The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires all public bodies (including RSLs) to publish a procurement strategy, where their expenditure on regulated procurements for the next financial year will be at least 5m. All eligible public bodies were required to publish their first strategy by 31 December 2016. Public bodies must also notify the Scottish Government of the publication of their strategies.

The Act provides for the matters which must be covered by a procurement strategy, which include:

• Setting out how the public body will ensure that its regulated procurements will deliver value for money, contribute to the carrying out of its functions and comply with the "sustainable procurement duty"
• A statement of policy on community benefits, consultation with stakeholders, payment of the living wage, promotion of health and safety and fairly and ethically traded goods
• Setting out how the public body plans to ensure that contractors are paid within 30 days of issuing an invoice

The "sustainable procurement duty" is a duty to consider how, in conducting a procurement process, a public body can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of its area, facilitate SME involvement in public contracts and promote innovation.

Public bodies must keep their procurement strategy and activity under ongoing review. They are obliged to publish an annual procurement report as soon as reasonably practicable after the financial year end. The report must include:

• a summary of the regulated procurements carried out during that year
• a review of whether they complied with the procurement strategy
• where there has been a failure to comply, a statement of how this can be avoided in future
• a summary of community benefit requirements fulfilled
• a summary of steps taken to involve supported businesses
• a note of upcoming regulated procurements for the next two financial years

The Scottish Government guidance on procurement strategies is very useful and benefits greatly from including real-life examples of procurement strategies published by public bodies so far.

If you require advice or assistance in relation to your procurement strategy or annual report please contact our team.