Decide which spend category(s) you wish to perform the benchmarking exercise for.  

1. Complete a spend analysis on what you have purchased in that area for at least the last 12 months (by line item);
2. Sort the data from the highest to lowest spend;
3. Highlight the top 80 percent of the spend.

This 80 percent will normally be no more than 20 percent of the number of line items.. You now have a manageable amount of data to go out into the market place with.

This does not cover every aspect of the potential scope of supply.  In certain circumstances additional items may need to be added, such as bottle-neck and specialised items.  The aim is to gain an estimation of the market rates.

The incumbent supplier should be made aware 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 prevailing costs.

Benchmarking is generally an informal process and the Management Information Hub is a good source of information, as is the internet. You can also contact a number of suppliers directly.  However it is important to ensure that these suppliers who receive requests for information understand that you are conducting a benchmarking exercise and that this is not a business opportunity. The request should be simple enough for the suppliers to provide the information without having to spend a great deal of time doing so.

You are now ready to compare the results of your benchmarking exercise. To compare the results you could, for example, enter all prices into a spreadsheet and determine the price difference between the incumbent supplier's prices and the prevailing market rates. By doing this you can determine where the incumbent supplier(s) sit against the best, worst and average market rates.

If you are happy with where the incumbent supplier’s pricing sits then the supplier is competitive and no further action needs be taken.

If you are not comfortable with where the incumbent supplier’s pricing fits, invite them to a meeting. Give them the opportunity to explain why they are not competitive against the current market rates. On no account should you divulge the competitors' names or pricing information.

If the supplier is willing to accept their prices are not in line with the market rate, this will be a relatively pain free cost reduction for you. If the supplier is unwilling to negotiate a reduction, you should initiate the escalation process.  Include this as an agenda item at the next Review Meeting.

The fundamental purpose of Contract and Supplier Management is to ensure that:

• suppliers meet their contractual obligations for the duration of the contract;
• the contract's requirements are successfully delivered. This includes any special contract performance conditions included in the competition documentation and related to the contract subject-matter.  This may cover economic, innovation-related, environmental, social or employment-related conditions.

Anyone engaged in managing suppliers must read and fully understand the contract terms and conditions. This will ensure they are not at a disadvantage should any issues arise.

It is essential that your Organisation’s Contract Manager/ Contract Management Officer is engaged from the Develop Strategy stage early in the process and participates in the development of the terms & conditions.

The Full Balanced Scorecard can be used for managing and monitoring contract and supplier performance. A template for you to use can be found at the bottom of this page.

The scorecard can be issued to multiple users of the contract and responses compiled to use as discussion point during the supplier review meetings.

The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be edited to suit the commodity/service area.

KPIs provide a mechanism 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.

For Care & Support Services please also read the "Additional Guidance when Reviewing a Care and Support Service" document which can be found at the bottom of this page.

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

Contract management arrangements should identify what happens when the contract is not being delivered as agreed or, the agreed quality standards are not being met.

As an example, for Care and Support Services, the content management arrangements should describe the process for agreeing necessary improvements (where appropriate, in discussion with the Care Inspectorate) to the service and the timescales that will apply. The contract itself should specify the circumstances in which the public body has a right to terminate the contract (for example, insolvency, service failure, loss of  registration).

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

It is important that your MI requirements are clearly defined and communicated to the supplier. The reporting arrangements can be included in your specification and/ or in the terms and conditions of the contract. Reporting arrangements must be fair and proportionate and not duplicate information already provided.

Your MI approach should minimise demands on suppliers for information about goods/ service delivery. The frequency and level of reporting should be informed by a risk assessment. Reporting may increase in certain circumstances, for example, if a complaint is made about service/ delivery.

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

Contract Managers/ Contract Management Officers should present information gained through contract management in regular reports to senior managers. In order to fulfil their role, they should:

• prepare and issue reports summarising their actions, identifying any significant issues and detailing the conclusions that they have reached;
• consider the consistency of their conclusions with those arising from the work of the regulatory bodies;
• clearly identify the nature and grounds for any concerns and the action that is required to secure improvement;
• consult suppliers on the factual accuracy of all reports;
• communicate regularly with suppliers and ensure that emerging findings are discussed at an appropriate level within their organisations.

Further examples can be found in the "Management Information" document which can be found at the bottom of the page.

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.

Contract management arrangements should identify what happens when the contract is not being delivered as agreed or, the agreed quality standards are not being met.

• performance issues should be addressed immediately, and escalated within the supplier's organisation if not resolved promptly;
• If you find that the supplier is not delivering the agreed level of service, you should raise this with them immediately. For quickness, this can be done by telephone but should be followed up in writing. The supplier should be asked for an action plan to ensure that the required levels of service re-commence in a short time frame. Depending on the severity of the issue, 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 Organisation’s procurement contact notified of the problem;
• If the issue(s) raised are not resolved to your satisfaction, they should be escalated within the supplier's organisation. An early face-to-face meeting should be arranged where actions and timescales 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;
• Contract Managers/ Contract Management Officers should ensure the escalation process is clearly defined, understood and communicated to all stakeholders and end users.

Incentives and sanctions should be used appropriately to maintain/improve the contract/supplier performance.

There are specific contract terms and conditions (T&Cs) that can be used to help drive contract compliance/performance. These should be incorporated into the contract T&Cs.

You should ensure that you understand the contract's specific T&Cs. Any incentives and sanctions must be appropriate and legally enforceable. You must seek legal advice if you are 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. These must not be applied autonomously. Appropriate internal approval must be sought and received prior to implementation.

Incentives could (subject to avoiding substantial modification) include:

• contract extension options as;
• a longer contract opportunity could provide performance motivation;
• payment by result, e.g. milestone payments (linked to defined deliverables);
• reduced payment terms.

Conditions of Contract could include:

• retention e.g. legitimately withholding payment if deliverables are not completed with genuine and notified reason, but compliant with previously agreed contract terms and conditions;
• legal action;
• termination of the contract. (Please note: you cannot terminate a contract with the aim of avoiding procurement rule obligations);
• collecting liquidated damages. Please note that Liquidated Damages is the amount which the parties designate during the formation of the contract for the injured party to collect as compensation should a specific breach occur.

For a sanction to be effectively enforced, sufficient evidence is required to justify the claim or action. It is therefore important to have clear records which could include records of; agreed service levels; notice periods; reminders; communications; agreements etc.

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

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

Many improvement ideas can come from management, employees and supplier(s) operationally involved in the delivery of the service/ goods contract. Supplier(s) and employees can be particularly insightful as they are regularly exposed to operational inefficiencies which may not be visible higher up in the Organisation.

Your Organisation should seek feedback and should work to develop a culture where everyone in the Organisation is encouraged to look for, and suggest, operational improvements. All suggestions should be considered.

Contracts are awarded following a thorough evaluation process which addresses some standard elements.

Throughout the life of the contract, your Organisation’s Contract Managers/Contract Management Officers should perform periodic supplier ‘health checks’. This ensures the standards demonstrated during the initial evaluation are being  maintained. Health checks could include:

• Financial Status;
• 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 should be in line with the type of contract. For example, strategic and bottleneck contracts will be checked more frequently than collaborative and routine contracts.

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

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

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

It is best practice to hold at least an annual review for suppliers identified (under the segmentation process) as requiring ‘medium level’ supplier management.  At least two review meeting per year should be held for ‘high level’ suppliers.

The Review Meeting Template and a meeting agenda example are available below to assist you in doing this.

The Performance Review Agenda Example (agenda can be amended to suit your personal preferences):

Both you and the supplier should be motivated and enabled to deliver additional value.  This should be done within legal limits and over and above that specified in the original contract e.g. not simply extending the expenditure.  The process should deliver benefits such as:

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, 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.

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 Contract and Supplier Management responsibilities to an embedded CSM team, must estimate the resource required. You should invest time too 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 judgement 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 and/or problematic suppliers.  Then you may gradually incorporate more contracts/suppliers with additional resource coming on board as appropriate.

The Resource Planning Tool, found at the bottom of this page, is 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/re-prioritising 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

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

The care manager is the role which has overall responsibility for ensuring the care and support for an individual is achieving the desired outcomes.

CSM Ownership and Approval

Organisation’s Board / Senior Management Team

Board / Senior Management sponsorship is critical to the success of an embedded Contract and Supplier Management approach.

The Board / Senior Management Team should take the ultimate strategic ownership of business critical strategic supplier(s).  They should be fully committed to improving 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)
• 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.  They will, deal with a constantly changing set of requirements.  They need excellent communication and stakeholder management skills. They should be the principal owner of the supplier relationship and contract performance.  They will be responsible for business-to-business relationships, contract management performance and contract management competencies, including:

• monitoring 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.  This includes 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 communicating 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
• contribute  monitoring supplier performance against KPIs and other specified performance indicators
• contributing 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

Having completed the procurement to the point of award it is essential to communicate effectively. Communication of the Contract Award and of the subsequent procedures is essential to ensure compliance.  It also maximises the planned benefit(s) from the procurement exercise.

You must know who you are targeting with your communications. During strategy development you should have identified all key stakeholders from suppliers to end users. You should consider communications in terms of the three areas below, for each of the identified stakeholder groups.

What is your communication about? Be clear on your key and supporting messages. Ensure that the subject is appropriate for the audience (stakeholder group).  Ensure the communication stays focused on what they need to know and what is expected of them.

Plan and consider  your communications timings carefully, in line with the implementation process. Your communications must:

• Arrive in good time;
• Allow the audience to digest the information;
• Allow the audience to then act upon or respond within the timescales.

Communication should take place at the start, throughout and end of the process. .

You must consider how you communicate to your audience.    This can be determined by the stakeholder audience you are targeting.

You may also wish to consider (but not limited to):

• Newsletters- stakeholder community;

• Intranet/internet article - public audience

• e-zines – targeted group;

• e-mail - small targeted group;

• Roadshows – specific bidders or the general supplier community.

Accessibility requirements of your audience and accessibility legislation should be considered.

Some activities undertaken are described more fully further along this process e.g. buyer/end user information packs, supplier buyer events.

This is intended as a guide rather than being prescriptive.

Communication with people who use services and their carers

Having finalised and agreed the procurement plan, an organisation should communicate its intentions to people who use the services and also their carers/representatives. It is important that an organisation provides clear and unambiguous information at this stage and that this information is tailored to the particular audience.

In these communications an organisation should explain:

• how long it will take to decide who will provide the service;
• what will happen at different times in the process;
• how people who use the services and their carers will be involved in the process;
• who will make the final decisions and how these will be made;
• (where appropriate) why there may be a change in service provider; and,
• how service provision may change as a result of the procurement process.

An organisation should also provide contact details for further information.

An organisation should ensure that people who use services and also their carers have help to understand the process and what, if anything, they are being asked about. It should also ensure that these people have sufficient time to consider how they might be affected and to formulate their views before having to respond

Transitional arrangements

It is important that this stage of the procurement process is managed successfully to ensure minimum disruption to people who use services and their carers. This will require close co-operation between different teams within an organisation and between it and service providers.

This is particularly important where the outcome of the procurement exercise involves the transfer of an existing service to a new service provider. This is because there is some potential for the transfer process to be demanding and consume significant amounts of staff time. An organisation should facilitate the transfer of accurate, up to date information to the new service provider and ensure that the handover arrangements are appropriate and fully implemented.

Service providers will need to satisfy the Care Inspectorate that it can adhere to the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 and Regulations and also meet the relevant National Care Standards. The Care Inspectorate can take up to approximately six months to register a new care service. This depends on a range of issues, including provision of a competent application and the complexity of the service being provided.

Where an existing service provider seeks to deliver a new service under the existing registered care services, this should be discussed with the Care Inspectorate. It may be possible to vary the registration to include the new contract. However, consideration would need to be given to: the current conditions of registration; the size of the service; management and staff support arrangements; geography; client group and needs of those people who use services; transferability of staff across the service; staff skills and training; and the aims and objectives of the service.

If a service provider applies to cancel its registration, it is legally required to state whether notice has been given to those people who use the services and their carers about the changes to its service and how their needs will be met if the application to cancel is approved by the Care Inspectorate. An organisation should provide the necessary support and information to a service provider to enable it to meet its legal obligations.

An organisation which is outsourcing a service or bringing a service back in-house will have to meet its legal obligations under the TUPE Regulations. It should, in all such cases, seek legal advice on application of the TUPE Regulations. In other cases involving the transfer of an existing service, an organisation should consider whether it needs to take any action, for example to facilitate the exchange of information between service providers, should the TUPE Regulations apply.

The first meeting with the successful supplier should be held as soon as possible after contract award.

The purpose of this meeting is to:

• discuss the contract implementation phase
• agree roles and responsibilities
• identify activities
• agree timescales.

You must keep in regular contact with the supplier during the contract implementation phase, scheduling additional meetings and communications. 

You may wish to create an information pack for organisations and/or users which contains key contract information including:

• Details of the contract goods and services available;
• Contract prices;
• Supplier contact details;
• Sub-contractor details;
• Ordering information;
• Returns and delivery processes;
• Escalation process;
• Complaints  process;
• Contract and supplier management process;

This information pack should demonstrate how the contract delivers best value and provides information  on contract benefits e.g. savings, KPIs, improvements in quality and service, prompt payment of the full supply chain, sustainable procurement and community benefits expected etc.

An example of an information pack is the Postal Services End User Guide below. This is a detailed example.  Every information pack must be proportionate to the size and complexity of the procurement, therefore your information pack may be much smaller.

A useful way to raise contract awareness amongst potential customers is to organise Supplier/Buyer events.  This gives both parties an opportunity to meet each other and exchange information e.g. undertaking a Supplier/Buyer Event Presentation, and/or distributing information packs / buyers’ guides.

Such events can provide useful information which can be used in the current contract (assuming it does not cause a material change) or in future contracts.

When running a procurement exercise, there may be some 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 will 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 new 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”.

There are no changes to the award notice itself and the award process will also stay the same.

For contracts created via a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), Contract Award Notices can either be:

• published individually for each and every award, or
• can be grouped together, published on a quarterly basis within 30 calendar days of the end of each quarter.

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

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 exempt the information being subsequently disclosed under the Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). To withhold information 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.

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

The contract award notice must include a community benefits statement when:

• the estimated value of the contract is equal to or greater than £4,000,000

• the Procurement Documents stated community benefit requirements will be imposed in the contract,

If included, this statement must include the benefits you believe will derive from community benefits clause(s) through the life of the contract.

You can withhold information from the contract award notice or the conclusion of the framework agreement where publication:

a) would impede law enforcement;

b) would be against the public interest;

c) would affect the commercial interests of particular tenderer(s), whether they are public or private, or

d) may impact fair competition between tenderers

Where the publication would affect the commercial interests of particular tenderers, you must demonstrate that the commercial interests of the company concerned would definitely be prejudiced by releasing the information.

Specifically in relation to the procurement for Care and Support Services, on the award of a contract or conclusion of a framework agreement, you should communicate the outcome of the procurement exercise to the people who use the services and also to their carers.

A supplier should notify people who use the services of a cancellation of a care service’s registration and any arrangements which are to be put in place to ensure that those who use its services and their carers receive an on-going and similar service. It would be appropriate for this to be done in collaboration with the organisation. An organisation should also communicate the outcome of the procurement exercise to any existing suppliers that have chosen not to tender.

Your Organisation may withhold certain information, regarding the contract award, where the release of such information would:

• prevent the enforcement of the law;
• be contrary to the public interest;
• would affect the commercial interests of particular tenderer(s), whether they are public or private, or
• may impact fair competition between tenderers.  

As with all aspects of the Procurement Journey, the activities at this stage must be carried out in a carefully managed way that supports the Principles of Procurement. 

Please note, if the commodity/service was deemed to be suitable for cataloguing, the buyer should set up the successful tenderer on the Pecos Content Management System (PCM) to ensure that they can prepare the catalogues where it has not already been done.

PCM is not appropriate for Care and Support Services 

A buyer should chair the debriefing meeting. Other User Intelligence Group (UIG) members or end-users can still provide guidance and/or assistance.

Where a formal debriefing meeting is required, this may involve representatives from both operational areas and procurement professionals.  This will ensure the debriefing is undertaken by experienced and fully trained personnel.

You should ensure that technical/operational representatives understand their role in the debriefing.

There are defined timelines for standstill that must be followed before your organisation can enter into a contract.

These do not apply where:

• the contract or framework agreement is exempt from the requirement for prior publication of a contract notice;
• there are no unsuccessful tenderers; and
• a notice is not required to be given under regulation 85(4) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 (notices of decisions to award a contract or conclude a framework agreement).

The standstill period is 10 days where the standstill notice is sent to all tenderers by electronic means.  The 10 days end at midnight at the end of the 10th day after that on which the last notice is sent.

Where the notice is sent to any tenderers by other means, e.g. by post, the standstill period is 15 days ending at midnight at the end of the 15th day after that on which the last notice is sent.

If unsuccessful tenderers have any concerns about the process, and/or its outcome, they should be raised during the standstill period.

Before approaching the court seeking any legal remedies, a tenderer must inform the Organisation and explain the basis for its court application. The Organisation will usually be aware of any legal challenge prior to the end of the mandatory standstill period.

When court action has commenced, your Organisation cannot award the contract unless the court permits this.  This is usually after your Organisation has successfully applied to the court.

Even after contract award, a supplier can approach the court seeking damages (see remedies section). The standstill notice communicates the intent to award contract and should be sent as soon as possible after the contract award decision has been made.

A notification must also be issued to each candidate providing, where applicable, the grounds for any decision:

• not to conclude a framework agreement for which there has been a call for competition;
• not to award a contract for which there has been a call for competition;
• to recommence the procedure; or
• not to implement a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for which there has been a call for competition.

Standard template notices can be found at: Standard Forms and Documentation.

Your Organisation can withhold certain information regarding the contract award, where its release would prevent the enforcement of the law or be contrary to the public interest, would affect the commercial interests of particular tenderer(s)(public or private) or may impact fair competition between tenderers.  

As with all aspects of the Procurement Journey, the activities at this stage must be carried out in a carefully managed way that supports the Principles of Procurement

In addition to the standstill notice the, Organisation must also respond within 15 days to a written request from a tenderer to:

• advise an unsuccessful tenderer of the reasons for the rejection of its request to participate;
• inform an unsuccessful tenderer of the reasons for the rejection of its tender, including any decision that the goods or services do not meet the performance or functional requirements;
• in the case of an unsuccessful tenderer which has not been informed by a standstill notice, confirm the characteristics and relative advantages of the successful tender, including the name of the successful tenderer; and
• provide the successful tenderer with a description of any improvements the Organisation considers that they could have made to their tender.

Please note, if the commodity is deemed to be suitable to be set up as a catalogue, the buyer should set up the successful tenderer on the PECOS Content Management system to ensure that they can prepare the catalogues, where it has not already been done.

If court proceedings are served to an Organisation during the standstill period, then the Organisation cannot enter into the contract.

Organisations must ensure a process is in place to inform all relevant staff when proceedings are served. This process should also ensure that appropriate action is taken.