A review of the £2bn a year procurement of Scottish construction work has been announced by the Scottish government with the aim of streamlining processes and getting better value for money. The review has been widely welcomed by construction bodies, which had strongly lobbied for a radical overhaul.
Commenting on the proposed review, Scottish Building Federation chief executive Michael Levack said: ”From bitter experience, our members know how much unnecessary cost and inefficiency currently exists in the public procurement system. It cannot be right for so much public money to be swallowed up by burdensome bureaucracy when it ought to be putting shovels in the ground. As far as the construction industry is concerned, reform cannot come soon enough.
“This latest survey shows what a lottery the current public procurement process has become. I’ve heard employers representing businesses of all sizes argue they would have better odds of generating revenue by placing bets at the roulette wheel than tendering for public contracts. The root and branch reform of construction procurement the Scottish government has promised is clearly long overdue.
“It’s particularly concerning that so many SMEs in the industry are avoiding public procurement altogether because they find the costs so prohibitively high. Scottish ministers have set great store by their commitment to give SMEs greater access to the public procurement market.”
The review will look at how public bodies involved in construction-related procurement, including those involved in affordable housing, adopt practices that are streamlined and deliver value for taxpayers’ money.
A spokesman for the Scottish Federation of Builders acknowledged that EU procurement rules were responsible for some of the red tape associated with public procurement but maintained there was far more scope to streamline the process. “At the moment there is not even a standard prequalification questionnaire, it’s not uncommon to have shortlists of 15 to 20 and on average firms are bidding for 36 contracts to win one.”
