Scottish procurement: policy manual

Procurement strategy and annual procurement reports

The Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland (PPSS) provides a high-level vision and direction for Scottish public procurement to which the Scottish Government has aligned its Procurement Strategy. Procurement Officers and DPOs should familiarise themselves with the PPSS and the Scottish Government’s Procurement Strategy (or the relevant contracting authority’s equivalent Procurement Strategy, if not Scottish Government) and consider how procurement exercises will help to deliver against the Strategy.

Annual Procurement Reports explain how procurement activities have complied with a contracting authority’s Procurement Strategy in any given year. Publication of Annual Procurement Reports supports increased transparency. For this reason, and wider audit purposes, it is essential that records management is conducted throughout all procurement processes.

In addition to records management, good contract and supplier management (CSM) is crucial to support the reporting process. CSM helps to not only obtain savings, increase impact and mitigate risk through the contract lifecycle, but also to ensure that information and data within the Annual Procurement Report are accurate and meaningful. For more information on CSM please see the CSM section of this Manual as well as guidance provided in the Procurement Journey.