What is a Category A commodity?
- Goods or services that are standard or of a similar nature across the largely common requirements of users in the public sector in Scotland.
- Where a single contracting interface facilitates the efficiency and competitiveness of suppliers.
- Where the utilisation of contracts established by a single central organisation would offer improved cost through consolidated procurement volumes & value, and would offer optimised use of scarce procurement resources & skills and concentrate market intelligence information.
Agreement on in-scope category A commodities
Using extensive Scottish public sector cross-sectoral historical spend information, Procurement Scotland engaged with senior strategic sourcing managers across the Centres of Expertise to identify and agree which categories are considered to be category A commodities, and therefore can be sourced on a national level. By focusing on categories that represent significant spend across Scotland, the public sector can expect to secure better value.
The National Contracts section details those category areas that are currently in-scope. There are ongoing discussions with the CoEs to review a range of further commodity goods & services to assess if they can be designated as Category A, and so included in future waves.
Practical Tests to determine in-scope Category A's
Goods and services listed as in-scope are as a result of applying the practical tests to each category area against pre-agreed criteria. This analysis was carried out collaboratively between the CoE teams.
Practical tests to define Category A commodities
| Criteria | Test | Caveat |
|---|
| Standard or of a similar nature | Products can be categorised - using historical spend data tool | Initial test likely to be supply / market side view rather than product, until MI depth develops. |
| Across largely common requirements | Spend profile - using historical spend data tool | Broadly consistent with sectoral spend contributions No sector > 80% |
| Improved cost through consolidated procurement volumes and value | Price elasticity of demand -Market Analysis & Experience | Market analysis / previous experience indicates opportunity to leverage spend. |
| Optimised use of scarce procurement resources and skills | Plans in place across sectors to address common spend - Shared Business Plans | Resources in place to address business driven opportunities. |
| Single contracting point provides an advantage. | Supplier concentration - using Market Analysis and historical spend data tool | Depending on other market dynamics, high or low concentration may indicate positive opportunity for national collaboration |