Scottish Government biodiversity duty report 2021-2023

11. Scottish Procurement And Property Directorate

11.1 Introductory information

The Scottish Government Procurement and Property Directorate lead and deliver public procurement at national, central government and Government levels. The Directorate leads the strategic planning and operational delivery of Scottish government workplace, building and fleet services and deliver public sector property and construction procurement policy for Scotland. Work focuses on delivering savings, benefits and efficiencies through procurement and contracting. The Directorate also facilitates procurement and commercial activities through:

• Procurement and commercial policy and advice;
• Construction procurement policy and advice;
• Property, asset and estate management advice;
• eCommerce, and best practice tools and templates;
• Developing and supporting our staff;
• Reviewing how we manage projects;
• Continuously aiming to improve our performance.

11.2 Actions to protect and enhance biodiversity

Sustainable Procurement Duty

Appropriate policy and legislation is in place to maximise the contribution that public procurement in Scotland can make to economic, social and environmental wellbeing, primarily in the form of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (The Act).

The sustainable procurement duty in the Act requires that before a contracting authority buys anything, it must think about how it can improve economic, social, and environmental wellbeing and then must act in a way to secure these improvements.

To help public authorities address economic, social and environmental risks and opportunities through their procurements, a number of sustainability tools and supporting guidance have been developed.

These include guidance on how to consider and address risks and opportunities related to Biodiversity.

Preparing for the decarbonisation of heat and implementing new technologies

Scottish Procurement supports the management of the Warmer Homes Scotland contract which is supporting biodiversity by reducing carbon emissions. Warmer Homes Scotland has already changed and adapted a great deal since it was launched in 2015. The scheme has successfully embedded new technologies and measures helping over 35,000 fuel poor households in Scotland. For example, we installed clean heating systems to 248 homes in 2021/2022, which increased to 742 homes in 2022/2023 - the most in one year since the scheme began. The percentage of air source heat pumps installed has risen around 28% from 2021/2022 to 2022/2023. More than 37,000 tonnes of CO₂ have been saved through this contract to date.

The Scottish Government's emissions reduction target aims to achieve a 68% greenhouse gas emissions reduction for buildings by 2030 against 2020 level. In addition, there is also a target for at least 22% of heat in buildings to be directly supplied from renewable sources by 2030, meaning that schemes such as Warmer Homes Scotland will have to continue to increase the contribution being made to the rollout of reliable, accessible, and effective renewable heating systems for homes.

Improving Our Understanding of The Impacts of Offshore Renewable Energy On The Marine Environment

In the last 6 months the Scottish Government Procurement team has supported the Offshore Wind Directorate in awarding three contracts to improve our understanding of the impacts of offshore renewable energy on the marine environment. This has supported the Scottish Governments commitments under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy:

• Identifying Movements of Migrating Salmonids Around Wind Farms and Potential Impacts: is a contract to better understand the impacts of offshore wind farms on salmon in Scotland. This is of particular importance as the species is really struggling with decline in salmon returning. Between 2011 and 2018 there has been a 44% reduction of salmon returning to Scottish rivers. This contract helps to understand some of the impacts and pathways to protect wild salmon, and aligns with the Scottish Wild Salmon Strategy.
• Passive acoustic monitoring as a biodiversity indicator: A pilot contract to investigate the use of underwater sound recordings to monitor biodiversity of fish and benthic (seabed) species. If successful this work could unlock a new methodology to understand changes in biodiversity to vulnerable fish and benthic species. This is of importance given the effect of climate change on Scotland’s Seas. This contract will help us look at historic biodiversity levels, using previously collected data by the Scottish Government, and provide us with a new methodology to monitor biodiversity change over time.
• Evidence for Offshore Wind: Foraging ecology of guillemots and razorbills (auks) in the non-breeding season to understand consequences of potential displacement: is a contract to understand the movements and feeding behaviour of auks over the winter. Given the recent HPAI (Bird Flu) outbreaks and the expansion of offshore wind, it is vital to protecting these species that we fully understand their ecology.

The Scottish Government Procurement Team continue to support the Offshore Wind Directorate with a series of procurements which will further support the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

National Collaborative Frameworks for Client Devices.

One of the main environmental impacts from the use of IT products such as laptops, desktops and tablets (Client Devices) is energy consumption. Client Devices supplied to Scottish public sector organisations under our frameworks are required to meet the Green Electronics Council’s EPEAT accreditation standards which are designed to reduce the environmental impact of devices across their lifecycle.

EPEAT accredited devices are more energy efficient, less toxic, longer lasting, and easier to recycle, and address labour and human rights issues along the entire supply chain.

The Global Electronics Council estimate that over their lifetime, Client Devices purchased by Scottish public sector organisations through Scottish Procurement frameworks in 2022/23 will result in a number of environmental benefits. These include significant reductions in, energy and water consumption, hazardous and solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Our Client Device frameworks include minimum standards for the use of recycled and recyclable content and our suppliers are required to manage and reduce waste to deliver the best environmental outcome in accordance with the waste hierarchy. This includes minimising the use, and environmental impact, of packaging.

In 2022/23 our framework supplier of laptop and desktop Client Devices, HP Inc, delivered the following biodiversity benefits as a direct result of our framework;

• the planting of 30,000 native Scottish tree species in Aberdeenshire and Skye in partnership with Forest Carbon and the Arbor Day Foundation. This is helping to restore and revitalise Scotland’s natural biodiversity and eco-systems and reduce the long-term impact of carbon-dioxide on the climate.
• completion of rewilding and re-pollination projects, at a number of locations including Stobhill Hospital Glasgow, the Royal Alexandra Hospital Paisley, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow and the North Ayrshire Forum on Disability.
• planting of Seagrass at Loch Craignish on the west coast of Argyll to restore valuable coastal/marine ecosystems.

Provision of general advice and support from Property and Construction Division

This includes advice and support on property business cases and specific guidance in the Client Guide to Construction Projects, Chapter 18: Sustainability in Construction’ Client Guide Chapter 18.