Public Procurement Group Objectives 2026-2027

2. Maximising Value through Strategic Alignment

Objective 1: Maximising Value Through Strategic Alignment

Provide clear collective leadership to advance a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to public procurement underpinned through a principles-based ‘comply or explain’ landscape, ensuring alignment and coordination are applied where they add the most value.

This approach will respect local commissioning and delivery autonomy, while working through existing sectoral governance structures to improve consistency, reduce duplication, and maximise the collective impact of Scotland’s public procurement spend and delivery of Public Service Reform.

• Specific: increase ‘Once for Scotland’ spend, strengthen the model of Cat A, B & C through a more consistent, principles-based approach (e.g. comply or explain).
• Measurable: increased national spend and collaborative spend.
• Achievable: engage stakeholders and Ministers to determine the achievable scope for a more coordinated ‘Once for Scotland’ approach, including appetite for a principles-based ‘comply or explain’ model, taking account of sector-specific governance and funding arrangements.
• Relevant: directly supports Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland; Public Service Reform and national outcomes.
• Time-aware: annual reporting.

Quick wins

• Agree and publish a short, PPG-endorsed statement defining what ‘Once for Scotland’ does and does not mean, including one or two initial focus areas for potential public sector wide coordination or commissioning.
• Prioritise Health sector as a pathfinder for this approach.

Proposed actions for public procurement forums to take forward

• Agree a clear definition of ‘Once for Scotland’ for public procurement and define the scope of its application across sectors.
• Develop and publish a comprehensive public procurement landscape document setting out how governance, forums, strategies and delivery mechanisms align across Scotland.
• Identifying barriers to consistency and alignment.
• Clarify the role of national Commissioning models.
• Present a future vision and develop proposals for increased alignment.