Finance and Sustainable Growth Secretary John Swinney
National Procurement Conference
Thursday, October 30, 2008
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Public sector procurement has never been more important. The public sector spends around £8 billion every year buying goods and services. Transforming the way we do business is vital, for two simple reasons.
In tough economic times, we need to maximise the contribution that public contracts make to the Scottish economy. And every penny spent by the public sector must represent best value to the taxpayer. We simply cannot afford to miss any opportunity to improve how we spend money.
Reforming procurement will deliver that value and revolutionise the way we do business.
I am determined to make the Scottish public sector a more intelligent buyer, a customer that is as easy to sell to as possible, that awards contracts on merit with the highest possible ethical standards.
Public bodies can play a key role in sustainable economic growth by advertising contracts more widely, by being open to innovation and by removing unnecessary barriers to suppliers.
And Scottish suppliers want the best possible opportunity to compete. Until now, there has been no single mechanism giving suppliers access to contract opportunities across the entire Scottish public sector.
Public Contracts Scotland will change that. A free online service, now live, it is a single source of information for suppliers on contract opportunities and an easy and free mechanism for purchasers to publicise their requirements.
This is a fundamental change in the way that the public and private sectors will do business- in particular by reducing red tape and removing the barriers that can prevent us from working together with business.
The project is supported by CBI Scotland, the Federation of Small Businesses and Scottish Chambers of Commerce and is already improving access to public business opportunities, with over 10,000 suppliers registered and 700 contracts advertised since July.
The potential economic benefits are significant and I expect every public body in Scotland to play their part and use Public Contracts Scotland. We need this project to succeed and if public bodies do not advertise on the Public Contracts Scotland portal, we will consider introducing legislation in the interests of Scottish suppliers.
I recognise that in business there will always be winners and losers, so savings must not be at the expense of standards of conduct. But we are taking steps to ensure that public procurement is as transparent as possible.
At the start of the year, we established the Single Point of Enquiry, a new channel to seek advice or register concerns regarding public procurement practices. It has handled over 50 cases so far and in some cases supplier concerns have resulted in procurement processes being cancelled and the contract being re-advertised.
In March, I launched Procurement Scotland, which will implement national strategies for buying common goods and services for the public sector. Where we do put in place national contracts through Procurement Scotland, for instance in buying electricity for the whole of the public sector, we only do so after considering in detail the economic impact for Scotland.
We have been working with representatives from all parts of the public sector to deliver a set of national performance indicators. These indicators, published in May, enable procurement teams to track savings achieved, the use of collaborative contracts, spend with contracted suppliers and the use of e-technology throughout key stages of the process, to identify opportunities for improvement. By empowering local teams to track their spending and improve their own performance, we will deliver continuous improvement across Scotland.
Going forward, new challenges are ahead. We need to ensure that public procurement contributes to a Greener Scotland, so we are working to develop guidance that will ensure that procurement decisions take account of environmental and sustainability issues, and support the Scottish economy, in particular the SME community.
Taken together, there is a comprehensive package of technology and support to help public sector procurement teams engage in the reform process, plan improvements, maximise competition, and remove barriers to reform. That is the way we will help Scottish business compete, get best value for the taxpayers and grow the economy.