Changing Processes
Contract Standing Orders
In July 2023, the Council refreshed their Contract Standing Orders, this included an increase to the internal threshold for works contracts from £500k to £2 million with an emphasis on the use of the Quick Quote facility within Public Contracts Scotland for below threshold/unregulated contracts. The process for below regulated procurements for works, goods, and services directs procuring officers to obtain at least three quotations including Fife based SMEs, supported businesses, Social Enterprises, third sector organisations, or a business that is a significant employer within Fife, where appropriate.
‘Part-Local’ to supplement reporting
It was also recognised that local suppliers can benefit from ‘non-local’ procurement spend either through depots/employment within the local authority area, or through their supply chain. The scale of this was not feasible to accurately quantify from existing data but now as part of the tender process suppliers are asked to confirm if they have local depots/branches and/or local employment to service the contract tendered for. If they do, they are categorised as ‘Part-Local’ and can therefore be reported as such on that basis.
Approximately £202 million (32%) of the 23-24 spend was categorised as ‘Part-Local’ with the top 30 ‘part-local’ suppliers accounting for £176m of this spend. ‘Part-Local’ categorised suppliers include a supplier who has 5 branches in Fife employing 16 local residents and another example is a supplier who operates their East Scotland branch from Dunfermline.
In 24/25 this Part-Local impact was £222 million (32%) with the top 30 ‘part-local’ suppliers account for £192 million of this spend.