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Meet the Buyer 2022: Sustainable Procurement Stage

At Meet the Buyer 2022 there will be a packed agenda with three main stages: including the Sustainable Procurement Stage, Power of Procurement Stage and the Community Wealth Building Stage.

Suppliers are invited to watch presentations throughout the day. Each stage has a slightly different timetable, with built-in 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 your 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. Remember to make sure you subscribe!

All three stages will begin the same way on 15 June:

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

10:00am Meet the Buyer 2022 Opens

• Keynote Address by Gillian Cameron, SDP Programme Manager

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 Sustainable Procurement Stage will begin with a presentation from headline partner Scotland Excel, called "Sustainable Procurement: Key Considerations in 2022/2023". The presentation will be followed by a live question and answer session, where suppliers can ask any questions you may have.

At 10:45am the Strategic Procurement manager for Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshireand Highland Council will be delivering a presentation on Green Hydrogen, Supplier Engagement and the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub. The presentation will be followed by a live Q&A session.

At 11:30am there is a plenary session - which means this is the only place to be at on all three stages! - on Diversifying the NHS Supply Chain: Talking Tenders with NHS Lanarkshire with Euan Erskine, NHS Lanarkshire General Manager – Procurement and SDP Programme Manager Gillian Cameron. NHS Lanarkshire is progressing plans towards putting diversity at the core of their supply chain to include businesses led by, for, and with people with protected characteristics. At this session, suppliers will gain useful knowledge, tips and hints on how to do business with NHS Lanarkshire to supply goods, works and services and fulfil upcoming requirements in future contracts. At the end of the session, suppliers will have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have and have them answered at a live Q&A session.

At 12:30pm, there will be dedicated time to visit the virtual exhibition stands.

Headline partner Scottish Government will be delivering a presentation at 2:00pm, on Climate Change and Procurement with Scottish Government. This presentation will not have a live question and answer session, so do feel free to pop by the Scottish Government exhibition stand to speak to a member of the team.

At 2:30pm, the UK Ministry of Defence will help suppliers in Scotland understand how to do business with the MOD. After the presentation, suppliers will be able to ask questions to a member MOD's Strategic Supplier Management Team, Joseph Lambon. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn how to engage with the supply chain!

The Sustainable Procurement Stage will close with a presentation on the opportunity for local food in public procurement by Lucianne Wardle from the Soil Association at 3:00pm. The presentation will be followed by a live Q&A session about doing business in Scotland's food and drink sector, so tune in!

Next Steps

Before the event, the Supplier Development Programme advises all participants to look at the full agenda for the day on the Meet the Buyer event page, to help decide which presentations you wish to attend. Since suppliers will not be able to attend all the presentations, as they are across three stages and some run at the same times, don’t worry if you miss a presentation. Everyone can watch any presentation on demand after the event on the Supplier Development Programme’s website or on the SDP YouTube Channel.

There's still time to register! Book your free place on the SDP website.