Office of Government Commerce (OGC) - Scottish Procurement Concordat
The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is an independent Office of the Treasury reporting to the Chief Secretary. It publishes guidance on a wide range of best practice issues, in some cases this guidance is developed in consultation with the Scottish Procurement.
The development and application of public procurement policy and best practice in Scotland is a devolved matter and where Scottish Procurement has published guidance on particular topics, this supersedes any corresponding OGC guidance. In other cases, Scottish Procurement may wish to endorse OGC guidance, but with certain qualifications to take account of the separate Scottish policy and legislative context and/or Scots law.
Care should be taken, when considering OGC guidance, that any potential differences in Scotland and Scottish Procurement's website should be consulted to check whether different guidance applies in Scotland.
A Concordat exists between the Office of Government Commerce and the Scottish Procurement. It sets out the mechanisms between the UK Government and the Scottish Executive for the handling of EU and international policy issues on public procurement. There is also a Memorandum of Understanding between the Scottish Executive and OGC Buying Solutions.
Concordat on Co-ordination of EU, International and Policy Issues on Public Procurement