Public Procurement and Property

Working with the Scottish Public Sector – How to search for opportunities on Public Contracts Scotland

January 26, 2024 by Melissa Reilly No Comments | Category PCS, Public Contracts Scotland, Scottish Procurement

Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) is the one-stop shop for suppliers to access Scottish public sector contract opportunities.

All Scottish public sector buying organisations must use PCS to advertise their regulated procurements. Regulated Procurements are procurements with an estimated value of £50k and over for goods and services or £2m and over for works.

Find opportunities from across the Scottish public sector from Local Authorities, NHS Scotland, the Scottish Government, Agencies and Non Departmental Public Bodies to Higher & Further Education and the Emergency Services using PCS.

How to Search Public Contracts Scotland for Opportunities

You do not need an account to search for opportunities on PCS.

The Search Notices area allows you to search for Notices based on the information which Buyers provide when they publish a Notice. The information provided may differ across Buying Organisations. You should try different combinations of keywords and filters to find Notices that you are interested in.

Go to Public Contracts Scotland and click Search Notices at the top of the page.

To search, add filters and keywords then click on the Search Notice button at the bottom of the screen.

Filter Your Search on Public Contracts Scotland

You can search using the following filters:

• Keywords – You will be shown Notices if the keywords you search for appear in a Notice Title or the Notice Details.
• Buyer Name – You will be shown all Notices published by a specific Buying Organisation. You can also do this and view more information about Buying Organisations using the Search Buyers tab at the top of the screen.
• OCID Reference – Search by Open Contracting ID reference.
• Reference no – Search by PCS reference number.
• Notice Type – Search for Current Opportunities, Future Opportunities, Contract Results (also known as Contract Award Notices) and Recent Notices.
• Location – You will be shown Notices that match the location a Buyer has selected as the contract delivery location (where the contract will be carried out). Buyers can select multiple locations including All of Scotland. For this reason, you may find Notices with different locations from your search location. Read the Notice Details page to check the delivery location of each Notice.
• Category – You will be shown Notices that match the category if the Buyer has selected the same category. Categories are based on Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes and these may not fit specifically with the goods or services you provide. CPV codes are also used to classify Notices published in Find a Tender Service (FTS) and the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). Buyers select the CPV code which they think is the most appropriate and this may be slightly different across all Buying Organisations.
• Sub-category – Filter by sub-category once you have added a category filter.
• Published from and Published to – Find Notices published between specified dates.
• Show Sub-Contracts Only – You will only be shown sub-contracting opportunities.

Notice Details

To view the details of a Notice, click on the Notice Title. This will open the Notice Details page in a new window.

Read the full guide on PCS

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: PCS, Public Contracts Scotland, Scottish Procurement

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