The number of public sector contract awards being won by Scottish companies through the Public Contracts Scotland portal has more than doubled from 6,000 to over 12,000 in two years as a result of new measures to simplify procurement processes.

Improvements to procurement procedures are giving companies the opportunity to gain access to public contracts and the £10 billion the public sector spends annually.

The figures are taken from 2011 and 2013 and are a comparison of Scottish companies accessing the Public Contracts Scotland portal. In 2011 the figure for Scottish companies was 6,100 and 12,377 in 2013.

Next month the Scottish Government’s online advertising portal PCS will merge with the Glasgow Business Portal to make it even easier for businesses to search for and bid for all public contract opportunities in Scotland.

Currently there are over 65,000 supplier registrations with PCS of which 86 per cent are small and medium sized businesses.

Speaking at the National Procurement Conference in Glasgow, Finance Secretary John Swinney underlined the Scottish Government’s commitment to making Scotland the best place in Europe to do business with the public sector. He said:

“Scotland’s model of procurement is recognised internationally as a benchmark of excellence. Measures to simplify and streamline processes are giving thousands of businesses across Scotland an opportunity to flourish.”

One company which has benefitted is Livingston-based company Maxi Construction Ltd - around 40 per cent of its £8.5 million turnover comes from public sector contracts. The Livingston company’s managing director says the PCS has been a great money saving tool for the business.

John Aitchison, said:

“The use of the PCS service has given Maxi Construction access to public sector contracts we may otherwise not have been aware of and the business has benefited from being included on framework agreements for numerous public sector organisations including East Lothian Council and the City of Edinburgh Council.

“PCS has been a benefit to the business, with an increase in efficiency thanks to the electronic exchange of pre-qualification and tender documents.”

Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) was established to support an open, transparent and competitive market environment through a single public sector 'electronic portal'.