The Public Procurement Reform Programme 2006-2016: achievements and impacts

The Future of Public Procurement In Scotland

Scotland's vision is to deliver procurement that improves public services for a prosperous, fairer and more sustainable Scotland. The approach to procurement in 2016 builds on the hallmarks of the procurement reform programme - business friendly, socially responsible procurement, making the purchase of services much quicker, of better value, and supporting small and medium-sized businesses.

Public Procurement in Scotland continues to focus on the strategic objectives aligned to the Scottish Model of Procurement that influenced the Public Procurement Reform Programme.

Procurement's Workplan

The detail of the work to deliver continuous improvement in Procurement in Scotland is captured and measured in a Workplan (below), developed collaboratively across the Centres of Expertise, with supplier input.

Reviewed annually, it captures high level milestones and activities mapped against public procurement's strategic objectives.

Source: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Procurement/about/Review/2016-17workplan

The Workplan will continue to be developed to align with the requirements arising from the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

Annual Reporting

With transparency in public procurement a core tenet of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, the Act requires contracting authorities with procurement spend of £5 million or more per annum to publish a procurement strategy.

A procurement strategy will enable a contracting authority to set out how it intends to ensure that its procurement activity delivers value for money and contributes to the achievements of the authority's broader aims and objectives, in line with Scotland's National Outcomes.

A contracting authority must, in its annual procurement report, record and publicise its performance and achievements in delivering its strategy. These reports will be published by the individual authorities and will form the basis for an annual report on procurement activity in Scotland to be prepared by Scottish Ministers. Financial year 2017-18 will be the first full year subject to annual procurement reports under the Act.

Publication of procurement strategies and annual procurement reports will support better information, increase transparency and visibility, and provide a better basis for engagement. And they will help promote the positive impacts public procurement can have on Scotland's economy and public services.

Paul McNulty Head of Policy Division, Scottish Procurement and Commercial Directorate

"The McClelland report was in many ways a 'game changer' in its vision and ambition and was, in my view, the single most significant step to date in the Scottish Procurement and Commercial Directorate's evolution.

"The report gave us a coherent national strategy for improving procurement. It helped that procurement professionals/managers in other sectors had similar views of the issues and opportunities. For example, Scotland Excel was a creation of the sector itself, built around what was formerly ABC Consortium.

"We now have an international reputation for good practice and are constantly being asked to present at conferences or host study visits. In 2011 when the European Commission was preparing its thinking on the new procurement directives it hosted a two day private workshop in Brussels which was by invitation only. We were one of only 11 member States invited, selected the most advanced approach to public procurement."