Procurement: SME and third sector action plan 2024-2026

What we currently do to support SMEs and Third Sector Organisations

We have created a legislative environment, via the Sustainable Procurement Duty, where regulated procurements must, among other things, consider how they can facilitate the involvement of SMEs and third sector organisations.

We use our market knowledge, systems and processes to improve access and, where appropriate, split large requirements into specialist or geographical lots to open the opportunities up for SMEs and third sector organisations. In addition, and where appropriate, apply lot-limiting or multi-supplier strategies to ensure a fairer share of business.

Our national advertising portal Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) aims to make it as easy as possible for SMEs and the third sector to bid for public contracts through notice alerts and enabling main contractors to advertise sub-contracting opportunities, giving suppliers the chance to bid for contracts further down the supply chain. However, we recognise that PCS does need updated and scoping work is underway to gather evidence and information to inform future options on streamlining the buying tools currently used within the eCommerce and Best Practice Shared Service.

We actively engage with our supply base and the SME and third sector community through a series of roundtables to discuss the most important issues, and engagement with the Procurement Supply Group (PSG).

We part fund and support the Supplier Development Programme (SDP), an independent business initiative which delivers free training, online resources and guidance on how to prepare, submit and win public procurement bids. This includes training on tenders and bidding, using the national eCommerce solutions, and understanding frameworks, community benefits and sustainable procurement.

Together with Industry in 2019 we created the Construction Leadership Forum to oversee the development of a Construction Accord between the public sector and the construction industry. The Accord is seeking to improve outcomes for those in the construction sector including a specific working group to look at supply chains.

We published the one-stop-shop Guidance on Public Procurement for SMEs and Third Sector Suppliers which summarises tools, sources of support, hints and tips and case studies to help suppliers engage with public procurement in Scotland.

We provide online support and guidance to all businesses on the process, from start to finish, of bidding for public sector contracts through our Supplier Journey. The Supplier Journey sits alongside our Procurement Journey guidance which was designed for public sector buyers who procure goods, services and care and support services.

We support and promote innovative ideas, goods and services within public procurement. Through a combination of “push” (supplier-led) and “pull” (open challenges) innovation we are extracting and nurturing the best innovative solutions that the market has to offer.

The Scottish Government’s CivTech Scotland programme helps to drive forward innovation by setting challenges which the market is asked to solve, sometimes referred to as “push innovation”. In solving these challenges we are driving innovation in the public sector as well as supporting the creation of sustainable, high growth businesses.

In addition, the Scottish Government, in collaboration with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), lead and promote our national supplier-led innovation service, Scotland Innovates. The service allows businesses and members of the public to submit innovative solutions to the public sector for consideration. To date, over 90% of submissions to this supplier-led service have come from SMEs.

It is also important to note that we provide significant support and guidance to the Supported Business Sector. We recently created a dynamic purchasing system to continue to provide Scottish public sector and third sector organisations with a route to market for a range of goods and services provided by supported businesses. This is to ensure that supported business suppliers have equal opportunity to access public sector contracts by using minimal selection criteria to join.

We support the Just Enterprise Business Support Programme, a core element of which is supporting third sector organisations with procurement and tender writing. Just Enterprise is part of a range of actions arising from the Social Enterprise Strategy, its three priorities are: stimulating the sector, developing stronger organisations and realising market opportunities.

Previously, we have commissioned a supplier research survey which highlighted key areas to focus on to better support suppliers, especially SMEs and third sector organisations who want to bid for public sector contracts.

We commissioned research with third sector organisations and new private businesses to explore their experiences of public procurement in Scotland. The findings are being used to ensure that future delivery of public procurement is as inclusive as possible and enables third sector organisations to better access and compete for public contracts.

We remain committed to prompt payment of invoices, aiming for a 10-day target for paying suppliers, with a commitment to paying suppliers within 30 days. We have this as a condition of contract, and require this commitment throughout the contract supply chain.

We published a Scottish Procurement Policy Note on how Public Bodies are to embed prompt payment performance in the supply chain and throughout procurement processes. The Scottish Procurement Policy Note includes a clause to be added into terms and conditions which will ensure sub- contractor invoices are paid within 30 days.

We promote the use of Project Bank Accounts, where appropriate, through Construction Policy Notes.