Public Procurement and Property

Case study: how Scotland Excel’s evolved portfolio of food frameworks is benefitting Scotland’s economy

March 21, 2025 by Emma Hall No Comments | Category Procurement news, Scotland Excel, Scottish Procurement, suppliers, Sustainable Procurement, Sustainable Procurement Tools

The latest addition to the Sustainable Procurement Tools website is a case study detailing how Scotland Excel has developed and evolved its large portfolio of food frameworks to deliver quality produce for councils, while also creating wider benefits for Scotland’s economy.

Scotland Excel is a leading non-profit organisation, serving Scotland’s 32 local authorities and over 100 associate members from across the public and third sector.

The public sector in Scotland spends approximately £220 million on food, drink and catering. Spend through Scotland Excel food and drink frameworks accounts for a high proportion of this.

The procurement and provision of healthy, sustainable food produced in line with fair work practices is a national policy objective. This case study describes how Scotland Excel has made their frameworks accessible for Scottish businesses, creating opportunities for local Scottish suppliers.

“Our food portfolio is now worth £83 million a year and it helps to supply the products served up in schools, nurseries, care homes and community centres across the country.

Our member councils are increasingly looking to source local produce to deliver a positive social impact for their communities. That’s why, as our food contracts have evolved over recent years, we have looked for innovative ways to use public procurement to make sure more locally sourced products are available through our frameworks.

Across the portfolio, spending on Scottish products has continued to rise, which is great news. As well as looking at sourcing Scottish products where possible, we continue to work with suppliers to help bring more Scottish SMEs on to our frameworks.” Hugh Carr, Director of Strategic Procurement at Scotland Excel.

Find out more about Scotland Excel’s approach on the  Case Studies section of the Sustainable Procurement Tools website.

The case study recognises the importance of sharing lessons learned. If you are a public body and would like to share an example of how your organisation addressed sustainability matters in a procurement exercise, please email  scottishprocurement@gov.scot.

Further sources of support

Our Sustainable Procurement Tools have been designed to help public sector organisations identify and address how they can optimise the economic, social and environmental outcomes of their procurement activity. This new product complements the existing materials already available on the Sustainable Procurement Tools, listed below: