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Scottish Government Publish SPPN 1/2026: Annual Procurement Reports for 2026 to 2027

The Scottish Government has published a new Scottish Procurement Policy Note (SPPN), providing details on how contracting authorities should notify Scottish Ministers of the publication of their annual procurement reports covering financial year 2026 to 2027.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 sets out the requirements for contracting authorities to publish a procurement strategy and an annual procurement report when a contract authority has significant procurement expenditure in a year.

During 2025, a short life working group made up of volunteers from across the public sector in Scotland conducted a review of the SPPN 2/2025 annex A data template. As outlined in SPPN 2/2025, there are no changes to the reporting requirements for financial year 2025 to 2026 and public bodies should use the annex A data template in that SPPN.

However, this newly published SPPN includes an updated annex A data template (in Word and Excel format) to reflect the changes agreed by the short life working group, which should be used for financial year 2026 to 2027.

Support Available from the Supplier Development Programme (SDP)

The Scottish Government and SDP are set to host a free webinar, for public sector bodies that will be involved in preparing annual procurement reports. 

During the webinars, we will provide:

• A high level overview of the Procurement Act 2023
• Updates from Scottish Government’s analysis of individual Annual Procurement Reports (including the emerging highlights, opportunities and challenges)
• Highlights from the Scottish Minister activity report for 2023-2024
• An overview of the process of writing your annual procurement report, supporting guidance and templates
• Changes to the annexe A template (for 2026-2027) 

On the day, you will also have the opportunity to ask Scottish Government representatives questions - so get your queries ready. 

We will be hosting two sessions, on the following dates: 

• Tuesday 21 April at 2:30pm
• Thursday 23 April at 2:30pm