Public procurement update - annual procurement reports for 2024 – 2025: SPPN 2/2025
This policy note provides details of how a contracting authority should notify Scottish Ministers of the publication of their annual procurement report covering the financial year 2024 to 2025.
Purpose
This policy note provides details of how a contracting authority should notify Scottish Ministers of the publication of their annual procurement report covering the financial year 2024 to 2025, including publishing and submitting a completed template provided at Annex A - Annual procurement report template.
Key points
- contracting authorities with an expected annual procurement spend of £5 million or more on regulated procurements are required to prepare and publish a procurement strategy or revise an existing strategy
- contracting authorities which meet this criteria are also obliged to publish an annual procurement report as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of that financial year.
- a contracting authority must notify the Scottish Ministers when publishing a procurement strategy or annual procurement report
- a contracting authority with an annual procurement spend of less than £5 million on regulated procurements, while not legally required, is encouraged to publish a procurement strategy and annual procurement report as a matter of good practice
- the Annex A template does not contain any new or additional questions to the template for the 2023-2024 reporting period
Background
The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”) sets out the requirements for contracting authorities to publish a procurement strategy and an annual procurement report.
Procurement strategies
Section 15 of the 2014 Act requires that all contracting authorities that anticipate spending £5 million or more on regulated procurements in their upcoming fiscal year must produce a procurement strategy before the beginning of that year, or review its procurement strategy for the current financial year and make such revisions to it as the authority considers appropriate.
Section 19 of the 2014 Act requires a contracting authority to notify the Scottish Ministers once it has published a new or updated strategy. This can be done by sending an email to procurementstrategies@gov.scot with a link to where the strategy can be accessed.
The Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland for 2023 to 2028 was published in April 2023. It is expected that, at the earliest opportunity, this national strategy will be reflected in individual procurement strategies and annual procurement reports published by contracting authorities in Scotland.
Annual procurement reports
Section 18 of the 2014 Act requires a contracting authority which is required to prepare or revise a procurement strategy in relation to a financial year, to prepare an annual procurement report on its regulated procurement activities as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of that financial year.
The timing of the publication of individual annual procurement reports is also an important consideration in the preparation of the Scottish Ministers' annual report on procurement activity in Scotland (which is required under Section 21 of the 2014 Act). This is because the Ministers’ report will be based on information contained within annual procurement reports published by individual contracting authorities.
Based on previous years, it is not unreasonable to expect an annual procurement report to be published no later than six months following the end of the body’s financial year.
Contracting authorities with an annual procurement spend of less than £5 million on regulated procurements are not legally required to prepare and publish a procurement strategy and annual procurement report but are encouraged to do so as a matter of good practice. Around one third of 2022 - 2023 annual procurement reports were prepared and published by contracting authorities who were not legally required to do so.
As with procurement strategies, section 19 of the 2014 Act also requires contracting authorities to notify Scottish Ministers of publication of their annual report. This can be done by sending an email to annualprocurementreport@gov.scot with a link to where the report can be accessed.
Individual annual procurement reports must meet the minimum requirements set out in section 18(2) of the 2014 Act. Contracting authorities will find producing a report helpful in outlining how their procurement activity is contributing to the delivery of broader aims and objectives and the national Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland.
As the broader aims and objectives of contracting authorities will differ, there is likely to be some variation in the content of reports. At the same time, it is important to ensure consistency of the information common to all annual reports. This will be helpful to the readers of individual annual reports, and for the analysis of such. With this in mind, contracting authorities should complete the template at Annex A to this SPPN, and send it to annualprocurementreport@gov.scot. The template was developed to assist contracting authorities meet their reporting obligations under the 2014 Act and to gather data in a consistent way, which in turn aids the drafting of individual annual reports.
The template at Annex A to this SPPN does not include any new or additional questions compared to the template used in the previous reporting period.
The Scottish Government, in collaboration with cross-sectoral colleagues, are reviewing the Annex A template during 2025, however no changes will be made in reporting requirements for Financial Year 2025 - 2026. Any changes that are required will be communicated in time for contracting authorities to embed them ahead of Financial Year 2026 - 2027.
Guidance
For guidance on the content of an annual procurement report or procurement strategy, please consult the relevant chapter of the Statutory Guidance. Supplementary guidance for an annual procurement report and a procurement strategy is available in the Procurement Journey.
Dissemination
Please bring this SPPN to the attention of all relevant staff, including those in agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and other sponsored contracting authorities within your area of responsibility.
Contact information
Enquiries about this SPPN should be addressed to: scottishprocurement@gov.scot
SPPN status
This SPPN is not to be construed as legal advice or a substitute for such advice and should not be read as such. Contracting authorities should seek their own legal advice in relation to any questions and issues they may have.
Annex A - annual procurement report template
The annex can be found in the downloadable PDF version of this SPPN.
Contact
Enquiries about this SPPN should be addressed to: scottishprocurement@gov.scot