News

Meet the Contractor: Dunfermline Learning Campus and Westfield Energy Centre Projects

hub East Central Scotland, in partnership with Fife Council, Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) and the Supplier Development Programme hosted the in-person event, on Thursday, 28 April, that helped local businesses engage with the headline partners and discover what contract opportunities are available as part of the Dunfermline Learning Campus (DLC) (£200m project) and the Westfield Energy Centre which will be designed, built, and operated by Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI).

Suppliers were also able to hear about the numerous supply chain opportunities for local businesses and trades that will be included in the HZI Westfield Energy Centre project, the facility will bring new sustainable waste management forwards and reducing landfill usage in Scotland.

The Supplier Development Programme promoted this in-person event widely in advance. More than two-thirds of attendees (69%) who provided feedback heard about the event through SDP’s marketing and communications efforts.

Outcomes

The Supplier Development Programme collated some statistics from the event, including:

• Prior to the event, there were 226 supplier attendee bookings on the SDP website and nearly 40% of those who registered for the event hearing about it through SDP’s marketing and communication channels.
• On the day of the Meet the Contractor event, in total there were 132 participants.
• Of these, 100 attendees were from 80 unique Scottish SMEs/supported businesses.
• Included within this number there were 39 unique businesses based in Fife – nearly half (49%) of all Scottish SMEs and supported businesses who attended were based within the local hosting region.

Supplier Survey Feedback

The Supplier Development Programme conducted an online survey after the event concluded. A total of 59 responded, and 100% of respondents who completed the survey had attended the Meet the Contractor event. This response is unusual, and SDP recommends following up with a survey to non-attendees as to why they did not attend.

Of the 59 respondents, 48 were from SMEs based in Scotland and 20 of those Scottish SMEs were based in Fife (42%).

After attending the Meet the Contractor event:

• 90% of respondents rated the quality of information provided for the Supply Chain Opportunities on DLC and HZI by the events key partners as either 'excellent' or 'good'.
• Most respondents said that BAM Construction (81%), Balfour Beatty (81%) and Hitachi Zosen Inova (65%) were the exhibition areas most relevant to their organisation.
• 87% felt their business could benefit from public sector procurement in the Fife region after participating in the event.
• 92% agreed area-specific events do support business and procurement in the local regions they are based in.
• 93% agreed that the in-person Meet the Contractor event, delivered in partnership with the Supplier Development Programme, demonstrated that public sector procurement is open and transparent, despite challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 94% of Scottish SMEs felt more confident about bidding for future supply chain opportunities from the key partners from the event - such as the DLC and Westfield Energy Centre project.
• Finally, 92% rated their overall event experience at this in-person event as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.

The post-event survey highlighted that 96% of Scottish SMEs said they were more likely to bid for public sector contracts as a direct result of participating in the event.

Over half of businesses (58%) said they had participated in previous SDP training and/or events – responses showed that previous participation in SDP events had helped their business to:

• Build confidence around tendering (25%);
• Bid better – in general (19%);
• Improve their tendering skills (17%).

Responses also showed a noticeable difference in preference for the future format of procurement and business support events in comparison to previous survey outcomes:

• Three-quarters of suppliers (75%) would now like the format of procurement and business support events to remain as in-person events; and
• The remaining 25% would like events to be in a hybrid format.

As responses had only been gathered by in-person attendees, this data will be re-evaluated by the Supplier Development Programme to incorporate the views of non-attendees as well.

Some supplier comments included:

• “One of the best events I have attended as meeting the contractors has allowed us future opportunities. We also have an enquiry from one of the contractors. Our aim is to work with all three to assist with the projects in Dunfermline but also work with them on other projects.” (Small business from Fife)
• “It was a good event. I particularly liked the idea of the companies/contractors using local companies to build/maintain these projects. I hope they stick to this and give local businesses this chance.” (Charity/supported business from Fife)
• “It was a great event!” (Micro-sized SME from Perth)
• “I liked the event and felt it was very informative.” (Small business from North Lanarkshire)

Promotion through the Supplier Development Programme

Social Media Analytics

The Supplier Development Programme has a robust social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, which is utilised to promote contract opportunities and engagement events on a regular basis to Scottish businesses. In advance of the Meet the Contractor: Dunfermline Learning Campus and Westfield Energy Centre Projects event, SDP promoted the event across its social media channels. The promotion ran from 1 to 28 April and collectively the posts earned 3,327 impressions (the number of times users saw a post) and 136 engagements (total number of times a user interacted with a post).

Newsletter/Mailings

On the 8 April, SDP sent out a dedicated mailing informing suppliers about the Meet the Contractor event. From that mailing, the event page received 236 clicks and the event agenda page received 48 clicks. SDP also included a link to the event in its monthly newsletter that received 58 clicks. On the 22 April, SDP sent out a final reminder mailing that prompted the event page to receive 124 clicks and the agenda page to receive 31 clicks.

As Meet the Contractor was one of SDP’s first in-person events after the COVID-19 pandemic, SDP sent out a mailing on the 26 April to all registered suppliers. In this mailing the event page received 78 clicks.