Information pertaining to procurement within Scottish Government: FOI release

Information requested

Information on the awarding of training contracts to Scottish Government personnel through the following questions:

1) Are training contracts to Scottish Government personnel provided by the private sector subject to competitive tender?
2) What is the financial threshold whereby competitive tendering is required from a private sector training provider?
3) Is the above financial threshold required to be applied for a single course of training or accumulative over a longer period eg financial year, longer?
4) What was the cost of training provided to Scottish Government by C S Todd & Associates Ltd for the following periods:
- Financial year 2019-20
- Financial year 2020-21
- Commencement of financial year 2021 to 30 June 2021.
5) Was the training provided by C S Todd & Associates Ltd identified in 4) above subject to competitive tender?
6) Where and on what dates was the public tender published for the training provided by C S Todd & Associates Ltd identified in 4) above?
7) Does Scottish Government have any ongoing work from within any departments with CS Todd & Associates

Response

The information you have requested in questions 1-3 is available from the Procurement policy manual which sets out the rules for Scottish Government, agency and NDPB staff involved in procurement activity.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. However, for your convenience, we have highlighted the main points in relation to your specific questions below:

1) Scottish Government policy is that competitive tendering must be used for all procurements unless there are convincing reasons to the contrary, which must be considered on a case-by-case basis.

2) Purchases with a value of above £5,000 but less than £50,000 (excluding VAT) require the use of an online competitive process, within the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal, called QuickQuote. Contracts for goods and services with a value of £50,000 or above (excluding VAT) must be advertised on the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal.

3) The financial threshold relates to the total amount, net of VAT, which the Scottish Government expects over the full duration of the contract (including any options to extend).

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in questions 4-7.

The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below:

4) There is no record of any training provided to the Scottish Government by C S Todd & Associates Ltd for these periods.
5) See 4).
6) See 4).
7) There is no record of any ongoing work with CS Todd & Associates Ltd.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.