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North Lanarkshire Council and Supplier Development Programme recognised in GO Excellence in Public Procurement Awards Scotland 2020

North Lanarkshire Council and the Supplier Development Programme (SDP) have been announced as a Finalist in the Government Opportunities (GO) Excellence in Public Procurement Awards Scotland 2020.

The partners are one of three finalists in the ‘Best Procurement Leadership’ category.

To create and deliver a framework for childminders and private nurseries designed to meet the Scottish Government’s commitment to provide a funded placement of 1140 hours per year to eligible children, North Lanarkshire Council’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Team worked with the Supplier Development Programme.

“North Lanarkshire Council recognised from the outset that early engagement with the local supply chain was crucial to ensuring the participation of local childminders and nurseries in the tendering process, and they contacted SDP,” said Jennifer Payne, SDP Development Officer.

“Our expert and free tender training programme is flexible to suit the needs of individual procurement exercises, as happened in this case, and we work hard to ensure local businesses understand the best way to engage with public bodies to ensure they can bid for contracts and tenders.”

From March 2019, local childcare providers and nursery businesses in North Lanarkshire Council took part in a series of SDP tender training workshops to build the skills and confidence required to enable them to submit their tenders via the Public Contracts Scotland online portal.

The Supplier Development Programme utilised the successful procurement model pioneered by North Lanarkshire Council for this change to the early learning model and to 31 March 2020, has provided 15 bespoke, aligned training events and webinars aimed at local early learning and childcare providers for a third of Scottish local authorities, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Clackmannanshire, Glasgow City, Angus, Dundee City, North Ayrshire, and Perth and Kinross Councils.

The winner of the Best Procurement Leadership GO Award will be announced at a virtual ceremony later today, Friday, 6 November 2020.