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Meet the Buyer 2021: Sustainability and Innovation Stage

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Learn more about the Sustainability and Innovation Stage at Meet the Buyer 2021!

Meet the Buyer 2021 has a huge agenda planned with three main stages: the Inclusive Growth Stage, Sustainability and Innovation Stage, and Community Wealth Building (Supply Chain) Stage.

Suppliers are invited to watch presentations throughout the day. Each stage has a slightly different timetable, with in-built time for visiting the virtual stands. There is not enough time to watch every single presentation and take part in every live question and answer session, so the Supplier Development Programme encourages all suppliers to plan their time in advance. All presentations, including each live question and answer session, will be available on the Supplier Development Programme's YouTube Channel after the event. Please click to subscribe!

All three of the stages will begin the same way on 8 June:

9:00am Portal Opens (Please note: suppliers will not be able to interact with exhibitors until the 10:00am start!)

10:00am Meet the Buyer 2021 Opens

  • Keynote Address by SDP Chair, Councillor Heather Brannan-McVey

10:10am Ministerial Address (Subject to Parliamentary Business)

  • Welcome from Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism & Enterprise

Following these two opening sessions, the three Stages will begin.

The Sustainability and Innovation Stage will begin with a presentation from headline partner Scotland Excel, called “It’s your world – take control”. The presentation has been designed to appeal to suppliers who are interested in making a difference within Scotland and will include some key priorities of public procurement, focusing on climate change with local sourcing being key to building stronger communities and encouraging economic recovery. The presentation will be given by Scotland Excel’s Strategic Procurement Manager, Lesley Richard and will be followed by a live Q&A with suppliers.

At 12:30pm there will be an address by the Supplier Development Programmes, Programme Manager Gillian Cameron, with hints and tips on how you can bid better. The address will be followed by a live Q&A Session with SDP’s expert trainers. This will give you the opportunity to ask any questions about the tendering process. All SDP’s expert trainers have been both a supplier and a buyer in the past so know exactly what you are going through when bidding.

After the SDP presentation, there will be dedicated time for suppliers to visit the virtual exhibition stands. However, the stands will be open all day so feel free to visit them whenever you like. There will be more dedicated time to visit the exhibition stands at 12:00pm and 1:00pm.

At 2:00pm there will be a presentation on How to Do Business with Fife and Tayside. At this presentation you will learn about future contract opportunities with Fife Council, Angus Council, Dundee City Council and Perth & Kinross Council. Followed by a live Q&A session with a senior member of the procurement team from each local authority.

At 2:45pm there will be a presentation from BASE on “Scotland’s Supported Businesses at the Heart of Scotland’s Social & Economic Recovery”. This presentation will focus on what sustainable employment opportunities can be created for disabled people across Scotland. The presentation will be given by the Chair of BASE Scotland Region, Alistair Kerr.

The final presentation of the day on the Sustainability and Innovation Stage will feature PfH Scotland on its upcoming EESSH2 Framework. Delivered by Chris McGinn, Commercial Manager and James Lines, Senior Buyer who is responsible for the organisation’s Planned Works Category, this presentation will give suppliers early insight into the Energy Efficiency Framework in Social Housing (EESSH) Framework with PfH Scotland which is likely to have Lots as described in the Prior Information Notice (PIN) on PCS that include Consultancy, On Gas Servicing, Off Gas Servicing, Heating Installations, Renewables, and Whole House Retrofit which includes areas of work like EWI, IWI, Roofing Insulation, Flooring Insulation, Primary Heating, Secondary Heating, Renewables, Glazing, Door Insulation, Windows, and more! Please note: this is an early engagement information session and all suppliers are encouraged to register early for a free Talking Tenders with PfH Scotland webinar with the Supplier Development Programme on 29 June to learn about the specifics of this upcoming framework opportunity.

Meet the Buyer 2021 will close at 4:00pm.

Next Steps

Prior to the event, the Supplier Development Programme advises that all attendees take a look at the full agenda on the Meet the Buyer page to help you decide which presentations you wish to attend prior to the event. You will not be able to attend all of the presentations as they are across three stages and some run at the same time. Don’t worry if you miss a presentation you really wanted to see, because you can watch all the presentations on demand or at a later date on the Supplier Development Programme website or on the SDP YouTube Channel.

There's still time to book a free place for Meet the Buyer 2021 on 8 June. Register your place on the SDP website.

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