Scottish Government

December 2008

• Reforming Public Sector Procurement - Get Your Voice Heard! Are you involved Small or Medium sized Enterprise (SME) or a Social Enterprise (SE) in Scotland? If you are then you are involved in the backbone of the Scottish economy and we are interested in your views, experiences and attitudes towards bidding for public sector work through working collaboratively with other businesses. more
• New IT Hardware 2009 Contract : Following the recent IT Hardware eAuction which took place on Tuesday 16 December, we are pleased to offer the new prices for 2009. Review the IT Hardware - eAuction Dec 08 - Contract Details
• Reforming Public Sector Procurement - Get Your Voice Heard!
  If you are involved in Small or Medium sized Enterprise (SME) or a Social Enterprise (SE) in Scotland, you are involved in the backbone of the Scottish economy. Scottish Government wishes to understand how to assist SMEs and SEs to collaborate in order to access more effectively the £8bn spent by the Scottish public sector per year. Consequently they have commissioned a partnership of two independent consultancies, Wood Holmes Group and Accelerate, to listen to SMEs' and SEs' views, experiences and attitudes towards bidding for public sector work through working collaboratively with other businesses.
  
  If you would like to take part, please contact Chaitanya Bal on 0191 2112990 or cbal@woodholmes.co.uk. You can choose between giving a highly focused confidential interview (face to face or by telephone, as you prefer) in January/ February 2009 and/or attending a workshop event in early March.
  
  Through understanding your experiences of working with other businesses and the opportunities and barriers you may have encountered, we aim to provide the Scottish Government with strategies to enhance the effectiveness of existing procurement processes and support more generally for businesses like yours in Scotland.

• Audio files available from theNational Procurement Conference 2008 : which was held at the SECC Glasgow on 29 October 2008.

November 2008

• Public Procurement Reform Programme Survey: Scottish Procurement Directorate, working with the Centres of Expertise and other partner organisations, have commissioned York Consulting to carry out a web based survey to investigate the effectiveness of current communication channels, strategies and plans for the Public Procurement Reform Programme (PPRP). This survey has been designed to seek your views on a number of areas. Your contribution to this exercise is greatly appreciated as your views will be extremely valuable in shaping the future direction of communications within the PPRP. To take part in the Evaluation of Communications on the PPRP please ensure you complete and submit the questionnaire by Wednesday 10 December 2008.

• 4th Scottish Public Procurement Conference and Procurexat the SECC in Glasgow on 29 and 30 October was a huge success. It also saw the formal launch of Public Contracts Scotland, the national advertising portal. Copies of speaker presentations, as well as John Swinney MSP Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth keynote address are now available online.

October 2008

• Support for Scottish businesses- Launch of first ever national portal for public contracting opportunities.
• IT Hardware & IT Software Category A Workshops - January 2009
  Procurement Scotland will be hosting a series of stakeholder workshops across Scotland during January 2009. The cross-sector workshops will be open to all organisations to attend, and provide an additional outlet for organisations to feedback on the commodities and share best practice. The workshops are an open invitation to allow IT and procurement specialists, the opportunity to provide their thoughts on an collaborative agenda.
• Professional Services - Business & Management Consultancy and Related Services Supplier Event
  On the 15th of October in the Macdonald Holyrood Hotel Procurement Scotland held a supplier-engagement meeting which was attended by over 70 suppliers. Please visit the Professional Services section to find out more information and to see a copy of the slides.
• People & Skills
  An Autumn update has been posted on the People & Skills section of our website on 16 October, please review these pages for more information.
• Graduate Fair - 2008
  The 2008 Scottish Graduate Recruitment Fair was held on 14th and 15th October at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow. Scotland's procurement Centres of Expertise worked together to represent Scottish Public Sector Procurement, manning a joint stand and producing a collaborative information leaflet for graduates. Further information can be found here.

September 2008

• Office Supplies - National Contract(s)
  On the 1st September the Office Supplies contract went live. This contract is open to public sector organisations across Scotland. Organisations should contact their Sector Centre of Expertise for further details, those organisations not affiliated with a Centre of Expertise should contact Procurement Scotland directly - ps-enquiries@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
  
  Lot 1 General Stationery - Lyreco UK Ltd
  Lot 2 IT Consumables - Spectrum Computer Supplies Ltd
  Lot 3 Paper - Lyreco UK Ltd
  
  Review the Corporate Services section to find out more.

June 2008

• IT Software - Request for Supplier Information
  As part of the strategy development process for the IT Software Portfolio, Procurement Scotland is seeking views and information from the market place regarding the requirements set out in a Request for Supplier Information. To participate in this process please review the IT Software section to find out more...
• Official Launch of Procurement Scotland
  Procurement Scotland was formally launched on Thursday 6 March 2008 by John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. The NPCoE (National Procurement Centre of Expertise) was the working title that was being used during the organisations establishment and early work. Please read the Post Launch Newsletter (March 2008).

February 2008

• Procurement Scotland saves taxpayers over one million pounds
  On 14th December 2007, Procurement Scotland held its first on-line e-auction for IT Hardware. Along with significant savings of up to 55% on previous prices, uplifts in the specification of hardware and improved energy efficiency will also bring additional business benefits to public sector buying organisations. This project is the first demonstration of the benefits to be gained from collaboration at a Category A national level. Please review the IT Hardware section to find out more...