Public Procurement and Property

Scottish winners at the UK National GO Awards

June 1, 2022 by Melissa Reilly No Comments | Category Go Awards National, Procurement news, UK National GO awards

The UK National GO Awards 2021/22 took place on 25 May, with a number of Scottish organisations shortlisted as finalists. These awards celebrate the very best procurement achievements from across the UK’s public, private and third sector organisations. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners.

In our latest blog post, we hear from the Scottish organisations who celebrated success at the awards.

The UK National GO Awards 2022. Image credit – BiP Solutions www.goawards.co.uk

Scotland Excel picked up two awards on the night. ‘Best Procurement Delivery – Other Organisations’ and the ‘GO Excellence Award’ 

Scotland Excel Chief Executive, Julie Welsh, said. “We were delighted to be recognised once again for this framework at the UK National GO Awards in May after winning ‘Best Procurement Delivery’ for our New Build Residential Framework at the Scottish GO Awards in April.

“Winning the ‘Best Procurement Delivery’ category at the national awards was fantastic in itself, but to also receive the GO Excellence Award was an amazing achievement for our organisation.  The GO Awards showcase all of the good work that is taking place in public procurement in Scotland and, indeed, across the UK.  Scotland Excel is proud to be recognised at these awards.

“We would like to thank the 11 Scottish councils that funded the development of this framework, and all of the councils and housing associations that are using it to deliver new, affordable social housing throughout Scotland.

“Scotland Excel is now working on the next generation of this framework which will be launched in 2023.  Our goal is to support the delivery of even greater environmental, economic and social benefits through this new framework.”

City of Edinburgh Council won the ‘GO Continuous Improvement Award’.

Neil Fraser, Senior Category Manager at the City of Edinburgh Council, commented. “This was a fantastic project to be involved in. We’re over the moon to receive this recognition from the National GO Awards with our Thrive Collective colleagues at the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership.

“This project was the culmination of years of collaboration with the Third Sector and Statutory services and by working to support and build better understanding of the contracts and bids process as well as the outcomes we were looking to seek, we have been able to support providers big and small, to fairly compete for public sector contracts.

“Importantly, the cumulative results have brought organisations together – working together to provide a wide range of Mental Health and Wellbeing initiatives and services throughout Edinburgh that are meeting real needs – helping people have more good days.”

The COVID-19 Response & Recovery Awards were a highlight of the evening, celebrating extraordinary work by organisations over the past 2 years of the pandemic.

Representatives from the ‘Highly commended’ Check-In Scotland product and service

The ground-breaking and innovative Check-In Scotland product and service won a ‘Highly Commended’ award in the ‘Other organisations’ sub-category. Won by the ‘Digital Commercial Service’, a partnership between the Digital Directorate and Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate (SPPD). Along with delivery partners, NHS National Services Scotland and Public Health Scotland.

Lee Rutherford, Head of Digital Commercial Strategy at Scottish Government, commented. “This is a fantastic achievement for the Digital Directorate and SPPD at the National GO Awards. It highlights the excellence, expertise and quality of service that our Directorates delivery daily to support the people of Scotland. Recognising the hard work that went into this initiative at a national level. A great example of collaborative working across Scottish public sector.”

Scotland’s 32 Local Authorities and the Supplier Development Programme picked up ‘Highly Commended’ in the ‘Local Government’ sub-category.

Gillian Cameron, Supplier Development Programme (SDP) Programme Manager, said. “The initial response to and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is a shared endeavour. Our Supplier Relief survey in early 2020 told us that 79% of suppliers had time and capacity during lockdown to bid for public sector contracts. However, there is anecdotal evidence that suppliers still do not know how to best connect to the public sector and this has not changed.

“That’s why we’re proud to work with all 32 Scottish local authorities with the endorsement of The Scottish Government. Enabling SMEs, supported business and third sector organisations to better participate in the Power of Procurement. SDP is constantly working to keep the conversations between procurement and suppliers flowing without disruption – even a global pandemic cannot stop us! Communication is absolutely crucial to enable Scottish businesses to secure vital contracts to build the Scotland of the future that we all want to see.

“Scotland offers the gold standard of free support in all aspects of bidding to its suppliers through SDP. We’re deeply honoured to receive a Highly Commended recognition at the GO Awards Scotland and the UK GO Awards this year.”

For further information on public procurement in Scotland please visit www.gov.scot/procurement

Please email enquiries to scottishprocurement@gov.scot

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Tags: awards, Best practice, procurement news, UK National GO Awards

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