Buyer

Job Function:

Purchase a broad range of products and services for a wide variety of clients and applications in the Corporation where the procurement issues are primarily commercial. Procure either consultant, construction and other types of services or mechanical and structural, electrical, computer or general products including engineered products where the design, technical specifications, regulatory requirements, quality assurance standards and inspection checks are already established. Process and administer awards involving the most complex commercial issues.

Manage a variety of Contracts that include a broad range of products and services for a wide variety of clients and applications in the Corporation where the procurement issues are primarily commercial. Contract management includes the maintenance of adequate contract funding to allow for continuity of purchase releases for supply, perform period price adjustments in accordance with the contract pricing adjustment terms, negotiate cost effective pricing, when/where applicable, for products and services supplied on contract, manage lead times and on-time delivery with Suppliers. Facilitate Contract extensions when required including updating pricing, lead times and rates cards as well as the ability to negotiate revised terms and conditions where applicate with the assistance of Hydro One Legal Counsel, when required.

Contribute to the Supplier Performance Management initiative by performing Supplier Performance Surveys and Scorecards on key Operational Partners for Hydro One culminating in the Buyer leading a Business Review Meeting to review Performance Scorecards, Contract Management Metrics, identify Strengths and Opportunities for Improvement and ultimately discuss with Suppliers on a path to Continuous Improvement and Collaboration going forward.

Job Description:

1.Within the scope of the procurement policy, develop and maintain procurement procedures and buyer guidelines. Liaise with Finance and legal staff to ensure that procedures meet due diligence and commercial requirements. Work with management staff to provide input to the company's procurement strategies, policies and procedures.

2.Maintain an awareness of conditions in the market place on assigned goods or services and keep stakeholders informed of significant situations. Initiate and participate in the development of procurement strategies in order to maintain capable and competitive sources of supply. Assist with keeping the potential supplier data base current and in identifying and qualifying additional suppliers. Perform commercial evaluations of potential suppliers and refer technical items to the appropriate specialists for evaluation and qualification.

3.Review requisitions and tendering documents for completeness and accuracy. Determine if there are regulatory, quality assurance or other special technical requirements and refer to product specialists in the requisitioning units or in the company, as required. Ensure that references to terms, conditions, standards, appendices and other relevant documentation are accurately and consistently referenced throughout the document. Check for the availability of standard or surplus material. Verify the requisitioning authority and resolve discrepancies.

4.Assess the procurement options such as requests for quotations or proposals, or for private or public tenders and determine the most appropriate, taking into consideration the requirements of the requisitioner and of the company. Review the most recent procurement history available for pricing and resourcing information and determine if bulk or blanket orders already exist or should be initiated. Identify and coordinate the preparation and the renewal of bulk and blanket orders for parts and services, such as repair and maintenance contracts and licensing agreements. Prepare releases where bulk orders exist. Verify sole and only acceptable sources and obtain approvals to negotiate, as required.

5.Prepare and issue bid lists and obtain approvals where there are changes to regulatory or technical requirements. Assist with or prepare the appropriate tendering documents as necessary. Prepare clarifying addenda and keep the requisitioner informed of all changes. Assess the need for standard or special commercial conditions such as corporate seals, bid securities, labour requirements, financial security or parental guarantees. Ensure that the evaluation criteria for consultants is included and is acceptable.

6.Negotiate contracts for sole and only acceptable source requirements, in accordance with established policies and procedures. Prepare and issue letters of invitation for private tender/proposal requests. Draft and arrange for newspaper advertisements for public tender/proposal requests. Ensure that capable suppliers are alerted to public requests. Coordinate the activities of the requisitioners and others in providing clarifications to potential bidders arranging pretender/ proposal, post-tender/proposal and site meetings and attend as necessary. Issue addenda and extensions, as required.

7.Participate in the receipt and opening of tenders/proposals, as required. Issue letters and instructions pertaining to the return of tendering/proposal documents and bid deposits. Ensure that the return of late, incomplete tenders/proposals and the withdrawal or cancellation of tenders is done in accordance with company procedures.

8.Perform the commercial evaluation of tenders, proposals and quotations including price, performance, domestic content, escalation, foreign exchange, duty, progress payments, labour requirements, financial security, manufacturing capability, etc. and refer other items to the appropriate technical specialists for evaluation. Coordinate technical and other evaluation activities to clarify ambiguities, to resolve exceptions and to correct any errors or omissions. Keep the requisitioner informed during the evaluation and award process as considered necessary.

9.Determine the required purchasing authorities and prepare purchase approval documents. For requisitioner prepared funding documents, check for accuracy and completeness and add notes, as required. Process for approval.

10.On receipt of approvals, award business to successful bidders. Advise the unsuccessful bidders in accordance with company procedures. Determine the requirement for basic or formal purchase orders or contracts in accordance with established format and guidelines. Prepare awards to facilitate execution by the supplier and easy administration. Confirm acceptance by the supplier and resolve any discrepancies which may arise. Negotiate and obtain financial and parental guarantees in accordance with company requirements.

11.Perform ongoing administration of assigned contracts. Coordinate and chair award meetings and identify and ensure the attendance of requisitioners and other special resource people who may be required. Expedite and provide status information to requisitioners and to other stakeholders, as requested. Assist in resolving problems related to invoice discrepancies, material rejections, lost or damaged goods and
quantity and other discrepancies. Approve progress payments and review and recommend the payment of adjustment payments. Coordinate the negotiation of contract changes after the award. Prepare and process amendment approval documents and instruction notices. Initiate surveillance assignments, where required, by compiling an assignment package consisting of copies of the purchase orders and other required information for inspection. Coordinate and ensure the review and approval of engineering, manufacturing, regulatory, quality assurance and other technical procedures and documentation by specialist staff in the requisitioning, as required. Initiate, maintain and verify the completeness and accuracy of quality assurance and other files required for the administration of contracts.

12.Make effective recommendations on the effectiveness and efficiency of products and services purchased by the company.

13.Handle and process, in accordance with regulatory and company procedures, restricted documents for the procurement of security related equipment and materials.

14.Perform other duties as required.

Education:

Requires a knowledge of the fundamentals of purchasing, inventory control, transportation and quality management, including contract law, materials forecasting and management, negotiating skills, duties and taxes, insurance, foreign exchange and terms of payment, to carry out the purchasing process. Requires a good knowledge of mathematics and basic financial practices and procedures to perform commercial evaluations, assign taxes and duties and to administer contracts. Requires a good knowledge of English and negotiating skills to maintain an effective relationship with requisitioners and suppliers. This knowledge is considered to be normally acquired in either a Grade XII education in a secondary school plus up to one year of further concentrated study, or the equivalent education.

Selection Criteria Experience:

• Requires procurement experience with the various commercial practices involving quotations, tendering, proposals, public advertising, purchase approvals, placement of business, the administration of contracts, etc.

• Requires experience to understand the full scope of the company's purchasing requirements, requisitioning sources and the vendor community to provide input to procurement strategies and policies and to develop procurement procedures and buyer guidelines.

• Requires experience with financial and legal counsel to ensure procedures meet due diligence and commercial requirements. Requires experience with private and public tendering processes.

• Requires experience purchasing the range of equipment materials and services.

• Requires experience to be familiar with the jargon or working language to facilitate communication, to recognize when regulatory and other special requirements apply and have an expertise and proficiency in dealing with procurement assignments, covering a wide variety of clients and applications.

• Requires experience to assess the need for special commercial conditions, including Corporate seals, bid securities, labour requirements, financial security and parental guarantees.

• Requires experience with construction contracts to understand related estimating practices, terminology and procedures and to understand drawings and sketches.

• Requires experience to be able to input, retrieve, update, assemble and modify information using computerized business systems. A period of over eight years, up to and including ten years, is considered necessary to gain this experience.

Difficulty:

Problems arise in quotation and tender analyses, identifying and selecting the appropriate supply source for equipment, materials and services considering such variables as price, past performance, domestic content, security of supply, escalation, foreign exchange, duty, progress payments, labour requirements, financial security, manufacturing capability, regulatory and other technical requirements, etc. Problems are also encountered when evaluating competitive responses from the contracting community to ensure compliance with requisitioners' requirements. Requires defining, evaluating and weighing specific criteria in an attempt to reach procurement recommendations which are sound, acceptable and logical in keeping with special needs and urgencies of the requisitioning source and procurement policies, procedures and practices and are perceived to be fair and consistent by the supplier community.

Physical Fatigue:

Requires frequent periods of operating keyboard equipment daily to perform a computerized purchasing function with occasional periods of standing, bending and walking to perform other clerical duties.

Mental Fatigue:

Requires concentration daily for periods often in excess of an hour during various phases of the procurement function. Requires the ability to lead discussions/meetings/presentations with internal stakeholders and Suppliers for periods of up to an hour or longer.

Independence:

Assignments originate directly from the requisitioner or direct Supervisor. Requires proceeding under general direction to the completion of assignments and consistent with existing procurement policy and procedures, obtaining direction from Supervisor or from technical specialists on all matters beyond established parameters, where regulatory or special technical requirements or other unusual circumstances with respect to supplier qualifications or relations appears to be developing. Recommendations for purchases beyond delegated authority are reviewed by Supervisor. Quality, quantity and accuracy of work is usually determined by periodic supervisory and client reviews of purchasing documentation and by the suitability of service rendered in meeting the requirements of requisitioners.

Supervision:

May on occasion require showing others how to perform tasks or duties.

Contacts:

Requires frequent daily contacts of varying nature with Suppliers, as well as requisitioners, and specialized support staff involving interchange of information, concerning adherence to and interpretation of purchasing policies and procedure and regulatory and other technical requirements, bid lists and normal procurement practices, commodities and services best suited to meet applications desired.
Requires contact to persuade the requisitioners on occasion to alter their timing or adjust their requirements to allow for procurement to be in the company's best interest. Requires regular contact with the vendor community to inform them of prospective requirements and to encourage a positive vendor attitude and create a competitive environment for the business. Requires numerous daily contacts with suppliers or their representatives in the course of the procurement processes, e.g. to obtain information on price, delivery, financial viability, etc. to explain procedures associated with submitting public and private tenders and quotations, to liaise between supplier and requisitioner to coordinate the resolution of tender ambiguities including commercial and technical exceptions and to administer contracts. Requires arranging, participating and conducting meetings with vendors involving requisitioners and company personnel to review technical and commercial aspects of the tender or to administer the contract which are often attended by senior company representatives due to the impact of decisions and resulting costs. Requires regular response to the challenges from unsuccessful tenderers to tactfully provide rationale for the award so as to gain their acceptance, retain confidence in the tendering procedure and minimize complaints to Senior Management.

Accuracy:

Errors with the potential for significant adverse effects on quotation and tendering processes or requisitioners' schedules would be detected through the numerous documentation review and approval processes and would involve the time and effort of requisitioning personnel during the documentation correction processes. Other errors, such as arithmetic errors or failing to maximize cost savings opportunities during negotiation activities, might escape detection until the subsequent administration phases and would represent moderate financial loss to the company.
Inadequate explanation to unsuccessful tenderers could result in referral of complaints to Senior Management.

Working Conditions:

Requires working in the usual business office environment, with the occasional need for overnight absence from home when visiting vendors' facilities.