Procurement and Supply Assistant

 

This occupation is found in all organisations where goods and/or services need to be sourced and purchased in line with national or international procurement laws, or internal governance processes. 

The broad purpose of the occupation is the process of procurement or buying low value goods and services. Procurement and supply assistants are vital for the smooth functioning of the procurement and supply department in any organisation. They are often responsible for ensuring data is correctly administered and maintained in accordance with legislation of the organisation’s own procedures.  

They will use their knowledge of procurement regulations/policies to support the wider procurement team in tasks such as quotation and/or tender response evaluation, supplier database maintenance, purchase order review and conversion, and stakeholder liaison. The individual will also often have purchasing requests and low risk contracts for which they will develop requests, quotes, or obtain prices and delivery. They will provide support in procurement to enable supplier selection, management and supplier closure and undertake a role in the management of supply delivery and quality assurance.

Gateway Requirements

The decision to take an apprentice through Gateway is made between the employer, training provider and apprentice, typically after 18 months on-programme.  The apprentice must have completed all on-programme elements before they enter Gateway, including completion of the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care, and achieve Level 2 Literacy and Numeracy.

End-point Assessment (EPA)

EPA consists of two assessment methods. These can be delivered in any order – via remote assessment – and are weighted equally in their contribution to the overall EPA grade.

Assessment Method	Weighting	Duration	To achieve a Pass	To achieve a Distinction
Work-based project followed by a presentation with questions and answers	14 weeks in total	Must meet 100% of the pass criteria	Must meet all of the pass criteria AND 100% of the distinction criteria	Work-based project followed by a presentation with questions and answers
Interview underpinned by a portfolio of evidence	Maximum 60 minutes with 10% discretion	Must meet 100% of the pass criteria	Must meet all of the pass criteria AND 100% of the distinction criteria	Interview underpinned by a portfolio of evidence

Work-based project followed by a presentation with questions and answers

Apprentices must produce a Project scope and title which is not assessed and will typically be no longer than 500 words.  Once approved a work-based project report will be completed in their workplace. The project is compiled after the apprentice has gone through the gateway process. The apprentice will have 12 weeks to complete the research for the project and 2 weeks to write the project report (14 weeks in total).

The project report must be a contextualised project report of 3000 words, making use of graphs and pictorial representations of findings (+/- 10% at the apprentice’s discretion) excluding annexes. It should be based on an area of work that the apprentice works in and can be electronic or paper-based.

The apprentice will prepare and deliver a presentation that covers the KSBs assigned to this method of assessment.  

The presentation of the project and questioning will last for 45 minutes (+10%, at the discretion of the IEA). The presentation will typically last for 20 minutes and questioning will typically last for 25 minutes.

The apprentice will be asked 6 questions in line with the KSB criteria and therefore it is important that apprentices have read and fully understood all of the KSBs and identified how they will try to evidence these within their answers. The 6 questions will be ‘open’ in style, allowing apprentices the opportunity to develop their responses to reflect their knowledge, skills and behaviours.

Interview, Underpinned by a Portfolio of Evidence

The underpinning portfolio will have been submitted and must evidence all of the KSBs mapped to this assessment method. The IEA can use the contents of the portfolio to identify discussion areas for the interview. The apprentice and the IEA will have access to their own copies of the portfolio throughout the interview and both can refer to it as needed, this will require a well-organised portfolio with index and referencing for ease of use.

The interview must last for 60 minutes. The IEA has the discretion to increase the time of the interview by up to 10% to allow the apprentice to complete their last answer.  During this assessment, the IEA must combine open-ended questions to allow the apprentice the opportunity to cover the KSBs mapped to this assessment method.  A minimum of 6 questions will be asked, with follow-up questions for clarification purposes.

Feedback

The IEA will not provide the apprentice (or their manager) with a preliminary grade, as it will be subject to Skillsfirst internal quality assurance processes.  Skillsfirst will aim to confirm the apprentice’s final and overall grade approximately 10 working days after the last assessment.

Certification 

Once moderation is complete and the apprentice has successfully completed all EPA methods, Skillsfirst will activate certification through the Apprenticeship assessment service.  Certificates will be sent directly to the employer.   

You can download a copy of the information on this page here

A link to the Procurement and Supply Assistant standards page can be found here