Office Of Government Procurement (OGP)

Kigera · 04-12-2017 1:21pm #1

Hi all,

There were alot of jobs advertised recently in the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), and it appears they have set up large panels for a number of positions. I am led to believe that the OGP is hemerging staff since it was set up 3/4 years ago. Does anybody have any information on this? Why are so many staff leaving? What is it like to work in the OGP?

Soquest · 09-12-2017 1:02am

Hi, I have just been through the interview process and am on a panel for a position in OGP. Would be very interested to hear more about this as I don't have much information and they seem to be structured quite differently to other departments. I have no contacts with any information to help your query though. Have you applied to the roles?

Boutye? · 27-02-2018 11:49pm

Did either of you hear anything further about this? I’m on the panel and I’ve been offered a role. I’m thinking about leaving a good job and accepting it but now you have me worried reading this ðŸ˜¬
Any details would be appreciated or any contacts in there already.

Green farmer · 08-04-2020 9:37pm

Any body end up working in the procurement office ? I'm Interested in a role they advertised recently. Thanks in advance

Space2020 · 10-04-2020 9:41am

Green farmer wrote: »

Any body end up working in the procurement office ? I'm Interested in a role they advertised recently. Thanks in advance

I did and would recommend. It’s a great place to work. Are you in the running for CM?

Space2020 · 10-04-2020 9:43am

Green farmer wrote: »

Any body end up working in the procurement office ? I'm Interested in a role they advertised recently. Thanks in advance

I did and would recommend. It’s a great place to work. Are you in the running for CM?

Green farmer · 10-04-2020 10:24am

Space2020 wrote: »

I did and would recommend. It’s a great place to work. Are you in the running for CM?

I applied for a category specialist role.

Space2020 · 10-04-2020 10:46am

Green farmer wrote: »

I applied for a category specialist role.

Good grade to start, salary better than general EO grade in civil service and opportunity to progress after a year or two.

clarelnk · 30-06-2020 12:56pm

hey green farmer, did you get the emails today about the online interview?
Just wondering do you have a copy of the candidate information booklet? the link in the attachment brings up a hr role and i deleted my copy stupidly!!!

DarceyEllie · 03-07-2020 6:35pm

Hello,
Any info on category specialist within the OGP 2020 would be appreciated?
I have been called for a video interiew.

cheers

dazzler101 · 06-07-2020 5:32pm

DarceyEllie wrote: »

Hello,
Any info on category specialist within the OGP 2020 would be appreciated?
I have been called for a video interiew.

cheers

Hi,

I have too, going to do the video interview tonight, did you do it yet?

italodisco · 06-07-2020 5:39pm

DarceyEllie wrote: »

Hello,
Any info on category specialist within the OGP 2020 would be appreciated?
I have been called for a video interiew.

cheers

Did you do it, I did it.

I worked in a procurement role in another department for 5 years, seems that the category specialist role competencies were basically that of executive officer just adding in how your background has you ready for a technical role like this one.

Do you have a procurement background? I know 2 others who went for it last time round, without a procurement background but a supply chain background. 1 of them got placed high and was offered the job but got an AP role that she took instead.

I can't imagine a huge amount going for this, not exactly the kinda role many would have experience for, fingers crossed!!!

Best of luck to you, hope it went well!

Kamu · 06-07-2020 5:52pm

Myself and a friend applied for the role.

Neither of us have prior experience in procurement, but i'm an EO at the moment and have a Finance degree.

I only really applied for experience with applications/interviews etc.

I won't have time to do it until tomorrow, though.

My expectation is that anyone with experience in the field will be placed higher/get the role ahead of myself and my friend.

But if you don't go for the roles, you can't get them!

italodisco · 06-07-2020 6:06pm

Kamu wrote: »

Myself and a friend applied for the role.

Neither of us have prior experience in procurement, but i'm an EO at the moment and have a Finance degree.

I only really applied for experience with applications/interviews etc.

I won't have time to do it until tomorrow, though.

My expectation is that anyone with experience in the field will be placed higher/get the role ahead of myself and my friend.

But if you don't go for the roles, you can't get them!

Not true at all, I've spoken to a category specialist regarding this and he said that alot of the new starters the last 2 years have no procurement background.

You might ace the interview!!

I'm in a unit now that issues grants and to say its boring is an understatement.

From what I here the OGP is very modern, professional and more like the private sector in its ways. Honestly, I'd much prefer that. I'm just decomposing in my current role

I hope you do great

Kamu · 06-07-2020 6:16pm

italodisco wrote: »

Not true at all, I've spoken to a category specialist regarding this and he said that alot of the new starters the last 2 years have no procurement background.

You might ace the interview!!

I'm in a unit now that issues grants and to say its boring is an understatement.

From what I here the OGP is very modern, professional and more like the private sector in its ways. Honestly, I'd much prefer that. I'm just decomposing in my current role

I hope you do great

Thank you very much for the encouragement. I hope what you heard about the OGP is true, as I am also in a similar unit doing paper processing onto our system and I daydream while doing it to keep me sane. Hahah.

I hope you smash the interview too!

DarceyEllie · 07-07-2020 9:03am

Good Morning, thank you all so much for replying to the email.
Yes, I did the video interview and to be honest, i absolutley hate looking or recording myself on camera, i had a lot of Emmm's etc awful.... My information was good though as i have a lot of experience in Procurement all private sector.
Fingers crossed, i would love this as currently contracting so would like sometihing a bit more permanent. Fingers crossed.

Kamu · 07-07-2020 9:35am

DarceyEllie wrote: »

Good Morning, thank you all so much for replying to the email.
Yes, I did the video interview and to be honest, i absolutley hate looking or recording myself on camera, i had a lot of Emmm's etc awful.... My information was good though as i have a lot of experience in Procurement all private sector.
Fingers crossed, i would love this as currently contracting so would like sometihing a bit more permanent. Fingers crossed.

Wish you all the best Ellie!

Mikefitzs · 08-07-2020 8:25pm

I completed the video interview yesterday. I found it really strange having to interview myself lol. I'm in the civil service at present but have a background in facilities management and running my own business so I'm hopeful I've a shot. Is there a lot of red tape working in this type of role in public sector I wonder? I'd say there'll be very little to spend after Covid.
Wonder are there many places in Limerick, anyone apply for there?

Good luck everyone who did the interview.

weadick · 11-07-2020 11:51pm

Wonder how long before we hear back on the video interview...

Mikefitzs · 17-07-2020 12:37am

weadick wrote: »

Wonder how long before we hear back on the video interview...

Who knows. Hoping to hear before end of the month but it doesn’t bother me that much, happy enough where I am (except for the money).

Guitar Johnny · 21-07-2020 12:40pm

weadick wrote: »

Wonder how long before we hear back on the video interview...

Id be guessing we should be hearing this week... Hopefully

Mikefitzs · 06-08-2020 2:44pm

Anyone hear anything at all on this?

Kamu · 06-08-2020 2:46pm

Mikefitzs wrote: »

Anyone hear anything at all on this?

No, nothing at all.

DarceyEllie · 06-08-2020 6:57pm

Kamu wrote: »

No, nothing at all.

No I didn't hear anything either.

italodisco · 17-08-2020 2:38pm

A guy I work with went for it, says he rang pas 2 weeks ago and they said we would hear back mid August

Jesus they are dragging it out

weadick · 18-08-2020 6:09pm

I heard next week for results

Mikefitzs · 19-08-2020 6:47pm

Gutted, message this evening from PAS. “This was a highly competitive selection process and while you reached the qualifying standard, unfortunately you did not achieve a total score high enough to be part of the smaller group being invited to Final interview at this stage of the process”.
Good luck to those who got invited to last round.

italodisco · 19-08-2020 6:51pm

Mikefitzs wrote: »

Gutted, message this evening from PAS. “This was a highly competitive selection process and while you reached the qualifying standard, unfortunately you did not achieve a total score high enough to be part of the smaller group being invited to Final interview at this stage of the process”.
Good luck to those who got invited to last round.

I got the same, but all hope is not lost.

They are interviewing 25 people first, there's no guarantee they will all pass the interview. Many people would have done well talking to the camera with nobody on the other end, when it comes to being questioned by people in the next round they might mess up. I can confidently say not even half of them will do well.

There's also a big demand for category specialist now so alot of positions to fill, and then many of the current specialists will go for category specialist higher which is live at the mo so there may be more spaces free after that.

You can always email them and ask them where you placed overall

weadick · 19-08-2020 7:00pm

Mikefitzs wrote: »

Gutted, message this evening from PAS. “This was a highly competitive selection process and while you reached the qualifying standard, unfortunately you did not achieve a total score high enough to be part of the smaller group being invited to Final interview at this stage of the process”.
Good luck to those who got invited to last round.

I got the same email...similarly dissapointed.

italodisco · 19-08-2020 7:06pm

weadick wrote: »

I got the same email...similarly dissapointed.

Come on chin up, think about all those who aced it because they weren't being Interviewed.

How many of them will be so confident and hit the competencies all over again so we'll with 3 people at the other end quizzing them??

We have a chance, might not be now, could be before Christmas, maybe early next year but it's not over.

As far as I know this will be similar like the eo panels and they will call in another batch for the ogp next demand for category specialist.

I'd say if you finished in top 60 you've a great chance

Mikefitzs · 20-08-2020 11:58am

italodisco wrote: »

I got the same, but all hope is not lost.

They are interviewing 25 people first, there's no guarantee they will all pass the interview. Many people would have done well talking to the camera with nobody on the other end, when it comes to being questioned by people in the next round they might mess up. I can confidently say not even half of them will do well.

There's also a big demand for category specialist now so alot of positions to fill, and then many of the current specialists will go for category specialist higher which is live at the mo so there may be more spaces free after that.

You can always email them and ask them where you placed overall

Email sent asking what position I achieved. Hopefully they don’t take weeks to reply, I’d love to know. I thought I did excellent on the video interview but hey, we all know what happened to thought lol

tomtom1000 · 20-08-2020 12:01pm

Who did you email?

Mikefitzs · 20-08-2020 1:20pm

tomtom1000 wrote: »

Who did you email?

Info@publicjobs.ie

tomtom1000 · 20-08-2020 1:54pm

Ok perfect, I was just wondering if there was a specific email somewhere that I had missed!

italodisco · 23-08-2020 11:25pm

They are operating a panel type thing, like the eo panel.

It will run for up to 18 months and they will bring in another batch to interview when theres a need so there is hope.

They said to me that they only brought in a small batch for proper interviews because of covid 19 and the issues it's causing for PAS regarding staff availability etc, they had planned to interview double the amount in the first round but don't have the capacity.

They are sending us all an email to our accou ts on publicjobs.ie soon with our OOM (order of merit on the panel) so everyone keep your fingers crossed

Mikefitzs · 24-08-2020 7:49am

italodisco wrote: »

They are operating a panel type thing, like the eo panel.

It will run for up to 18 months and they will bring in another batch to interview when theres a need so there is hope.

They said to me that they only brought in a small batch for proper interviews because of covid 19 and the issues it's causing for PAS regarding staff availability etc, they had planned to interview double the amount in the first round but don't have the capacity.

They are sending us all an email to our accou ts on publicjobs.ie soon with our OOM (order of merit on the panel) so everyone keep your fingers crossed

Sound, thanks for the info. It’s my ideal job, years of experience managing contracts. Fingers and toes are crossed.

italodisco · 24-08-2020 10:18am

Mikefitzs wrote: »

Sound, thanks for the info. It’s my ideal job, years of experience managing contracts. Fingers and toes are crossed.

When I get my OOM I'll message you, I won't publish it here in case it's crap!

italodisco · 02-09-2020 9:17pm

Folks did anyone get an email from PAS today about the category specialist

Mikefitzs · 03-09-2020 9:32am

italodisco wrote: »

Folks did anyone get an email from PAS today about the category specialist

Very poor group for replies. Don’t think there’s many following the thread.

DarceyEllie · 03-09-2020 9:37am

Good Morning, I have an interview for this next week. Will let you know how i get on.

Mikefitzs · 03-09-2020 10:37am

DarceyEllie wrote: »

Good Morning, I have an interview for this next week. Will let you know how i get on.

Best of luck. I’m sure you’ll nail it.

DarceyEllie · 10-09-2020 9:53am

Interview went okayish, maninly compentencies, so once you have one or two examples for each, you should be ok. Any idea how many jobs per location? Is it panel type thing?

DarceyEllie · 17-09-2020 1:17pm

italodisco wrote: »

Folks did anyone get an email from PAS today about the category specialist

Hello, Just wondering what email did you get about the category speicalist? I havent heard a thing since the interview. Any idea how many jobs are going?

MsLaois · 18-09-2020 9:11pm

DarceyEllie wrote: »

Hello, Just wondering what email did you get about the category speicalist? I havent heard a thing since the interview. Any idea how many jobs are going?

I also done the interview for this position and haven't heard anything back yet, fingers crossed we hear something soon!!

Mikefitzs · 18-09-2020 10:22pm

Particular interest in this, so I’m thankful to those keeping the thread alive.

DarceyEllie · 19-09-2020 10:43am

MsLaois wrote: »

I also done the interview for this position and haven't heard anything back yet, fingers crossed we hear something soon!!

Thanks to everyone for keeping the thread going. how did you find the interview?

MsLaois · 23-09-2020 9:45am

DarceyEllie wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for keeping the thread going. how did you find the interview?

I found it difficult enough to be honest, I'd a huge amount of preparation done for it so I'm just hoping it paid off.
I actually found the video interview stage the most difficult as it just seemed so surreal answering questions into the camera with nobody at the other end!!!
I hope you got on well in your interview too 👍

DarceyEllie · 23-09-2020 10:07am

MsLaois wrote: »

I found it difficult enough to be honest, I'd a huge amount of preparation done for it so I'm just hoping it paid off.
I actually found the video interview stage the most difficult as it just seemed so surreal answering questions into the camera with nobody at the other end!!!
I hope you got on well in your interview too 👍

Thanks for the reply. yes, i thought both interviews were difficult . I think I was more anxious about the video interview. Do you have procurement background? I wonder does anyone know how many jobs are going per location? Are they interviewing another batch soon?
Hard to get any information on this so if anyone could share it would be great.

Heart Break Kid · 24-09-2020 11:14am

Had a interview for these roles just prior to COVID. Fairly tough, panel of of 4 including the the AP, lecturer in public procurement and some consultant. Had background in buying but very different from what role was. Did a lot of research on various directives etc and some 90 page booklet.

Interested to see how people get on

italodisco · 24-09-2020 5:14pm

DarceyEllie wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. yes, i thought both interviews were difficult . I think I was more anxious about the video interview. Do you have procurement background? I wonder does anyone know how many jobs are going per location? Are they interviewing another batch soon?
Hard to get any information on this so if anyone could share it would be great.

Did they ask about the directives, about how to draft tenders etc or was it a case of giving competency examples only!

I did an interview for procurement officer for a transport body and christ they basically wanted me to talk through a tender draft from start to finish, 45 mins of it. Found it hellish

Heart Break Kid · 27-09-2020 6:46pm

italodisco wrote: »

Did they ask about the directives, about how to draft tenders etc or was it a case of giving competency examples only!

I did an interview for procurement officer for a transport body and christ they basically wanted me to talk through a tender draft from start to finish, 45 mins of it. Found it hellish

Hey did interview sometime in August/September last year.

There was competency elements. Each interviewer had their own set of questions. EU Directives, Frameworks, Fundamental principles, understanding of tenders & general tenders process with specific requests on examples of tenders and the process I undertook. A few other question relating to specific terms in relation to procurement guidelines in relation to transparency & procurement and the balance in relation to public procurement and commercial details, stuff that I I'm sure theres dedicated guidance on.

I spent a good few hours reading the below, printed it off and studied it for a while, disappointed I didn't get it but struggled at interview part. Something I would definitely check out again but would be good to get peoples experience on how they did and what they covered.

https://ogp.gov.ie/public-procurement-guidelines-for-goods-and-services

Office Of Government Procurement (OGP)

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