If you have any questions that are not answered elsewhere on this site then please send to the website administrator who will source and publish appropriate answers.
Q) Where do I get a logon ID?
A: Access to the members area of the web site is restricted to Procurement Personnel employed by Member organisations within the Scottish Central Government sector
Q) How do I register as a supplier ?
A: Scottish Central Government do not maintain a registered suppliers list. As each tender is open to competition, opportunities exist for all suppliers who meet the published qualification criteria. Suppliers are encouraged to visit the Scottish Public Sector Advertising Portal (Public Contracts Scotland) where they can be set up to receive e mail alerts to available contracts of their choosing at:
http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/
Q) Who do I talk to to get information?
A: Please ask your question through info@cgcopescotland.gov.uk which will go in the first instance to our website administrator. Your enquiry will then be routed to the most appropriate person for answer, who will normally respond to you directly
Q) Are CGCoPE contracts being mandated?
A: It is recognised that Chief Executives as accountable officers have a duty to ensure best value for their organisations, and that making contracts mandatory may have implications in terms of framework agreements etc. Therefore rather than mandating use, the Supervisory Board will be asked to strongly encourage Central Government organisations to commit to and use collaborative agreements.
Q) Which Central Government Organisations will be using your contracts? Who and where are they?
A: Contracts will be available for use by the Scottish Ministers (including all Directorates and Agencies of the Scottish Government), Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs), the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), the Forestry Commission, the Sea Fish Industry Authority, the Student Loans Company and the Scotland Office.It is the intention that Collaborative Partners will look to migrate to CGCoPE contracts as and when they reach the conclusion of their current contractual arrangements. At their own discretion, Collaborative Partners may opt to terminate their current contractual arrangements early, should they decide this to be in their best interests.
Please refer to http://www.cgcopescotland.gov.uk/cgcope/43.html for a list of all Collaborative Partners. Within individual tenders, buyers will attempt to quantify the addressable spend within the scope of the project and the organisations most likely to be using the contract from the award date.
Q) How do you quantify your current and predicted spend levels that you refer to in your tender documents?
A: CGCoPE contracts are awarded following extensive User Intelligence Group (UIG) consultation. UIGs are made up of stakeholders from across the Central Government sector. It is the remit of the UIG to produce a statement of requirements that meets the needs of all Central Government organisations. Due to the high level of stakeholder input, it is anticipated that all organisations participating in the UIG process will opt to migrate to the CGCoPE contract as and when they reach the conclusion of their current contractual arrangements.
Often, historic Scottish Government contracts have been used by other Central Government organisations. It is anticipated that these organisations will make use of the new contractual arrangements.
Finally, CGCoPE make use of the Spikes Cavell spend analysis tool which interrogates the financial systems of those organisations using the system. This provides us with historic spend levels broken down by organisation and commodity.
A combination of the above is used to identify what we consider addressable spend, and feeds directly in to the Invitation to Tender issued to suppliers. While no guarantee is given to with regards volumes of usage, we do try to give suppliers an indication of the scale and scope of our procurements.
Q) I run a small Scottish business that relies on selling to the public sector in Scotland. How will this affect me if I cannot compete with the multi-nationals?
A: Buyers report in to the Head of Collaborative Procurement, the Head of CGCoPE and ultimately the Procurement Collaboration Group (PCG). At each point in this approvals chain, the buyer will be asked to consider the implications for Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises. As per EU legislation, a contracting authority must ensure a degree of advertising which is sufficient to enable open competition and meet the requirements of the principles of equal treatment, non discrimination and transparency.
While obtaining best value is always a key consideration, often business models can be selected which allow for sub-contracting opportunities. CGCoPE are in the process of developing our website to incorporate a section containing opportunities for sub-contracting (include link if available).
Q) How do I find out about tendering opportunities for Category C (organisation-specific) contracts?
A: Over and above the requirement to advertise in Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), many organisations also advertise contract opportunities on their own web-sites. All organisations are also encouraged to publish contract notices in the Suppliers section of this web-site to be found at http://www.cgcopescotland.gov.uk/cgcope/70.29.55.html
The Scottish Public Sector Advertising Portal (Public Contracts Scotland) is now live and can be accessed at
http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/
Q) How does CGCoPE encourage SME participation in contracts awarded by the central government organisations?
A: CGCoPE takes the following steps to ensure that SME’s have every opportunity to compete, on a level playing field, for contract opportunities within the central government sector:
- Conducts its business in accordance with the Scottish Procurement Directorate’s Supplier Charter;
- Ensures that contract opportunities, including a large portion of sub-OJEU threshold contracts, are advertised on the CGCoPE web-site;
- By providing details of existing contracts so as to encourage and facilitate sub-contracting opportunities on large contracts;
- Will be an early adopter in using the Scottish Public Sector Advertising Portal (Public Contracts Scotland); and
- Has a cross-central government team reviewing business processes to further remove barriers to organisations seeking to bid for CGCoPE business.
Q) What is the difference between a Category A, Category B and Category C contract? And, which procurement teams are responsible for those contracts?
A: An explanation can found here http://www.cgcopescotland.gov.uk/cgcope/751.29.345.html
The following three questions are particular to Members of CGCoPE
Q) Where can I find information on ???
A: On the top right hand corner of each page of the website, you will find a search panel. Enter your query here and Click on search. This will then list all pages on which your search term appears.
Q) I want to contribute to a subject?
A: On the members front page, there is a hyper link for your work area. here you can create a space, add to an existing space, make comments, create or add to a discussion forum or thread, add to or read/download documents etc.
Note that users can set the access level for each document so that a work in progress for example will remain private or restricted until finished and released.
Q) I want to know what's new!
A: Check the news section on the front page regularly. We will normallye-mail notification of major news additions,but there will also be smaller news items appearing regularly. - Why not let us know what is happening in your area? - News entries are always welcome and provide a method of informing the CGCoPE family of organisations on most items of interest.