Scottish Procurement Policy Notes (SPPNs)

Introduction

SPPNs give advice to public bodies on procurement policy. They are not legal advice and should not be read as such. Public bodies should seek their own legal advice in relation to any questions and issues they may have.

SPPNs are valid from the time of publication, with the majority of advice within them remaining relevant (including notes published prior to 2016) until superseded. This means that caution should be exercised when reading them.

EU Exit

Scottish procurement is no longer subject to the EU legal framework from 11pm on 31 December 2020. SPPNs issued prior to this may have EU references which are no longer applicable. Caution should be exercised if you come across one of these references.

Further Information

You can cross reference the information in SPPNs by referring to the Procurement Journey website. This is an additional source of procurement guidance for Scottish public sector bodies and has the most up-to-date information on many of the subjects covered by the SPPNs.

Any remaining questions about individual SPPNs should be directed to scottishprocurement@gov.scot.

2023 SPPNs

• Public procurement - updates to procurement thresholds: SPPN5/2023
• Public procurement – legislation changes following the Republic of North Macedonia’s accession to the Agreement on Government Procurement: SPPN 4/2023
• Public procurement - supporting innovation through procurement: SPPN 3/2023
• Public procurement - annual procurement reports for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024: SPPN 2/2023
• Public procurement – Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Agreements: SPPN 1/2023

2022 SPPNs

• Public procurement: annual procurement reports for 2021 - 2022 - revised procurement strategies and notifying Scottish Ministers: SPPN 5/2022
• Public procurement - changes to Scottish procurement legislation to give effect to the Free Trade Agreement between the UK and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway: SPPN 4/2022
• Public procurement - taking account of climate and circular economy considerations: SPPN 3/2022
• Public procurement - prompt payment in the supply chain: SPPN 2/2022
• Public procurement - Russian and Belarusian companies: SPPN 1/2022

2021 SPPNs

• Procurement thresholds and VAT inclusion in estimated contract value: SPPN 8/2021
• Preparing to transition towards a National Care Service for Scotland: SPPN 7/2021
• Fair Work First implementation - Scottish public procurement update: SPPN 6/2021
• Procurement - changes to legislation following the UK’s exit from the EU: SPPN 5/2021
• Annual procurement reports for 2020 - 2021: revised procurement strategies and notifying Scottish Ministers: SPPN 4/2021
• Procurement activity during the Scottish Parliament election period: SPPN 02/2021
• Taking account of climate and circular economy considerations in public procurement: SPPN 1/2021

2020 SPPNs

• Changes to procurement legislation at the end of the EU Exit Transition Period: SPPN 11/2020
• Measuring social impact in public procurement: SPPN 10/2020
• Supply chain resilience and diversity: SPPN 9/2020
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): recovery and transition from COVID-19: SPPN 8/2020
• Annual procurement reports, revised procurement strategies and notifying Scottish Ministers: SPPN 7/2020
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): making best use of procurement resources during COVID-19 outbreak SPPN 6/2020
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): supplier relief SPPN 5/2020
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): procurement regulations for public bodies SPPN 4/2020
• Reducing the risk of human trafficking and exploitation in the performance of public contracts: SPPN 3/2020
• Scottish public sector supplier cyber security guidance: SPPN 2/2020
• Public procurement rules after EU Exit on 31 January 2020: SPPN 1/2020

2019 SPPNs

• New EU procurement thresholds from 1 January 2020: SPPN 8/2019
• Climate change and the circular economy consultations: SPPN 7/2019
• Minor amendments to utilities and concession contracts legislation: SPPN 6/2019
• Advertising subcontracting opportunities on the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) website: SPPN 5/2019
• Annual procurement reports, revised procurement strategies and notifying Scottish Ministers: SPPN 4/2019
• Transposition of the EU Electronic Invoicing Directive SPPN 3/2019
• Update: Procurement legislation in Scotland in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit SPPN 2/2019
• Procurement legislation in Scotland in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit SPPN 1/2019

2018 SPPNs

• Important changes to data protection legislation: SPPN 02/2018
• Annual procurement reports, revised procurement strategies, notifying Ministers: SPPN 01/2018

2017 SPPNs

• EU procurement thresholds from January 2018
• Reserving contracts for supported businesses: SPPN 04/2017
• Speculative framework agreements: SPPN 03/2017
• Change to tax legislation for temporary workers: SPPN 02/2017
• Implementation of building information modelling within construction projects: SSPN 01/2017

2016 SPPNs

• Important change to tax legislation (off-payroll working): SPPN 12/2016
• Procurement strategies and notifying Scottish Ministers: SPPN 11/2016
• Implementation of project bank accounts in construction contracts: SPPN 10/2016
• Ensuring compliance with environmental, social and labour laws: SPPN 09/2016
• EU thresholds from 18 April 2016: SPPN 08/2016
• Update to procurement of care and support services: SPPN 07/2016
• European Single Procurement Document (Scotland): SPPN 06/2016
• Guidance under the procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014: SPPN 05/2016
• Procurement activity during the Scottish Parliament election period: SPPN 04/2016
• Guidance on projects with a significant steel composition: SPPN 03/2016
• Changes following the Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016: SPPN 02/2016
• Procurement Reform update: SPPN 01/2016

Pre-2016 SPPNs

See current SPPNs issued prior to 2016.