Procurement and Vendor Manager Position at Farm Credit Canada (FCC)

Supply Chain Management Post-Graduate Program

Strategic Procurement
 INTRODUCTION

The company that I have selected for the purpose of this assignment is Farm Credit Canada

(FCC). The company currently has an open position available on the indeed website seeking to

employ Procurement and Vendor Manager and so this paper incorporates research on FCC as an

organization as well as the functions of the Procurement and Vendor Manager as relates to the

learning objectives of the Strategic Procurement course that I am undertaking.

FCC is a federal financial organization that serves the people in Canada and reports its activities

to the government of Canada (Farm Credit Canada, 2021). The company provides expertise,

financial assistance, technology in terms of software to approximately one hundred thousand

clients all around Canada (Farm Credit Canada, 2021). The organization has a population of over

2,100 workers and has 101 offices in diverse locations in Canada of which ninety-nine offices

are typically situated in some villages in Canada, a headquarters located in Regina, SK, where

the services of a Procurement and Vendor Manager is needed now, and an office in charge of

governmental affairs is also located in Ottawa (Farm Credit Canada, 2021).

The mission and vision of the company provide guidance in terms of offering best business

practices, promoting the most appropriate means of serving the customers of the organization,

and assisting the agriculture and agri-food sector in Canada (Farm Credit Canada, 2021).

The mission of FCC is to provide enhancement in Canada’s rural community by a way of

making available unique and modified enterprises and monetary service industries and materials

that will aid in agricultural activities that include farms own by families and small to medium

sized enterprises whose activities affects farmers dwelling in the rural areas (Farm Credit

Canada, 2021).
The vision of the company is: to retain the trust that the entire agriculture and the food value

chain confide in it as in developing agriculture business through supporting farmers with

financial services, materials and expertise that is customized to operators in agribusinesses and

manufacturers; to continue to make their clients believe in the company without thinking of

parting away from the center of the company’s activities; to sustain its social and environmental

responsibilities; to make it affordable for clients and enterprises to undertake business ventures;

and to maintain its financial strength and persist in investing in agriculture and the food sector

(Farm Credit Canada, 2021).

THE ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PROCUREMENT AND VENDOR

MANAGER

Five roles that the Procurement and Vendor Manager will play when selected with regards to the

job advert are as follows (Indeed, 2021):

Firstly, the Procurement and Vendor Manager will be managing procurement activities like

executing RFI, RFP, and RFQ.

Secondly, the procurement expert will be managing and assisting in procurement and sourcing

functions for business units within the organization.

Moreover, the Procurement and Vendor Manager will render advice regarding policy, law and

procedure interpretations.

Furthermore, the successful procurement professional will establish and control procurement and

vendor risk policies and structures.

Finally, the Procurement Manager will be coming up with strategies in alignment with the goals

of the organization.
 ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PROCUMENT MANAGER AS RELATE TO
STRATEGIC PROCUREMENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Three duties that relate to the learning objectives that have been covered in the Strategic

Procurement course with reference to the job advert include the following.

1. Managing procurement activities like executing RFI, RFP, and RFQ. As a procurement

manager it is extremely imperative to understand, manage and undertake request for

information (RFI), request for proposal (RFP) or Request for quotation (RFQ) from

suppliers to be able to purchase the right products in a cost-effective manner and to

ensure timely delivery of the products.

2. Coming up with strategies in alignment with the goals of the organization. The onus lies

on the procurement manager to strategically select suppliers who will provide an efficient

and effective service to the organization in terms of procured products. The procurement

professional should be in a capacity to undertake supplier management strategies which

are kind of functional strategies within the business and correspond to the strategies or

goals of the company. For instance, if the strategy of the company is to acquire money by

utilizing the strategy of differentiation, then the procurement manager must comply with

that decision to achieve the quality of the product needed without compromising it with

inferior products that are low priced. Conversely, if the organization needs low priced

products to achieve profit for the company, then the procurement manager will have to

work in that direction to achieve the goal of the business.

3. Managing and assisting in procurement and sourcing functions for business units within

the organization. The procurement manager must be able to apply the strategic sourcing

process to the organization so that FCC will obtain the right products and services from

the best suppliers and maintain a long-term relationship with the suppliers. The
 procurement expert should be able to build a procurement team from the cross functional

areas of the organization, execute market research on the right products and services

needed, develop a strategy for the requirements, negotiate a win-win contract with the

selected supplier, and finally ensure supplier relationship management. This will help the

company to run smoothly and ultimately achieve profit since it is the aim of every

company to become profitable.

QUALIFICATIONS AND DESIGNATIONS NECESSARY TO QUALIFY FOR THE

POST

The qualifications and designations that FCC highlighted in the job advert that the potential

Procurement and Vendor Manager must possess are as listed below.

1. The individual should be able to build relationships in the organization and comprehend

the obligations that exist within the partner groups in the company.

2. The procurement professional must be skilled in information technology (IT) and be

expertise in procurement functions.

3. The person must be self-initiator who can adapt to changes and inventions.

4. The procurement specialist must demonstrate confidence in commutation and be capable

of adapting his style to situations and audience.

5. The kind of designations that the company is looking for are individuals who have a

degree or certificate in economics, supply chain management, business, or commerce

with a minimum of six years experience.

PROCESS TO ACHIEVING A CERTIFICATE OR DESIGNATION REQUIRED FOR

THE POSITION
One designation or certificate that could be achieved from Saskatchewan Polytechnic to enable

that individual to be selected for the post of the Procurement and Vendor Manager at FCC is

Supply Chain Management Post-Graduate certificate. To gain admission to pursue this program

an individual must have completed a bachelor’s degree and is proficient in the English language.

The duration of the program eight months and the required courses that are offered in the

program are Business Communication, Introduction to Supply Chain Management, Introduction

to Procurement, Negotiation Skills, Leadership and Professionalism, Strategic Procurement, Risk

Management, Marketing Management, Information Systems, and Logistics and Distribution. The

certificate achieved from successfully completing this program is extremely credible since the

program has been certified for further study in achieving the Supply Chain Management

Professional designation (Saskatchewan Polytechnic, 2021).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, to achieve the status of a procurement manager or expert in an organization, there

is the need to complete a certificate or a degree in business related programs especially in supply

chain management. After completion, the individual needs to search for job opportunities from

career websites and when the person finds a job advert the he or she is interested, the person has

to research on the company that is seeking the procurement professional to have knowledge

about the company. This will help in ascertaining whether the person truly will be willing to

work for that company and to excel at the interview.

 REFERENCE

Farm Credit Canada (2021). About FCC. https://www.fcc-fac.ca/en/about-fcc.html

Indeed (2021). Careers.

https://ca.indeed.com/jobs?q=procurement%20manager&l=Regina%2C%20SK&vjk=765cd4710

bc95ce8

Saskatchewan Polytechnic (2021). Supply Chain Management Post-Graduate Certificate. School

of Business. https://saskpolytech.ca/programs-and-courses/programs/Supply-Chain-

Management.aspx