National Records of Scotland

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The National Records of Scotland (NRS) has a central Procurement team responsible for purchasing goods, services and works to support the business.

The public procurement reform programme, of which we are part, aims to drive up standards in the way the public sector procures goods and services to ensure that tax payers money is spent as wisely as possible.

We seek to deliver value for money in all of our purchases which means buying items which best match our requirements. Our procurement policy is in accordance with Scottish Government Procurement Policy in that all goods, services and works are acquired through competition, wherever possible, governed by procurement guidelines, procurement best practice and ensuring all relevant legal requirements and ethical standards are met.

View our Procurement Strategy (460 KB PDF) which is also available in the documents section of our Buyer’s page on Public Contracts Scotland

Doing Business with Us

Key information prospective suppliers should know if they are seeking to secure business with us.

Where possible we seek out opportunities to work with other Government organisations to establish collaborative contracts in order to take advantage of additional efficiencies. For certain requirements we use collaborative framework contracts let by Scottish Government, which can on the be found on the Scottish Government website. Crown Commercial Services contracts are available on the GOV.UK website.

Guidance for Suppliers on selling to the wider public sector can be found in the Supplier’s Journey on the Scottish Government Website.

NRS fully supports the Scottish Government’s Suppliers’ Charter with regard to how NRS treats suppliers in the procurement process.

We aim to ensure that all of the requirements specifications issued by us clearly communicate our requirements. The Invitation to Tender will include the requirements specification; procedures for submitting a tender; details of information which must be provided by suppliers; any schedules to be completed; the basis of the evaluation of the tenders; and any security clearance requirements. We actively encourage suppliers to check that they understand the requirement(s) and clarify any issues with us prior to submitting a tender. To facilitate this process on our regulated contracts we routinely conduct Open Supplier Meetings which provide the Suppliers, who have been invited to tender, an opportunity to further clarify NRS requirements before submitting a tender.

Disclosure Scotland checks are routinely required for contractors who will be working within our buildings as part of the requirements of their contract. Where these checks are required they will be specified in the Invitation to Tender, or the Request for a Quote, documentation. Details of Disclosure Scotland can be found on their official website.

Contract Opportunities

We advertise our contract opportunities as they arise on the Public Contracts Scotland Website:  You can express an interest in these opportunities by registering as a supplier on the site.

Our Buyer profile which includes our contract opportunities can be found by searching for National Records of Scotland in the ‘Search for Buyers’ section.