Regional Supply Chain Manager

The Supply Chain Management Strengthening (SCMS) Project for HIV/AIDS drugs aims to strengthen the technical capacity of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and State AIDS Control Societies (SACS) to design, manage and monitor supply chains for improved access and availability of high-quality ARVs drugs, diagnostics and other commodities across India. The Project is led by Plan International (India), the Sub Recipient (SR) for the HIV Supply Chain grant under the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) for India to support NACO s response to AIDS epidemic.

The SCMS Project will be implemented by Plan International (India Chapter) as SR and 3PL services providers by the private sector. Plan India is mandated to provide technical assistance for improvement of the supply chains of ARV drugs, diagnostics and other commodities under NACP at national, regional and state level. The project will also leverage the private sector for the distribution of ARV drugs, diagnostics and other commodities to ensure the availability and accessibility of drugs and commodities of the program across facilities.

Job Summary

The Regional Supply Chain Managers will work closely with State AIDS Control Societies (SACS) to build supply chain technical and management capacities at SACS level under National AIDS Control Programme. S/He will provide technical expertise to SACS and NACO Procurement and Supply Management (PSM) teams in various areas of supply chain management such as planning, quantification, inventory management, distribution and data reporting. S/he will assist the project team in development of systems, processes, and identify opportunities to strengthen the supply chain operations. The Regional Supply Chain Managers will be based at State AIDS Control Societies of assigned states, and will report to Sr. Project Manager-SCM. The positions will also work closely on technical issues with the Dy. Director- SCM.

Responsibilities:

The Regional Supply Chain Managers will support the project by

1. Building supply chain management capacity of SACS and peripheral staff on forecasting, inventory management, distribution stock reporting in consultation with programme managers of SACS.

2. Work closely with SACS officials, Dy. Project Dir./ Sr. Project Manager on regular basis for supporting/managing the project activities like-

a. Coordinate with SACS and 3PL service provider for distribution of ARV drugs to ART centres, Testing Kits to ICTCs in respective states. Assist and support the service provider to use proper cold chain system for distribution of kits.

b. Assist to resolve issues relating to logistics and supply chain including road permits in respect of transportation including assistance in the issuance of excise custom duty exemption documentation, as the case may be.

c. Monitor expiry and short expiry items and inform NACO/SACS to take necessary action. Prepare periodic reports on expired ARV and testing Kits other commodities.

d. Coordinate with the SACS to calculate replenish facility requirement of ARV and testing Kits and other commodities. Report the stock out immediately to SACS/NACO.

e. Monitor stock levels at state warehouse and facilities, report and provide indication of under-stocking / overstocking / expiry of goods to SACS and NACO project team based on the consumption pattern.

f. Facilitate the intra-state relocation of ARVs and testing kits wherever required.

g. Support the SACS staff to submit weekly/monthly and quarterly report on time.

h. Provide support to improve the performance of SACS and facilities in indenting and inventory management function.

3. Supportive supervision visits to the selected ART and ICTC facilities to ensure that the SOPs are used for the supply chain management and provide handholding to logistics staff as needed.

4. Prepare and submit weekly/monthly and quarterly reports to supervisor and project team covering progress made on the project activities, state/facilities visited etc

Qualifications and Skills

1. Graduate degree in business, science or pharmacy and advanced/professional qualification in supply chain management/logistics management/operations management.

2. 7 years of relevant experience, with 3-5 years of experience in managing public health programs/supply chain at national/state level; experience with HIV/AIDS program is desirable.

3. Familiarity with government processes and practices in Supply Chain Management.

4. Ability to work effectively in a team environment and communicate highly technical health information to both health and non-health audiences, and achieve consensus on policy, project, and administrative matters.

5. Excellent interpersonal, written and oral proficiency in English and the local language.

6. Interested candidates must specify the location in the application and should be willing to relocate.

Travel Requirement

50% of the total time