Last month it was announced that Scottish council procurement specialist Scotland Excel is preparing to establish a £500m framework to build affordable homes across Scotland.
This announcement is particularly exciting for SME businesses looking for council contract opportunities.
Find out more below.
Strategic Housing Investment Plan
The new framework will support the delivery of local authorities’ individual Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs).
SHIPs are prepared by local authorities to set out strategic investment priorities for affordable housing over a five-year period to achieve the outcomes set out in the local housing strategy.
These key documents show what each local authority is doing to help the Scottish Government reach its target of completing 50,000 affordable homes by March 2021.
New Framework
The announcement did not reveal what the precise framework structure will be and what lots it will have.
Scotland Excel is reportedly considering options for alternative delivery mechanisms including land-led delivery mechanisms, planning-led delivery mechanisms, and mixed tenure delivery mechanisms.
Government Opportunities reports that:
“The scope is expected to include delivery of new build residential properties, primarily social housing, using traditional build and design and build contracts.”
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Local authority contracts can be extremely valuable to SME businesses that want to get started with public sector procurement.
Local authority spend can be broken into many categories: housing education, roadworks, public transport social, cultural services, waste management and a number of other services – this means its pool of suppliers is large and varied.
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