Values and promotion of tenders
As a public sector organisation HIE's procurement activity is guided by legislation and best practice, with the route being determined by the potential total value of the contract as detailed below:
- less than £50k - the principals of adequate competition apply
- greater than £50,000 but below the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) thresholds (see below), most commonly advertised on the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) portal and on our own procurement pages.
- OJEU and above (for supplies and services greater than £173,934 and for works greater than £4,348,350) - conducted in line with The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and advertised in OJEU and also advertised on PCS.
Framework Agreements
HIE may also engage with suppliers via any of the Framework Agreements which have been implemented by the Scottish Procurement and Commercial Directorate (SPCD) (both on behalf of public sector organisations in Scotland) or Buying Solutions (on behalf of the public sector for the whole of the UK).
The method for HIE to engage with suppliers on these Frameworks is prescribed with the usual route for multi supplier frameworks being via a mini competition between all the suppliers on that Framework. There is therefore not only opportunity for suppliers to tender for these Frameworks themselves once they are advertised but also to offer their services as subcontractors at the pre and post award stages of the procurement process.
These opportunities are advertised on various websites including PCS, Supply2Gov, the national lower value contract opportunity portal and/or OJEU.
HIE do not maintain their own register of suppliers, or have approved suppliers, but suggest suppliers register for free with the PCS website. By doing so they will receive notification of contract opportunities, specific to their areas of expertise, from an ever growing number of public bodies in Scotland, including HIE.
Such notification not only covers lower value contract opportunities but also those above the OJEU threshold which appear in the European Journal.
We would also suggest that suppliers monitor various other procurement portals including Buying Solutions, Procurement Scotland and Scottish Procurement and Commercial Directorate, to help them identify potential subcontracting opportunities, most of which will have dedicated supplier areas.
See also...
