Public sector spending on goods and services across Scotland, in areas such as health and education services, amounts to over £9 billion per year. Procurement regulations and guidelines govern the purchasing of these goods and services.
AiB has its own Procurement branch which is responsible for setting our policy and procedures in place, and purchasing goods and services for all aspects of the Agency's business. Being an Agency of the Scottish Government, the definitive authority in relation to our procurement policy and procedures is the Scottish Procurement and Commercial Directorate. Where appropriate, however and due to unique nature of the AiB's business area, some policies, procedures and authorities may vary.
A substantial proportion of the Agency's resources is spent on goods and services procured from third parties.
AiB procurement follows some key objectives:
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Obtaining maximum value for money in contracting for the goods and services that enable us to deliver our business objectives
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Enhancing the competitiveness of the supply base
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'Value for money' means the optimal combination of costs, service delivery and quality
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Using e-Procurement in order to boost efficiency
Frameworks
It is AiB policy that mandatory use of existing frameworks to purchase goods and services are applied. Our contract register lists all the frameworks that AiB currently utilise.