On average, the Supplier Development Programme receives hundreds of enquiries each month from businesses in Scotland. Last week, SDP staff received questions regarding how furloughing staff affects live tendering.This blog aims to offer expert advice on public sector tendering and answer related questions on options for SMEs and supported businesses while staff are furloughed in Scotland. SME Enquiry SummaryIn line with advice from the Scottish Government, last week, the SME business instructed all staff to stay home and closed the office. All staff were furloughed, in compliance with business support guidelines. The terms and conditions state employees cannot work in any capacity, or it would be in breach of the furloughed rules. The business wrote to four Scottish councils to suspend live current tenders that it had already recorded an interest in responding to, and so far, only one has suspended the tender, until the furlough scheme ends and businesses are all back to normal working. Another three local authorities changed the deadline dates, but did not suspend the tender opportunities. The SME business decided that changing the return date is irrelevant, as furloughed staff cannot work, and contacted the Scottish Procurement Single Point of Enquiry (SPoE) for advice. However, it is the decision of each local authority how it responds. What are the available options for buyers during the coronavirus crisis? What are the options for SMEs that want to respond to tender opportunities while staff are furloughed? Background: Official Coronavirus Procurement GuidanceFirstly, on 20 March, the Scottish Government issued a policy note, Procurement Regulations during COVID-19 Outbreakfor buying organisations, to raise awareness on handling some procurement related issues as a consequence of the current COVID-19 outbreak. In such exceptional circumstances, public bodies in Scotland may need to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency, and the policy note provides information on options available to purchasers in these circumstances. On 26 March, the Scottish Government also issued a policy note on Coronavirus (COVID-19): supplier relieffor buying organisations, to provide guidance on options for payment to their suppliers to ensure service continuity during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. SDP addressed what supplier relief means for current contracts, and outlined what steps Scottish SMEs and supported businesses can take to request consideration be given to advance payment from buyers. Around the same time that the second Scottish Government policy note was issued, the UK Government launched the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. This is a temporary scheme open to all UK employers for at least three months starting from 1 March 2020. It is designed to support employers whose operations have been severely affected by coronavirus (COVID-19). Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, employers can use a portal to claim for 80% of furloughed employees’ (employees on a leave of absence) usual monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that wage. Employers can use this scheme anytime during this period. On 4 April 2020, the UK Government updated the guidance for employers on claiming for employee wages through the new Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and issued separate guidance for employees. In wider markets, the threat from the coronavirus outbreak has also resulted in the European Commission (EC), to issue guidance to public sector buyers on flexibilities in procurement rules. The guidance focuses on procurements in “cases of extreme urgency” where public buyers may need to buy “within a matter of days, even hours, if necessary”. To address the needs of the crisis, the guidance highlights the choice of tendering procedures available to public buyers for the purchase of the supplies and services. SDP Advice: furloughed staff and trainingGillian Cameron, SDP Programme Manager, said: “Though every business needs to make its own decisions at this extremely trying time, I do not believe that business advice is to furlough all staff if it is not required by the business’s needs. If bidding is a key business lead opportunity for your company, perhaps your business should consider identifying a member of staff(s) that can work (safely) on tenders while not on furlough, who could also identify new opportunities and perhaps manage existing contract requirements. Depending on the level of work you have, this staff member could also be tasked with doing market research through using PCS and reviewing the various local authorities published procurement reports that will have their forward plans in them, thus looking forward to when business will return to a semblance of normality and getting your business tender ready. “According to the scheme’s details, employees cannot do any work for employers whilst they are on furlough. They can do volunteer work, or training if this does not provide services to or for the employer, or generate revenue for the employer. (Please note: the guidance points out that if workers are required to, for example, complete online training courses while they are furloughed, they must be paid at least the National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage for the time spent training, even if this is more than the subsidy.) “The scheme isn’t clear on whether businesses can rotate employees on furlough or if they would have to choose some employees to be furloughed while others stayed at work. However, since employees can be placed on furlough more than once, it suggests that employers can rotate employees on furlough, so long as each employee spends a minimum of three weeks on furlough. This would mean, for example, that a business could select an initial group of employees for furlough while a second group remains at work. The first group could then come back to work while the second group takes a turn on furlough. So applied to a real life situation, an example for tendering could be that while on furlough, staff could potentially volunteer to attend SDP’s range of tender training courses to become “tender ready,” and when not on furlough, staff could work to find, win and keep public sector contracts. This is only an example, and SDP encourages all businesses to follow official advice as well as make your own decisions for the longevity of your business needs.” All active SDP trainers on the SDP Training Framework were also asked to respond to this SME’s query. You can read the full blog on the SDP website. Back to top | 
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