Procurement strategy: April 2025 to March 2028

9. Strategy Rationale and Context

The public sector in Scotland has been using sustainable public procurement to achieve wider social, economic and climate outcomes for nearly two decades. This is embedded in our policy, practice, culture, and through a substantial programme of activity across the public sector with impact evidenced in annual reports and independent research. Sustainable procurement outcomes in Scotland are defined as encompassing improvements to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of a community.

The drive to improve public procurement has involved a transition from a centrally led programme to a more collaborative landscape with a shared common vision, underpinned by the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (The Act). The Act provides strong direction to Scottish public bodies and sets out clear responsibilities and accountabilities, promoting local decision making to deliver sustainable public procurement.

The Scottish Government take account of wider legislation and policy which impact on the procurement process. We remain committed to doing more to continually improve procurement approaches and outcomes, assessing the effectiveness of steps already taken. By doing so, we ensure Scotland has innovative, world-leading legislation, policy and approaches.

The work we undertake is determined by a range of strategic drivers providing the services our customers need:

Infographic details some of the strategic drivers which influence our procurement strategy. These include the National Performance Framework including the four outcomes, the manifesto, our ministerial priorities and the Programme for Government, Public Sector Reform, relevant legislation, Scottish Government strategies and priorities, the Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland, customer demand and global drivers. Supplier and supply chain capability, engagement and collaboration and procurement capability are essential elements of Scottish public procurement.

The Scottish Government’s mission is that we work together to improve the lives of the people of Scotland. This is underpinned by the National Performance Framework (NPF), Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) and the annual Programme for Government which sets out the plan for policy delivery, public procurement priorities and legislation over the next year. The Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland (PPSS) aligns with, and supports, these outcomes while demonstrating our leadership and commitment to a unified and ambitious vision in Scottish public procurement.

This procurement strategy is aligned with the PPSS strategy and sets out and describes how we plan to carry out our procurements for the period covering 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028. In this strategy we outline how our procurements will support and reflect the PPSS, NPF and NSET as well as how we will deliver on our broader role as a contracting authority.

We ensure compliance with, and delivery of, the priorities through the Sustainable Procurement Duty as outlined in The Act. In accordance with The Act, we consider, and reflect in our sourcing strategies, how our regulated procurements^[1] can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the areas in which they operate. We also consider how our regulated procurements can facilitate the involvement of SMEs, third sector organisations and supported businesses in public sector procurement as well as promote innovation.

Compliance with the Sustainable Procurement Duty helps to ensure that procurement activity is aligned to priorities that are set out in the NPF and helps us to meet other legal obligations on procurement including climate change, equality obligations and human rights.

We host a suite of Sustainable Procurement Tools enabling ourselves and other public bodies to identify and address how they can optimise the economic, social and environmental considerations in contracts. This in turn shows how procurement activity contributes to the National Outcomes and Scotland’s NSET. More detail on the Sustainable Procurement Tools can be found in Appendix 2.

Public Sector Reform

The Scottish Government recognises the need to evolve the way in which we deliver public services in order to continue helping people lead positive lives. The Scottish Government has set out an ambitious ten-year programme of reform. The aims and ambitions of this programme will be supported by and through procurement and we will continue to work collaboratively with public, private and third sector partners, ensuring procurement services reflect the diverse needs of our people, communities and businesses and help tackle some of the biggest issues facing Scotland.