Trainee Legal and Procurement

Trainee Legal and Procurement

EDA - European Defence Agency

Brussels, Belgium

THE TRAINEESHIP

The aim of this traineeship is to assist with standard horizontal/coordination tasks of the EDA Legal Unit and the EDA Procurement and Contract Unit (PCU), as well as to contribute to the completion of unplanned assignments concerning - indicatively, but not exhaustively - documentation of procedures, clean-up and maintenance of databases, preparation of reports and similar tasks.

TASKS AND DUTIES

Under the supervision a traineeship advisor, the trainee will work with colleagues in supporting projects/cases in the legal and/or procurement domains.

More specifically, the trainee will contribute as follows:

• contribute to legal research and analysis on EU and international law – i.e. by summarising case law and regulatory updates – in areas relevant to defence, compliance, European civil service, regulatory, procurement and grant matters;
• participate in the drafting and/or review of decisions, agreements, Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), Service Level Agreements (SLA), guidelines, notes, templates or any other legal documents within the Agency’s remit;
• participate in the drafting and/or review of tender documents, contracts, grant agreements or amendments thereof;
• provide support to contract management, administrative controls (such as pre-verification of low-value purchases, or exception reporting) and to processing of relevant workflows in dedicated IT tools;
• support the legal unit in the registration, assessment and response to requests for access to documents;
• support the legal unit with assessment of consultations received by the legal unit, providing legal analysis and drafting responses and other necessary documents to address the issues raised;
• contribute to drafting/proofreading of Legal Unit and PCU policies and procedures;
• organise Legal Unit and PCU meetings and prepare minutes / debriefings thereof;
• archive Legal Unit’s and PCU’s electronic and physical files;
• take on additional tasks as required in the interest of the service.

A typical day at work may involve the following activities:

• monitoring functional mailboxes;
• handling incoming and outgoing mails;
• updating databases and/or SharePoint pages;
• reviewing case law, legislation and regulatory updates;
• drafting memos and other correspondence;
• updating templates;
• assisting with the preparation and follow-up of meetings and documents;
• participating in meetings with internal and external stakeholders on procurement/contracting, legal and compliance matters.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Project outputs & learning outcomes:

The trainee will be involved in the handling of legal consultations and in the administration of procurement, grants and contracting files. The trainee will gain knowledge in initiating documents in draft, updating templates, performing administrative controls, and reporting. The trainee will also become familiar with, and will acquire practical experience in, understanding the legal framework governing the Agency, particularly regarding defence, compliance, regulatory, procurement and grant matters. The trainee will also obtain hands-on experience with IT workflow tools and document management platforms such as SharePoint.

Technical/Soft skills to be acquired:

From this experience the trainee will gain:

• ability to work effectively in a multinational/multicultural and complex environment;
• accuracy and attention to detail;
• organisational and time management skills;
• flexibility and ability to communicate with different counterparts (government and industry);
• report preparation and writing skills;
• web-tool/database management skills;
• experience in organizing meetings and events;
• understanding of EDA’s unique legal/regulatory/institutional framework;
• working knowledge of the EU Financial Regulation with a focus on procurement and grant procedures;
• working knowledge of the EDA Staff regulations, and associated legal framework, including aspects related to human resources and ethics.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

To be considered eligible to take part in this selection procedure, on the closing date for the submission of applications candidates must satisfy all the eligibility criteria as specified below:

• be a national of a Member State participating in the Agency;
• be entitled to their full rights as citizens;
• produce the appropriate character references as to their suitability for the performance of their duties (extract from the “judicial record” or certificate of good conduct will be requested prior to recruitment);
• be physically fit to perform their duties;
• have a thorough knowledge (minimum level C1 oral and written) of one of the languages of the participating Member States and a satisfactory knowledge (minimum level B2 oral and written) of another of these languages to the extent necessary to discharge their duties;
• have no personal interest (financial, family relationship, or other) which could be in conflict with disinterested discharge of their duties within the Agency;
• hold, or be in a position to obtain, a valid Personnel Security Clearance Certificate (national or EU PSC at SECRET UE/EU SECRET level);
• have completed at least the first (minimum three-year) cycle of a higher education course (university education) and obtained a full degree or its equivalent by the closing date for applications;
• have not previously undertaken for more than six weeks a paid or unpaid traineeship or any kind of employment in another EU institution, Agency, or body.

Please note the following:

Age limit:

No age limit is imposed on the candidates for traineeships; however, as a matter of priority, traineeships are offered to recent university graduates.

UK nationality:

Due to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 31/01/2020, candidates from the United Kingdom who do not hold the nationality of another participating EU Member State, are not eligible.

Languages:

For native English speakers, the ability to communicate in another EU language will be tested during the selection process. 

Personnel Security Clearance (PSC):

This is a certificate issued by a competent authority establishing that an individual is security cleared and holds a valid national or EU PSC, and which shows the level of EUCI to which that individual may be granted access (CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or above), the date of validity of the relevant PSC and the date of expiry of the certificate itself. Please note that the procedure for obtaining a PSCC can only be initiated by EDA on behalf of the selected candidate.

Non-EU diplomas:

Only diplomas that have been awarded in EU Member States or that are the subject of equivalence certificates issued by the authorities in the said Member States shall be taken into consideration. In the latter case, the authority authorised to conclude contracts of employment reserves the right to request proof of such equivalence. For diplomas awarded in non-EU countries, a NARIC recognition is required.

UK diplomas:

Qualifications/diplomas awarded until 31/12/2020 in the United Kingdom are accepted without further recognition. For diplomas awarded after this date (from 01/01/2021), a NARIC recognition is required.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Only applications meeting all essential selection criteria will be assessed.

The pre-selection of candidates to be invited to an interview is based on a comparative assessment of all applications against the selection criteria and additional assets.

It should be highlighted that the selection criteria constitute a minimum threshold and that only candidates considered as most suitable are invited to an interview.

Essential:

On the closing date for the submission of applications candidates must satisfy all the essential criteria as specified below:

• a University degree (or equivalent academic degree) in Law; degrees in thematically related studies (e.g. Business, Management or Economics) may be considered only if their curriculum contains adequate coverage of legal/procurement elements;
• advanced IT skills, particularly in MS Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook);
• a very good command of written and spoken English (minimum level C1).

Desirable:

The following will be considered an advantage:

• exposure to an international environment;
• previous experience working in a team;
• previous experience as legal/procurement assistant/trainee;
• analytical and drafting skills;
• knowledge of MS Office 365;
• knowledge of Microsoft SharePoint;
• previous experience in procurement, contract / grant management, or any equivalent exposure as part of academic studies;
• familiarity with the international and EU context, and especially within the defence environment (incl. CSDP) would be an advantage.