knowledge for drafting the use of functional technical specification requirements Ensure that the Define the selection technical and award criteria specifications are to deliver value for compliant with the money with an Review technical principles of public understanding of the specifications for 3. procurement, horizontal obligations market implications complex and high- such as accessibility as and legal profile procurements. well as relevant sector requirements as well specific legal as for the potential requirements use of standards Make use of non-price criteria for routine procurement 4. procedures, including appropriate weighting to ensure best price quality balance Make references to Provide guidance on standards to increase drafting technical 5. Common specifications to team understanding of members procurement 63 documents between buyers and suppliers Engage with experts to understand Understand and technology roadmaps incorporate that will support the technology roadmaps 6. drafting of technical when drafting specifications for technical innovation specifications procurements 14. Tender documentation To launch a procurement procedure, tender documentation has to be prepared and the exclusion, selection and award criteria that are the basis for the contract award decision must be defined. The tender documentation (in addition to the technical specifications) explains the administrative requirements of the procedure, justifies the estimated value of the contract, and specifies the terms and conditions under which tenders are to be submitted, evaluated and awarded. They may include other elements such as draft contract provisions, cancellation conditions for the tender, as well as modifications, performance and termination provisions, etc. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Support the Contribute to the preparation of Design and complete policy of the procurement Draft procurement tender documentation organization as documents such as documentation in line that reflects regards tender instructions to with the policy goals and documentation, and 1. organization policy tenderers, annexes to helps act as a be completed, and and EU and national maximise value for reference point for draft contracts, based regulations money compliance review on guidelines and and templates verification for others Design and implement Ensure the quality of Publish tender transparent and the tender announcements Make sure the correct appropriate tender documentation and respond to methodology is documentation 2. process by applying economic operators applied to strategy for the the right questions about the issued public organization in methodology and tender documentation procurement tender full compliance with standards requirements the legal limitations and possibilities Design both standard Foresee and tackle and non- risks linked to 3. standard contract financial and legal terms in aspects 64 collaboration with of concerned legal advisors documents Verify the compliance and Endorse final completeness of documentation and 4. procurement other management documentation decisions related to prepared process 15. Tender evaluation The tender evaluation process must ensure that tenders are assessed in an objective and legally compliant way and against exclusion, selection and award criteria defined in the call for tender, in order to identify the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT). The evaluation committee should be led by experienced administrators who are well-versed in their roles, responsibilities and procedural obligations, supported by relevant technical experts in the field of the subject matter, including assessing standards and labels. The process should be documented to provide the evidence and the rationale for the award. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Facilitate the resolution of complex Support the Perform evaluation cases where the evaluation process, against the defined Chair evaluation tenders including the criteria and make committees for 1. are difficult preparation of recommendations to most types of to evaluate or where documentation for the support the award procedures conflict of evaluation committee decision making interest arises Ensure that the Participate as a Provide suggestions evaluation process is Manage tender voting member in for mobilising evaluation conducted in way that documentation, relevant experts to 2. committees for is including receipt of take part in the consistent, offers and archiving routine evaluation transparent and fair contracts committees Ensure that the Detect possible cases number, skills Participate in the of anti-competitive and knowledge assessment of and corrupt of the evaluation 3. tenders and ensure behaviours, panel members is the process is such as collusion appropriate, documented among suppliers, and that they are free based on the tender of conflict of interest Prepare and provide Communicate the 4. feedback to tenderers outcomes of the 65 evaluation panel to stakeholders Document the evaluation process used to rank the 5. offers in order to ensure proper reporting and audit trail Procurement specific Post-award 16. Contract management Contract management involves ensuring that the subject of the procurement is delivered according to the terms, conditions in the technical specifications and the contract, and in compliance with all legal requirements and technical specifications. This includes aspects related to governance, risk, performance (and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)), rules on modifications of contracts and financial management of contracts. In the case of supply contracts, contract management also covers logistics and inventory management. This means ensuring that goods are delivered on time and meet quality standards, and that the availability of stocks is consistently and cost-effectively maintained. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Supervise the Manage a portfolio of management of Gather data for Define and implement contracts for the complex contracts contract 1. the contract procurement of and provide advice on implementation management plan supplies, works and resolving contracts monitoring services with challenging issues Anticipate the implementation of the Monitor the contract already Shape the contract Update and maintain performance of during the pre-award management policy at 2. contract databases contracts against phase to minimise organizational or and registers predefined KPIs contract national level modifications late Support contract Ensure overall delivery functions in Perform regular risk Adapt management alignment 3. line with scope, assessments on practices in difficult with national policy quality, time and or legal procurement contracts situations budget requirements in terms of 66 logistics and inventory management Steer the logistics and Apply the terms and inventory policy Report on contractual conditions of contracts Make a decision on across the 4. milestones and in varied contract termination organization with outcomes circumstances efficiency and effectiveness Support inventory Understand and management and provide advice inform when issues Advise on contract on all aspects related 5. with the logistics or modifications to contract law and with the inventory contract management arise strategies Tailor the logistics and inventory Prepare the ground for 6. management for the contract termination delivery of complex goods Apply corrective 7. measures in case of deviations from the contract terms Apply first-hand experience with 8. logistics and perform inventory management 17. Certification and payment Before proceeding with a payment to a contractor for the provision of supplies, works or services, the procuring organization needs to perform a verification check to ensure alignment with the specifications of the terms and conditions of the contract and all applicable financial and accounting rules. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Collect invoices and Assess the Review the Create a culture of other documents conformity of 1 documentation performing which support the supplies, works or . required for the verification checks procurement services with the verification process payment certification across the terms and conditions process organization of complex contracts Use relevant Solve payment Help to ensure a Develop mitigation 2 techniques and tools issues related to the clear audit trail for measures to prevent . to check for double nonconformity of all payments made and detect payment payments supplies, works or 67 fraud, such as double services of high- payments value contracts with the terms and conditions of the contract Assess the conformity of 3 supplies, works or Sign off or reject . services with the payment requests terms and conditions of routine contracts Prepare 4 recommendations for . approval or rejection of payment 18. Reporting and evaluation Reporting and evaluation is the ex-post assessment of the deliverables and outcomes of a procurement process to assess the strengths and weaknesses and draw lessons for future calls for tender. It is done by collecting relevant data in line with organizational and national reporting obligations. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Perform the contract Analyse complex Support the analysis reporting and cases of Analyse contract of contract evaluation process to underperformance performance performance, ensure that the to identify reporting to assess 1. including by organization is the contribution to collecting data from underlying causes extracting lessons organization’s the procurement and recommend learnt from their objectives management process mitigating measures experience Ensure record Ensure transparency Analyse performance of data and findings keeping of all Review reports on data and formulate in line with 2. transactions and complex cases of make sure an audit clear findings and organizational and underperformance recommendations national policies and trail is kept standards Supervise the Collect relevant data Conduct ex post Implement the implementation of that helps address verification and draft recommendations of audit 3. national and reports on standard audit and ex-post recommendations organizational cases of verification reports and ex-post reporting obligations underperformance verification reports Engage suppliers in Develop a culture of 4. performance supplier engagement improvement within the 68 discussions organization to create clear communication channels for feedback and improvement. 19. Conflict resolution & mediation Conflict resolution or mediation refers to the process of: preventing and solving points of difference, disagreements and conflicts between parties, during all phases of the procurement process and contract management, in order to reach an agreement for the common interest of both parties, managing complaints filed against the organization according to the national review system, understanding of the national review system and remedies system, and conflict solving mechanisms at different levels. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Identify potential conflicts and refer Manage procedural them to the Anticipate and take and Lead activities in 1. hierarchy according steps to prevent contractual issues case of conflict to organizational potential conflicts such as claims and escalation policy disputes, etc Manage the conflict Objectively analyse resolution the facts of a process using Gather information Provide final situation and present different conflict to support the approval of 2. clear findings and resolution, management of the the response to recommendations arbitration and complaints complaints for potential mediation solutions techniques Implement lessons learnt Provide from review cases at recommendations to national and improve European Participate in the organizational level as well 3. conflict resolution procedures for as from good process; avoiding and practices and cases resolving that were solved conflicts and without reaching the complaint level of an official complaint Create a culture of Help address conflict resolution complaints, e.g. by 4. and mediation with drafting the the tenderers and appropriate response suppliers 69 Professional Self 20. Adaptability & modernization Public procurement professionals need to respond and adapt to changing tasks and circumstances. Such changes can occur in terms of working methods (e.g. digitalization), citizens’ expectations (e.g. food safety), technological solutions and challenges (e.g. big data and cybersecurity), emergency scenarios (e.g. pandemics, natural disasters) and policy challenges (e.g. climate change). Public procurement professionals must keep abreast of relevant changes in the regulatory, political, and technological environment of public procurement. They must keep an open mind to changing conditions, new ideas and viewpoints and working methods. They must adapt, be resilient to change, and even embrace change by looking for modern and innovative solutions to overcome new procurement challenges. They should be capable of reassessing their approach in emergency situations to ensure compliance while making full use of available flexibilities. They should identify learning and development opportunities that support agile adaptation to change and new tools. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Implement new Seek out innovative procurement and effective ways to Manage innovation Accept new techniques and improve the and change efforts to priorities positively approaches in line maximise organization’s 1. procurement and apply new tools with procurement effectiveness, speed modernisation of response and processes, in line and processes strategies adaption with innovation trends in the public service Adjust internal Identify future Contribute to an procedures and Suggest ways to make competences and environment that a change work workflows expertise required by facilitates team 2. effectively and according to the and individual demonstrate a implemented change organization to change and learning positive mindset initiatives quickly respond and processes adapt Set up the Prepare the organizational procurement team context for learning and organization for and development and 3. dealing with, professionalization responding and through upskilling adapting to change of the procurement staff 70 Foster an environment conducive to Encourage a culture innovation, of change learning and and innovation in 4. order to deliver development and ensure that better outcomes for learning and citizens development needs are addressed 21. Analytical & critical thinking Procurement professionals need analytical and critical thinking to evaluate information with accuracy and objectivity. In doing so, they use good judgment, anticipate opportunities and threats and solve problems in an efficient and creative way. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Gather and analyse relevant data while Develop analytical applying existing Interpret trends and Determine the nature processes to ensure 1. qualitative and patterns when and scope of all relevant factors quantitative processing data analysis are considered approaches in a consistent way Review documents Establish criteria to Interpret analysis Identify and suggest with a critical eye, evaluate data, while alternative solutions outputs to support 2. ensuring that taking into account when solving and motivate implications and both current problems strategic decisions risks are considered and future needs Analyse and raise awareness among Adapt the Show awareness of colleagues and procurement opportunities and stakeholders on approach Lead monitoring of 3. based on the risks throughout the potential risks and emerging threats procurement cycle suggest adequate situation and approaches for requirements. mitigating risks 22. Communication Communication aims to ensure that the goals and processes of procurement policy in general, and individual procurement procedures, are well understood by stakeholders. It relies on the use of appropriate communication channels (oral, written, electronic) in order to deliver relevant and accurate information in line with the public procurement principles of nondiscrimination, transparency and equal treatment. In doing so, public procurement professionals need to adapt the communication medium and message to the target audience. 71 # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Deliver strategic, Create and engaging and Use active listening champion an open Listen actively, persuasive and communication and transparent speak and write communication environment for 1. skills in clearly, logically with a consistent communication conversations and and concisely message around meetings within the values and organization objectives Implement the communication strategy of the Prepare detailed and organization in Define a public accurate relation to specific procurement Ensure efficient communication procurement communication release of deliverables, to projects by defining strategy for the information through present procurement the relevant organization that 2. various deliverables, promotes the priorities through communication overseeing their organization’s the organization channels design and delivery, communication procurement and creating a strategy structure that priorities ensures a good flow of communication. Support the team in Promote creative, designing clear and innovative and 3. sound impactful communication communication deliverables methods Design the Adopt ethical and Understand and organization’s professional respect the Promote the code of conduct behaviour in line organization’s organization’s and ethics and create with the code of conduct and the conditions for its 4. compliance policies, ethical standards observance by the organization’s code their scope and the among staff, through of conduct and requirements and risks staff guidance and ethical standards related to them training and leadership Understand and Review and monitor Create the Demonstrate a assess the impact procurement compliance culture compliance mind- and projects and ensure of the organization 5. set when preparing consequences of a supply and align it with procurement violation of ethical chain processes are government compliant with deliverables. standards and regulations and national ethical compliance policies policies policies Consult with legal Monitor actions and 6. Provides practical and relevant subject plans that drive 72 matter experts when recommendations effective compliance in doubt about for improving and constant compliance related adherence with the improvements practices organization’s compliance and regulatory policies Analyse and identify compliance issues 7. that may threaten the quality of work and organizational development. 23. Ethics & compliance Public procurement stakeholders must ensure compliance with all applicable rules, codes of conducts and guidelines and adherence to the principles of public procurement: equal treatment, non-discrimination, transparency and proportionality. All stakeholders involved in public procurement must ensure verification throughout the full range of concrete tasks, making use of available tools to assess the risks of conflict of interest, corruption on the one hand, and anticompetitive practices by suppliers such as collusion and bid-rigging, or potential problems with compliance in their work on the other hand. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Design the Adopt ethical and organization’s professional Understand and code of conduct behaviour in line respect the Promote the and ethics and create with the organization’s organization’s the conditions for its 1. compliance policies, code of conduct and observance by the organization’s code their scope and the ethical standards staff, through of conduct and guidance and requirements and among staff ethical standards risks related to them training and leadership Understand and Review and monitor Create the Demonstrate a assess the impact procurement compliance culture compliance mind- and projects and ensure of the organization 2. set when preparing consequences of a supply and align it with procurement violation of ethical chain processes are government compliant with regulations and deliverables standards and national ethical compliance policies policies policies Consult with legal and relevant subject Provides practical Monitor actions and matter experts when recommendations plans that drive 3. for improving effective compliance in doubt about adherence with the and constant compliance related organization’s improvements practices. 73 compliance and regulatory policies Analyse and identify compliance issues 4. that may threaten the quality of work and organizational development. Professional People 24.Collaboration No public procurement professional works in isolation. To be successful, procurement professionals need to collaborate with each other and their environment. This means working in teams and encouraging the sharing of ideas and strategies and the gathering input and expertise. This is equally applicable for a small organization where the public buyer will have to rely on both internal and external stakeholders, as well as for larger organizations and central purchasing bodies, where there is a conscious strategy for building multidisciplinary procurement teams for specific procurement procedures (e.g. lawyer, economist, specialist or subject-matter expert). # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Contribute to the Take accountability team dynamics to Promote the Develop team for their role and ensure cooperative importance and spirit and culture actively contribute and positive 1. benefits of diversity for effective team to reach the working and inclusion within work and objectives of the relationships for the procurement team procurement teams collaboration team’s success Develop and enhance Share your Understand the relationships within Promote a importance of knowledge with different conducive building others while 2. departments, environment for relationships based acknowledging and with team work to on trust and others’ experience stakeholders, achieve results reliability and skills citizens, suppliers, etc. Facilitate the Leverage the sharing of expertise benefits of diverse Apply interpersonal and teams and 3. skills when working resources with and stakeholder with team members between teams collaboration to taking into achieve consideration their 74 structural, organizational functional and results cultural dimensions Build strong teams Act as a role model Act honestly and that capitalise on and show strong fairly with others, 4. differences in examples of showing expertise, consideration and cooperation in the competences and respect organization background 25. Stakeholder relationship management Stakeholder relationship management means creating and maintaining solid internal and external relations based on mutual trust and credibility. Public procurement professionals often need to engage with stakeholders to achieve organizational goals and contribute to the sustainable development of stakeholder relationships. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Leverage sound Identify internal and Champion sound and Ensure stakeholders’ working external stakeholders effective working 1. needs are heard and relationships based and understand their relationships at effectively addressed on trust, commitment needs senior level and integrity Maintain good Develop good working Create a culture of working Motivate internal outstanding relationships with relationships and and external stakeholder 2. internal and external communication with stakeholders in order relationship stakeholders at an internal and external to achieve the management within operational level stakeholders based desired outcomes the organization on mutual trust Analyse potential positive and Consider all negatives Ensure stakeholder points of Facilitate an organizational consequences to view when analysing environment where strategies incorporate 3. select problems and win-win solutions strong stakeholder the most appropriate Relationship opportunities can be achieved stakeholder management management methods Build and manage Work proactively to Seek solutions that relationships with anticipate and Identify and balance the needs of subject matter mitigate potential stakeholders to prioritise strategic 4. various stakeholders stakeholder ensure sustainability stakeholder and look for win-win communication of stakeholder relationships solutions. challenges strategies Develop and Take responsibility 5. leverage strategic for improving 75 stakeholder stakeholder relationships orientation and engagement at organizational level 26. Team management & leadership Team management and leadership are key to setting a clear direction and achievable objectives for procurement teams and functions. They should be used to promote a collaborative environment and work towards common goals. This implies using methods and techniques that are tailored to the team to support its members, clearly defining roles and responsibilities; setting individual and group performance expectations; and encouraging the team to work together to achieve the set goals. # Expert Intermediate Advanced Expert Understand the Demonstrate Develop a culture of necessity to align assertiveness, best practices and Understand and team work with the confidence and innovation within the 1. adapt to various delivery of the emotional procurement team leadership styles organization's goals intelligence when and the organization and act accordingly managing a team Plan, manage, prioritise and Promote and support Give team members delegate Encourage open positive team regular feedback on responsibilities, in 2. communication management their strengths and accordance within the team and leadership weaknesses with the team's practices capabilities Give constructive feedback to ensure Encourage and continuous Listen and value support change Lead change 3. improvement within input from other initiatives and initiatives to meet team, organization team members involve team policy requirements. and service members Make constructive 4. suggestions for improvement Professional Performance 27. Organizational awareness Organizational awareness is the understanding of the administrative structure, organizational culture, as well as the legal and policy framework, that impacts the organization. It allows one 76 to understand the drivers and motivations of different stakeholders, and to take appropriate actions leading to securing value for money and the best outcome for the organization. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Design and deliver Identify the interests relevant trainings to Operate according to Lead and shape high and motivations of convey the the organization’s level 1. internal stakeholders organization’s values vision, mission and internal policy and point out and working values discussions associated risks methods Identify relevant Define clear career Understand and Promote values and training prospects and staff respect the social aspects of the opportunities to learning and 2. organization to support own organization’s legal support successful development professional environment team work opportunities development Understand the Provide the deepest organization level of knowledge structure and of Steer the Seek guidance and processes, and how the organization organization’s advice from experts 3. different internal processes strategy towards in the organization to departments and the achievement of solve problems procedures, and influence value for money procurement system and tools. decisions 28. Project management The effective delivery of a procurement project requires the understanding and application of key concepts, practices and tools to manage procurement procedures. These project management concepts can be used to ensure that procurement projects are delivered in line with the expected timeline, budget, quality, stakeholder involvement and risk mitigation. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Make informed and Ensure key project Undertake simple appropriate Promote relevant milestones and tasks and support decisions that project management 1. deliverables are the preparation of support the system and tools for deliverables advancement of the met to deliver the organization project’s objectives project Respect the Take accountability Organise and Monitor and deliver guidelines and for project coordinate activities multiple complex timeline for effectiveness 2. in line with project projects in an deliverables and and deployment objectives and uncertain project activities of the selected strategy environment approach 77 Govern the organization’s Report on project Handle complex project management progress and results, budget issues strategy and 3. including quality and stakeholder anticipate high risks assessment communication and unexpected situations and mitigate them Establish a framework and Successfully approach for the manage an project, individual project 4. ensuring the from the scoping right alignment of phase to project project closure objectives with the overall strategy Identify tasks and 5. delegate them using the right resources 29. Performance orientation Public procurement professionals need to focus efforts and prioritize work to deliver value for money, in line with public service guidelines and policies. Their role is to achieve cost savings and strategic and sustainable goals, proactively identify inefficiencies, overcome obstacles and adapt their approach to consistently deliver sustainable and high-performance procurement outcomes. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Show strategic Demonstrate Set goals that awareness of the Manage time role of internal perseverance and support effectively and teams and external 1. commitment to performance prioritise work to and value for money stakeholders in achieve team and meet deadlines delivering organizational goals targets successful procurements Drive the Drive motivation procurement and shape Set team goals that team to achieve Review and stakeholders’ support standards and 2. improve own behaviours to organizational results in line achieve performance goals and KPIs with the values and organizational mission of objectives the organization Pursue individual Monitor and goals with energy Keep the team Create a 3. analyse and persistence, focused by setting performance performance, setting high 78 standards of short and long term including using culture and shape performance action plans statistical an organizational analysis structure that techniques, for supports goals setting new goals. achievement Develop a basic Effectively manage Sets high value for factual team performance money and 4. understanding of to achieve value procurement organizational for money results performance goals drivers Measure the extent to which targets 5. have been achieved 30. Risk management & internal control Public procurement takes place at an intersection of public and private interests. It is subject to several layers of internal and external oversight, even including media attention, and is widely identified as a key risk area for fraud and corruption. As such, a big part of a procurement professional’s job is managing a number of overlapping risks. This requires rigorous and thoughtful application of mitigation measures and controls, as well as a proactive approach to protecting the interests of the organization and the public good. # Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert Understand that procurement is open Effectively Use advanced Proactively manage risk management and to risks, such as implement the risks to add value to 1. fraud and corruption, different functions of control activities the procurement and internal control and both at operational activities contribute to their audit and strategical level identification Implement advanced Master all internal and Implement risk Apply and tailor risk management and external assurance management internal control control processes functions and use 2. processes such as processes to and them to add value to change management procurement tools, including IT- the procurement and version control based ones activity Fully integrate control and risk management Integrate the inputs processes into from risk assessment exercises as input for governance and 3. designing operational procurement procurement strategies and systems, using policies established channels of communication with 79 competition and anti-corruption authorities Use the benefits of Suggest procurement system improvements to the and tools to enhance 4. internal the design and the control system of the implementation of procurement activity controls 80 Annex B: Example job profiles and target proficiency levels from the SPP (Chapter VIII and Annex 3) Profile 1 – Procurement support officer As a procurement support officer, your job is to assist staff members throughout the entire public procurement cycle, making sure all procurement documents are compliant with procedural, technical and legal requirements, and that meetings and other contacts are well organized. • The officer needs to have a solid overview of the different steps in the procurement lifecycle, and proficiency with the relevant Procurement and other IT tools needed. • You also need to rely on good communication and collaboration, as well as strong organizational awareness to move the process along efficiently. • Your major added value is in helping the procurement team to ensure compliance, particularly in the preparation of tender documentation. Profile 2 –Standalone public buyer The standalone public buyer’s job is the most common. You are the person who has to manage all of the procurement needs for a small contracting body. As such, your job is to be a generalist who knows what needs to be done at each stage of the process, and where to find the kinds of specialized knowledge you may not have. • You need to have solid understanding of relevant EU and national legislation and be proficient with the relevant IT systems and tools. • You also need to be able to handle compliance and risk management responsibilities. • As a public buyer, your internal clients and end users rely on you to bring strong business and performance orientation, and to take care of outward-facing aspects such as supplier management. • Your major added value is to be a generalist who has at least an intermediate understanding of all the steps in the procurement lifecycle, from needs assessment and market consultation to drafting technical specifications and leading the evaluation. • You may also need to cover the post-award phase of the procurement process, including contract management and certification and payment. • Being able to incorporate sustainability and innovation objectives into the procurement process is an advantage. • Your role requires analytical and critical thinking to address problems independently, and organizational awareness to get support when you need it. Profile 3 — Public Procurement Specialist 81 The public buyer’s job is to be a specialist in the public procurement for a larger contracting body or central purchasing body, as part of a larger team. • You need to have solid understanding of relevant EU and national legislation, apply a consistent compliance mindset, and be proficient with the relevant IT systems and tools. • As a public procurement specialist, your internal clients and end users rely on you to bring strong business and performance orientation, and to take care of outward-facing aspects such as supplier management. • Your major added value is in the pre-award phase, translating the results of the needs assessment of internal clients into clear and objective technical specifications, and taking an active role in the tender evaluation committee. • As a specialist, you need to bring strong understanding of how the work in your remit fits into the broader procurement lifecycle, and to craft tailored procurement strategies. • You are able to incorporate sustainability and innovation objectives into the procurement process. • As a member of a larger team, collaboration and organizational awareness are essential to your success. Profile 4 – Category Specialist The role of category specialist is to develop and provide advanced and expert knowledge of a particular category of supplies, services or works. • Your job as the category specialist is to become an expert in a specific kind of market and contract. You help the internal or external clients to increase their value for money and the satisfaction of end users through your advanced knowledge of the suppliers and their offering. • Your major added value is in your category specific knowledge. Within this category, you are particularly adept at conducting market analysis and engagement, and in drafting technical specifications. • This knowledge also makes you uniquely effective at the needs assessment process, as well as on how the specificities of your field interact with the steps of the procurement lifecycle. • You rely on your business and performance orientation to transform your knowledge into better results for end users and the public. • You are able to leverage your insights to achieve more sustainable and innovation procurement. Profile 5 – Contract Manager 82 As a contract manager, your job is to oversee the operation and performance of the public contracts. The contract manager acts as the main point of contact for suppliers on contractual matters. It monitors the performance of the contract and reports back to the leadership. • You need to have a strong understanding of relevant EU and national legislation, particularly contract law. • You also need to represent the organization in terms of supplier management, as well as any negotiations or conflict resolution that may be necessary. • Your major added value is in the post-ward phase, taking the lead on contract management and payment, and reporting and evaluation responsibilities. Profile 6 — Department manager The key and fundamental task of the department manager is to ensure that the organization’s policies goals (incl. those within the framework of the State purchasing policy) are transformed into concrete purchasing action. • Your job as the department manager’s job is to oversee the public procurement professionals in the organization to deliver on their objectives. As a management position, this role requires less specialization in procurement and more professional competences. • You need to have a solid grasp of relevant EU and national legislation, and to be able to translate that into tailored procurement strategy. • You are ultimately responsible for compliance, as well as internal control and risk management. • You are responsible for the planning, making sure organizational and national policies are being implement day-to-day. This includes incorporating sustainable and innovation policy goals into the procurement process, where relevant. • You are often called on to represent your organization, so you will need excellent communication and negotiation skills. • As a manager, you are accountable for the department budget, thus you need to bring a strong performance orientation and project management to the job to drive value for money. • Your major added value is as a leader. This requires exceptional team management and leadership and stakeholder relationship management skills, as well as very strong organizational awareness. • You will need to rely on your analytical and critical thinking, and to drive change through adaptability. • You are accountable to the organization for all reporting and evaluation, and authorizing certification and payment. 83 Example target proficiency profiles for these job profiles Procurement job profiles Procu Public remen Stand procu Categ Contr Depar t alone remen ory act tment Cluster Competence suppo public t special manag manag rt buyer special ist er er officer ist Planning - 1 1 2 2 3 Lifecycle 1 2 3 3 2 3 Legislation - 2 1 1 2 4 e-Procurement 1 2 2 1 1 2 and other IT tools Sustainable Horizontal - 1 2 3 2 3 procurement Innovation - 1 2 3 2 3 procurement Category specific - 1 1 3 - - Supplier 1 1 1 2 2 2 management Negotiations - 2 2 - 2 3 Needs assessment 1 1 2 2 - 3 Market analysis 1 2 2 2 - - and engagement Procurement - 2 2 1 - 3 strategy Pre-award Technical 1 2 2 3 - - specifications Tender 1 2 2 1 - - documentation Tender evaluation - 2 2 1 - 2 Contract 1 2 1 2 3 2 management Certification and 1 2 1 - 3 2 payment Post-award Reporting and 1 2 2 - 2 3 evaluation Conflict resolution and - 1 1 - 2 2 mediation Adaptability and - 2 1 2 2 3 modernization Analytical and 1 2 2 2 3 4 Personal critical thinking Communication 1 2 2 1 3 3 Ethics and 2 3 2 1 3 4 compliance People Collaboration 2 1 2 1 2 3 84 Stakeholder relationship 1 1 2 1 3 4 management Team management and - 1 1 - - 3 leadership Organizational 2 2 2 1 2 4 awareness Project 1 2 2 - 2 3 management Performance Performance 1 2 2 2 3 3 orientation Risk management and internal 1 2 2 1 3 4 control 85 Annex C: Examples of job profiles and target proficiency levels where procurement is only part of the job Procurement client who manages several small contracts You are not a procurement practitioner but a regular part of your job involves managing several contracts with suppliers. The contracts are important to other aspects of your job role. You can get specialist procurement and legal advice if you need this when any significant issues arise on the contracts, but you have to manage the day-to-day relationship with the supplier drawing on your knowledge of the business area. The more effectively you do this, the fewer issues will arise and the more the contracts will deliver what is needed. • You will perform more effectively if you have a good understanding of supplier management and contract management. • Your job will involve approving payments to the suppliers, so understanding what is required for certification and payment will be important. • You need communication and collaboration skills to work well with the supplier and also procurement and legal specialists when this is necessary. • You will also have an important role in reporting on and evaluation of the outcomes of the contract. • These contract management duties form only one part of your overall job profile. Example target proficiency profile: Procurement client Cluster of Competence who manages several Competence small contracts 1.Planning - 2.Lifecycle - 3.Legislation - 4. e-Procurement and other IT tools - Horizontal 5. Sustainable procurement - 6. Innovation procurement - 7. Category specific - 8. Supplier management 2 9.Negotiatios - 10.Needs assessment - 11.Market analysis and engagement - 12.Procurement strategy - Pre-award 13.Technical specifications - 14.Tender Documentation - 15.Tender evaluation - Post-award 16.Contract management 2 86 17.Certification and payment 2 18.Reporting and evaluation 2 19.Conflict resolution and mediation 1 20. Adaptability and modernization - 21.Analytical and critical thinking 2 Personal 22. Communication 2 23.Ethics and compliance 1 24.Collaboration 2 25.Stakeholder relationship 2 People management 26.Team management and - Leadership 27.Organizational awareness - 28.Project management - Performance 29.Business and performance - orientation 30.Risk management and internal - control Procurement client who manages one larger contract You are not a procurement practitioner but a regular part of your job involves managing a large contract with a supplier. The contract is important to delivering one or more of your organization’s key outcomes or targets. You have to manage the day-to-day relationship with the supplier drawing on your knowledge of the business area, but you also need to understand the potential risks and know when to seek specialist support from procurement and/or legal experts. • You will need to have a good understanding of supplier management and contract management, and at a level which reflects the importance of the contract. • Your job will involve ensuring that certification and payment are managed appropriately to ensure that key deliverables meet the requirements of the contract. • You need excellent communication and collaboration skills to work well with the supplier and also procurement and legal specialists when this is necessary. • You will also have an important role in reporting on and evaluation of the outcomes of the contract. • These contract management duties form only one part of your overall job profile. Example target proficiency profile: Procurement client Cluster of Competence who manages one Competence large contract 87 1.Planning - 2.Lifecycle - 3.Legislation - 4. e-Procurement and other IT tools - Horizontal 5. Sustainable procurement - 6. Innovation procurement - 7. Category specific - 8. Supplier management 3 9.Negotiations - 10.Needs assessment - 11.Market analysis and engagement - 12.Procurement strategy - Pre-award 13.Technical specifications - 14.Tender Documentation - 15.Tender evaluation - 16.Contract management 2 17.Certification and payment 3 Post-award 18.Reporting and evaluation 3 19.Conflict resolution and mediation 2 20. Adaptability and modernization - 21.Analytical and critical thinking 2 Personal 22. Communication 2 23.Ethics and compliance 2 24.Collaboration 3 25.Stakeholder relationship 3 People management 26.Team management and - Leadership 27.Organizational awareness - 28.Project management - Performance 29.Business and performance - orientation 30.Risk management and internal 1 control Procurement client who specifies requirements and takes part in tender evaluation panels Your job involves regular work with procurement practitioners on the specification of requirements for supplies, services or works, and you also take part in tender evaluation panels. You are guided by the advice of procurement practitioners, but you have the subject knowledge of what is required. Having a good understanding of the principles of those parts of the procurement process will ensure that you can use your subject knowledge effectively and get the best possible results from the procurement process. 88 • A basic understanding of how the tendering part of the process will affect the contract management and the overall outcomes will help you work with the procurement practitioners to balance risks. • Depending on the supplies, services or works you will be involved in procuring, it may be important for you to understand the basic principles of sustainable and/or innovation procurement. • You will need to understand how technical specifications balance risks associated with over- or under-specifying requirements and be able to analyse evidence and options to help the procurement practitioners write the technical specification. • You need communication and collaboration skills to work well with the procurement practitioners. • These specification and tender evaluation duties form only one part of your overall job profile. Example target proficiency profile: Procurement client Cluster of working on Competence Competence requirements and tender evaluation 1.Planning - 2.Lifecycle 1 3.Legislation - 4. e-Procurement and other IT tools - Horizontal 5. Sustainable procurement 1? 6. Innovation procurement 1?23 7. Category specific - 8. Supplier management - 9.Negotiations - 10.Needs assessment - 11.Market analysis and engagement - 12.Procurement strategy - Pre-award 13.Technical specifications 1 14.Tender Documentation - 15.Tender evaluation 2 16.Contract management - 17.Certification and payment - Post-award 18.Reporting and evaluation - 19.Conflict resolution and mediation - 23 Depending on the subject of the procurement, it can be determined if it is important for the procurement professional to understand the basic principles of sustainable and/or innovation procurement. The question mark means that the decision should be taken depending on the organization’s specific needs . 89 20. Adaptability and modernization - 21.Analytical and critical thinking 1 Personal 22. Communication 2 23.Ethics and compliance 1 24.Collaboration 2 25.Stakeholder relationship 2 People management 26.Team management and - Leadership 27.Organizational awareness - 28.Project management - Performance 29.Business and performance - orientation 30.Risk management and internal - control Administrator who regularly carries out small procurements as part of their role You have an essential administrative support role which involves buying supplies or services for your organization. Your organization may be too small to have its own procurement unit, but even if there is a procurement unit, you have little contact with it because all of your purchases are low value, and certainly below the national threshold in the Public Procurement Law. You may be able to buy many of the supplies and services required through a central contract, but you sometimes have to buy things directly. Nothing you buy requires a complex technical specification, and you will generally be using template documents provided by others and possibly also an e-procurement system. It will still be helpful to your organization if you understand enough of the basic principles of procurement to get good quality supplies and services at a good price. • A basic understanding of the end-to-end lifecycle of buying supplies and/or services and the legal framework for procurement will give you confidence in managing purchases for your organization. • You should be confident in using any e-procurement system available in your organization when required, including using it to access central contracts where appropriate. • You may have to gather information from others in your organization and provide it to a manager to make decisions on supplies and services to be bought. • A basic understanding of the principles of sustainable procurement will help you advise on supplies and services which will support the organization to achieve its environmental targets. • You have to keep clear records of the supplies and services bought and ensure that proper payment procedures are followed. That may involve working with the contractor to ensure that everything has been delivered as specified. 90 • You have to adapt regularly to changes in what is required of you and look for ways to improve procedures, and you have to be good at managing multiple deadlines. • Your job involves communicating and collaborating with several colleagues in your organization. • These procurement duties form only one part of your overall job profile. Example target proficiency profile: Administrator Cluster of Competence carrying out low Competence value procurements 1.Planning - 2.Lifecycle 1 3.Legislation 1 4. e-Procurement and other IT tools 1 Horizontal 5. Sustainable procurement 1 6. Innovation procurement - 7. Category specific - 8. Supplier management 2 9.Negotiations - 10.Needs assessment 1 11.Market analysis and engagement - 12.Procurement strategy - Pre-award 13.Technical specifications - 14.Tender Documentation - 15.Tender evaluation - 16.Contract management 1 17.Certification and payment 1 Post-award 18.Reporting and evaluation - 19.Conflict resolution and mediation - 20. Adaptability and modernization 1 21.Analytical and critical thinking - Personal 22. Communication 1 23.Ethics and compliance 1 24.Collaboration 1 25.Stakeholder relationship 1 People management 26.Team management and - Leadership 27.Organizational awareness - 28.Project management - Performance 29.Business and performance 1 orientation 91 30.Risk management and internal 1 control Annex D: The self-assessment questionnaire (from Annex 4 of the SPP) Section one General questions General questions give an overview of the individual’s background in public procurement. These questions do not have a score and therefore do not count for the individual self- assessment results. Rather, these questions are contextual information complementary to the individual self-assessment. Question 1: What is your position within your organization? Question 2: What are your current tasks and responsibilities related to public procurement? Question 3: Are you working full-time or part-time on these tasks and responsibilities? Question 4: How many years have you been occupying this position? Question 5: How many years of experience do you have working in public procurement in total? Question 6: What type and level of training related to public procurement have you received? Section Two Knowledge questions Knowledge questions capture the knowledge the individual has in public procurement against the expected knowledge (target proficiency level) set for the individual’s job profile. Answers to the knowledge questions are scored from 0 to 4. Competence 1: Planning; How well do you know your organization's procurement planning, policy priorities and budget? Competence 2: Lifecycle; 92 How well do you know the different phases of the procurement lifecycle, from pre- publication to post-award? Competence 3: Legislation; How well do you know the legislation on public procurement and other relevant areas of law? Competence 4: e-Procurement and other IT tools; How well do you know e-Procurement and other IT systems and tools? Competence 5: Sustainable procurement; How well do you know the relevant sustainability policies and how to promote them? Competence 6: Innovation procurement; How well do you know the relevant innovation policies and how to promote them? Competency 7: Category specific; How well do you know the features and specificities of one or more specific category of supplies, services or works? Competency 8: Supplier management; How well do you know supplier management strategies and processes? Competency 9: Negotiations; How well do you know negotiation processes relevant in public procurement? Competency 10: Needs assessment; How well do you know needs identification tools and techniques? Competency 11: Market analysis and engagement; How well do you know market analysis tools and appropriate market engagement techniques? Competency 12: Procurement strategy; How well do you know the different procurement strategies, such as procedure types, use of lots, and kinds of contracts? Competency 13: Technical specifications; How well do you know the requirements of drafting technical specifications? Competency 14: Tender documentation; How well do you know the requirements of preparing tender documentation? Competency 15: Tender evaluation; How well do you know the evaluation process? Competency 16: Contract management; How well do you know the principles of contract management? 93 Competency 17: Certification and payment; How well do you know the process for certification and payment? Competency 18: Reporting and evaluation; How well do you know contract monitoring tools and techniques? Competency 19: Conflict resolution and mediation; How well do you know conflict resolution and mediation processes and the functioning of the review system? Competency 20: Adaptability and modernization; How well do you know change management techniques and tools? Competency 21: Analytical and critical thinking; How well do you know analytical and critical thinking approaches and tools? Competency 22: Communication; How well do you know communication tools and techniques and how to apply the public procurement principles in various communication situations? Competency 23: Ethics and compliance; How well do you know the procedural rules and principles as well as tools, codes and guidance document that help ensure adherence thereto? Competency 24: Collaboration; How well do you know collaboration tools and techniques? Competency 25: Stakeholder relationship management; How well do you know the key concepts and methods of stakeholder management? Competency 26: Team management and leadership; How well do you know the key concepts and methods of team management? Competency 27: Organizational awareness; How well do you know your organization’s administrative structure, procedures and processes, internal culture and legal and policy framework? Competency 28: Project management; How well do you know project management tools and techniques relevant for the public administration? Competency 29: Performance orientation; How well do you know cost and performance management strategies and methods as well as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that help identify inefficiencies and monitor the financial performance of the procurement and the way it delivers value for money? 94 Competency 30: Risk management and internal control; 1. How well do you know audit and control functions? 2. How well do you know audit risk management tools and techniques? Section Three Skill questions Skills questions capture the range of skills the individual has for comparison with against the expected skills (target proficiency levels) set by the individual’s job profile. Competence 1: Planning; To what extent are you able to develop a procurement plan according to available budget resources? Competence 2: Lifecycle; To what extent are you able to follow the various phases of the procurement lifecycle? Competence 3: Legislation; To what extent are you able to apply specific aspects of the procurement legislation, as well as other legal frameworks impacting procurement? Competence 4: e-Procurement and other IT tools; To what extent are you able use e-procurement and other IT systems and tools? Competence 5: Sustainable procurement; How well do you know how to incorporate sustainable objectives set by the organization and national policies into the procurement process? Competence 6: Innovation procurement; To what extent are you able to incorporate innovation objectives set by the organization and national policies into the procurement process? Competency 7: Category specific; To what extent are you able to get the most out of one or more category of supplies, services or works? Competency 8: Supplier management; To what extent are you able to develop, manage and maintain relationship with suppliers while respecting public procurement principles? Competency 9: Negotiations; To what extent are we able to apply negotiation processes strategies during the procurement phases and contract management in accordance with public procurement principles and ethical standards? 95 Competency 10: Needs assessment; To what extent are you able to apply needs assessment techniques and tools for determining needs of the organization and end-users regarding the subject-matter of the procurement? Competency 11: Market analysis and engagement; To what extent are you able to use market analysis and market engagement techniques to understand the characteristics and trends of the supplier market? Competency 12: Procurement strategy; To what extent are you able to determine among the range of available procurement strategies the one that fits best to the procurement at stake while reaching the organization’s objectives? Competency 13: Technical specifications; To what extent are you able to draft technical specifications that enable potential bidders to submit realistic offers that address the needs of the organization? Competency 14: Tender documentation; To what extent are you able to prepare procurement documentation including appropriate exclusion, selection and award criteria? Competency 15: Tender evaluation; To what extent are you able to evaluate offers against pre-defined criteria in an objective and transparent way?? Competency 16: Contract management; To what extent are you able to oversee contract implementation while ensuring technical compliance of the good, work or service delivered? Competency 17: Certification and payment; To what extent are you able to apply verification principles and the financial control framework to verify the legal compliance of the procurement contract before proceeding to payment? Competency 18: Reporting and evaluation; To what extent are you able to evaluate the process, deliverables and outcomes of a procurement to draw lessons on how to improve the performance of future procurements? Competency 19: Conflict resolution and mediation; To what extent are you able to prevent and resolve conflicts and manage complaints in the framework of the national review system? Competency 20: Adaptability and modernization; To what extent are you able to anticipate and accommodate to changing tasks and circumstances and aim to continuously learn and grow? Competency 21: Analytical and critical thinking; 96 To what extent are you able to use analytical and critical thinking in evaluating an information and/ or a situation and solving problems? Competency 22: Communication; To what extent are you able to communicate effectively by adapting the communication medium and message to the target audience while ensuring public procurement principles are respected? Competency 23: Ethics and compliance; To what extent are you able to ensure compliance with applicable public procurement rules, principles, and ethical standards? Competency 24: Collaboration; To what extent are you able to promote inclusive and collaborative thinking and processes? Competency 25: Stakeholder relationship management; To what extent are you able to create mutual trust that contribute to solid internal and external stakeholder relationships? Competency 26: Team management and leadership; To what extent are you able to tailor management and leadership methods and techniques to the team and circumstances thereby creating a conducive environment for achieving common goals? Competency 27: Organizational awareness; To what extent are you able to understand both the procurement function and the organization’s structure and culture? Competency 28: Project management; To what extent are you able to apply project management tools and techniques to effectively carry out a procurement procedure and contract? Competency 29: Performance orientation; To what extent are you able to apply commercial and performance management strategies and methods to maximize value for money of procurement contracts? Competency 30: Risk management and internal control; To what extent are you able to carry out the different functions of inspection, control, audit, and evaluation applicable to public procurement? 97 Annex E: Example Question & Answer handout to support communications with staff Purpose This Q&A is an example of the sort of material which could be used to support communications with staff when introducing the implementation of ProcurCompEU. New questions will probably be raised by staff over the period of the implementation so it would be advisable to review the Q&A regularly and update it as the implementation progresses. Organizations will also want to tailor the Q&A to suit their own approach to the implementation and to reflect the particular way the organization operates. Questions and Answers 1. How will I find time to do a self-assessment in my busy day job? A - Your line manager will discuss the proposed timetable for the implementation of ProcurCompEU. with you and together you will agree what a reasonable timetable for you to proceed through the different stages. Your line manager will ensure that you have the appropriate time available to you to complete the work required. 2. What will happen if my assessment of my proficiencies differs from that of my line manager? A - Your line manager will discuss your self-assessment and your view of your proficiency against each of the relevant competencies with you. Where there is a different view, it is useful to look at the descriptors for the competency again. You may find that you and your line manager then reach an agreement on your achievement against the appropriate proficiency level. If there is still a difference in view, the proposal is that the lower proficiency should be settled upon, as this ensures that access to training and development is made available to bring your skills up to the desired proficiency level. 3. What happens if my level of proficiency falls short of the desired levels for my role? A – This is what is expected in many of the competencies. You should not be concerned about this as this exercise is about increasing everyone’s skills for the future. The next step will be that your line manager will discuss your development plan with you. Together you will agree which areas of development you should prioritize. The priority might be because it is an area which is of particular importance for your role, or it might be because the organization has a need to raise the proficiency in this area. As a result of the discussion with your line-manager, you should jointly prepare an annual training and development plan which will help build your skills, expertise and self-confidence in the key aspects of your role. 4. Procurement is only a small part of my role, do I really need to do this? A – Whilst the procurement aspects of your role might not seem significant, you may be working with others who rely on your input to enable them to do their procurement job 98 properly. So to ensure that the whole procurement process is as professionally done as possible, it is important that everyone knows how they can make a contribution to that aim. (Note to managers: There are a number of example job profiles in Annex C which set out some roles which have procurement as only part of their role. These profiles identify the key competencies and proficiency levels for people with different levels of procurement involvement. It may be helpful to share these with staff who work only partly on public procurement to help them understand why they may be asked to undertake self-assessment.) 5. What difference will all this make? A –The State Purchasing Policy recognizes the importance of public procurement as a strategic function to achieve the best outcomes for citizens. The aim of the professionalization strand of the project is to make recommendations for action which will continue to raise the status of public procurement in Poland and ensure that procurement professionals are supported to develop their skills and progress their careers. Professionalization will not only ensure efficient public spending, but also help to secure social, environmental and economic benefits from public contracts and help public procurement practitioners respond effectively to rapidly changing markets for innovative goods and services. By defining 30 key competences, ProcurCompEU provides a common reference for public procurement professionals in the European Union and beyond. Implementing the ProcurCompEU competency framework is a central part of the overall approach to professionalization of public procurement in Poland and will help procurement managers and practitioners in contracting authorities to take a systematic approach to training and development. 6. It is really difficult to get a space on the training courses provided by PPO now, will that be better in the future? A – The organizations which are implementing the ProcurCompEU. will send an annual return to the President of the PPO identifying the training and development needs of its procurement staff. The PPO will, based on that, determine what training will be provided centrally. Of course, the PPO is not the only source of training. Your employer has a responsibility to deliver training and development to meet your training needs. This training and development does not always have to be a training course – it can take a variety of forms: on-the-job training, shadowing, coaching and mentoring, access to on-line training materials or training courses provided by other suppliers etc. 7. If there are training needs identified, how will I find the time to do a course? A – Part of the discussion that you should have with your line manager about your training and development plan should also cover how best you can get access to this development – and how you find the time to do it. Depending on the form that the training takes, it may be possible to do it as part of your normal daily routine, or it may require you to attend training or short courses. Your line manager should ensure that you have adequate time to attend the training and to complete any work that arises from the training. 99 Annex 2 Communication brochure/brief Professionalization of Public Procurement in Poland What’s in it for you? “The ultimate result of this exercise is that our jobs and professions will gain Why is the appreciation and raise public awareness professionalization of about what we do and how important our public procurement work is. At the end of the Public Procurement staff day, public authorities and institutions are important? spending taxpayers’ money, and it is in their interest to ensure that the processes are open, Citizens demand high-quality public transparent, and delivered by competent services and efficient use of public professionals.” funds. Public procurement is among governments’ most powerful and Anna Krasińska Head of Public Procurement and strategic instruments to meet Organization Section citizens’ expectations. The Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological importance of public procurement is Station, Olsztyn even more significant in times of crisis and tight budgets. The recent crises (financial, pandemic, energy) have emphasized the need for high skills and integrity of procurement practitioners to enable government authorities to timely and adequately respond to emergencies and meet citizens’ needs for essential goods and services. In addition, professional public procurement has proven its potential to support broader policy goals and to be a driving force for sustainable recovery in post-crisis situations. The importance of overall improvement of the professional skills and competencies of the public procurement staff, as well as improved capacity of contracting authorities, is therefore underlined in several policy documents and is one of the three priority areas in the Polish State Purchasing Policy. Who is professionalization important for? It is important for citizens. Public “Procurement staff and managers should be procurement services are vital for the appreciated and recognized for their work. public benefit—for example, the roads Numerous high-level competencies are must be built appropriately and required to carry out the procurement process rehabilitated, the hospitals must be correctly and effectively. It demands focus and engagement from staff who must possess supplied with medicines and well- diverse qualifications and work at different functioning equipment, etc. Low organizational levels of public institutions.” performance or significant discrepancies in public service Ewa Ropka performance adversely affect society. Director, Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Budgetary Management Institution, Kraków It is important for the local market. Procurement practitioners are a bridge to communicate the needs of society and government to the market. Having the right skills to communicate this is critical. In addition, procurement practitioners could be a catalyst for private sector growth (especially SMEs) as they are on the frontline of implementing policies that promote market growth and innovation. 100 Roles and Responsibilities It is important for the government, including individual contracting authorities. Poorly spent public funds and low-quality public services will lower confidence in the government. It is important for public procurement practitioners. Currently, public procurement is still considered to be an administrative task that does not require complex skills. Public procurement work is complex and demanding but not always recognized by employees working in other areas. Even relatively low-value contracts need a lot of thought and care regarding how they are awarded and managed. Procurement practitioners are overwhelmed with many tasks that require specialized knowledge and skills in various areas. The job, however, is not well rewarded and appealing. At the same time, its significance in the public domain is increasing. Therefore, public procurement practitioners need to be recognized, and their work needs to be facilitated with additional training and better career opportunities. What are the benefits of professionalization? For society – higher levels of skills and integrity of public procurement practitioners will enable them to better understand and meet citizens’ needs. For the local market – higher level of skills of procurement practitioners will enable them to trigger innovations and market growth. For government and the contracting authorities – higher levels of skill for public sector procurement managers and staff are expected to lead to reduced administrative costs for both government agencies and bidders, including reduced litigation costs, 101 and should lead to better value outcomes of procurements overall. More specifically the professionalization could lead to: • Improved efficiency in navigating complex procurement processes, leading to faster and more efficient handling of contracts and procurement tasks. • Enhanced quality of goods and services. Selecting high-quality vendors and products means improved goods and services government entities receive. • Increased transparency and accountability of procurement processes through improved adherence to ethical standards and compliance with regulations. • Significant cost savings for the public sector as a result of secured favorable terms and negotiated better deals. • Enhanced public trust. Professionalization can help build and maintain public trust in government procurement by ensuring it is carried out efficiently, ethically, and transparently. For public procurement practitioners – the professionalization process will bring better recognition and raise public procurement jobs ’profile and perceived status. It will lead to professional identity, higher prestige, higher credibility, better career development opportunities, and better training opportunities. What tools are available in Poland? The State Purchasing Policy describes the initial steps in public procurement professionalization in Poland, which include the active use of the ProcurCompEU framework, an internationally EU "ProcurComp is a universal tool for small recognized standard for the skills and and large contracting authorities. Why knowledge for people working on public should we implement it? Because we all procurement. The framework covers all share similar challenges, regardless of the aspects of procurement work, including size of contracting authorities." personal and interpersonal or ‘soft’ skills Sr. Captain Ph.D. Eng. Bartłomiej Tatka and technical skills and knowledge and Deputy Head of Division (Quartermaster helps contracting authorities and Division) procurement practitioners define what Municipal Headquarters of the State Fire they need to do their jobs well, identify Service, Kraków gaps, and set learning and development objectives to address them. It helps organizations build their public procurement teams and enable a learning culture and environment. Going through the ProcurCompEU process enables a procurement practitioner to identify areas where they may benefit from additional training or development to increase their skills. They can use this to develop further in their current job or improve their skills to work towards future jobs. The toolkit of ProcurCompEU comprises of three main components: • Competency Matrix outlines the skills and competencies required by public procurement professionals depending on their job roles. • Self-Assessment Tool can be used by both public procurement professionals and organizations to evaluate their proficiency levels and organizational maturity. 102 • Generic Training Curriculum can be used to create appropriate training programs. ProcurCompEU Guidelines To facilitate the introduction of the ProcurCompEU in Poland, a set of Guidelines were developed to provide details on the main aspects to be considered when going through each stage of the process. “The Guidelines are pertinent and In particular, the guidelines expand concrete. They have reassured me of the in more detail on: well-accepted course of action. In my opinion, they are very good for • Step-by-step instructions, a administration purposes.” roadmap for implementing ProcurCompEU in central and local Bartłomiej Szpilarski contracting authorities; Head of Unit, Public Procurement Unit Chancellery of the Prime Minister • A clear and concise overview of the process, including steps that can be taken to simplify the process in smaller contracting authorities; • Detailed instructions on how to use the Competency Matrix and the Self-Assessment tool; • Guidance on how to identify and address the competency gaps to support staff development and training needs; • Recommendations on managing communication with an Example Question & Answer handout to support communications with staff. • With additional examples of job profiles and target proficiency levels where procurement is only part of the job. What are the experiences and lessons learned from frontrunners? The following key aspects of the successful ProcurCompEU implementation are noted: “Our message for contracting authorities is that ✓ The tool could be adapted to every implementing ProcurCompEU in Poland is worth organization’s needs. it. It is an important step to ensure the public procurement profession is recognized and ✓ Management’s involvement and appreciated. For things to come together, the support from the beginning and management and public procurement staff must during the whole process is critical. meet and work together. Ultimately, this ✓ Communication and good cooperation has value for everybody. Without the planning are key for the successful involvement of public procurement experts from public institutions, nothing will happen.” implementation of ProcurCompEU. ✓ Communication is important in Anna Krasińska clarifying the purpose of Head of Public Procurement and Organization EU ProcurComp - to be seen as a tool Section for raising the status of procurement Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station, Olsztyn staff and their professional development. ✓ Cooperation and communication at all levels of the organization is important, including handholding and closer coordination with and 103 support to colleagues in the line departments who are involved in the procurement process. ✓ A possible designation of coordinator/s to help implement the process more smoothly. ✓ Creating a culture of continuous learning where staff are offered the opportunity to develop and improve in line with their own professional goals. In case of questions or need of additional information please contact: Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Department of Improvement of Business Regulation phone number: 22 411 93 84, e-mail: sekretariatDDR@mrit.gov.pl The Communication brochure and the ProcurCompEU Guidelines were prepared by the World Bank under the Reimbursable Advisory Services Agreement on Supporting Poland in the Implementation of its State Purchasing Policy (P179835) 104 Annex 3 List of representatives of contracting authorities that participated in online focus groups (22-23 November 2023) 1. Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (Warsaw) Ms. Sylwia Kościelniak, Head of the Public Procurement Unit Office of the General Director 2. The Chancellery of the Prime Minister (Warsaw) Mr. Tomasz Milewski, Director, Office of the General Director Mr. Bartłomiej Szpilarski, Head of Public Procurement Unit, Office of the General Director Ms. Iwona Świątnicka, Counselor, Public Procurement Unit 3. Government Administration Service Center (Warsaw) Ms. Beata Ratuska, Head of the Investment and Tender Unit 4. Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy (Warsaw) Mr. Tomasz Konieczny, Deputy Director, Office of the General Director Ms. Agnieszka Dubaj-Presia, Head of the Public Procurement Unit, Office of the General Director 5. Tax Administration Chamber in Bialystok (Bialystok) Ms. Agnieszka Wyszyńska, Head of Department, Public Procurement Department Mr. Marcin Oleksiewicz, Senior Specialist, Public Procurement Department 6. General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (Warsaw) Ms. Ewa Stankiewicz, Deputy Director, Legal and Public Procurement Department Mr. Łukasz Potyrało, Head of the Recruitment and Professional Development Unit Mr. Marcin Czeluśniak, Head of the Tender Procedures Unit Mr. Maciej Łaciński, Head of the Public Procurement Unit Ms. Agnieszka Lipska, Chief Specialist, Public Procurement Unit 7. Social Security (Warsaw) Mr. Tomasz Dziedzic, Director, Public Procurement Department Ms. Renata Olszewska, Head of the Unit, Public Procurement Department 8. Ministry of Finance (Warsaw) Ms. Beata Kruszyńska, Deputy Director, Administrative Office Mr. Ryszard Jakubowski, Chief Specialist, Public Procurement Unit, Administrative Office 9. Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Budgetary Management Institution (Krakow) Ms. Ewa Ropka, Deputy Director of the Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Ms. Ewelina Mazur, Head of the Public Procurement Unit Mr. Wojciech Kowalski, Head of the Control and Contract Implementation Unit 10. Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Olsztyn (Olsztyn) Ms. Anna Krasińska, Head of Public Procurement and Organization Section 11. Provincial Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Lublin (Lublin) Mr. Michał Wawrzkiewicz, Public Procurement Specialist 105 12. Świętokrzyskie Voivodship Office in Kielce (Kielce) Ms. Agnieszka Kupis, Director, Administrative and Economic Office Mr. Wojciech Żelazny, Provincial Inspector 13. District Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Mielec (Mielec) Ms. Ewa Ruman, Chief Accountant Ms. Ewa Woskowicz, Senior Specialist, Administrative Section 106 Annex 4 Who are the entities participating in the pilots? Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Budgetary Management Institution (PCJ BMI) Basic information The main scope of activity of the institution is the preparation, conduct of proceedings for the award of a public contract, the conclusion of a framework agreement, the establishment of a dynamic purchasing system and the supervision of the concluded contracts, framework agreements or the dynamic purchasing system, awarded by the Court of Appeal in Kraków as the Contracting Authority specified by the Minister of Justice in the order of 2 June 2021 on the designation of the central contracting authority to conduct contract award procedures or award contracts for organizational units subordinate to or supervised by the Minister of Justice and the organization of the execution of supplies and services in the common courts and other dedicated orders. Organizational structure The organizational structure of the entity consists of: 1. Director; 2. Secretariat; 3. Public Procurement Department; 4. Control and Contract Execution Department; 5. Telephone Customer Service; 6. Department of Administration and Leisure Centers; 7. Finance and Accounting Department; 8. Human Resources and Payroll Department; 9. Legal Department. Details of the tasks of the various departments are available on the entity's website: https://czdsigb.gov.pl/struktura-organizacyjna Public procurement and procurement staff PCJ BMI has two teams responsible for purchasing processes: 1) Public Procurement Department (11 people), which is responsible for preparing and conducting proceedings for the award of a public contract or conducted for the purpose of concluding a framework agreement or establishing a dynamic purchasing system for the benefit of common courts or other units subordinate to or supervised by the Minister of Justice; 2) Control and Contract Execution Department (16 people), which is mainly responsible for overseeing the implementation and execution of contracts concluded as a result of tender proceedings. Both teams cooperate with Legal Department. The public procurements carried out include mainly supplies. The second group of contracts is services. In terms of the value of contracts, mainly contracts with a value equal to or exceeding the EU thresholds are carried out (approximately 15-23 per year performing the function of the central contracting authority and dozens of executive proceedings for framework agreements or the establishment of a dynamic purchasing system). At the same time, dozens of central agreements are managed each year. 107 Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Olsztyn (PSES in Olsztyn) Basic information The Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Olsztyn is an organ of the complex government administration in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It performs the tasks of the State Sanitary Inspection in the field of public health protection. It is an auxiliary organ of the Warmian-Masurian State Sanitary Inspector. The primary objectives of the Provincial Station are: 1. protection of human health from the adverse impact of harmful and oppressive environments; 2. prevention of the occurrence of diseases, including infectious and occupational diseases; 3. formation of appropriate attitudes and health behaviour. Organizational structure PSES in Olsztyn consists of the following organizational units and independent workstations: 1. Supervision Department; 2. Health Promotion and Health Education Department; 3. Chief Specialist for Quality System; 4. Laboratory of Epidemiological and Clinical Research; 5. Environmental and Food Research Laboratory; 6. Elbląg Laboratory; 7. Economic and Administrative Department; 8. Organizational Section; 9. Information Technology Section; 10. Chief Accountant's Work Position; 11. Occupational Health and Safety Workplace; 12. Work Position for Civil Defense; 13. Work Position for Protection of Classified Information; 14. Work Position for Fire Protection; 15. Workstation of Internal Auditor; 16. Position of Legal Counselor; 17. Workstation of Data Protection Inspector. The complete list of tasks of PSES in Olsztyn, details of the organizational structure of the entity and the tasks of individual organizational units and workstations can be found in the Organizational Regulations on the entity's website: https://www.gov.pl/web/wsse- olsztyn/regulamin-organizacyjny-i-statut Public procurement and procurement staff The public procurement section employs 4 people. For purchasing, the team works with about 10 employees from line departments. The procurement team is responsible for most stages of the purchasing process in the institution: it collects information on purchasing needs from line departments, organizes proceedings, supervises the execution of contracts (applies to supplies), calculates sanctions, 108 verifies all invoices (examining compliance with the provisions of the concluded contracts) and prepares reports on the execution of contracts and reports for the Public Procurement Office. The public procurements carried out include mainly supplies. The second group of contracts is services. Contracts for construction work and complex orders are rare. Annually, the entity awards up to a maximum of 20 orders above the threshold and about 150-200 below it. Purchases are rather repetitive, but the procurement team annually checks the market and updates procurement descriptions to better adapt them to solutions that emerge. 109 Annex 5 List of questions for collecting feedback on the guidelines and experiences in implementing ProcurCompEU (lessons learnt) 1. How much work have you done so far on the implementation of ProcurCompEU as set out in the State Purchasing Policy? 2. What stage have you reached? 3. What are the main things that have been helpful to you so far? 4. What are the main difficulties you have faced? 5. What have been the main barriers that have stopped you implementing the next stage of ProcurCompEU up to now? 6. What would be helpful when implementing ProcurCompEU ? 7. What was the process of implementing ProcurCompEU in your institution – i.e. who initiated and who led the process, how it was organized, how many and which teams/departments/persons were involved in the ProcurCompEU implementation process (target group of the exercise)? Did you need to amend internal regulations in your organisation at all? If so, please share details of the amendments required (what was changed, why and how)? How are the changes evaluated? 8. What internal problems were encountered during the implementation of ProcurCompEU (e.g. adaptation of documents, involvement of management/staff (including staff from other departments)) and how were they solved? 9. How was the communication process within the institution/among the participants in relation to the implementation of ProcurCompEU? What communication activities were undertaken? 10. What measures were taken at the various stages of ProcurCompEU? 11. How were the ProcurCompEU tools adapted? Have you sought advice/help from other organizations/experts for the implementation of the ProcurCompEU? If yes, please provide more details – whom you have contacted and on what matter you needed their help/advice. 12. Is there any other support that organisations need to implement ProcurCompEU successfully? 13. What are your main conclusions from the implementation of ProcurCompEU? 14. What was decisive for the success of the exercise? [if the feedback is positive] 15. How is the exercise evaluated? What are the benefits of implementing ProcurCompEU (for the organisation/the head of procurement department/ staff working on public procurement)? 16. Is there any advice you would give other organisations implementing ProcurCompEU, based on your experience, on: a) Identifying to which staff the ProcurCompEU framework should apply? b) Managing communications with staff and managers? c) Adapting the ProcurCompEU competency matrix? d) Writing job descriptions and the competency profiles? e) Performing the self-assessment? f) Compiling the results and setting training priorities and plans? g) Anything else? 110 Annex 6 List of participants in the Workshop on the dissemination of the ProcurCompEU guidelines and sharing of experience (24 May 2024) 1. Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (Warsaw) Mr. Przemysław Grosfeld, Deputy Director, Department of Improvement of Business Regulation Mr. Łukasz Malinowski, Chief Specialist, Public Procurement Law Unit, Department of Improvement of Business Regulation Ms. Sylwia Kościelniak, Head of the Public Procurement Unit, Office of the General Director Ms. Katarzyna Gruszczyńska, Chief Specialist, Public Procurement Unit, Office of the General Director 2. Public Procurement Office (Warsaw) Ms. Anita Wichniak-Olczak, Director, Information, Education and Systems Analysis Department Mr. Wojciech Michalski, Deputy Director, Information, Education and Systems Analyses Department Mr. Marcin Skowron, General Advisor, EU & International Cooperation Department 3. The Chancellery of the Prime Minister (Warsaw) Mr. Bartłomiej Szpilarski, Head of Public Procurement Unit, Office of the General Director 4. Purchasing Center for the Judiciary Budgetary Management Institution (Krakow) Ms. Ewa Ropka, Director of the Purchasing Center for the Judiciary 5. Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Olsztyn (Olsztyn) Ms. Anna Krasińska, Head of Public Procurement and Organization Section Ms. Aneta Szczepińska, Senior Specialist, Public Procurement and Organization Section 6. Municipal Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Krakow (Krakow) Senior captain Ph.D. Eng. Bartłomiej Tatka, Deputy Head of Division (Quartermaster Division) 7. Ministry of Finance (Warsaw) Mr. Ryszard Gajewski, Head of the Public Procurement Execution Unit, Public Procurement and Document Management Office 8. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration (Warsaw) Mr. Michał Rakowski, Head of the Public Procurement Unit, Finance Office 9. Chief Inspectorate of Road Transport (Warsaw) Ms. Anna Nyrek-Koczkodaj, Head of the Public Procurement Department 10. General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (Warsaw) Ms. Ewa Stankiewicz, Deputy Director, Legal and Public Procurement Department 11. Ministry of Digitization (Warsaw) Mr. Marek Siołkowski, Deputy Director, Administrative Office Mr. Piotr Banasiak, Head of the Public Procurement Unit, Administrative Office 111