Procurement Strategy 2024-26

This section details the commitments and supporting actions that will be undertaken by the AiB Procurement team for all our regulated procurements.

Supporting AiB’s functions and purposes

The core function and purpose of AiB is to provide options for those seeking debt management and debt relief in Scotland. This necessitates the procurement of supporting services such as insolvency services and legal services.

The AiB Procurement team will work to understand the business requirements and develop responsive contracts that effectively maximise competition.

We will do this by:

• engaging with pre-procurement exercises to support the AiB project function (e.g. alternatives to procurement)
• undertaking internal and external stakeholder engagement to understand the business requirements and market offering
• maintaining a procurement pipeline and ensuring that upcoming procurements are displayed on the AiB website
• undertaking relevant qualifications and further training
• providing procurement and contract management training to wider AiB staff
• knowledge sharing with other government organisations where appropriate

Delivering value for money

All AiB procurements will obtain auditable value for money.

We will do this by:

• following the Scottish Public Finance Manual and our duty to secure best value
• ensuring user intelligence groups have a representative from applicable business areas
• assessing the effectiveness of our procurement exercises
• undertaking lessons learned exercises to facilitate continuous improvement
• appraising the available routes to procurement taking account of each routes benefits and risks in relation to each specific requirement
• utilising collaborative procurement agreements (where available)
• recording key information for all procurement exercises

Legislative compliance

All AiB procurements will be delivered with full legislative compliance.

We will do this by:

• ensuring procurement staff are aware of any legislative changes and Scottish Procurement Policy Notices
• ensuring our procurement document suite is regularly reviewed and updated
• following best procurement practice as per the Scottish procurement policy handbook and procurement journey
• considering the sustainable procurement duty for all our regulated procurements
• conducting our procurement activities to reflect the aim and priorities of the National Performance Framework
• using the Public Contracts Scotland portal to advertise our regulated tendering opportunities and contract award notices
• publishing a Procurement Strategy and Annual Procurement Report.
• seeking professional legal advice where appropriate