The European Union’s (EU) single market programme has removed barriers to the free movement of goods, services, people and capital between the member states. The European Commission (EC) has developed and modernised rules to open up public purchasing, requiring member states to remove restrictive practices. These rules are called "EC Procurement Directives". Member States must transpose the Directives into national law. In Scotland, the Directives are enforced by a set of Regulations which place particular duties and responsibilities on Government Departments and all other public bodies.
In Scotland only, the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 has been implemented and establishes the national legislative framework for sustainable public procurement.
The Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016 have been implemented which provide the rules for lower value contracts. These rules are comparable with the equivalent rules for EU regulated contracts.
The 3 pieces of legislation that apply to SPCB procurement are: