Scottish Government procurement annual report: 2020

1. Introduction

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 forms part of the public procurement legislation that governs how Scottish public bodies buy their goods, works and services and allows us to maximise the economic benefit brought to Scotland from effective and efficient public procurement activity. 

The Act requires public bodies to publish procurement strategies to set out how they intend to carry out their regulated procurements and publish Annual Procurement Reports which describe how their procurement activities have complied with these strategies. This report reflects our performance as a contracting authority but also includes reference to some of the broader activities of Scottish Government in leading and delivering procurement policy and capability across the Scottish public sector procurement landscape. 

We are required to review our Procurement Strategy on an annual basis to ensure it remains relevant and fit for purpose, and this Annual Report demonstrates our delivery against the commitments set out in our updated Procurement Strategy for the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. This updated Procurement Strategy was published on 29 March 2018 and extended to 31 March 2021. In it we said we would: 

a) Provide summary information on regulated procurements we have completed during the period;

b) Review whether those procurements kept to our strategy; and

c) Provide a summary of regulated procurement we expect to begin in the next two financial years.

While this report includes a statement on activity on Brexit and Coronavirus, much of the relevant activity was outside the period covered in this report.