Scottish Government procurement annual report: 2018

2. Reporting Period Highlights

In the period January 2017 to March 2018, covered by this report:

• Our contracts saved the public sector almost £160 million.
• SMEs won £250 million of Scottish Government contracts.
• Almost 700 SME subcontractors, two-thirds of which are based in Scotland, won work in our supply chain worth a further £114 million.
• We awarded our largest ever 'reserved' contract, valued at £8.1 million, for delivery of Fair Start Scotland which aims to help disabled or disadvantaged job seekers find and retain work.
• We paid 99% of valid invoices within ten days, getting cash into the economy as quickly as possible.
• We secured a range of Fair Work practices across our contracts, improving pay and conditions for those working in our supply chain.
• Since the introduction of the Statutory Guidance on Addressing Fair Work Practices, including the Living Wage, in Procurement (Fair Work Statutory Guidance), the real Living Wage is paid to workers engaged in the delivery of 94% of our contracts.
• We awarded eight new contracts at a value of £221 million within which we have embedded community and social benefits and now have 30 live contracts at a value of £3 billion within which community benefits are actively being delivered.
• All invitations to tender issued during the reporting period include a provision to mitigate human trafficking and exploitation (modern slavery) within our supply chains, permitting us to terminate contracts with suppliers for breaches of social, environmental or labour law.
• We published an open contracting strategy that commits us to making it easier for everyone to see who we are contracting with, for what, and for how much money.