Case studies

NHSGCC Procurement Leads the Way in Increasing Supplier Diversity

Background

From January to September 2022, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) worked with the Supplier Development Programme, and six Health and Social Care Partnerships (including Glasgow Centre for Population Health, and Glasgow City Region Project Management Office) on a project to diversify the NHSGGC supply chain.

NHSGGC was keen to increase diversity in its supply chain because a Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation study scored it 21% in the procurement domain, against a UK average of 23%. The Health Board covers the most diverse population in Scotland, so NHSGGC knew there were opportunities to improve upon this score.

What’s more, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) is the largest health board in Scotland and spends £811 million per annum, with third party providers, so the opportunities it knew it could offer these minority groups were high.

The Project

NHSGGC worked with SDP to outline the goals of its diversity in procurement project. The project aimed to promote wider participation in the NHSGGC supply chain from SMEs. As well as this, it encouraged businesses led by, for and with people with protected characteristics (as defined by the Equalities Act Scotland & Fairer Scotland Duty) to work with NHSGGC. Finally, the project outlined measures to help small businesses understand opportunities that are tendered by the NHS.

To achieve the project goals, SDP hosted six supplier engagement and tender training webinars with NHSGCC, its project partners, and potential suppliers. Businesses, including social enterprises of all sizes, particularly those that are owned or led by women, minority, disabled and LGBTQ+ individuals, were invited to participate.

The Results

Over the course of these webinars, there were 136 attendees, from 127 Scottish businesses. Overall, 64% of the Scottish SMEs that attended identified as being 50% or more owned or led by individuals with protected characteristics.

81% of those suppliers who responded to the post-training survey said they were more likely to bid for future public contracts as a result of participating.

Following the training, an NHSGGC partner engagement event was also held, and a free promotional toolkit was given to them. This toolkit was offered so that NHSGGC partners could share news about the SDP and NHSGGC project, as well as sharing updates on future SDP training webinars. By sharing these resources with their wider network, the partners helped spread the news about the contract opportunities at NHSGGC to a wider supply chain.

Qualitative feedback on all of the SDP and NHSGGC events highlighted significant learning, growing participant awareness, and increasing intentions to become a part of the NHSGGC future supply chain.

Community Wealth Building Raises the Roof

Old Plean Roofing originally registered with the Supplier Development Programme (SDP) in 2018 and the business has attended multiple events since, including tender training, and Meet the Buyer events, with the intention to better understand the public sector bidding process. The small business attended Stirling Council’s Community Wealth Building Supplier Event in July 2022 to renew its approach to public sector tendering.

Robertson FM engages with over 100 suppliers with the help of SDP

Robertson FM, in partnership with the Supplier Development Programme, hosted a free Talking Tenders webinar in January 2022 that focused on a Hard FM Services contract opportunity for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

Success Stories: Dundee Science Centre proves education really does pay off!

Dundee Science Centre was awarded onto Dundee City Council’s ‘Flexible Framework Agreement for Education & Social Support Services (Children & Families)’ after attending the Supplier Development Programme’s aligned tender training webinar event with Dundee City Council at the end of 2020.