Overview
Strategic Forums are the work streams responsible for delivering projects and activities aligned to public procurement in Scotland, as well as horizon scanning, exploring delivery options, proposing activities in specific professional areas.
There are 5 forums, whose combined work streams make up the procurement Workplan that underpins the vision. Each forum informs and influences the Public Procurement Group (PPG) in the development of public procurement in Scotland.
Governance
Strategic Forums are made up of members from across procurement’s four centres of expertise (with some additional members out-with the centres), demonstrating the truly collaborative approach to delivery of procurement in 2016.
Each Forum remains a separate entity, with differing visions, dynamics and outputs. The uniformity and consistency is in the reporting structures and processes put in place. Strategic Forums are not project boards and the only formal accountability that they have is the bi-annual progress review and final report for Strategic Forums and the Public Procurement Group (PPG) against the annual Workplan.
Workplan
The Workplan for public procurement in Scotland was endorsed by the Public Procurement Reform Board (PPRB) in 2015 and is the key document underpinning the landscape whilst feeding into the wider economic plans for Scotland.
The Workplan provides co-ordinated planning and scheduling of a set of accountable key procurement milestones and activities for the short to medium term. The approach is intended to support Strategic Forum resource allocation/management, and the identification of opportunities, interdependencies and risks.
Previous reporting has been replaced with a bi-annual progress review and final report for Strategic Forums and the PPG against the Workplan. The bi-annual reviews take place at Workplan workshops in September, and in March (for October and April outputs respectively).
A report on the 2015 Workplan has been published which shows all of the high level milestones under each of the five strategic objectives along with their expected completion date.
A baseline document for 2016 has also been developed and will be managed by the PPG and Strategic Forums.