As a result of the UK's exit from the EU and the ending of the trading transition period at 11 p.m. on 31 December 2020, the UK will now use a Single Procurement Document (SPD) instead of the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD).
There are only some slight changes between the SPD and the ESPD e.g. in terminology such as removing "member states" from the document.
In summary:
In either scenario the buyer for the procurement exercise will provide the document (either the SPD or the ESPD) that you need to complete and submit as part of your bid. Any saved ESPD responses you have made in your supplier profile will still be applicable to the new SPD.
All information provided on this page is accurate for the new SPD and the ESPD (if it is still being used) unless where specifically stated otherwise.
The Single Procurement Document or SPD contains questions used at the selection stage of a procurement exercise i.e. it allows procurement officers to ask questions to identify suitably qualified and experienced bidders for their procurement. This is ensure that public money is spent with lawful, capable and stable suppliers.
The SPD also includes the procurement exercise exclusion criteria i.e. the circumstances when a supplier would be excluded from the procurement exercise. Some of these exclusions may be mandatory - the bidder must be excluded - and some may be discretionary.
The SPD was introduced to:
The SPD document used in Scotland is referred to as the SPD (Scotland).
The SPD (Scotland) template and the ESPD (Scotland) template, used by public sector procurement officers can be found in the Procurement Journey.
An SPD is:
The SPD (Scotland) can be issued to bidders within a tender document (when using an Open Procedure) or before the tender document is issued i.e. if it is the first stage of a two stage procurement procedure like a Restricted Procedure, Competitive Dialogue, Competitive Procedure with Negotiation or Innovative Partnership Procedure.
The SPD (Scotland) does not ask questions about the specific tender, it asks about you as a supplier e.g. do you have any criminal convictions? Can you meet the insurance levels required for the contract?
Quickfire Guide
The procurement officer can make the SPD (Scotland) available in three ways to bidders for completion. These are:
Quickfire Guide
You should: