Sharing opportunities with Tayside businesses

Colleagues from Social Security Scotland’s Procurement and Commercial team have been meeting local suppliers and businesses in Tayside to encourage them to work with us.

They attended Meet the Buyer Tayside to highlight upcoming opportunities and explain how our procurement process works.

The dedicated event, organised by Dundee City Council and the Supplier Development Programme, was held at Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc close to our Dundee head office, Agnes Husband House.

Our attendance is a key part of our role as an anchor institution in the Dundee Community Wealth Building initiative, which is looking to boost jobs and communities.

Working alongside other anchor organisations including Dundee City Council, NHS Tayside and local universities and colleges, we are looking to spend more in the local economy by supporting local businesses in competing for work.

Meet the Buyer Tayside was also a chance to promote Community Benefits whereby suppliers support the local area through initiatives such as training or recruitment opportunities, as part of our contract requirements.

Margaret Riddell, our Procurement Portfolio Manager, who attended the event, said:

“It was great for our Procurement and Commercial team including Yvonne, Nadine and myself to meet with potential suppliers and understand more about the services they offer. We discussed how we can make procurement opportunities more visible and encourage participation from suppliers in the Tayside area.

“I also attended a session on Community Wealth Building run by Dundee City Council focused on how businesses can influence procurement and other areas to benefit local communities.

"As we are an anchor institution in Dundee this was useful to understand how we can work with businesses to play an important role in creating and reinforcing local economic networks.

“There was also an opportunity to discuss best practice approaches to delivering Community Benefits with other public sector organisations and promote our recently published Community Benefits Strategy.”