Scottish Government procurement strategy: April 2022 to March 2024

7. Capability and Professionalisation

The Scottish Government has a vision to be a world-leading diverse employer where equality is achieved. SPPD is committed to this goal and is taking action through its Race Equality Group, which is contributing to the Race Recruitment and Retention Action Plan. We will actively develop the capability of our procurement and property teams to fully embed equality and human rights in all our work through engaging with organisational wide inclusion training along with specific skills development. We also continue to deliver initiatives on other aspects of diversity and inclusion including our Procurement People of Tomorrow programme.

We continue to invest in the capability and skills of our procurement and property teams and others involved in procurement and commercial activity. Our professionalisation strategy, agreed by our Head of Profession, includes local and national talent creation, and development and retention programmes to help us achieve professional excellence against national policy and standards, details of which can be found in Appendix 4.

Professionalisation Scope & Approach

Having the right people in the right place at the right time, with skills and experience to deliver for Scotland

Building wider commercial awareness

Cross-functional collaboration & early engagement

Attract and Create Talent

Procurement People of Tomorrow

Desirable employer/roles (effectively marketed)

Actively enabling diversity

Recruitment entry requirements

Develop and Retain Talent

Professional competency frameworks

Career tree concept

Blended learning

Support for professional studies / membership

Professional accreditation

Supported learning communities

Supporting Culture

Organisational People Capability Strategy

Organisational values

High performing team & learning culture

Hub and spoke DPO learning community

Reaching Out and Supporting Others

Trusted advisor and critical friend

Procurement and eCommerce National Shared Services

Procurement policy / tools / guidance e.g.

• Scottish Procurement Policy Notes
• Sustainable procurement tools
• Procurement Journey
• tailored capability guidance

National training & development frameworks & e-learning offerings

Targeted capability development offerings

Forums or short-life work streams to develop, test and roll out best practice innovation

Tailored framework guidance

Procurement Strategy and Annual Reports

Research and Case Studies

Impact & Improvement

Procurement and Commercial Improvement Programme

Engaging communication and marketing

External recognition as Best in Class

Cited as Exemplars

Published case studies

Invited to sit on UK/International Advisory Groups

Foreign government interest

7.1 Delegated Purchasing Authority

We continue to recognise the importance of those responsible for procurement having an appropriate level of delegated authority. Key to this is ensuring that those involved in awarding and managing contracts have the professional skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience to do so in line with the competencies set out in our National Procurement Development Framework. We continue to invest in the skills and capability development of our professional staff through our National Procurement and Commercial Training Frameworks and other targeted capability development solutions.

Our scheme of ‘delegated purchasing authority’, means that no member of staff is authorised to enter into a contract on behalf of Scottish Ministers without written delegated authority to do so from our Director of Procurement. That delegated authority is only given to those who can demonstrate they possess the appropriate skills, competencies and knowledge of our procurement policies and legal obligations.

7.2 Commercial Capability

Our programme to embed and grow commercial capability continues, targeting all Scottish Government civil servants at awareness, practitioner and leadership level, to ensure they understand and can contribute to our wider commercial and sustainability ambitions.

We have also developed and maintain a range of enabling tools to support buyers and public sector organisations across Scotland which are listed in the appendices and referenced throughout this document.