Impact

PCS is free to use for both contracting authorities and economic operators. Contracting authorities can now open up their procurement opportunities and achieve lower pricing through more competitive tendering.  They have a range of supportive tools available through the portal to enable administrative efficiencies.

It also provides the Scottish Government and contracting organisations with an invaluable analysis tool on the procurement transactions across Scotland.  Using the new data, the SPD can target specific aspects of administrative reform, understand the ability of SME's to tender for contracts, support the economic development activity of providers and enable the sharing of experience and information.  PCS data is integrated with a separate spend analysis tool which is used to establish and embed appropriate procurement policy and best practice to reduce duplication of effort for both contracting organisations and suppliers and to encourage best practice. 

Bonnie Nicolson, Senior Procurement Executive with Scottish Enterprise uses the portal and has the following comments on their experience so far:

 “Using PCS has been an easy transition for Scottish Enterprise.  The user training was excellent and the system has led to a more streamlined approach to procurement.  We have received positive feedback from users [suppliers] and we are now looking to increase user numbers within our organisation to improve our procurement processes further."

 Of the 185 organisations targeted, 125 are actively using the system already to publish notices.  In addition, organisations outwith the original scope have also come on board following good experiences of other organisations. 

The below table shows the difference in the proportion of notices being published in the first month and then again in May 2009.  That means that in less than a year 80% of all OJEU contract notices go through PCS, putting Scotland on track to achieve one of the highest eSending rates in Europe alongside only a handful of other regions.

Overall the tools provides administrative efficiencies to all parties and will bring environmental efficiencies as well by cutting a large amount of paper out of the tendering process and moving daily practices online. The good results are set to continue, with an increasing number of purchasing authorities, tender notices and suppliers.   The number of lower value notices is likely to rise significantly over time with proposed new developments to the portal, which will be implemented within the first year of use.

The adoption of the service has provided much improved links between buyers in the public sector and private sector suppliers. Public sector processes, policies and procedures are more open and transparent which has encouraged much improved communication between the sectors. Buyers are now more willing to spend time informing the private sector of the service - principally as there is now one common platform across the country to promote. Private sector suppliers have found this invaluable. One SME in Ayrshire said:

“In all my years of business I have never known anyone to promote public sector procurement to be as open, transparent and accountable.”

Track record of sharing

The issues regarding public expenditure tackled by this project are common to public administrations across Europe and the way in which this case has been implemented and managed could easily be transferred to other countries. The practice employed conforms to or exceeds European Code Of Best Practices Facilitating Access By SME’S to Public Procurement Contracts - June 2008.

PCS is an example of shared best practice itself as the implementation approach was informed by examples from other European countries, and in particular the experiences of Ireland and Norway where a similar technical solution is also been employed at a national level. 

The use of ICT in achieving procurement efficiencies was on regional, national and European agendas so we were interested in those tools that had already been tried and tested.  Before the award of the contract discussions took place with the Norwegian and Irish administrations and a site visit was made to the Department of Finance in Ireland to witness the results.  We also visited Dublin City Council to see an example of the tool in practice and the impact and benefits for an individual contracting authority. Further, the Scottish Government are now being consulted and working with the Welsh and English administrations regarding the future of similar services in their respective countries. The overall aim is to share knowledge/learning from each other

Practical experience in other countries seemed to indicate that contracting authorities would not all move at the same pace, for example, the Norwegian and Irish implementations have taken longer to reach a similar level of supplier engagements. Those learning experiences contributed into the PCS phased implementation approach; focusing first of all on notice publication, providing user training and allowing flexibility with the usage of additional functionality. The project governance arrangements, business planning and supplier engagement models are also different in Scotland, and as such other countries could learn from our experiences.

Since the project launch we have shared our case with the UK (National) Government and devolved governments in the UK. Meetings have been held in London, Cardiff and Scotland, where knowledge sharing has taken place with the Office of Government Commerce and Value Wales. Meetings have taken place where delivery plans inside different sectors have been exchanged. The discussions are likely to impact on how similar solutions or future developments may be implemented there, and how the PCS service will be further developed in Scotland.

Regular participation in pan-European seminars and workshops has also allowed exchange of experience.  The PCS case was presented at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) conference in April 2008, the ePractice forum in Vienna in January 2009 and to the eGovernment group in the UN/CEFACT Forum in Rome in March 2009.

Lessons learnt

Lesson One – Planned Marketing, Communication and Training Strategy

Having numerous stakeholder groups (suppliers and buyers) to communicate with has been a relatively difficult challenge for PCS however the combination of direct and indirect  marketing,  and a devolved approach to cascading information has worked exceptionally well.  This decentralised approach, where contracting authorities have been encouraged to plan their own marketing, communications and training to their own stakeholder base has been of great benefit. This has meant that SPD can manage overall high level National and Sectoral marketing and communications while many contracting organisations organise their own at a local level. SPD has ensured a consistent approach across the many stakeholder groups, while targeting key groups individuals with available resources.

Economic operators were also encouraged to use PCS through a staged targeted marketing campaign towards them in the early stages of the project which resulted in a high-level of buy in.

Lesson Two – Phased Implementation

Having a simple, user friendly clear system was imperative to the PCS project. Implementing new functionality using a staged approach has allowed user testing and priorities to be incorporated in the development of the system.

Lesson Three – Specialist helpdesk

The portal was a significant adjustment for some authorities and having a specialist helpdesk has enabled a smooth transition from their current systems to PCS.  Additionally, support, training and awareness on an individual account managed basis has enabled contracting organisations to make use of the service quickly and efficiently throughout Scotland.

The helpdesk and account managers are often the first point of contact for users and as such have a key role to play in communicating the service and benefits to them.  This is a vital role as it  has helped achieve buy-in from users in a very supportive and inclusive way thus furthering the dissemination of PCS.

Lesson Four – Governance arrangements

The portal project has clear governance with backing both from Ministers and Chief Executives from across the Scottish Public Sector. This has allowed the project team to report progress to the Reform Board, which in turn has allowed them to encourage support and direct organisations to use this service