Blogs

2024 has been a year of continued growth and positive impact for the Scottish Procurement Alliance. As the end of the year draws closer, we are taking the opportunity to reflect on the year. We look back on the highlights, achievements and milestones that we have witnessed in 2024 with a view of what’s coming up in 2025.

Back in February this year we launched our 3-year Social Value Strategy influenced by our vision of improving lives and places not just from our procurement solutions but across our entire operation. As a not-for-profit organisation, we apply great importance to community investment and development. Derived from two main vehicles, the SPA Community Benefit Fund and the rebate programme, combined these initiatives have seen over £5.3 million distributed back into communities for the benefit of Scottish residents.

Formed of three impact areas, our Social Value Strategy sets out our commitment to growing and improving communities and explains how this will be achieved and how we will record and inform stakeholders about our progress.

For the first area of impact, our frameworks will be developed to feature social value objectives at the core and measure the social value of each project registered. The second impact area relates to investing in communities from our Community Benefit Fund looking at how we record, measure and grow this programme of support. Followed by our third and final impact area where each employee is allocated 1.5 days of personal volunteering and 1 day of volunteering as a team. It is encouraged that these days are used to have a meaningful impact within the local community.

This year the team spent over 150 hours participating in volunteering activities which included litter picking, volunteering on housing trustee boards, and renovating a large village hall and farmhouse. For our team volunteering we assisted Jak’s Den in Livingston prepare for their highly anticipated Christmas party by wrapping over 100 selection boxes and treats, making and packaging Grinch dust, creating wooden tree decorations, preparing bags of sweets and labelling and setting up for the kids party.

At our AGM in September we focussed on the topic of community development and participatory budgeting to celebrate the 7 years of our Community Benefit Fund. Over 40 delegates attended this event supported by a range of experts from the public sector, sharing best practice knowledge and examples of projects they had run in the past and sharing the results and insight into the processes that have led to their achievements. The group learned about the positive impact that the SPA Community Benefit Fund has had on communities throughout Scotland since 2017 with a diverse range of funded projects.

In addition to our Community Benefit Fund, earlier in the year our rebate programme channelled over half a million pounds in rebates to 36 partners generated from their framework usage. The largest individual award this year totalled £100,790.00. This investment will support wide-ranging essential local projects and services such as the installation of a play park, furniture and white goods packs for new and existing tenants as well as many other impressive and impactful initiatives.

In May 2024, Lintel Trust hosted its 26th annual golf tournament at Auchterarder Golf Club. Teams gathered in Perthshire to compete for the coveted Lintel Cup. The tournament raised over £5,500, which will be used to fund vital initiatives for voluntary organisations and local community groups across Scotland. These funds will also support the Small Grants Programme. The funds raised will help provide solutions for people in housing need and contribute to the overall well-being of Scottish communities.

Early in 2024, we launched two new frameworks, Fire Safety (FS2) and Refurbishment & Modernisation (RM3). FS2 can be utilised by public sector bodies as an efficient route to market for a range of fire safety projects that ensure the safety of tenants and occupants. The framework can cover fire safety consultancy and risk management, system installations, systems servicing and maintenance and cladding remediation. Our RM3 framework also provides a route to the market for modernisation and improvement projects. The framework consists of 5 workstreams which cover kitchens and bathroom work, electrical works, painting and decorating, environmental and external works and multi-disciplinary works. The framework was created to provide partners with the option to find a tailored approach to delivering their projects.  

Throughout the year our team have been attending Meet the Buyer events up and down the country meeting potential suppliers for our upcoming frameworks. We engaged with suppliers through various talking tender events hosted by SDP to inform prospective bidders about our opportunities. These events provide a forum for open dialogue, allowing us to share information about framework opportunities and address any queries from prospective suppliers looking to join our framework.

In October 2024, the Scottish Procurement Alliance achieved Gold Standard verification under Constructing Excellence's scheme. This prestigious accreditation recognises SPA's commitment to delivering value, reducing risk, and achieving net zero targets. The Gold Standard Verification Scheme, launched in November 2023, sets a new standard for public sector construction frameworks. By adhering to the 24 Gold Standard recommendations, SPA demonstrates its alignment with best practices and government policy.

2024 has been a year of significant achievement for the Scottish Procurement Alliance. We've made strides in embedding social value into our operations through our Social Value Strategy. Our team has actively participated in community initiatives, contributing over  150 hours of volunteer work. We've also strengthened our relationships with suppliers through engagement events and the successful launch of our Gold Standard verified frameworks. Our rebate scheme has distributed over half a million pounds to 36 organisations, supporting vital local projects. As we look ahead to 2025, we remain committed to delivering innovative procurement solutions that benefit our clients and their communities.

Six new members joined the SPA team this year, bolstering key areas of the SPA operation. Further enhancing our added value services programme across client support, technical, procurement, corporate services and social value. We welcomed Ross Barty (Client Support), Grant Walker (Technical), Mariann Hughes (Procurement), Carrie Denholm (Business Coordinator), Luke Walker (Marketing) and Amanda Gauld (Social Value).

Our latest addition, Amanda Gauld joined the team in October as our new Social Value Advisor. In this new role, Amanda will play a key part in the roll-out of our Social Value Strategy, sharing her knowledge and expertise on all social value considerations to inform partners on generating community benefits that have maximum and wide-ranging impact.

As well as offering advice and guidance to partners she is also supporting Lintel Trust with the management of the Community Benefit Fund by visiting projects and assisting with the measurement of social value activities. Amanda brings an impressive array of skills and knowledge to the role as well as a clear passion for community development and steering positive change in deprived areas.

This January, our new Retrofit and Decarbonisation (N9) framework will go live, it boasts an array of benefits to partners as well as communities across Scotland consisting of 6 diverse workstreams which offer a catalogue of options for net zero related projects. N9 was developed following extensive engagement with the sector and suppliers from a local and national perspective. It provides a flexible solution adaptable to the needs and requirements of the public sector whether that is a single, multi or whole house approach the framework supports the ambitions of the sector.

It's widely recognised, not just in Scotland, but across the UK that green skills are in high demand, and for us to achieve the targets set out we need more skilled workers. Without investment in this critical sector, there is a risk that servicing the demand may be a real challenge. Therefore, we have pledged our support to the sector by channelling much needed investment to grow the sector and availability of skilled workers. A portion of our income generated from use of the N9 framework will be allocated to organisations that are innovating and teaching the next generation of green skills workers. Additionally, by using the N9 framework, partners will be able to source funding experts to navigate the often arduous funding landscape alongside supporting the development of strategies and shaping organisation policies.

2024 has been a year of significant achievement for the Scottish Procurement Alliance. We've made strides in embedding social value into our operations through our Social Value Strategy. Our team has grown rapidly and we’ve actively participated in community initiatives, contributing over 150 hours of volunteer work. We've also strengthened our relationships with suppliers through engagement events and the successful launch of our Gold Standard verified frameworks. Our rebate scheme has distributed over half a million pounds to 36 organisations, supporting vital local projects. As we look ahead to 2025, we remain committed to delivering innovative procurement solutions that benefit both our partners and the communities they serve our clients and their communities.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support throughout 2024 and wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and fun-filled New Year! We look forward to working with you again in 2025!