Transport Scotland’s procurement priorities

Corporate procurement priorities

Transport Scotland aims to deliver its procurement activities while striving for best value and promoting responsible procurement and effective contract management. This will be achieved by the continuous improvement of procurement activity, having regard for economy, efficiency, effectiveness, openness, sustainability and transparency and our legal obligations. We will continue to seek opportunities to promote best practice and to work creatively and collaboratively with Scottish Government Procurement and Property Directorate and other organisations where appropriate.

Our corporate procurement priorities support the agency’s overall delivery commitments in respect of the Scottish Government’s Public Procurement Priorities. Following consultation across the public sector and with representatives from business and the third sector, the Scottish Government published a set of seven priorities in June 2021 for all public procurement leaders. The priorities take cognisance of requirements deriving from procurement legislation including the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016, the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and associated published Statutory Guidance. Transport Scotland’s corporate procurement priorities are listed below:

Priority 1 – Leadership and Visibility

Delivery sub-actions:

• engage with and influence internal and external stakeholders as appropriate to lead the sharing of best practice
• effectively communicate policy through a variety of platforms, including the Transport Scotland intranet, to ensure that our staff have easy access to guidance
• identify and record procurement issues to convert into lessons learned for sharing with leaders and stakeholders
• manage procurement risk across Transport Scotland

Priority 2 – Sustainable Economic Recovery

Delivery sub-actions:

• use our processes and Scottish Government sustainable procurement tools to support the identification of opportunities for the inclusion of community benefits, Fair Work First and carbon management in Transport Scotland procurements
• facilitate future opportunities for supported businesses, the third sector, SMEs and local business, and ensuring ethical and fair treatment
• support the delivery of the Scottish Government’s vision for transport though sustainable procurement practice
• monitor and review effectiveness of our procurement processes, taking opportunities for continuous improvement to ensure Transport Scotland remains at the forefront of sustainable procurement practices

Priority 3 – Supply Chain Resilience

Delivery sub-actions:

• monitor and manage risks to the supply chain, including those associated with geopolitical developments, through regular engagement with suppliers
• utilise tools and systems to support fair management of the supply chain 
• collaborate with suppliers to identify areas of savings, added value, innovation and risk mitigation
• continually improve our model contract documents and utilise Scottish Government and UK wide collaborative contracts to secure a range of benefits and savings

Priority 4 – Maximise impact of the Sustainable Procurement Duty

Delivery sub-actions:

• ensure compliance with the sustainable procurement duty, such that our contracts are procured and managed in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner
• support project teams to maximise the impact of the sustainable procurement duty within their procurements and contracts
• promote the inclusion of community benefits considerations throughout the development of contracts
• ensure that our procurement activity promotes Fair Work First, including the use of the Living Wage and the Modern Slavery Act and the procurement of fair and ethically traded goods and services

Priority 5 – Climate emergency (including carbon reduction and a circular economy)

Delivery sub-actions:

• work across our organisation to ensure consideration of the climate emergency is integral to procurement decisions
• collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, as appropriate, to facilitate sharing of best practice in carbon management
• gather data and monitor information to support and develop procurement opportunities to address climate emergency priorities

Priority 6 – Achieving professional excellence (against national policy and standards)

Delivery sub-actions:

• ensure that our staff have access to consistent procurement advice and information and ensure that all such activity is compliant with current legislation
• deliver a programme of targeted procurement training to our staff to ensure that procurement activity remains compliant with current procurement legislation and policy
• work collaboratively across the organisation and wider public sector to share knowledge and best practice
• review procurement lessons learned feedback and ensure that procurement best practice is updated and disseminated

Priority 7 – Develop our use of systems to exploit sustainable outcomes and support reporting

Delivery sub-actions:

• engage with Scottish Government and wider public sector led initiatives and consider implementation within Transport Scotland
• review and update the procurement page of our website to improve visibility for internal and external stakeholders
• review and update our best practice tools and procedures to take account of any legislative changes, internal policy changes and ensure consistency
• maintain our procurement IT systems to monitor and ensure compliance with procurement processes

Review, monitor and reporting

Compliance checks will be undertaken at key stages of Transport Scotland’s regulated procurements to identify issues regarding adherence to policy and legislation requirements. We will continue to review our existing procurement compliance check process for our regulated procurements and enact improvements where necessary.

Data gathering relating to regulated procurements will be carried out to identify community benefits resulting from procurement activity, the volume, value and nature of contracts and sub-contracts with SMEs, contracts placed with supported businesses and the third sector.  This data will be used to identify trends and any areas of policy requiring intervention and will be included in our Annual Procurement Report.