Public Procurement and Property

Our first Scottish Procurement vlog of 2023 with Nick Ford

March 30, 2023 by Fiona McCaig No Comments | Category Scottish Procurement, vlog

We recently caught up with our Director, Nick Ford to hear his reflections on 2023 so far, highlighting some of the key achievements and successes from across the procurement and property community.

Looking ahead, Nick also shares some of the publications and events you can look forward to seeing in the near future.  Watch the video below, a transcript for this video is also available at the bottom of the page.

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

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Single speaker transcript, Nick Ford:

Hi, everyone. 

 I’m back with my first blog of 2023, we have certainly hit the ground running already demonstrating how public procurement is good for the people of Scotland. 

 In January, it was great to see Scottish ministers publishing the fourth annual report on public procurement activity in Scotland for 2021. So let’s take a look at some of the highlights from that report 

I’m also immensely proud of the work we do towards our net zero targets. In February, we published Scotland’s journey of achieving sustainable procurement outcomes. 

This review is significant in highlighting the success of Scotland’s journey of achieving sustainable outcomes driven by a strong passion and commitment across all sectors.  This research confirms what I think we already knew, in that Scotland has a long and effective history of supplier engagement and development.

Motivated by real desire to support the local economy and the people of Scotland. 

And as is the case every year. March recognizes an important national celebration. Scottish Apprenticeship Week. Working closely with our Procurement People of Tomorrow team, I’m always inspired about how they are encouraging others to start their procurement careers. 

The Scottish Government has been employing modern apprentices very successfully for a number of years and the Procurement People of Tomorrow team are a driving force for allowing others to see just what an exciting time it is to join the profession. 

But let’s look forward. 

In the spring we will be publishing our first ever Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland, which will set out the future vision and the road map for the next five years. The strategy has been developed by representation from across the procurement sector. 

Over time there is an expectation that all sectors and organisations will align their procurement strategies to the vision and ambition set out in this strategy. 

Our recent Community Wealth Building Consultation launch is seeking views from people across Scotland exploring how we can help grow local economies ensuring more money stays in the hands of the communities. 

If you haven’t already, please do contribute. And then over the summer we’ll be reviewing the responses to this consultation considering the opportunities for procurement to play an even bigger role. 

We will also be publishing a policy note on the free trade agreements between the UK and Australia and also between the UK and New Zealand. So keep an eye out for these coming up and do make sure you signed up to our blog. So you hear about any new policy updates. 

(Edit: Scottish Procurement Policy Note 1/2023  has now been published) 

Looking further ahead, we already have a number of events on the horizon. This May we are set to host our first live heads of procurement event since 2019 and I am really looking forward to going along for the first time in person. 

These events are a great opportunity to network and develop our shared approach to public sector procurement in Scotland. 

The Supplier Development Program has its Meet the Buyer event, which is also targeted for May this year. 

It’s a great chance for businesses of all sizes to come along and engage with buyers and find out what tender opportunities there are available across Scotland and the UK. 

So if you haven’t already signed up for this, I would encourage you to do so. 

Thanks, everyone. I’ll be back again in June with another update. 

Tags: buyers, climate change, Community benefits, Construction, innovation, Modern Apprenticeships, Procurement People of Tomorrow, Public procurement, public sector procurement, Scottish Government procurement, Scottish Procurement, Scottish Procurement Policy Note, SMEs, SPPN, Sustainability, sustainable procurement

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