A Detailed Report on Procurement Strategy for Major Works Scotland

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the procurement strategy employed for the Major Works Scotland framework, examining the implications of using a framework agreement with Robertson. It explores the risks and benefits associated with this approach, considering factors such as supply chain disruptions and the potential for suboptimal construction outcomes. The report then delves into alternative procurement strategies, including dynamic purchasing systems, partnering arrangements, and open tendering, evaluating their suitability for the project. A critical evaluation of the current strategy is presented, highlighting the advantages of partnering arrangements in mitigating risks and ensuring project success. The report concludes with recommendations for the UK government, advocating for a more diversified procurement approach that incorporates multiple suppliers and robust risk management strategies to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Major Works Scotland framework.

Procurement Strategy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Likely issues and wider implications.....................................................................................4
Alternate procurement strategies............................................................................................6
Critical evaluation..................................................................................................................7
Recommendations..................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The current public service landscape is is need of rapid improvements as there have been
many socially disruptive processes at work such as decaying infrastructure along with rampant
inequality in access to quality education and healthcare treatments. Governments around the
world have been developing expensive developmental frameworks aiming to build various
publicly owned and built buildings for the purpose of providing quality healthcare, educational
and staying facilities (Tabish and Jha, 2018). One such major example is the Major Works
Scotland framework which is a part of UK's national frameworks with as estimated cost of 750
million pounds containing schemes such as universities, regeneration schemes along with
schools and homes between 2 million to 20 million pounds. This report will highlight the process
of giving the aforementioned contract to Robertson by the procurement organization Scape group
with emphasis on the wider implication, risks, benefits along with search for alternatives way in
which this process could have been undertaken. The report will also include recommendations
for further streamlining of this public procurement process.
MAIN BODY
Whenever any major public or private projects gets initiated on a large scale, the process
of procurement is extremely vital upon which a large part of the project's overall future success
chances are rested upon. Procurement is the process of finding and agreeing to the established
terms and obtaining all the major physical and speciality requirements such as goods, services
and works which are needed to finish mass scale governmental or private projects (Wright,
Barlow and Roehrich, 2019). Procurement can be very different for both public and private
sector companies and there can be overlaying similarities in the way both entities go about
procuring the needed materials.
Likely issues and wider implications
When it comes to governmental procurement processes, the role of framework agreement
is crucial which in context of procurement refers to the agreement between one or more
contracting authorities with suppliers and economic operators in which clear and concise
guidelines are established and communicated to the parties regarding the terms which govern

contracts which will be given out in a specified time period with major emphasis on price and
quality of the requested materials.
The UK procurement services specialist, Scape is a public sector organization which is
based in Nottingham and provides social construction framework agreements for medium and
large scale governmental projects. The latest development in the Major Works Scotland
framework is that the company through this procurement method has listed Robertson as the lead
contractor which is one of UK's largest family owned construction and support services provider
(Clark and Hakim, 2019). This method of using framework agreements to single out one
contractor can have major risks along with benefits for all parties involved which are listed
herein.
Risks
 Public administration is a very tricky place for suppliers and contractors to navigate and
getting placed through a framework agreement is not a guarantee to receive contracts
throughout the duration of the framework
 By giving the entire framework worth of contract to a single institution which is
Robertson, any risks or operational failures in the process of material procurement will
lead to the projects getting derailed
 The Major works Scotland framework is quite comprehensive and involves a lot of varied
constructions to be had such as schools, universities and more places of public visiting
and convenience which might trouble a single specialist supplier and constructor like
Robertson
 The global supply chain has been thoroughly disrupted due to the advent of major factors
in the UK such as Brexit and COVID-19 pandemic which can pose trouble for Scape and
the UK government at large as such detailed public construction can be easy to disrupt
due to shortages (Kleinke and Bös, 2018)
Benefits
 Robertson is a trusted company in the sector of both public and private construction and
by partnering with such a firm with the help of Scape as an intermediary, the UK

government can earn a better outlook on the privater and public sector partnership for
socialist infrastructural projects
 Such contracts are important to lay the future groundwork of the country and its public
life for years to come and framework agreements lead to long term partnerships
 Governmental projects are always closely monitored for the material lots and
specifications which helps them earn consistently robust financial streams through the
use of framework agreements. The UK government can use Robertson's speciality work
towards better city planning and revenue generation (Guarnieri and Gomes, 2019)
There can be also be some wide implications of this development regarding Major
Scotland Works framework, Scape and Robertson procurement contracting which are detailed
underneath.
 By using framework agreement to contract a single speciality supplier and constructor,
Robertson, Scape has chosen to go for a much less flexible method of procurement as
there are no avenues of partnership or other procurement strategies which allow backups
in case of disruptions
 Since Robertson is an industry veteran with a lot of experience in this domain, the UK
government can undertake a lot of construction involved in the Major Works Scotland in
a proper manner and since the framework agreement by Scape has a single supply
contract, it can lead to ease of regulation and quality control
 By only relying on a single contractor for the entire phase of the framework which
involves the need of constructing diverse public infrastructure such as hospitals, schools
and universities, the UK government might find itself in constant troubles with many
buildings being constructed suboptimally.
 The UK government will be able to save a lot of time and money involved in the multi
framework development that it has planned in various regions of UK as framework
agreements help in fast procurement and Roberson is a dependable company. By using its
partner organization in procurement needs, Scape, the government can afford to leave the
entire process of contracting delegated to other smaller bodies.

Alternate procurement strategies
Procurement is an essential process in the undertaking of any project irrespective of its
aim and domain as the material requirement must be fulfilled according to the demand and scope
of the project without which it cannot succeed. Apart from framework agreements which was
used by Scape to contract Robertson for the Major Works Scotland Framework, there are
multiple other ways which can be used to achieve the same target, albeit in a different manner
with varying efficiency. Some of these methods have been listed below.
 Dynamic purchasing system (DPS) – It is a highly advanced electronic system which is
primarily used in the process of procurement to obtain precise deliveries of material
requirements. It is a very important tool which helps suppliers to obtain complex and
heavy contracts without the need for toiling the market or undergoing complex quotations
and biddings and it is also very helpful for the organization which is tendering whether
private or public in getting its material needs met in an efficient and precise manner.
 Partnering arrangements – It is a formal management process within which all parties
which are involved in the completion of project adopt standardized processes and
cooperative measures to eliminate any potential barriers which might occur in the process
of procurement (Rhode, 2019). This method usually only prevailed in private ventures
most of the time in its early days but now sees mass adoption even in large scale
governmental projects as there are so many entities and different personnel involved in
the process of construction that basic clashing of interests is always on the cards. By
using partnership agreements, the government can delegate important aspects such as
procurement to other companies such as Scape which it partners which regarding
framework completion requirements.
 Open tendering – Also known as competitive bidding, herein the companies or
contractors are allowed to bid for their respective contracts and support service allocation
avenues in an open environment. This method of procurement is very beneficial for
projects which involve large lots and have expenses of massive value attached to them as
it allows companies to suit the best possible supplier and gain the best value for money.
However it is not suitable for large scale public undertakings such as the Major Works
Scotland framework.

By studying the following alternatives in order to select the best possible alternative to the
framework agreement which has been used by Scape and the UK government in context of the
Major Works Scotland which is a major development for the public construction industry as it
contains a plethora of varied projects involving health and social housing themes. Open
tendering is a very nice method as it could have saved the time and money of the government
and Scape in contracting the most affordable supplier but the scope and diversity of the
framework is simply too big for bidding to take place at every major phase of the project.
Dynamic purchasing systems are highly advanced technologies which are slowly changing the
way mainstream procurement is undertake in both sectors but is unreliable for large scope
projects such as Major Works Scotland which leaves partnering agreements as the best possible
alternative going forward (Bovis, 2019)
Critical evaluation
Public procurement is a major process which must be given careful attention to by all
concerned parties as the construction and infrastructural contracts often have a large bearing on
the general society and their condition of living. Major works Scotland is one of the most
important development frameworks which the UK government has come up with as the
investment of 750 million pounds is quite heavy and it includes public transportation such as
roads and blocks, education facilities such as universities along with hospitals wherein the raw
material requirement can be quite varied and complex. Apart from framework agreements,
partnering can serve as a valuable alternative due to the following reasons.
 Since the framework involves heavy construction requirements of very important
buildings such as public schools and hospitals, partnership can help avoid client
disapprovals through constant regulation and it can help achieve stable workload through
the project framework's life cycle (Morgan,and et.al., 2022)
 The UK government can reach its objective rewarding such frameworks which is to
develop its society in a much more sustainable manner through partnering agreements
rather than framework agreements as the policies and standards which are built through
public and private parties are often built on the principles of collaboration
 The element of risk and necessary provisions to prevent it using risk management tactics
and frameworks are not present in framework agreements but they are present in

partnerships as both the parties cover each other's resources in the best way possible.
Some major examples include Seaview coast protection scheme, Isle of Wight where
environmental agreement was built through mutual partnership to avoid damage to the
surroundings during construction
Recommendations
By carefully analysing the research which has been conducted herein, the following
recommendations have been listed for the proper execution of the Major Work Scotland
framework by the government of UK.
 The government should not allow Scape to only contract one single company such as the
case which happened with Robertson and instead look to incorporate multiple suppliers to
counter frequent supply chain disruptions
 In order to create emergency provisions and to ensure that conflicts do not arise out of the
construction of many public centric buildings which are named in the framework's
project description, it should look to partner up with other organizations
 Rather than only replying on its partner companies and only undergo framework
agreements, the UK government should use varied procurement strategy with proper risk
management considerations as static frameworks carry many disadvantages
CONCLUSION
The above report went into detail regarding the complex processes which the government
undertakes in order to properly execute their public construction demands using frameworks and
this report was based on the Major Works Scotland framework through which it intends to build
many hospitals and schools all over UK. The use of framework agreements in contracting
suppliers such as Robertson was duly highlighted along with its identified risk and benefits along
with wider implications of the project being handled in this manner. Through detailed research,
various other alternatives of procurement were also found such as open tendering, DPS and
partnering agreements and it was found that partnering agreement was very suitable for the
project presented. The report was concluded with recommendations for the UK government to
undertake a more streamlined procurement strategy by including risk management
considerations.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bovis, C., 2019. The liberalisation of public procurement and its effects on the common market.
Routledge.
Clark, R.M. and Hakim, S. eds., 2019. Public private partnerships: Construction, protection, and
rehabilitation of critical infrastructure. Springer Nature.
Guarnieri, P. and Gomes, R.C., 2019. Can public procurement be strategic? A future agenda
proposition. Journal of Public Procurement.
Kleinke, S. and Bös, B., 2018. Indeterminate us and them: The complexities of referentiality,
identity and group construction in a public online discussion. In The Discursive
Construction of Identities On-and Offline (pp. 153-176). John Benjamins.
Morgan, C., and et.al., 2022. Inclusive Framework BEPS Agreement: 10 key takeaways.
International Tax Review.
Rhode, A., 2019. Public Procurement in the European Union. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Tabish, S.Z.S. and Jha, K.N., 2018. Beyond the iron triangle in public construction projects.
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 144(8), p.04018067.
Wright, S., Barlow, J. and Roehrich, J.K., 2019. Public-private partnerships for health services:
Construction, protection and rehabilitation of critical healthcare infrastructure in
Europe. In Public private partnerships (pp. 125-151). Springer, Cham.