Scottish Government procurement: annual report 2021 to 2022

2. Reporting Highlights

Some of our significant achievements in the period April 2021 to March 2022:

2.1 Good for Business and their Employees

• In 2021 to 2022, we managed 452 live contracts worth nearly £5.3 billion throughout their lifetimes (across all types of contracting activity) .
• We awarded 319 new contracts regulated by the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 with a total value of over £877 million (across all types of contracting activity).

£161 million

Our contracts and frameworks (across all types of contracting activity) saved the public sector over £161 million.

10% increase

Public sector bodies across Scotland spent over £1.1 billion on goods and services through the national contracts and frameworks we awarded, an increase of approximately 10% from last year.

£174 million

Of the £420 million core Scottish Government spend in reporting period 2021 to 2022, just over £174 million or 44% went directly to SMEs.

97% of invoices paid within 10 days

In the reporting period we paid 97% of valid invoices within ten days and 99% of invoices within thirty days, getting cash into the economy as quickly as possible and supporting the economic recovery.

• 94% of our suppliers committed to paying the real Living Wage.
• In response to challenges faced in the labour market, we expanded our Fair Work First criteria from 5 to 7 elements to promote flexible and family friendly working practices and oppose the use of fire and rehire practices.

2.2 Good for Places and Communities

£155 million

Just over £155 million (37%) of £420 million core Scottish Government

spend in 2021/22 was in Scotland – an increase of £23 million. £125 million of that went to Scottish SMEs – an increase of £49 million. 84% of Scottish spend through our contracts is with SMEs (where size and postcode is known).

• We have supported delivery of a Scotland Excel partnership to support Community Wealth Building in four local authorities (Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Renfrewshire and Stirling).
• As well as supporting existing jobs, Scottish Government core contracts enabled the creation of 428 brand-new new jobs, 48 apprenticeships, 33 work placements and 45 qualifications.

2.3 Good for Society

• Spend by Scottish public sector bodies through our national supported business framework for the reporting period was just over £4 million, bringing total spend through the framework since it was awarded to £9.2 million.
• We modernised our national suite of online Sustainable Procurement Tools to support Scottish public sector procurers to adjust to a more resource-efficient and sustainable procurement practice, with learning and guidance provided on climate and the circular economy.
• We applied procurement and climate change policy across a range of contracts and frameworks for services and materials to limit negative environmental impact; to drive waste minimisation and reuse, efficiency, and sustainability; and we are addressing emissions in relevant contracts.

2.4 Open and Connected

• Our national Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) portal aims to make it as easy as possible for SMEs to bid for public contracts through notice alerts and enabling main contractors to advertise sub-contract opportunities, giving suppliers the chance to bid for contracts further down the supply chain.
• Across Scotland, over 490 organisations used PCS to advertise 15,635 new public sector business opportunities. 18,880 suppliers were awarded public sector contracts through PCS in the reporting period.
• We broadened our engagement with our supply base and the SME community through a series of roundtables to discuss the most important issues and through engagement with the Procurement Supply Group (PSG)^[2].
• We worked closely with the Public Procurement Group (PPG)^[3] and Heads of Procurement to initiate a blueprint benchmarking exercise to understand more about the size and scope of the procurement community in Scotland, and the issues and challenges facing public bodies.
• We consulted with Heads of Procurement across Scotland on their progress against the Public Procurement Priorities and published findings.
• We initiated engagement on a programme of work, 'Plan for the Future', part of which will develop a Scottish public procurement strategy to maximise economic recovery and benefit from learnings from best practice at home and internationally.
• We continue to engage with the global commercial and procurement community, contributing to and benchmarking best practice, to ensure that our approaches continue to be leading edge in Scotland e.g. with UK and the Devolved Administrations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), National Association of State procurement Officials (NASPO) and other foreign governments.