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Thousands of Businesses Secure Public Sector Contracts(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) EDINBURGH, Scotland, Oct. 21 -- The Scottish government issued the following news: The number of public sector contract awards being won by Scottish companies through the Public Contracts Scotland portal has more than doubled from 6,000 to over 12,000 in two years, thanks to measures to simplify procurement processes. Improvements to procurement procedures are giving companies the opportunity to gain access to public contracts and the Pounds10 billion the public sector spends annually. In addition, the introduction of a community benefit clause, which makes training, employment and investment in local communities a contractual requirement, has created over 3,500 apprenticeships and training opportunities since 2008. Next month the Scottish Government's online advertising portal PCS will merge with the Glasgow Business Portal to make it even easier for businesses to search for and bid for all public contract opportunities in Scotland. Currently there are over 65,000 supplier registrations with PCS of which 86 per cent are small and medium sized businesses. Speaking at the National Procurement Conference in Glasgow, Finance Secretary John Swinney underlined the Scottish Government's commitment to making Scotland the best place in Europe to do business with the public sector. He said: "Scotland's model of procurement is recognised internationally as a benchmark of excellence. Measures to simplify and streamline processes are giving thousands of businesses across Scotland an opportunity to flourish. "Through our community benefit clauses, we have given communities a guarantee that they will get something back from businesses operating in their area. As a result, thousands of young people are being trained and equipped with the skills they need for the jobs of the future. "The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 shows that we are doing all we can to ensure as many people as possible benefit from the Living Wage. The Act enables us to issue statutory guidance, which will mean that public bodies will be able to evaluate each contractor's approach to workforce-related matters, including paying the Living Wage. "This approach is demonstrated by the award of a new catering contract for the Scottish Government which means that employees working on that contract will be paid the Living Wage. This comes on top of our work setting up the Fair Work Convention which will aim to exert greater Scottish influence over the minimum wage." Case Study Around 40 per cent of Maxi Construction Ltd's Pounds8.5 million turnover comes from public sector contracts. The Livingston company's managing director says the PCS has been a great money saving tool for the business. John Aitchison, said: "The use of the PCS service has given Maxi Construction access to public sector contracts we may otherwise not have been aware of and the business has benefited from being included on framework agreements for numerous public sector organisations including East Lothian Council and the City of Edinburgh Council. "PCS has been a benefit to the business, with an increase in efficiency thanks to the electronic exchange of pre-qualification and tender documents." Kirkcaldy based company Frew Conservation has also benefitted from the PCS service. The company's director Craig Frew said: "PCS offers a direct route for us to access relevant contract opportunities and compete on a level playing field with larger competitors. "The fact that we can, and do, compete in the public sector marketplace had paid off - since establishing our building conservation consultancy and training business two years ago, we have successfully secured and delivered seven significant contracts with public sector organisations." CC AutoTriage1pm-141022-30TagarumaMar-4908259 30TagarumaMar (c) 2014 Targeted News Service |