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‘Towards Commercial Excellence’:

Stirling Council’s Commissioning and Procurement Strategy 2018-2021

Contents1. Introduction / Executive Summary....................................................................................................1

2. Strategic Commissioning Vision.........................................................................................................2

3. Strategic Context...............................................................................................................................3

4. Objectives, Actions and Outcomes....................................................................................................5

4.1 Commissioning and Procurement Objectives...............................................................................5

5. Spend and Finance...........................................................................................................................10

5.1 Influenceable Spend...................................................................................................................10

5.2 Suppliers.....................................................................................................................................12

5.3 Small and Medium Enterprises...................................................................................................12

6. Service Development.......................................................................................................................14

6.1 E-Procurement............................................................................................................................14

6.2 E-Invoicing..................................................................................................................................14

6.3 PCS-T...........................................................................................................................................15

7. Monitoring, Reporting and Development........................................................................................16

8. Processes, Tools and Policies...........................................................................................................16

8.1 Processes....................................................................................................................................16

8.2 Tools...........................................................................................................................................17

8.3 Policies.......................................................................................................................................17

9. Contracting Opportunities with Stirling Council..........................................................................19

10. Strategy Ownership & Contact Details........................................................................................19

APPENDICES.........................................................................................................................................20

Appendix 1: Suppliers over £1m.......................................................................................................20

Appendix 2: Consultation Responses................................................................................................21

Appendix 3: Glossary of Terms.........................................................................................................31

1. Introduction / Executive Summary

Stirling Council’s Commissioning and Procurement Strategy 2018-2021 sets out the procurement and commissioning objectives and actions for Stirling Council during this period. It builds on the vision set out in Stirling Council’s Procurement and Commissioning Strategy 2016-2017, and the many positive outcomes that we have achieved so far.

This document shows how our objectives and actions reflect our national and local aspirations and priorities. It will help us to meet the prevailing challenges that the Council faces. Further, it demonstrates the clear and strategically driven approach that is taken within the Council to all procurement activities.

The commissioning, procurement and contract monitoring of goods, services and works can act as drivers for transformational change, and can challenge existing models of service delivery to delivery.

The vast majority of local authority spend goes towards the provision and maintenance of key infrastructure projects and frontline services. By ensuring that Stirling Council’s procurement processes are developed and structured in such a way as to deliver the best possible value for money, we will help to protect existing projects and services and enable the development and provision of new projects and services.

These objectives reflect both national and local policies and priorities and include our approach to Scottish Living Wage, Fairtrade, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. This document sets out our continued commitment to these objectives.

Our ambition is to:-

Ensure that we comply with our statutory duties; Maximise efficiency and collaboration; Maximise social value achieved through targeting

community benefits to those communities most in need; Continually seek opportunities to work with local

organisations and, in particular, SME’s, Supported Businesses, Social Enterprises Co-operatives and the Third Sector and promote a circular economy.

In order to achieve our ambition, Stirling Council’s Commissioning & Procurement Team, service areas and our supplier base will require to work together in new ways to develop strategic partnerships which will assist us to face the undoubted challenges which the future will bring.

Councillor Scott FarmerStirling Council Leader

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2. Strategic Commissioning Vision

Stirling’s overarching priority is to be “a place for everyone to thrive”.

The following Strategic Commissioning Vision has been established to support Stirling Council’s corporate vision and to ensure the delivery of effective and efficient strategic commissioning and procurement.

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Strategic Commissioning Vision:-

“Our vision is to provide a transformational commissioning and procurement function that can offer commercial, procurement & commissioning best practice as standard and routinely delivers outstanding outcomes for Stirling Council and its citizens.”

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3. Strategic Context

The Stirling area is one of Scotland’s fastest growing regions. It has a thriving economy, and is located at the very heart of the country, with 55% of Scotland’s total population living within an hour’s drive of Stirling. This strategic and accessible location, along with exceptional quality of life in the area, has helped to drive economic growth and attract new residents, businesses and visitors.

The population of the Stirling area is now over 90,000 and Stirling Council spends over £100m per year on infrastructure projects, goods and services in order to meet the needs of this growing and diverse community. Along with every other local authority in Scotland, Stirling Council faces a number of unprecedented challenges in delivering these projects and services, including significant economic constraints, changing population demographics and the potential impact of Brexit. It is essential, therefore, that Stirling Council is innovative and creative in how it meets these challenges.

Stirling Council continues to recognise the importance of its Strategic Commissioning Team (SCT), and the role that this function can play in helping the Council to meet these challenges. The overriding goal of the SCT within Stirling Council remains the same – to seek best value for money on all goods, works and services bought by the Council, and to continuously improve the procurement process to minimise the administration involved in making purchases.

All of our procurement projects are designed to be open, transparent and accountable by complying (as appropriate) with:-

the EU Consolidated Public Procurement Directive; Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014; Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015; Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016;

Concessions Contracts (Scotland ) Regulations 2016; Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016; Stirling Council's updated Contract Standing Orders; and procurement best practice.

The procedures are designed to ensure that all companies interested in bidding for Stirling Council contracts are treated fairly and equitably.

A great deal of work has been done in recent years to ensure that Stirling Council has a Strategic Commissioning function that is both transactional and transformational. We have successfully moved from a devolved procurement structure to a centralised procurement model. Staffing capacity and capability has been expanded to develop a more professional procurement service, better equipped to guide and assist services to deliver service re-design, Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) savings and best value.

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Stirling Council’s Procurement and Commissioning Strategy 2018-2021 sets out the key objectives and actions for the next stage of our development journey. The new Strategy has been closely aligned with the Stirling Council 5 Year Business Plan 2017-2022 and the Clackmannanshire & Stirling Health and Social Care Partnership Strategic Plan 2016-2019, and will look to deliver a number of benefits and improvements over this period.

It is designed to help us provide a Strategic Commissioning function that is in tune with the Council’s key messages and goals which are the focus all of our work:-

Be Community Led Be One Council: One Team Be a Learning Council Be Risk Aware: Not Risk Averse

Be Open and Responsive

Design and deliver services that respond to the needs and priorities of our diverse communities, and empower them to play a greater role in service delivery.

Address service provision in a collaborative manner, with no artificial or perceived boundaries.

Work with and learn from each other and our partners, sharing knowledge and best practice to meet current and future challenges.

Take innovative and new approaches to service delivery, being aware of risks rather than being risk averse.

Engage and communicate effectively and meaningfully with communities, employees and partners.

Stirling Council and our Community Planning Partners have developed the Stirling Plan which sets out a clear and ambitious vision for the Stirling area, identifying how we will work to support communities to be PROSPEROUS, HEALTHY, ACHIEVING and RESILIENT, through locality plans. The principal priorities are:-

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Priority A

Look after all citizens, from early years to adulthood, by providing quality education

and social care services, to allow everybody to lead their lives to their full

potential.

Priority D

Deliver inclusive economic growth and promote prosperity. We will deliver a City

Region Deal and pursue policies and solutions which encourage high quality,

high paying jobs into all of Stirling’s communities.

Priority E

Create and implement environment and infrastructure improvements. Deliver new ownership and delivery methods in energy generation, public transport and internet

access, ensuring profits and services work to community, not commercial priorities.

Priority F

Commit and co-ordinate our resources to ensuring Stirling becomes a must-visit

destination; with heritage, culture, environment and economic strategies working hand in hand to encourage tourists to stay for a minimum of

three days and two nights.

Priority C

Create more affordable housing and social housing in all of our communities. Lead by

example as an organisation in setting exceptional standards in building practice, environmental practice, tenant relations and homelessness

prevention.

Priority B

Target all forms of poverty across our communities and mitigate the impact of

austerity and welfare cuts on those hit the hardest.

Stirling Council’s Commissioning and Procurement Strategy 2018-2021 has been developed to help us achieve our Strategic Commissioning Vision, which in turn will help Stirling Council to deliver the best possible outcomes for everyone who lives in, works in and visits the Stirling area.

4. Objectives, Actions and Outcomes

4.1 Commissioning and Procurement Objectives

For this duration of this Strategy Stirling Council continues to have the following 8 commissioning and procurement objectives which will help us to meet the operational and strategic needs of Stirling Council:

1. Ensure that all procurement across Stirling Council is performed in a fair, transparent and cost effective manner, and is fully compliant with all the relevant procurement regulation.

2. Ensure that our procurement processes are in line with recognised best practice in the public sector.3. Develop staff to generate creative market solutions through a professional, skilled and appropriately resourced procurement function. 4. Ensure that all contracts are proportionately managed during the life cycle of the procurement. 5. Increase our focus on sustainable procurement including the more innovative use of Community Benefits Clauses (CBCs) and targeting supplier’s

corporate social responsibility policies.6. Continue to improve and develop access to public sector contracts, particularly for Small and Medium sized enterprises, Co-operatives and Social

Enterprises.7. Strive to deliver the best possible procurement service by maximising efficiency in our processes, our e-procurement capability and our use of

collaboration opportunities.8. Embed the principle of continuous improvement within our procurement methods and processes.

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The Action Plan below sets out the specific actions and outcomes which will enable us to meet our strategic objectives.

Objective Action By When Outcome Link to Council Strategic Priorities

Objective 1 Develop Annual Report Q1 FY2018/19 and annually thereafter.

Stirling Council will publish our Annual Report on procurement activity, which will include the following information: a summary of the procurement activity that has been completed during the year covered by the report; a summary of the savings that have been achieved through procurement activity during this period; a summary of the community benefits that have been achieved through procurement activity during this period; a summary of the main procurement activity that Stirling Council expects to carry out in the subsequent 24 month period.

Priority D

Objective 1 Review Contract Standing Orders

Q1 FY 2019/20 Stirling Council will review, and where appropriate, update the Contract Standing Orders to support compliance with procurement legislation and other legislative amendments such as GDPR and The Contract (Third Party Rights) (Scotland) Act 2017.

Priorities A-F

Objective 2 Implement PCS-T Phase 1 – Q1 FY 2018/19Phase 2 - Q2 FY 2018/19Phase 3 (Evaluators) – Q4 FY 2018/19

Stirling Council are in the process of rolling out PCS-Tender (or PCS-T) on a phased basis. PCS-T is the national eSourcing system provided free of charge by the Scottish Government. The system provides buying organisations with a set of web-based procurement tools which includes: e-Tendering, e-Evaluation, e-Auction and e-Contract Management functionality. PCS-Tender allows buyers to communicate securely with suppliers throughout the whole procurement lifecycle.

Priorities A-F

Objective 2 Commissioning for HSCP. Ongoing Stirling Council will utilise aspects of the procurement legislation which provide greater flexibility and scope to derive best value from procurement activity whilst seeking innovative approaches which are person-centred and focused on outcomes.

Priority A

Objectives 2 & 6

Market Facilitation Ongoing Stirling Council continually seeks to ensure that there is a diverse range of good quality suppliers who are in a position to bid for our public sector contracts.

Priorities A-F

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Through increased engagement with our existing supply base and with potential new entrants we will seek to ensure that suppliers understand the future requirements of Stirling Council and are business-ready to enable them to bid successfully.

Objectives 2 & 6

Maximising Collaborative Opportunities

Ongoing Maximise the use of ‘Scottish public sector contracts’, through being the lead procuring organisation, and/or through shared services collaborative arrangements. Be in a position where Stirling Council will be able to annually track the effect of its spend in the Stirling economy, by accurately tracing the money the Council spends both within our local supply base, and out through their own suppliers, to see how we really make an impact in the local economy.

Priority D

Objectives 2 & 7

Problem-based approach to procurement.

Ongoing Where proportionate and appropriate, we will seek to drive innovation and cost avoidance through use of a problem-based approach to procurement transactions as opposed to a traditional specification-based approach.

Priorities A-F

Objectives 2 & 8

PCIP FY 2019/20 Stirling Council will seek to improve on its’ previous PCIP performance to demonstrate commitment to improvement.

Internal Enabling Factor

Objective 3 Recruitment of Graduate Interns.

Ongoing, as required.

Stirling Council has had considerable success with the recruitment and development of Graduate Interns. By incorporating Graduate Interns into the Strategic Commissioning Team we will be able to continue to develop the skills required for a successful procurement function whilst contributing to the next generation of procurement talent nationally.

Priority D

Objective 3 Modular Management Training

Q3/Q4 FY 2018/19 and ongoing thereafter.

We are working with our Organisational Development colleagues to develop a suite of Modular Management Training which includes a Commissioning & Procurement Module which will offer insight and training for Stirling Council Managers. It is envisaged that this will ensure a consistent knowledge and skills base for managers who perform the role of Service Area Lead in procurement transactions.


Objective 3 Stirling Council Leadership FY 2018/19 Category Managers from the Commissioning & Procurement Team will take Internal

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Programme part in Stirling Council’s Leadership Programme to ensure robust and resilient leadership of the SCT, delivery of good practice and ensure succession planning.

Enabling Factor

Objective 3 Refresh of Strategic Training Plan for Procurement & Commissioning staff.

Q3 2018/19 and every 12 months thereafter.

Stirling Council will consider what skills and development requirements will be necessary within our organisation to support compliance with the procurement legislation with specific reference to the Scottish Government’s Assessment Tool.

In addition, Stirling Council will research and develop in a robust fashion, thereby ensuring we keep up to date with changing patterns in national best practice and legislation more widely and apply them in terms of strategic fit within a Stirling context. Stirling Council staff will be experienced in carrying out internal and external ‘Gateway Reviews’, where required, identifying where improvements can be made and/or knowledge transferred, and risks mitigated against.


Objective 4 Embed revised CSM Framework.

Q1 FY 2018/19 and ongoing thereafter.

By embedding and further developing our revised CSM Framework we will not only provide a clear structure for all contract management activities, we will also facilitate a more streamlined approach to contract management, as well as enhancing our ability to monitor contract and supplier performance.

Priorities A-F

Objective 5 Facilitate, support and promote the benefits of sustainable procurement including supporting the transition to a circular economy.

Ongoing Stirling Council will seek to provide best value and secure wider social, economic and environmental benefits for the local area whilst promoting and supporting Stirling Council’s strategic objectives, key priorities and policies, by;

applying whole life costing, ensuring early supplier involvement, encouraging innovative products and solutions; and

embedding sustainability best practice in procurements in a relevant and proportionate manner, as required by the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, including consideration of intended outcomes relating to:-

Climate Change; Materials, Waste;

Priorities A-F

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Hazardous Materials; Biodiversity; Heritage; Water; Community Benefits; Health and Wellbeing; Security and Crime; Fairly and Ethically traded Supplies and Services; Promotion of Equality; and Fair Work Practices.

Objective 5 Revise approach to Community Benefits and Develop Community Benefits Policy

Q4 FY 2018/19 By promoting the use of Community Benefits Clauses in all contracts over £50K we have delivered a range of wider benefits in addition to the core purpose of a contract. By revising and developing our Community Benefits Policy, we will further embed our commitment to the use of Community Benefits clauses, as well as streamlining our processes for reporting and tracking the delivery of the Social, Economic and Environmental Value that we have achieved.

Priorities A-F

Objective 6 Increased engagement with SMEs

Ongoing. By increasing our engagement with SMEs, working in conjunction with the Supplier Development Programme, Business Gateway and Stirling Council’s Economic development Team, we will increase the knowledge of our procurement processes within our supplier base, and in doing so make suppliers better informed in how to access to our contracting opportunities. This, in turn, will improve both the quality and quantity of the bids that we receive for each procurement undertaken.

Priority D

Objective 6 Increased use of local SME’s / local suppliers / local Third Sector suppliers, where legally able to do so.

Ongoing. Stirling Council is committed to a place-based approach which puts people and communities at the heart of what is happening in their local area. Local organisations play a key part in developing, and delivering tailored, responsive solutions. This will form a key part of the future planning process for procurement activity. Further work is required to develop relationships with the local supply chain to ensure potential bidders are business-ready to bid for local contracts.

Priority D

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Key to this will be maximising end user and stakeholder feedback regarding existing and future commissioning and procurement exercises.

The ambition for Stirling is to achieve optimal balance between the use of national, regional and local contracts and frameworks within the context of the Stirling Plan, its Economic ambition and the Sustainable Procurement Duty.

Objectives 7 & 8

Review and Revise Core Procurement Documentation

Ongoing Stirling Council is continually seeking to embed the principles of maximum efficiency and continuous improvement within our procurement methods and processes. By regularly reviewing and revising our core procurement documents, particularly in light of legislative changes and distribution of SPPN’s and CPPN’s, as well as ensuring that they are as lean as possible, we will ensure that we are constantly striving towards best practice and incorporating lessons learned throughout each procurement process.


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5. Spend and Finance

5.1 Influenceable Spend

Stirling Council procures a diverse range of goods services and works, ranging from individual stationery products to care services to major capital works.

Stirling Council’s total influenceable spend in 2016/17 was £114,292,961 (gross), of which 63% was via contracts / frameworks held in the Contracts Register.

Of the total influenceable spend in 2016/17, Stirling Council spent:-

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76.76

Local Spend

%age spend with local suppliers %age spend with national suppliers

The Scottish average percentage spend with local suppliers is 26.66%. (Data Source: SG Information Hub)

Stirling Council will, through its place-based approach, seek to increase this percentage over the life of this Strategy.

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The Top 10 Commodities by spend are:-

Social Care & Services

Construction

Facilities Management

ICT

Utilities & Energy

Travel & Accommodation

Waste & Environmental Services

Vehicles

Transport

Financial Services

0.00 5,000,000.00 10,000,000.00 15,000,000.00 20,000,000.00 25,000,000.00 30,000,000.00 35,000,000.00

31,103,537.70

26,189,036.17

18,118,956.56

4,248,447.03

4,142,228.32

4,022,409.39

3,764,453.17

2,565,938.23

1,887,076.69

1,763,642.55

Total Spend

Total Spend

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(Data Source: SG Information Hub)

5.2 Suppliers

The chart below shows the full distribution of Stirling Council’s spend in Financial Year 2016/17. For example, it demonstrates that Stirling Council spent 39% of its influenceable spend with 18 suppliers in contracts worth in excess of £1m each.

A list of suppliers with whom Stirling Council spent in excess of £1m in Financial Year 2016/17 is at Appendix 1.

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5.3 Small and Medium Enterprises

Within the existing legal and regulatory framework, Stirling Council is committed to using its purchasing activity to support the development of both local and national companies, with a particular focus on small and medium enterprises (SME’s). The usual definition of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is any business with fewer than 250 employees. Small (0 to 49 employees), Medium (50 to 249 employees), Large (250+ employees). The table below summarises Stirling Council’s spend across each of the categories in 2016/17. Stirling Council will seek to increase these percentages over the life of this Strategy.


To assist all suppliers, including SMEs to maintain their cash flow the council paid 86.36% of all invoices within 30 days of receipt, and through contract specification seeks to influence all main contractors to pay their sub-contractors and supply chain promptly.

(Data Source: Covalent)14

6. Service Development

6.1 E-ProcurementStirling Council has made PECOS (Easybuy) its default electronic purchasing tool and is in the final stages of rolling out a project to re-launch PECOS(Easybuy) across the Council by the end of March 2018. The aim is to improve governance, reduce inappropriate use of Purchase Cards and off contract spend. The table below evidences the change in purchasing behaviour.

Period 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17Trade Creditors £133,017,276 £151,339,393 £111,537,220*Purchasing Cards £11,272,257 £9,589,117 £2,755,741

*Influencable Spend data has been cleansed during this period to ensure commercial accuracy.

The percentage of the total influenceable spend which was carried our via PECOS (Easybuy) in FY2016/17 is as follows:-

19.5

80.5

PECOS Spend

%age spend (PECOS) %age spend (non-PECOS) (Data Source: SG Information Hub)

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6.2 E-InvoicingThe Scottish Government advises that there is compelling evidence that eInvoicing saves money for both public bodies and suppliers. It is generally the last part of the Purchase to Pay (P2P) cycle that needs to be automated and to accelerate the use of eInvoicing the European Commission has specific provisions including a Directive on eInvoicing.

As part of the current P2P project the roll out of eInvoicing has commenced within Stirling Council. This has seen a 100% increase from 2016/17 to 2017/18. Joint working with the Scottish Government will continue to ensure that Stirling Council gain the full efficiencies across the supply chain.

6.3 PCS-T Stirling Council are in the process of rolling out PCS-Tender across the SCT. PCS-T is the national eSourcing system provided free of charge by the Scottish Government. It is currently used by over 30 public sector organisations in Scotland including Local Authorities, NHS, HE/FE and Scottish Government sector for their route 2 and 3 procurement exercises. The system provides buying organisations with a set of web-based procurement tools which includes: eTendering, eEvaluation, eAuction and eContract Management functionality. PCS-Tender allows buyers to communicate securely with suppliers throughout the whole procurement lifecycle.

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7. Monitoring, Reporting and Development

The Strategic Commissioning objectives and targeted outcomes set out in this Strategy will be monitored via the Action Plan set out above. The performance against this action plan will be reported to and monitored by the existing procurement governance structure and at an individual department level.

Further, our progress will be set out and published in our Commissioning & Procurement Annual Report, along with our updated Action Plan for each year for the life of this strategy. This Strategy will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure continued alignment with Stirling Council’s corporate objectives and priorities. Any significant changes will be reported via the existing procurement governance structure.

We are continually looking to improve the service that we provide. Later in the year we will begin the next round of consultation with services areas, suppliers, the wider business community and other stakeholders to further develop our processes and procedures. This will also enable us to define further meaningful targets.

8. Processes, Tools and Policies

8.1 ProcessesStirling Council’s Contracts Standing Orders and Stirling Council’s Procurement Procedure apply to all contracts made by or on behalf of Stirling Council for the execution of works, the supply of goods and materials and the provision of services.

The Contract Standing Orders are subject to the over-riding provisions of European Union (EU), United Kingdom and Scottish legislation. They are also subject to any EU Commission, UK Government and Scottish Government guidance on public procurement that may be issued from time to time.

Stirling Council’s Contract Standing Orders shall not apply to any contracts made on behalf of the Council by Scottish Procurement, Scotland Excel or any other central purchasing body with whom the Council has made arrangements for the award of works, supplies or services contracts on its behalf.

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8.2 ToolsStirling Council has embedded various tools within the Strategic Commissioning process to assist and ensure Best Value. Utilisation of the tools also supports compliance with the Sustainable Procurement Duty. The key tools utilised by the SCT are as follows:

National Tools: Procurement Journey Procurement and Commercial

Improvement Programme (PCIP) Scottish Model of Procurement National Outcomes Ethical Care Charter PCS PCS-T PECOS (Easybuy)

Scottish Government Sustainable Tools: Prioritisation Tool Sustainability Test Flexible Framework

Contract Management Tools: Contract Management Assessment Tool Survey Monkey Commercial Benefits Tracker Community Benefits Tracker

8.3 Policies

Community Benefits Policy:

Stirling Council is committed to maximising Community Benefits from procurement activity. This will be achieved through the inclusion of specific clauses within procurement contracts known as Community Benefit clauses.

Community Benefit clauses are requirements which deliver wider benefits in addition to the core purpose of a contract. These clauses can be used to build a range of economic, social or environmental conditions into the delivery of public sector contracts.

Community Benefits which will be targeted for delivery fall under five primary categories:

Educational; Employability; Enterprise; Environmental; Community

Sustainable Procurement Policy:

Stirling Council aims to facilitate, support and promote the recognised benefits of sustainable procurement. We aim to support the transition to a circular economy, apply whole life costing where possible, engage in early supplier involvement and encourage innovative products and solutions.

We are fully compliant with the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and general and other duties contained therein, including the Sustainable Procurement Duty.

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Scottish Living Wage:

Stirling Council is a Living Wage employer, approving payment of the Living Wage in September 2012 and backdating payment to employees to 1 April 2012.

Whilst the relevant procurement regulations and legislation mean that payment of the Living Wage cannot be considered in the evaluation of proposals submitted by suppliers, Stirling Council encourages all suppliers to pay the Living Wage to their employees.

Animal Welfare:

Stirling Council is committed to including requirements that promote animal welfare in all relevant procurement exercises. All procurement requirements relating to food procurement will look to ensure the application of the appropriate animal welfare standards in accordance with all the relevant legislation.

Health and Safety:

Stirling Council ensures that appropriate health and safety requirements are included in the evaluation for all its procurements, in line with all the relevant legislation.

Ethical Care Charter:

Stirling Council has signed up to the UNISON Ethical Care Charter and is committed to embedding the principles of the Ethical Care Charter in future contracting for social care contracts.

9. Contracting Opportunities with Stirling Council

Stirling Council is keen to hear from new and existing suppliers who are interested in tendering for new business opportunities. Any organisation who wishes to bid for opportunities with Stirling Council should register with Public Contracts Scotland as all new opportunities will be advertised electronically

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via the portal. Suppliers should be prepared to submit their bids via the Public Contracts Scotland Portal. However, as set out above Stirling Council will be implementing Public Contracts Scotland – Tender (PCS-T) over the coming months so supplier should be prepared for the change.

Suppliers seeking support to bid for opportunities should contact either:-

their Local Business Gateway; Supplier Development Programme ( www.sdpscotland.co.uk )

10. Strategy Ownership & Contact DetailsIsabel McKnight Chief Officer - Strategic Commissioning & Customer DevelopmentOld Viewforth, Pitt Terrace Stirling FK8 2ETTel: 01786 233389

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http://www.sdpscotland.co.uk/

APPENDICESAppendix 1: Suppliers over £1m The table below identifies the commercial suppliers with whom Stirling Council has spent in excess of £1m in FY 2016/17

Supplier Name1 Stirling Gateway Limited 2 Hub East Central Scotland Limited 3 HC-One Ltd 4 Balfron School Services Limited 5 FES Renewables Ltd 6 The Richmond Fellowship Scotland 7 Active Stirling Ltd 8 Mears Care (Scotland)9 Tillicoultry Quarries Ltd10 Avondale Environmental Ltd 11 ENABLE Scotland-LTW12 Care Vision Group Ltd (Residential Only)13 Craemer UK Ltd 14 Scottish Autism 15 Carewatch (Forth)16 Countrywide Care Homes Ltd 17 Key Housing Association Ltd 18 Aon UK Limited

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Appendix 2: Consultation Responses

In Autumn 2017, the Strategic Commissioning Team carried out consultation with stakeholders including internal colleagues from a variety of service areas, suppliers, peer organisations and other stakeholders. The questions were based on Stirling Council’s Procurement & Commissioning Strategy 2016-17 and were designed to inform the development of this Strategy. The responses received were as follows:-

Q1 Are there any other major strategic issues which the strategy has not considered?

Yes14%

No41%

Don't know46%

37 respondents

Q2 Does this vision represent what you believe is necessary to transform procurement in Stirling?

Yes; 85%

No; 15%

33 respondents

Q3 Are there any specific issues which relate to the way in which the council carries out procurement which you would like to see covered by the new strategy?

NO DATA

Q4 Is this statement of objectives, actions and outcomes:-

Helpful?

Comprehensive?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

96%

96%

4%

4% No Yes

24 respondents

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Q5 Do you believe we have identified the actions required to deliver the outcomes?

Yes96%

No4%

23 respondents

Q6 Do you consider this analysis helpful and informative?

Yes; 87%

No; 13%

23 respond-ents

Q7 Should we include any more performance measures?

Yes; 39%

No; 61%

23 respondents

Q8 Do you find this listing useful?

Yes; 91%

No; 9%

23 respondents

Q9 Areas where further detail should be added? Q10 Was the inclusion of the Action Plan helpful?

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NO DATA

Yes; 95%

No; 5%

22 respondents

Q11 How relevant is the Action Plan to your service area?

Very relevant15%

Relevant80%

Not relevant5%

20 respondents

Q12 Further comments

NO DATA

The specific comments which we received in respect of each question and our response is as follows:-

No. Consultation Question No.

You said….. We replied….

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1 1 With reduced budgets annually we sometimes cannot get value for money with the suppliers we are contracted to buy from.

It is important to compare like with like. It may seem that a unit cost for an item is cheaper at face value. However, when whole-life costs are taken into account, this is not necessarily the case. Whole-life costing is taken into account during the procurement process to ensure that the cost to Stirling Council is fully transparent and delivers Best Value.

2 1 Full range of sustainability issues, not just Community Benefit clauses.

All procurement activity is subject to a legislative Sustainability Duty which takes into account the full range of sustainability issues. Community benefit clauses are only one way which can harness sustainability benefits through the procurement process.

3 1 Although there are some similarities within the council services there are specifics that aren't accounted for. Easybuy is time consuming to use and often items aren't listed.

This is a strategic document which covers all services. Specific service area detail can be resolved at an operational level.

EasyBuy (PECOS) is Stirling Council’s default purchasing system and works best utilising catalogues. However, functionality allows for purchase of non-catalogue (i.e non-listed) items.

4 2 Would it be possible to include a statement with regards to flexibility when schools require to go outwith the procurement framework? We are a highly specialised setting and at times require equipment which requires specialised suppliers.

Stirling Council is subject to the public sector procurement legislation which sets out specific legal obligations in relation to what is required to be obtained via a procurement process. Stirling Council’s Contract Standing Orders allow for purchase of specialised items and, in the first instance, you should discuss the matter with the Commodity Manager for your Service Area to determine the appropriate route to market.

5 2 Not sure that best practice in the public sector is about not being able to negotiate the best price balanced by the quality of the resource. We are asked to generate creative market solutions, however have to order resources as

Whole-life costing is taken into account during the procurement process to ensure that the cost to Stirling Council is fully transparent and delivers Best Value.

Tenders are evaluated on the basis of ‘most economically

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per contracted suppliers. I see the need for this when we are talking about buildings and property repairs, however not common resources that can be bought in a competitive market.

advantageous tender’ which balances quality against price. This allows a balances mechanism to evaluate innovative solutions in a fair and transparent manner.

6 2 Overt reference to sustainability to indicate intention up-front.

All procurement activity is subject to a legislative Sustainability Duty which takes into account the full range of sustainability issues.

7 3 Pushing the culture to ensure there is a consistent approach rather than some service areas being able to purchase sporadically through other methods.

Stirling Council’s corporate approach to procurement is fully set out in Stirling Council’s Contract Standing Orders.

8 3 Ongoing staff development and induction for new managers on systems. Happy to have the new Concerto put in place. This will ensure efficiency and be able to update managers on progress. Early days though. Staff development would be useful to share the new vision and inform when new procedures are put in place. Admin staff also need to be updated.

We are working with Corporate OD to put in place a Modular Management Training Suite which will include a procurement component. It is expected that this will be available to all managers.

CONCERTO is a Service-led operational system and any training requirements should be addresses to the appropriate implementation team.

9 3 Strengthen the Sustainable Procurement Duty by giving greater profile and emphasis to issues wider than simple community benefits, such as: the Scottish Model of Procurement, the Procurement Hierarchy, Sustainability Test, Whole Life Costing & identification of life cycle impacts, and a shift from products to services, with circular economy outcomes.


10 3 The use of procurement cards; current trend is Stirling Council’s Corporate Purchase Card Policy reflects the

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to reduce usage but various sources of info suggest other authorities are increasing usage.

Council Management Team’s current position in relation to decreasing spend on purchase cards to facilitate transactional transparency facilitated by PECOS (Easybuy). Should this change, the policy will be amended accordingly.

11 3 It should be easy to use and should deliver best value for money so all children benefit.

We would be happy to hear any suggestions you have to make our processes easier to use, subject to ensuring legislative compliance. As far as we are aware our processes are set up to ensure Best Value which provides an exponential benefit to all citizens of Stirling.

12 3 In the Technology area we have issues in relation to rolling contracts for maintenance vs the need to reprocure systems because of cost of migration. We are dealing with this in the technology sourcing strategy but it may be good to highlight this type of contract and our pragmatic way of dealing with it at a more strategic level.

A refreshed Digital Transformation Strategy, including corporate approaches to technology sourcing, would be helpful to ensure strategic alignment and we look forward to being included in the development process.

13 3 A more strategic approach to consultation and better communication / roll out of internal policy changes to Service Areas.

We will take your comment into account in the future.

14 3 I'd like to see shorter timescales for small procurement exercises. Currently some procurement exercises for under £50k are taking 10 weeks to procure.

We are keen to ensure that our processes are as lean as possible. However, there are some instances where prioritisation of workload means that timescales take longer than desired. We would encourage Service Areas to plan ahead and submit requirements at the earliest opportunity.

As a corporate function we must also consider aggregation when requests are received and, from time to time, this can have an impact on timescales.

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15 3 We did have some teething troubles when changing to the easy buy system. However these have been ironed out and the process appears to be working fine.

We are pleased to hear that you have resolved the teething troubles. If either the EasyBuy Team or your Commodity Manager can provide any further support, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

16 4 Across the board we will be increasingly looking at partnership working across the public sector (thinking of the outcomes of work with the LGDP) - would we want to make that more prominent? Probably means more working through Scotland Excel which is covered above anyway.

Partnership working is a very important part of the procurement process, particularly between procurement staff and service areas, as well as with the supplier base and organisations such as Scotland Excel. Effective partnership working is implicit in all procurement activity.

17 5 However, the actions identified are very general.

We have included an Action Plan to make actions more SMART.

18 5 Actions are very perfunctory, with little detail as to the quality or efficacy of each action.

We will report on our procurement performance annually in our Procurement Annual Report, commencing in Quarter 2 of FY2018/19.

19 5 Formal training to staff who frequently undertake procurement exercises may help promote achievement of these objectives.

As a corporate function, procurement professionals have received all relevant training to undertake their role. Service Area Leads are provided with the relevant training to undertake their role which supports each individual procurement transaction.

In addition, we are working with Corporate OD to put in place a Modular Management Training Suite which will include a procurement component. It is expected that this will be available to all managers.

20 6 A breakdown of services. We are not in a position to respond here without further detail. We would welcome hearing from you to discuss further.

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21 6 Information linked to wider sustainability, environmental and socio-economic issues.


22 6 Categorisation of suppliers by commodity type / nature of expenditure / service area / compliant & non-complaint suppliers etc. to help inform and provide more meaningful information with regards who is spending money, on what, is it the best use of resources, identify suppliers who should not be used etc. Presentation of information using charts, graphs etc. rather than purely numerical.

We have undertaken to provide further detail in the 2018/21 Strategy in a graphic format. We will provide additional detail in our Annual Procurement Report, commencing in Quarter 2 of FY2018/19.

23 6 Split of procurement exercises - under 50k/ over £50k - Professional fees associated with procurement time spent on projects before and after procurement strategy 2016/2017.

Stirling Council regulates procurement activity in accordance with the prevailing legislation and we actively encourage implementation of frameworks which futureproof against repeat low-value procurement transactions as well as complying with aggregation regulations. Professional fees is a Service-specific matter and, therefore, SCT is not in a position to comment.

24 6 Analysis should be put in context - is this a 'normal' spend profile or are there anomalies due to specific works/projects? Is it comparable to other Councils? Are we meeting any local or national KPI's? etc

Strategic analysis is carried out within the procurement landscape through accessing national tools, for example, the Scottish Government’s Information Hub.

25 7 It would be interesting to know how often people are required to access suppliers who are not within the framework. This may mean in the future you might consider including these suppliers.

We do endeavour to gather this data. However, we do not have any locus over whether providers in the supplier base chose to bid for a particular contract. Going forward, we will look to innovate in the methods which we use to contract to ensure maximum flexibility, where appropriate to do so.

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26 7 Performance measures are a helpful indicator. Again I don't have enough knowledge to identify which ones would be best.

We will provide additional detail in our Annual Procurement Report, commencing in Quarter 2 of FY2018/19.

27 7 Measures to track the statements under Policy Summaries.

These are tracked at a Corporate level.

28 7 Performance measures regarding compliant & non-compliant suppliers: to ensure any procurement strategy is being adhered to, there should be some sort of measure to help identify, monitor & address compliance (or non-compliance as the case may be).


Currently, service-specific non-compliant spend is reported to the relevant Service Manager, who should address transfer to a compliant position.

29 7 KPI monitoring tool; community benefits implementation advice/tool.

As you will see from our Action Plan above, we plan to refresh our approach to Community Benefits shortly.

30 7 Are we meeting any local or national KPI's? National Performance Indicators are reported via COVALENT.

31 9 Clearer roles and responsibilities Roles and responsibilities during the procurement process are fully set out in Stirling Council’s Contract Standing Orders.

32 11 Greater detail of wider sustainability, environmental and socio-economic issues.


33 11 The plan was helpful to show the work that was being undertaken, and the indirect effect of updates to the various action points.

Thank you. We appreciate your comment.

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Appendix 3: Glossary of Terms

Term DefinitionCircular Economy

A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.

Commodity Classification for all items which the Council procures, to give Stirling Council the ability to accurately describe the primary business activities of their suppliers. The commodity approach presently used by Stirling Council was defined in 2016.

Community Benefit

Community benefits are requirements which deliver wider social or environmental value in addition to the core purpose of the contract.

Community Benefit Clauses

Community benefit clauses are contractual requirements which deliver wider benefits in addition to the core purpose of the contract. These clauses can be used to build a range of economic, social and / or environmental conditions into the delivery of public sector contracts.

Co-operative An autonomous association of people who have come together voluntarily to meet a common economic, social and/or cultural need and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise.

Cost avoidance The act of eliminating costs or preventing their occurrence in the first place.

Contract and Supplier Management

Contract & Supplier Management is the management of contracts made with external suppliers. Contract management activities can be divided into three main areas: service delivery management, relationship management and contract administration.

CSM Framework This is the tool which is used to carry out Contract & Supplier Management.

Social Enterprises

A revenue-generating business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are re-invested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to create profit for shareholders and investors.

Savings The payment of lower prices for the same goods, services and works than previously.

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Sustainable Procurement

Sustainable procurement as a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment.

Whole-life Costing

Whole life costing is a technique which takes into account the total cost of ownership of a product or service over its lifetime, from concept through to disposal including purchase, hire or lease, maintenance, operation, utilities, training and disposal.

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