The procurement exercise sought to complement and enhance the schemes’ climate ambitions and the Scottish Government’s broader decarbonisation agenda through:
1. Developing a robust Technical Specification which fully reflected the Scottish Government’s climate ambitions, as well as crafting appropriate Supplier Selection and Contract Award Criteria to ensure that these priorities were appropriately addressed and subsequently evaluated in tender responses.
2. Future-proofing the contract to support innovation – allowing new and emerging technologies, installation techniques and customer groups to be brought online.
It was essential to have a robust, clear and comprehensive Technical Specification which reflected lessons learned from the previous programme (Warmer Homes Scotland), as well as alignment with the Scottish Government’s decarbonisation agenda and its’ ground breaking commitment to adopt PAS 2035 standards into its energy efficiency delivery programmes.
To achieve this, the programme tendering team:
a) Secured specialist support to develop the complex technical detail required by the PAS 2035 standard, and
b) Utilised the Sustainability Tools to ensure that all relevant aspects were identified, considered and addressed in the Invitation to Tender documentation.
With support from colleagues from across the Scottish Government, Life Cycle Impact Mapping (LCIM) and the Sustainability Test were completed by key programme stakeholders via two full-day workshops.
The workshop outputs were shared with sustainability colleagues who provided detailed feedback on the Sustainability Test, suggested improvements to the LCIM and liaised with technical experts to advise on how these finalised outputs could be embedded into the Technical Specification and Selection and Technical Award Criteria.
Drawing on the outputs of the Sustainability Test and LCIM, the team worked with stakeholders to develop a standalone Sustainability and Community Benefits document which formed a component of the Technical Specification. This covered:
• Sustainability;
• Equality;
• Community Benefits;
• Small & Medium Sized Enterprises, Third Sector and Supported Businesses;
• Fair Work First, including Payment of the real Living Wage;
• Fair and Ethical Trading;
• Environmental Management (including waste management, hazardous materials, energy usage, natural environment and heritage etc), and
• The Environmental Management Capability of Staff and Sub-contractors.
To secure relevant and proportionate Community Benefits in delivery, this appendix included a Skills Development Plan which supported (in relation to climate):
• The creation of relevant employment, training and recognised transferable skills development opportunities, including ‘Green Skills’ as described in the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan, including through innovative solutions;
• Adoption of the Scottish installer skills matrix (referenced in PAS 2035); and
• Driving national skills capacity in under-resourced geographical locations.
Based on the high value of the requirement, the energy efficiency/net zero subject matter, and the outputs of the Sustainability Test, a decision was taken to include the Single Procurement Document (SPD) question 4C.7 (Environmental Management Measures). The team secured legal advice and liaised with the Scottish Government Procurement Policy team to finalise the specific Q 4C.7 Pass/Fail scoring guidance:
SELECTION SCORING GUIDANCE - for Question 4C.7 in the Qualification Envelope |
|
|---|---|
SCORE |
|
Pass |
Production and submission of a Bidder ‘priority contract’ Climate Change Plan that has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors (or equivalent management body). |
Fail |
No Bidder ‘priority contract’ Climate Change Plan produced and submitted that has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors (or equivalent management body). |
The tender weighting was 60% Quality, 40% Price
The priorities identified by the Sustainability Test also informed the choice of Technical Award Criteria and weightings. A scored Climate Emergency question with a 7% weighting was included in the Invitation to Tender, as follows:
The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, which amends the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, sets targets to reduce Scotland's emissions of all greenhouse gases to net-zero by 2045 at the latest, with interim targets for reductions of at least 56% by 2020, 75% by 2030, 90% by 2040.
The Scottish Ministers are committed to a fairer and more sustainable Scotland to support citizens now and in future generations. Responsible businesses around the world are considering their own sustainable credentials and how they can counter the climate emergency. Scottish Ministers want to do business with responsible suppliers and actively encourage all tenderers, suppliers and partners in the supply chain to the Scottish public sector to collaborate in tackling these global issues together. Scottish Ministers welcome creative thinking and commitment in how to build and shape sustainable solutions and supply chains for Scotland, ensuring that a key consideration in how our supply chains are shaped includes minimising emissions, underpinning a circular economy and supporting our Climate Change Plan.
Please provide details of how the contract will be delivered in a way that ensures that it supports the Scottish Minister’s sustainability objectives outlined above. This should include details of how the tenderer will work with the Purchaser to support their targets, in measures which are capable of being objectively monitored and reported through contract management, including those which support the transition to a circular economy and ‘net zero’, protect the natural environment and heritage of sites, restrict or otherwise safely manage the use of hazardous materials, while ensuring that workforce and sub-contractors are trained to support these environmental management measures and others which may be relevant, while ensuring relevant legal compliance.
PAS 2035 is a standard for domestic energy efficiency work - published by the British Standards Institute. PAS 2035 is the over-arching document in the retrofit standards framework (which users of the TrustMark UK
Government endorsed quality scheme are required to comply with when carrying out domestic retrofit work).
The appointed Service Provider is encouraged to engage with an external competent body such as Energy
Skills Partnership (ESP) in developing and delivering the Skills Development Plan.
Community Benefits
The invitation to tender included three Community Benefits questions with a cumulative 9% weighting. The questions required bidders to:
Bidders were required to nominate an Operational Manager who will be responsible for reporting on progress against the Skill Development Plan during the lifetime of the contract. The appointed Service Provider is required to provide an update on delivery against Community Benefits commitments as part of the Monthly Performance Report (which also includes reporting against KPIs).
Fair Work First
A scored Fair Work First question with a 5% weighting was included in the ITT as well as non-scored questions on whether bidders were accredited by Living Wage Scotland or the Living Wage Foundation.
