FOI-2025-000172 Contracts Register and Procurement Strategy (HTML)

Date received – 11 June 2025 | Date responded – 09 July 2025

Request

I hope this message finds you well. I am submitting a Freedom of Information request in relation to your organisation’s contract register, procurement strategy, and key contact information.

1. Contract Register

Please provide a complete and current extract of your organisation’s contract register or equivalent database. We are not asking you to compile new information or manually populate missing fields – we simply request the register in its existing form, preferably in Excel or CSV format. Where available, we are particularly interested in the following fields (though this is not a strict requirement):

• Contract Title
• Supplier Name
• Estimated Spend (Total or Annual)
• Contract Duration and Total Period (including extensions)
• Contract Start and Expiry Dates
• Review Date
• Contract Description
• Contract Owner (Name, Job Title, Contact Details if available)
• Contract Notes
• Managing Department
• Award Date
• Participating Organisations
• Procurement Category
• Framework or Tender References
• Central Purchasing Body
• Classification Codes (CPV, Pro-Class, etc.)

Please don’t spend time populating these fields if they aren’t readily available – we welcome receiving the raw register as it exists in your system.

2. Total Number of Active Contracts

Please confirm the total number of contracts currently listed as active.

3. Procurement Strategy (2025/2026)

Please provide your organisation’s Procurement Strategy for 2025/2026.

• If this is part of a multi-year strategy (e.g., 2024–2028), please provide the most recent version covering 2025/2026 or indicate when this will be available.
• If any parts are redacted, please identify the redacted sections and the reason.

4. Contact Information

If possible, please provide the name, job title, phone number, and email address for the following roles:

• Responsible officer for API access or data sharing (if applicable)
• Individual managing the contract register
• Finance Director
• Head/Director of Procurement or Purchasing
• Head/Director of ICT
• Head of Estates and Facilities
• Relevant Committee Member, Councillor, or Board Member for Procurement/Finance

If direct contact details are restricted due to GDPR, please indicate the best department or method of contact.

5. Additional Notes

• If your contract register is available via an online portal, please ensure all records are accessible (as some portals may only show summary data).
• If your organisation uses a contract management system or CRM, please confirm whether it allows for data exports.
• If you intend to withhold spend figures, please note that we are requesting an overall total or indicative spend only – not a line-by-line financial breakdown.

Format and Delivery

We would appreciate receiving the information in electronic format, ideally as Excel or CSV, within the statutory FOI response period. Thank you for your time and assistance. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if any clarification is needed.

Response

I refer to your freedom of information request that we received on 11 June 2025.

We have now completed the search of our records and can provide you with the following information:

1. Contract Register

Please find attached Appendix 1 - NP Contract Register April 2025, for the information you have requested.

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act, 2002 (FOISA) an organisation does not have to provide the information if it does not hold it. NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) cannot provide the following information:

• Contract review date
• Contract Notes
• Job title
• Contact details
• Participating Organisations
• Procurement category
• Framework or Tender references

This information is not extractable from the contract register report in Public Contracts Scotland (PCS). Please see the following web link where a copy of the contract register can be found and downloaded, please note this register is updated on a quarterly basis: Public Contracts Scotland.

2. Total Number of Active Contracts

The total number of active contracts is 406.

** 3. Procurement Strategy (2025/2026)**

Under Section 17 of FOISA, an organisation is not required to provide information if it does not hold it. NSS does not hold the procurement strategy covering 2025/2026, this document is in the process of being developed. What we can provide you with is Appendix 2 – NHS NSS Procurement Strategy. This strategy covers 2020 – 2025 and is the most up to date version.

Under Section 15(1) (Duty to provide advice and assistance) of FOISA, please find attached the following:

• Appendix 3 – NHS Scotland Procurement Strategy. This strategy covers 2024 – 2028.
• Appendix 4 – NHS NSS National Procurement Strategy. This strategy covers 2021 – 2026.

4. Contact Information

Responsible officer for API access or data sharing (if applicable)

Alison Johnson, NHS NSS Data Protection Lead

Individual managing the contract register

Graham Stewart, Programme Manager, National Procurement

Finance Director

Carolyn Low, Director of Finance, Governance and Legal Services

Head/Director of Procurement or Purchasing

Gordon Beattie, Director of National Procurement

Head/Director of ICT

Steven Flockhart, Director of Digital and Security - IT

Head of Estates and Facilities

Barrie Richardson, NSS Head of Estates and Facilities

Relevant Committee Member, Councillor, or Board Member for Procurement/Finance

Carolyn Low, Director of Finance, Governance and Legal Services Gordon Beattie, Director of National Procurement

If direct contact details are restricted due to GDPR, please indicate the best department or method of contact.

Please direct all contract queries to the nss.ssgovernance@nhs.scot.

I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request, you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of your request.

If you require any further information, please contact the Associate Director Governance and Board Services (Board Secretary) within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.

Contact

Address

If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.

National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.