Public Procurement and Property
Scottish Procurement Vlog – September 2024
September 25, 2024 by Emma Hall No Comments | Category Procurement news, vlog
Our Director, Nick Ford, returns with his second vlog of 2024!
In his latest vlog, Nick provides an update highlighting what we’ve achieved over the last quarter, including exciting events and recent publications, as well as what’s coming up over the next few months across the Scottish procurement community.
You can watch the video below. A transcript for this video is also available at the bottom of the page.
If you would like to know more about some of the topics Nick covered in this video, please visit the links below:
If you are interested in hearing more about the Management Information Platform Scotland, please contact: procurementmidata@gov.scot.
For further information on public procurement in Scotland please visit www.gov.scot/procurement
Please email enquiries to scottishprocurement@gov.scot
Follow us online:
Single speaker transcript, Nick Ford:
Hi everyone. Welcome to my second vlog of 2024. I’ll be highlighting what we’ve achieved over the last quarter of the year, and taking a look at what’s coming up over the next few months.
So looking back, on the 4th September, the new First Minister published his first Programme for Government. We have a particular interest in the Community Wealth Building Bill, which will seek to address economic and wealth inequality by supporting the retention of more wealth in local and regional economies.
We also had the Economy and Fair Work Committee who issued their report in June. I’d really like to thank everybody who supported the committee through their evidence gathering sessions, and through the written evidence that you may have submitted. We are considering the recommendations and will provide a response in due course.
And then in August, Mr McKee, the Minister for Public Finance, visited Dovetail Enterprises to hear about the important role supported businesses continue to play in boosting the Scottish economy through delivering goods and services, and providing meaningful employment, training and support, for those of us who may otherwise be excluded. The key aim of our own supported businesses Dynamic Purchase System is to provide Scottish public sector and third sector bodies with a clear path to purchase goods and services from supported businesses.
As well in June, we had Meet the Buyer National, a great event that took place in Hampden Park in Glasgow, where businesses, social enterprises, and third sector organisations, all came together with Scottish public procurers. A really good and enjoyable event.
And then just this month, Meet Buyer North took place in Aberdeen where the Supplier Development Programme and headline partners, Scotland Excel, hosted the seventh annual Meet the Buyer North. A really good regional event and an opportunity to connect buyers and procurement teams from across the public and private sector as they prepare for upcoming contract opportunities.
We’ve seen a number of developments across construction procurement policy recently with the publication of three new construction policy notes. These cover retentions in construction contracts, the Construction Pipeline Forecasting Tool, and a Graduated Pricing Mechanism.
We’ve also published updates to the Client Guides construction project. This has been updated to include the directory of public bodies’ retention policy and compliance reports, and is available for contributions from all contracting authorities operating across Scotland. You can find out more information about these on our Scottish Procurement blog.
I’m really pleased as well that the Management Information Platform Scotland is now live, and a number of public body organisations are already onboarded. The aim of the platform is to support data-driven procurement decisions. We are keen to promote the benefits of the platform across more public bodies and to get everyone’s data on board, so please get in touch if you would like to find out more.
We recently awarded a new gas framework to begin when the current framework expires in March 2025. The framework is used across the Scottish public sector, generating impressive savings of £7.5 million per annum on the Supply of Natural Gas.
As well as the financial benefits of the flexible purchasing system, it also provides a provision of assistance to public sector organisations in working towards their Net Zero targets and commitment to funding a number of Community Benefits projects, while also providing a framework for customers with upskilling opportunities, customer workshops, industry training and education material.
The eProcurement Future Systems programme is moving forward with its initial phase. The plan is to replace the current pre award systems (PCS and PCS-t), innovation notices and contract and supplier management, with a single system. We will be running a tender later in the year, and there is plenty of opportunity for buyers and suppliers to input into the specification.
This month, we published AI guidance to both the Procurement Journey and the Supplier Journey. The guidance focuses on the use of AI for bidders. Thank you to all colleagues, and stakeholders who have contributed to the development of this guidance.
We are also currently carrying out a survey of suppliers, only going live I think this week, across the whole of the public sector in Scotland on a range of issues related to public procurement and the tendering process. The survey will provide a supplier perspective on a range of topics that we are encouraging all suppliers to take part in. Please pass this on and encourage more of your suppliers to complete the survey. The feedback provided will be invaluable in helping us to shape the future thinking on policy and the delivery of public procurement in Scotland. The closing date is Tuesday 5th November, so plenty of time to get involved and submit a response.
We’ve had plenty of recent engagement events across the last few months, but I’m now really looking forward to the National Procurement Conference, which returns to Procurex Scotland on 24th October, as Scotland’s flagship procurement event, connecting buyers and suppliers. The conference also hosts a range of interesting speakers with a clear focus on the transformative potential of technology, AI, and innovation within public sector procurement. Don’t forget to register and I look forward to seeing you on the day.
And then, along with the conference, we have the GO Awards taking place on the evening of the conference, recognising the achievements and successes of everyone involved in the procurement and delivery of vital public services across Scotland. As a member of this year’s judging panel, I’ve already seen some of the excellent submissions for this year’s entries, so it should be a great night.
So my final message, you will all have seen the financial statement, and there is significant fiscal challenges ahead. This presents an opportunity for procurement to come to the fore and help mitigate these challenges. Please continue to do all you can to deliver the services at maximum value for money.
Well that’s all for now. To keep up to date with what’s going on, you can follow the blogor follow us on social media channels, and I’ll be back later in the year with more updates and reflections.
Thank you.
Tags: Construction policy note, framework, GO Awards, Meet the Buyer, national Procurement Conference, procurement, procurement reports, Programme for Government
RSS
Email
Leave a comment