Background
This report summarises the findings of an online survey seeking the views of contractors of Scottish Government Social Research on the procedural steps in the research procurement process, and on how these could be improved. The survey took place in July 2007 and was sent to all contractors listed on the Social Research database, with 75 responses received.
Key findings
- Overall the survey findings show that contractors have had a generally positive reaction to the new procurement procedures.
- E-tendering constitutes a particularly popular aspect of the new procurement process. Contractors felt that e-procurement was an improvement over previous systems and criticisms of the system were limited to those contractors who had experiences technical difficulties with the new system.
- Key areas of concern for contractors related to the need for more clarity and guidance at different stages in the procurement process. The transparency of the procurement decision-making process was strongly criticised by many contractors. To improve this, contractors requested clearer information in outlining the tender assessment criteria, more frequent updates throughout the tender evaluation and quicker and more detailed feedback on unsuccessful tenders.
- Responses revealed that many contractors were unaware that changes had been made to the procurement system and had subsequently missed out on opportunities for guidance and training on the new system. This highlighted a need to improve general communication between the Scottish Government and potential contractors, and in particular better dissemination of information and guidance on system updates and training opportunities.
- Finally, high numbers of respondents chose a 'neutral' response across many of the survey questions. While this was intended to reflect a distinct response category (as separate from "Don't Know/ No response"), the consistently high numbers indicate some uncertainty over contractors' engagement with the survey and their more general feelings towards Social Research procurement.
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