The CIPS Global Standard for Procurement & Supply: The Competency Framework Explained

Every CIPS qualification, every job description CIPS helps write, and even the Management Entry Route assessment rests on one document: the CIPS Global Standard for Procurement & Supply. It is the profession's competency framework, "what is expected of professionals working in different bands within their organisation", and understanding it tells you precisely where you stand and what the next level requires.

Four bands

• Delivering, operational and tactical, focused on the day to day (assistant buyer, buyer, procurement officer, inventory planner, supply chain analyst)
• Managing, managerial, with some complexity (category manager, contracts manager, procurement manager, senior buyer, sourcing manager, supply chain manager)
• Leading, complex, with challenging requirements (commercial manager, head of sourcing, head of logistics, senior category manager, ESG manager)
• Influencing, strategic, with significant complexity (CPO and director level roles)

The standards are cumulative: someone in the Leading band is expected to already demonstrate Delivering and Managing competence.

Fifteen competency themes

Enablers, the strategies and skills that let you operate effectively: communication; critical thinking; developing relationships; ESG implementation; innovation; learning and development; technology. Practices, applied knowledge: contract management; evaluation and improvement; managing performance; operations management; risk and resilience; sourcing; spend and value; stakeholders. Each theme breaks into indicators with defined standards, and "ethics and behaviours are embedded into our competency standards as they should run through everything we do."

How it maps to the qualifications

CIPS ties each level to a band: Level 3 to Delivering (tactical moving toward operational); Level 4 to the Delivering band, operational moving toward managerial; Level 5 to the Managing band; Level 6 to Leading and Influencing. Choose your level by the band you work in, or the one you are moving into.

How to use it

CIPS members use the Standard for appraisals, career planning and job descriptions, and CIPS's Profession Path tool lets you self assess against it. For an individual, the practical move is simple: locate your band, read the next band's indicators, and let that gap decide your next qualification.

Ask an advisor to map your role to the Global Standard and the right CIPS level.