An exit strategy should set forth your organisation’s service requirements when the parties are transitioning out of the relationship. These requirements may include:

• An obligation on the supplier to continue service performance during the transition period.  During transition these services must stay at the same quality level and continue to comply with all contract obligations;

• The provision of parallel services for a certain period.  This can be necessary for continuity of supply and helps to resolve issues before the final change over;

• An obligation by the supplier to keep the same supplier team performing services during the transition period;

• Confidentiality on any communications regarding the termination of the relationship.

Data privacy and security are critical.  The Exit Strategy should consider provision for:

• The transfer of all data belonging to your organisation, including any customer information;

• An acceptable method for the supplier to destroy and remove your organisation’s proprietary information;

• The supplier destroying and removing  sensitive information from all media.  The supplier must ensure no information is  disclosed to other individuals or organisations;

• The return or transfer of each party’s assets.

Strict documentation and knowledge transfer contract requirements will be advantageous. Be sure to:

• Require the supplier to give you access to everything your organisation will need to maintain the service;

• Clearly state responsibilities i.e. which party owns the work performed by the supplier and which party is responsible for the transfer of ownership;

• Fully document the service description for any transition period additional services.  These are services required from the supplier (e.g. employee training,  training new supplier personnel);

• Require the supplier to provide your Organisation with copies of data, procedures, access logs, error logs, documentation and other information generated as part of providing the contract services. The supplier should also grant your organisation the right to provide this information to potential successor suppliers.

Transition, termination and timing are a key part of the financial aspects of an exit strategy. Be sure the contract:

• Will not penalise your organisation for an early exit.  This is especially important if the termination is due to the supplier’s failure to perform the contract;

• Specifies when compensation should be paid and how much.  This  includes compensation for any continuing base services and transition activities;

• Specifies the return of any pre-paid fees for services which have not been rendered.

An exit strategy should cover personnel issues, such as:

• Ensuring supplier personnel and key resources  remain on the project and committed during the transition.  This ensures relevant knowledge and expertise is retained during transition;

• Defining the exit-strategy team and its roles;

• The treatment of employees and any obligations to inform or consult under TUPE.

Background to Contract Variations

All contracts should detail how to include and manage contract variations . Although a supplier may request a contract variation, varying the contract must be approved, managed and controlled by the customer.

It is normal practice for a contract variation  to be agreed between the customer and the supplier in writing through a formal amendment of the contract. This practice is also known as a "Change Management process", "change control procedure" or something similar.

No-one involved in managing and administering the contract should agree to informal contract amendments. All potential contract variations/changes must be fully explored. This must include the appropriate contract managers/stakeholders. Any agreed variations should be undertaken in line with the Change Management process (see below).

The reasons for the variation should be clearly documented. Variations should not be used to hide poor performance or serious underlying problems.  The variation's effect on original contract timeframes, deliverables and value for money should be assessed. You must consult/advise senior management and other stakeholders if the proposed contract variation(s) are significant.

Contract variations should be planned. You must inform customers in good time of any changes.  You must let customers know that multiple contract changes may shift contract risk or transfer particular risks to the customer.  It is important to analyse all consequences of a suggested amendment - make sure there is no negative effect on the contract or service levels.

You must make sure that contract variations are not significant i.e. they must not change the original contract requirement and/or substantial parts of the original transaction.  This would be "substantial modification" and it may be necessary to undertake another procurement process.  This is because the revised arrangements are substantially different from the original procurement that you advertised and awarded.

You and the supplier must understand the implications of the proposed change before being able to properly consider them . This may require the supplier (who will normally be in the best position to assess the likely impact of a change) to prepare an impact report. The impact report will present:

• a full description of the change;
• how the change is to be implemented;
• the feasibility of the change;
• the effect on the ability of the supplier to meet its contract obligations;
• any cost implications of the change;
• any consequential impact of the change;
• where appropriate, acceptance testing procedures and acceptance criteria for the proposed change and
• any other information likely to be of relevance.

Your Change Management process should specify how any change costs will be allocated between the customer and the supplier.

Normally you would be required to pay for a change where it is not within the scope of the existing contract.

When a change is outside the scope of the existing contract, the Change Management process should detail the pricing  principles i.e. what you pay for. For example, the Change Management process may stipulate that the price for any change should be:

• reasonable;
• competitive and
• no higher than the price at which a customer could buy similar products or services from another supplier.

Your  Change Management process can include the supplier having to provide an auditor's certificate i.e. to confirm agreed the pricing of any change complies with the pricing principles.

A detailed Change Management process is of little value if the supplier can refuse to implement the customer's change request.

Your Change Management process can include a requirement that the supplier cannot unreasonably refuse (either directly or indirectly) a change requested by you.

Unreasonable grounds for refusing a change might include:

• demanding unreasonable charges for the change;
• imposing unreasonable conditions for undertaking the change; or
• refusing to include the change despite the subject matter being reasonably related to/or connected with the services.

The Account Pack is intended to be a place where the current and historical contract / supplier status is recorded. Ideally, if anyone wants to understand the contract status or how the supplier is performing, this pack should provide them with the current status.

For Care & Support Services please also read Additional Guidance when Reviewing a Care and Support Service.

In some areas Contract Management Officers routinely attend the Care Inspectorate’s post-inspection feedback sessions with suppliers.

Contracts are awarded following a thorough evaluation process which looks at some standard elements. Your Organisation should perform periodic supplier ‘health checks' should be undertaken throughout the life of the contract to ensure standards are maintained. These checks could include:

• Financial Status,
• CIS Registration,
• Business Probity,
• Conviction of Criminal Offences,
• Compliance with Legislation and Regulatory Provisions (including Equality),
• Corporate Social Responsibility:
• Sustainable Procurement and Environmental Practices
• Health & Safety
• Insurances
• Care Inspectorate Inspection reports and records.

The frequency of the checks depends on  the type of contract, e.g. strategic and bottleneck contracts will be checked more frequently than collaborative and routine contracts.

Understand Contract Terms & Conditions

The purpose of Contract and Supplier Management is to ensure suppliers meet their contractual obligations and the contract requirements are successfully delivered. 

It is essential that anyone engaged in managing suppliers reads and fully understands the contract's terms and conditions, otherwise they will be at a permanent disadvantage should any issues arise.

Your Organisation’s Contract Manager/Contract Management Officer should engage early in the process, from the Develop Strategy stage,  and participate in the development of terms and conditions.

The Full Balanced Scorecard is a recognised tool for monitoring and managing contract and supplier performance.

KPIs provide a way to measure the four quadrants of the balanced scorecard (Quality, Cost, Sustainability and Service).  KPIs help organisations understand how well they and/or their suppliers are performing against their strategic goals and objectives. 

You must ensure effective contract management so that the practice of blacklisting does not occur in public contracts.

MI is used to monitor the supplier's or contract's performance and ensures management have the information to make effective strategic and operational decisions.

You must clearly define your MI requirements and communicate these to your supplier(s).

Your MI reporting arrangements must be fair and proportionate and not duplicate information already provided.

Your MI reporting approach should minimise demands on suppliers for information about the delivery of the goods/services.

You can undertake a risk assessment to help decide what the frequency and level of reporting should be. This may change/increase in certain circumstances, for example if a complaint is made about the service/delivery.

The reporting arrangements can be included in your specification and/or in the terms and conditions of the contract.

For some specific services, you should avoid duplicating information which is collected by/available from regulatory bodies. This can be achieved through the development of Memoranda of Understanding and regular discussions between the organisation and the regulatory bodies.

Sustainable Procurement outcomes, for example Fair Work Practices, must be an integral element of the contract and supplier management process. They should be included as a standard agenda item at supplier review meetings and considered alongside all other contract management matters.

It is important to ensure monitoring includes the use of any agency or sub-contractor workers throughout the duration of the contract.  This will include any new members joining the workforce engaged on the contract’s delivery.

Evidence should be sought from suppliers to demonstrate compliance with agreed contract conditions. This includes what the main contractor is doing to ensure Sustainable Procurement outcomes, such as Fair Work First commitments, down the supply chain to subcontractors and to agency workers. Evidence which should be sough can include reviewing recruitment information which could include pay policy and the terms and conditions for workers involved in the delivery of the contract.

Where there are material concerns regarding a supplier’s compliance with any sustainable procurement commitments or the contractual obligations it has made, an Organisation could consider whether to undertake general sustainability audit of the contract.

You should detail what will happen if the contract is not being delivered or the agreed quality standards are not being met.

Performance issues should be addressed immediately, and escalated within the supplier organisation if not resolved promptly.

Contract Managers/Contract Management Officers should ensure the escalation process is clearly defined, understood and communicated to all stakeholders and end users.

If you find that the supplier is not delivering the agreed level of service:

• you should raise this with them immediately. For speed this can be done by telephone but should be followed up in writing.
• Ask your supplier for an action plan to ensure that the required levels of service re-commences in a short time frame.
• If the issue is major it may also be necessary to hold a face-to-face meeting with the supplier.
• All discussions/meetings etc. should be minuted to ensure an audit trail exists.
• If resolution of the issue is not completed within the timescales agreed then the issue should be escalated (see below) and your procurement contact notified of the problem.  When escalated with the supplier, and an early face-to-face meeting should be arranged.  Here actions and timescale to remedy the situation should be agreed and implemented.
• The recovery actions should be monitored on a regular basis to ensure that the agreed recovery / resolution dates do not slip.
• All discussions/agreements should be noted in writing.

There are specific contract terms and conditions that can be used appropriately to help drive and maintain contract compliance/performance. 

You should incorporate these into the Terms and Conditions (T & Cs) of contract. You should understand the specific contract T & C’s, and that any incentives and sanctions considered are appropriate and legally enforceable. You must seek legal advice if in doubt as to the wording, appropriateness or legality of a proposed condition.

Examples of incentives and sanctions which could be considered are listed below, but must not be applied on your own. Appropriate internal approval must be sought and received prior to implementation.

Incentives could include (subject to substantial modification):

• Contract extension options
• A longer contract opportunity could provide performance motivation
• Payment by result, e.g. by use of milestone payments (linked to defined deliverables)
• Reduced payment terms

Conditions of Contract could include:

• Retention e.g. legitimately withhold payment if deliverables are not completed (only with genuine and notified reason.  This must be compliant with previously agreed contract terms and conditions)
• Litigation
• Termination of the contract (Please note: you cannot terminate a contract with the aim of avoiding procurement rule obligations)
• Liquidated Damages (compensation amount(s) agreed to be paid when the contract was created if a specific breach occurs)

To enforce a sanction sufficient evidence is required to justify the claim or action. You must therefore have clear records e.g. agreed service levels, notice periods, reminders, communications, agreements, etc.

Any enforced incentive or sanction must comply with the agreed contract terms and conditions.

Improvement opportunities can be identified by anyone engaged with the Organisation, both internally and externally.

Many improvement ideas don’t come from management, but from employees and suppliers operationally involved in the delivery of the service.  These are the people who are regularly exposed to issues which may not be visible higher up in the Organisation.

Your Organisation should seek feedback and work to develop a culture where everyone  is encouraged to look for and suggest operational improvements.  To do so the Organisation must show that all suggestions will be considered.

Demand Management can be defined as:

“the alignment of a business’ consumption with its business requirements”

It applies to all goods and services where internal demand and consumption can be influenced to reduce costs.

Demand Management is a key aspect of aligning external resources to meet our requirements. People often think demand management is stopping people spending money. However there are a number of other ways to look at demand management without completely preventing spend.  These can still provide notable savings and have a less drastic impact on the business.

Demand often comes from internal practice and processes rather than real need. As the approach is about addressing change ‘in’ an organisation the starting point will be the culture, policy and behaviours of that organisation. The organisation can also participate by:

• sharing best practice
• benchmarking behaviour
• policy guidance
• peer review

Demand management can occur at different points in the procurement process.  For example:

• from initial purchase  - making sure that software licences are purchased for the correct number of users at a single point in time or
• where costs are reoccurring as an ongoing activity -  in a category where spend is ongoing and regular, such as stationery or postal services.

Demand Management, including behaviour change, represents a significant and untapped opportunity.

In the short term, this is about changing expectations; in the medium term about changing participation; and in the long term about reducing need.

There are 3 main principles of demand management:

1. Each business unit should have exactly what it needs in order to deliver its business objectives
2. Any resources consumed above this level represents a waste to the organisation
3. There may be many and very different ways of meeting a user need, with each way representing a different level of resource to achieve the same outcome

The three strategies listed below could be independently or jointly applied.

There are a number of benefits to an effective Demand Management strategy.  Many are driven by change in the organisation’s culture and outlook, and to how goods and services are specified and requested.

When robustly implemented across all goods and services, Demand Management drives public sector organisations to make the most efficient and effective use of procured external resources to meet the operational requirements.

The Demand Management process challenges the norms, standards, customs and practices of an organisation to a degree not usually found in other processes.

When used as a priming process for Strategic Sourcing, Demand Management can establish organisation requirements to be sourced to a very specific level.  This can avoid the development of a sourcing strategy that meets over-specified operational requirements.

As a routine part of an organisation operation Demand Management can ensure the greatest possible levels of resource are directed at front line services in the public sector.

You should consider forecasting demand  fluctuation management initially at the Shaping the Requirement Stage.  These should be subsequently monitored and managed throughout the lifetime of the contract. Failure to do so could result in:

• Excess material purchases and subsequent material write off/waste disposal costs
• material shortages resulting in additional recovery costs and/or service breakdown
• excess, inadequate or inappropriately positioned resource
• reputational damage as a result of service breakdown
• detrimental impact on the end user

You can manage your costs better, and have help your suppliers have the correct levels of resources in place, by using effective demand management forecasting. Also give the supply base the opportunity to manage their costs by positioning resource and material in line with demand.

Demand forecasting should be based on considerations such as:

• Historical consumption
• Supplier lead times
• Market forces
• Service criticality
• Key stakeholder input
• Purchase cost
• Information from other buying organisations, trade bodies and business support organisations e.g. Federation of Small Businesses and Chambers of Commerce etc.

You should try to reduce future demand and costs by using strategies such as:

• fully or partially transition to recycled goods instead of buying new
• reduce transactional cost by improving your purchase to pay system
• supplier(s) reducing mutual cost through innovation.  This should have been previously written into the contract / agreement with the supplier

To operate effectively your suppliers must understand and manage demand.  It can use this knowledge to set its resources and processes proportionately.  This will ensure their service delivery is efficient and cost effective.

By understanding your historical demand you can work with your suppliers to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

To forecast future demand you must consider a combination of:

• historical demand,
• market forces and
• the Organisation business plan/strategic direction.

Forecasting will never be 100% accurate However these elements should provide enough information to develop forecasts which are accurate enough to accommodate demand fluctuations. 

You should ensure the supplier stays in regular contact with all key stakeholders (including other suppliers).  This ensures that all parties are aware of the supply/demand position, especially during periods of fluctuation.

A key element of Contract and Supplier Management is the proactive identification and management of risk. More information can be found in Risk Management.

Fraud Prevention, Detection, Monitoring and Handling

More guidance on fraud is provided on the Scottish Government Website.

Weak links between the finance, commercial, and contract management functions provides an opportunity for fraud and/or overbilling.  This could be as a result of error and inefficiency or by deliberate intent.

Better scrutiny of payments, and a sound understanding of the contract, will quickly identify both overbilling and fraudulent activity, and allow the appropriate action to be taken.  You should not rely on your supplier to interpret the contract which could then result in billing errors.

Contracts are awarded following a thorough evaluation process which looks at some standard elements. Your Organisation’s Contract Managers/Contract Management Officers should perform periodic supplier ‘health checks’.  They should undertake these checks throughout the life of the contract to ensure standards  are maintained. These checks could include:

• Financial Status,
• CIS Registration,
• Business Probity,
• Conviction of Criminal Offences,
• Compliance with Legislation and Regulatory Provisions (including Equality),
• Corporate Social Responsibility:
• Sustainable Procurement and Environmental Practices
• Health & Safety and
• Insurances.

The frequency of the checks depends on the type of contract, e.g. strategic and bottleneck contracts will be checked more frequently than collaborative and routine contracts.

Contract management activities must include sufficient checks to ensure suppliers are meeting their Data Protection Legislation obligations as the Processor. These checks may include audits undertaken by the controller or a third party auditor.

If obligations are not being met, organisations should take urgent remedial action with the supplier to address issues and risks.

More detailed information can be found in Additional Resources.

Performance Review Meetings provide both your Organisation and the supplier with an opportunity to:

• focus on end to end performance,
• identify issues and opportunities and
• put the appropriate action plans in place.

The Performance Review Meeting standard agenda template can be completed by both your Organisation and the supplier in advance of the meeting.  This will provide a structure to the meeting.

You should hold at least one review annually for suppliers identified under the segmentation process as requiring ‘medium level’ supplier management.  Hold two review meetings for ‘high level’ suppliers.

A Review Meeting Template is available here, and a meeting agenda example is laid out below:

• You decide which spend category(s) you wish to perform the benchmarking exercise for.

• Complete a spend analysis on what you have purchased in that area for at least the last 12 months (by line item).

• Sort the data from the highest to lowest spend and then highlight the top 80 percent of the spend. This will normally be no more than 20 percent of the number of line items and should capture the majority of your spend.

You now have a manageable amount of data to go out into the market place with.

This will not cover every aspect of the potential scope of supply.  You may need to add items such as bottle-neck and specialised items. The aim is to gain an estimation of the market rates.

You should inform your existing supplier that you are planning to perform a benchmarking exercise before you go out to the market place.

Having selected the items you want to benchmark, you can now approach the market to understand the current costs.

Benchmarking is generally an informal process.  The Management Information Hub is a good source of information, as is the internet in general. You can also contact a number of suppliers directly.

It is important to ensure that the recipients of any requests understand it is a benchmarking exercise.  It is not a business opportunity. The request should be simple enough for the suppliers to provide information without having to spend a great deal of time doing so.

You can now compare the results of your benchmarking exercise.  For example, enter all costs into a spreadsheet to determine the price difference between your existing supplier and the  market rates. You can now determine where the incumbent supplier sits against the best, worst and average market rates.

If you are happy with where the incumbent supplier’s pricing fits in comparison to market rates, this shows the supplier is competitive and no further action need be taken.

If you are not happy then invite your supplier to a meeting.  Give them the opportunity to explain why they are not competitive against the current market rates.  You must not divulge the competitors’ names or pricing information.

If the supplier is willing to accept their prices are not in line with market rates then this will be a cost reduction for you. If however, the supplier is unwilling to negotiate a reduction, initiate your escalation process and include as an agenda item at the next Review Meeting.

Significant cost savings can be achieved through an increased and embedded focus on CSM.

Another approach is to consider the risks and missed opportunities of not focusing on CSM, for example:

• the cost of incident resolution activity / service failure
• poor supplier engagement / flexibility
• ineffective cost control
• confused / cumbersome communication channels
• uncertainty
• risk or reputational damage
• risk to service continuity
• lack of accurate Management Information (MI)
• missed (mutually beneficial) innovation / cost reduction opportunities
• missed employee development opportunities
• risk of substantial modifications to contracts

Consequently, CSM is unlikely to be effective unless the parties move from a transactional to a relational model.  This could actively encourage and develop close working relationships and resulting mutual benefit(s).

The success of the relationship between an organisation and suppliers/service providers depends on the extent to which there is:

• mutual respect and trust
• a joint understanding of the roles played and challenges faced by each partner
• openness and excellent communications; and
• a joint approach to managing delivery.

You need to build the relationship outside of the traditional constraints of a performance-based contract. A ‘we are in this together’ approach should be fostered.  This will encourage open communication and maximise service and cost efficiencies.

To succeed, build on small success: when a pattern of small successes has been achieved, proposing a more ambitious CSM plan becomes less daunting.  This is because you have proven results to refer to.

Instead of leaping into the unknown, it becomes the expansion of an already successful process. Initial small successes are a recognised option to create awareness and buy-in for the larger initiative.  Small projects are likely to be the best way to gain the support necessary for broader, organisation-wide embedded CSM model adoption.

The selection of small project(s) is important.  It should be contracts or services not in crisis and which have scope for improvement. It is even better if it is a contract or service where stakeholders have voiced concerns or expressed a desire to seek improvements.

Once the contract/service has been agreed, a small cross-functional team should be created under a nominated contract manager who will own and manage the small project.

As laid out in more detail throughout the CSM guidance, the nominated cross- functional team should:

• Engage with the nominated supplier and have them create a reciprocal team
• Ensure clarity of roles and responsibilities within both the supplier and the buyer Organisation
• Agree desired outcomes, such as:
  • leveraging client and supplier expertise to drive cost and efficiency gains
  • improved Management Information (M.I.)
  • agreed KPIs and a formalised system of managing and monitoring supplier performance against the contract
  • identification of innovation / opportunities (within scope, not material change)
  • aggressive, but realistic timescales to ensure focus is maintained and commitments are delivered

Once the desired outcomes are agreed, your nominated contract manager should ensure maintained focus within both organisations until they have been achieved and delivered. The results should be used to demonstrate the untapped potential open to a focused CSM approach.

The Business Case Template, which can be found at the bottom of this page, contains some ideas you may wish to include and should help lay out the business case. Your Organisation may have a standard template to use.

Managing the supplier contractual relationship requires a discrete set of responsibilities and activities.  As a result this should be the responsibility of a nominated member of staff. An organisation should consider how to ensure that:

• roles and responsibilities are clear;
• the relationship is championed at senior levels in the Organisation and supplier organisations;
• information sharing is encouraged;
• concerns about relationships from either party can be discussed frankly;
• the relationship allows for long-term strategic issues as well as day-to-day delivery issues to be considered.

These considerations should be built into the commodity/service specification and/or the terms and conditions of the contract.

Your Contract Manager should be engaged early in the process.  This will ensure they engage early with stakeholders and determine the appropriate contract service level requirements and Key Performance Indicators . Service level and KPI requirements should have been included in the tender documentation.

For Care and Support Services processes must not duplicate those of the Care Inspectorate.

The care manager is the role which has overall resposnibility for ensuring tha tthe totality of care and support for an individual is acheiving the desired outcomes.

Determining the resource required to manage the contract portfolio/supplier base is not an exact science. Very often it is subjective.

Any organisation planning to transition CSM responsibilities to an embedded CSM team, should estimate the resource required.  You should invest time to realistically and pragmatically plan required resources.

Some resource planning options are laid out below.

Estimating Work Required

Resource planning for a new CSM team often depends upon the judgment of an experienced manager.  You should provide enough information for an experienced manager to make an initial estimation of the extent of work required i.e. to manage the volume of Leverage, Routine, Strategic and Bottleneck suppliers.

A decision may be made to start with a small selection of critical or problematic suppliers.  Then you may gradually incorporate more contracts/suppliers with additional resource coming on board as appropriate.

The Resource Planning Tool, that can be found at the bottom of this page, s taken from a particular Scottish public sector organisation’s successful proposal to transition from a traditional ‘let & forget’ model to a CSM model (and is indicative only). For the avoidance of doubt, this organisation absorbed the workload into the existing headcount by reallocating/reprioritising responsibilities and eliminating non-value add activity. 

Quantification / Segmentation

Quantification/segmentation is the most accurate methodology of estimating the resource required to manage the contract/supplier portfolio. It is however, still an estimation as many factors can affect the resource requirements, such as:

• organisational / process maturity
• employee capability
• supplier performance / capability / flexibility

Category A, B & C Ownership

Organisation’s Board / Senior Management Team

Board / Senior Management sponsorship is critical to the success of an embedded CSM approach. The Board / Senior Management Team should take the ultimate strategic ownership of business critical, strategic supplier(s), and be fully committed to improving the contract performance collaboratively with those suppliers.

Contract Manager/Contract Management Officer

Every contract should be managed by a nominated member of staff (‘contract manager/contract management officer’). In a collaborative setting, organisations should determine which organisation will take the lead in managing the contract. An organisation should ensure that there is clarity about the distinction between:

• contract management (the responsibility of the organisation);
• service management (the responsibility of the supplier); and
• for Care and Support Services, the role of the care manager (who has overall responsibility for ensuring that the totality of care and support for an individual is achieving the desired outcomes).

The Contract Manager/Contract Management Officer should have the mind-set to exceed, rather than meet, required goals, deal with a constantly changing set of requirements, and have excellent communication and stakeholder management skills. They should be the principal owner of the supplier relationship and contract performance, and be responsible for business-to-business relationships, contract management performance and contract management competencies, including:

• monitoring of contract and supplier performance against KPIs and other specified performance indicators in partnership with contract management contributors and end users.
• monitoring ‘take-up’ and spend through the Framework or Contract
• managing any reactive/unplanned issues which arise in relation to the contract(s)
• communication of performance and efficiency gains as a result of MI analysis
• drafting and issuing supplier or customer surveys where appropriate
• chairing and managing performance reviews with the supplier, including end user feedback, and disseminating outcomes
• managing any major performance issues and complaints
• facilitating and championing supply chain innovation, continuous improvement initiatives and best practice
• managing Framework Agreement variations, and disseminating outcomes
• managing the extension of any optional extension periods (and/or the re-tender process and the supplier Exit Strategy)
• providing guidance and advice to end users as necessary
• MI validation

Stakeholders / End Users

Contribute to contract and supplier management process by:

• supporting and championing supply chain innovation, continuous improvement initiatives and best practice
• facilitating the validation of end user feedback on contract and supplier performance
• inputting to the monitoring of the supplier performance against KPIs and other specified performance indicators
• inputting to performance reviews with the supplier
• participating in the annual performance review
• operational management of compliance, supply, demand and payment at a local level
• managing supplier relationships relating specifically to operational issues
• providing contract/supplier performance data to contract management contributors
• referring supplier performance issues to the Contract Manager
• leading, supporting and championing supply chain initiatives

The Contract Award Notice is a public announcement of the public procurement exercise outcome.

The publication of a Contract Award Notice is mandatory for ALL regulated procurement exercises i.e. those where the estimated value is £50k or over (excluding VAT).

The Contract Award Notice must be despatched no later than 30 calendar days after the contract or framework agreement award date.  This also applies when a mini competition has been held for a Framework Agreement and the value is £50k or more for goods and services.

Contract Award Notice(s) must be published on the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) portal. Contract Award Notices published via PCS will contain all of the mandatory information required.

For Dynamic Purchasing Systems, Contract Award Notices do not need to be published for each and every award.  These can be grouped together and published on a quarterly basis within 30 calendar days of quarter end.

The Contract Award Notice should not include any information which would:

• impede law enforcement or otherwise be contrary to the public interest;
• prejudice the commercial interests of any person; or
• prejudice fair competition between bidders.

When running a procurement exercise, there may be circumstances where you wish to award some lots and not others.

For example:

• Delaying a contract award on a specific lot because of a delay to the standstill period but still awarding the other lots in the procurement exercise.
• There are no compliant bids on a specific lot and an alternative exercise may be required for this lot but the bids on the other lots are compliant and can still be awarded.

To support this, in Public Contracts Scotland (PCS), you have the capability to award selected lots through separate award notices.

The process in PCS is:

1. Select your notice and click on “award”
2. The page will be displayed with all lots (if any). If there are no lots, the award process stays the same
3. You will need to deselect lots you don’t want to award and then click  “award”.

The Public Contract Scotland (PCS) Contracts Register module provides the facility for buying organisations to operate a private register of all contracts they have in place and a public register of these contracts to meet the obligations of Section 35 of the Procurement Reform Act (Scotland) 2014.

When you publish a PCS award notice an entry is automatically made in your contracts register. Your organisation will need to make the decision whether to make the contracts register publicly viewable or not.

PLEASE NOTE:  if you do not use PCS for producing a contract register, you must still produce a publicly available one.

The PCS contracts register will pull through the contract value from your contract award notice. You should always be as open and transparent as possible when completing this field. This field can be manually amended but all relevant amendments have to be manually duplicated in the Scottish Procurement Information Hub (there is no integration between the two systems for manual amendments).

Even if you withhold the contract value from a contract award notice, this does not provide an exemption from the Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). To withhold under FOISA, the information would have to, or be likely to cause substantial prejudice.  Also the public interest in withholding the information would have to outweigh the public interest in its release.

Detailed contracts register user guidance can be found in PCS.