Public Procurement and Property

Recent Changes to Public Contracts Scotland

April 11, 2024 by Ray Knox No Comments | Category PCS, Procurement news, Public Contracts Scotland, Scottish Procurement

Based on user feedback some changes have been made to improve Public Contracts Scotland (PCS). Changes have been made to improve the readability of SPD Module content and responses, remove duplication in the SPD Module, improve the Search Notices and Search Buyer pages and to allow Buyers to create copies of previous Quick Quotes (QQ).

SPD Module

The SPD or Single Procurement Document Module has been updated based on your feedback. New functionality has been added to improve the user experience. No changes have been made to the SPD questions or the SPD functionality in PCS-Tender.

Updates for Buyer users include:

• SPD Module – The SPD Module is now available for all users. Buying Organisation Controllers will still need to give the appropriate users permission to allow them to use the Module.
• Remove duplicated CPV page – The CPV page has been removed from the SPD Module as this is also contained within the Contract Notice.

Retirement of the SPD Word Document

Please remember that from 1 April 2024 the Microsoft Word version of the Single Procurement Document (SPD) will no longer be supported or updated by Scottish Government.

Updates for Supplier users include:

• Answer automatic recall – Users no longer need to manually recall your answers. Answers that you have saved will now be automatically recalled into your response. You can then edit and update the response before submitting.

Updates for all users include:

• Format free text boxes – Users can now format free text boxes within the SPD Module. This means Buyer users can make their request clearer by using bullet points, making text bold and adding headings when you are defining criteria and minimum requirements. Suppliers will also be able to format the text in their responses making it easier to read their responses.

Support for using the SPD

SPD users guides are available for Buyers and Suppliers on the Information & Support pages on PCS.

Support for Suppliers is available on the Suppler Journey website and for SMEs support and training is available from the Supplier Development Programme.

Buyers can view a video guide showing how to create an SPD request within the PCS SPD Module. Buyers can also access the PCS Training Site to try creating an SPD before they create one on the live site.

Updates to the Search Notices and Search Buyers pages

Search Notices

All users will be able to hit the Enter key to initiate a search on the Search Notices page (as well as clicking the Search button).

The Category and Sub-category search will be removed and a new filter will be added to allow you to filter by CPV (common procurement vocabulary) code:

1. Click Browse Categories,
2. search by keyword and select categories,
3. click Add Codes and press the enter key to filter your search results.

Search Buyers

All users be able to hit the Enter key to initiate the search on the Search Buyers page (as well as clicking the Search button).

Creating Quick Quotes (QQ)

New functionality has been added to allow Buyer users to create a QQ from an existing Published or Unpublished QQ. Users can copy the content of an existing QQ into a new one. The distribution list will not be copied. Once a user has copied the QQ they can add a new title, update the content and add a new distribution list.

Buyer users can copy from:

• My Published Quick Quotes
• My Unpublished Quick Quotes
• Buyer Published Quick Quotes – this includes all QQs published by your organisation on PCS.
• Buyer Unpublished Quick Quotes – this includes all draft QQs within your organisation on PCS.

To copy a notice:

1. Open a published or unpublished notice,
2. Click Copy on the Notice Status page under Notice Wizard Details.

If you require any further information, please contact Steve Patterson (Steve.Patterson@gov.scot) or Laura Martin (Laura.Martin@gov.scot).

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, single procurement document, SPD

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