Affordable Housing Supply Programme: process and procedures MHDGN 2022/02

Procurement

The Review of Scottish Public Sector Procurement in Construction provides comment on the opportunities for better coordination of spend and procurement across the public sector.  The Scottish Government therefore expects that – in line with their existing strategic responsibilities – local authorities will work closely with partners and consider the scope and potential benefits of collaborative approaches such as:

• sharing design resources
• adopting common specifications and/ or designs and considering the use of off-site construction (see below)
• procuring jointly to achieve larger and longer contracts with greater scope to deliver community benefits
• using existing framework contracts, and
• identifying strengths and weaknesses across delivery partners and sharing skills to reduce risks. A partner organisation with strong design resources might, for example, undertake this for the collaborative procurement, whilst a different organisation (say with strong contract management skills) could do likewise.

Housing to 2040 set out an ambition to make greater use of offsite construction in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, and to develop a more visible pipeline of future offsite development.  Local authorities’ Strategic Housing Investment Plans should include details of any plans within the local authority area to facilitate and support efficient delivery of projects through collaboration on (a) design/ mass customisation and (b) procurement for all construction methods.  

Scottish Government area teams will continue to discuss procurement approaches with local authorities as part of their ongoing, routine engagement.

Scottish procurement policy notes and construction policy notes

All grant applicants should also refer to the relevant Scottish Procurement Policy Notes and Construction Policy Notes which are available on the Scottish Government’s website.