18 September 2007
The public sector in Scotland have engaged with business organisations to improve fairness and transparency of public sector procurement in Scotland.
These meetings were principally directed at addressing "Barriers to Business" as perceived by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Publication of the "Review of Public Procurement in Scotland" by John McClelland in March 2006 reinforced the initiatives proposed by the SME forum.
Two key documents have been published:
Outlines commitment of public sector to:
Specifically Commit to:
Adequate publicity; Use of the core questionnaire; Debriefing on request.
Commitment by business organisations to:
The Suppliers' Charter will be a developing document and requires formal sign-up by public bodies.
The qualification questionnaire for a particular procurement will enable an authority to assess the capacity of suppliers to fulfill their requirement prior to Invitation to Tender stage. It is intended that, where there is no pre-qualification stage in a procurement, authorities will adopt the format of this document for use in tendering.
It was drawn from existing questionnaires and has been consulted on across the public sector. It is intended to enable businesses to familiarise themselves with public sector procurement processes and to expend most effort on quality aspects of their response.
The overall aim is to ensure that, wherever possible and, consistent with the need to secure value for money, any suitably qualified businesses have the opportunity to compete for public sector business.