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Buying and procurement

If you're looking to procure a digital product or service, you'll need to begin planning as soon as you can.

The amount of time you should allow for a procurement process

Estimated value of what you're looking to buy Length of support needed from a DPO or procurement specialist Total time
Below £50,000 5 - 10 days 3 - 6 months
£50,000 - £100,000 15 - 20 days

6 - 9 months

£100,000 - £5 million

Between 30 - 40 days

9 - 12 months

£5 million - £25 million Between 40 - 140 days 12 - 18 months

How to get started

The main steps you'll need to take to buy a digital product or service are:

  1. Step 1

    Contact your Delegated Procurement Officer (DPO)

    If you work for the Scottish Government, you should start your procurement process by contacting your directorate's DPO

    If you do not have a DPO, or you work for an agency of the Scottish Government or another organisation under the Technology Assurance Framework, check who you need to contact.

    There will usually be a cost charged to your project for procurement support. How much your project is charged will depend on a number of factors, including how much, and what type of, support is needed.

    Starting your procurement with your DPO or a procurement specialist

    When contacting your DPO or procurement specialist, you should be able to explain your procurement requirements. For very basic, low value procurements, you will not need to give extensive details, but for everything else you should be able to explain:

    At this point of the process, you should only be thinking of your procurement in terms of requirements - what needs must be met - rather than in terms of buying a specific product or service.

    If you work within the Scottish Government, an Accountable Officer Form will also need to be completed before any procurement can take place.

  2. Step 2

    Decide how to buy what you need

    Your DPO or procurement specialist will help you decide the best way to procure what you need.

    The best route to procuring what you need depends on a number of factors including cost and how common your requirements are. Things your DPO or procurement specialist will look at are whether:

    If reuse is not suitable, it's likely your DPO or procurement specialist will need to go to the external market with your requirements to buy what you need. It's important to note that you do not need to do anything to start the process of going to market - it's the responsbility of your DPO or procurement specialist to oversee this process - though they may need to involve you in some aspects of market engagement, such as speaking to suppliers to explain your requirements.

    Your DPO or procurement specialist will also let you know if supporting documents, like a specification document, need to be produced as part of this process.

    Find out more about the options when going to market, including procurement frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems.

  3. Step 3

    Decide what you're going to buy after going to market

    You'll need to evaluate offers from suppliers with your DPO or procurement specialist.

    During this process, your DPO or procurement specialist will undertake a commercial evaluation of offers and you will need to undertake a technical evaluation to check which offer best meets your requirements.

    You should set up a Tender Evaluation Panel within your team to conduct your technical evaluation. This panel should involve senior leads on your project, such as Service or Product Owners, and include appropriate digital expertise. 

    You'll need to make sure that what the panel decides to buy as a result of your technical evaluation is evidenced as:

    The commercial evaluation, carried out by your DPO or procurement specialist, will often include 'weightings'. These will be applied to help prioritise your requirements, and evaluate which offer meets them in the most cost-effective way.

  4. Step 4

    Sign a contract

    Once you've made the decision about what you're going to procure, your DPO or procurement specialist will sign a contract with the successful supplier.  

    Your contract will be a fully integrated, consistent suite of documents. It will define:

    • what you're buying, i.e. a specification
    • the method and timeframe for delivery, risk allocation and other key commercial terms, e.g. the payment mechanism and KPIs
    • what happens if things go wrong, i.e. that critical risk allocation is defined and properly reflected in the contract 

    The contract also makes sure: 

    • decisions on contractual roles and responsibilities are documented
    • the rights and obligations of each party, and the associated contractual processes required to implement your procurement, are defined clearly

    If the procurement was done through a framework, your supplier will generally have already signed up to pre-agreed, robust terms and conditions as part of their successful entry to a framework. If the procurement was done through a dynamic purchasing system, or in another way, this will not be the case, so your DPO or procurement specialist will help you put the terms together from a set of standard terms and conditions used for Scottish Government procurement contracts

    Proportionality 

    The complexity of your contract will match the scale, complexity, criticality and lifecycle of the goods or services your contract is for. If it's an ongoing product or service, you’ll need to make sure that your team is resourced to actively manage the relationship with your supplier and the product or service delivered through the contract.

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