Free support is helping busineses through pandemic
Scotland Excel membership boosting Renfrewshire firms
Public and third sector organisations in Paisley are benefitting from Scotland Excel’s free temporary associate membership.
This is designed to support them during the current coronavirus pandemic.
Since March, more than 20 organisations have taken up the offer, including Bishopton-based social enterprise Scotland’s Brave st Manufacturing Company and the Salvation Army.
Scotland Excel, based in Paisley, is the centre of procurement expertise for local government.
It creates and manages more than 70 frameworks as diverse as Personal Protection Equipment ( PPE), food contracts, waste services, first aid materials, agency workers, construction, social care, ICT and transport.
It took the decision early in the pandemic response to support public and third sector organisations with free access to several of its frameworks.
Renfrew North and Braehead Councillor John Shaw, convener of Scotland Excel, said: “It became clear to us very quickly that we could help a number of organisations in Scotland with our collaborative procurement contracts and in-house expertise that can bring savings and increase efficiency for their essential services.
“By working together through Scotland Excel members can realise a host of social, economic and environmental benefits from their spend.
“PPE has been in high demand in the past couple of months, so we decided it was vital that we set up a dedicated PPE team.
“I’m happy to say that several of our members, both new and old, have taken advantage of our framework to source PPE.”
Michelle Ferguson, director of Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company, said the offer of temporary associate membership was perfect for themduring the current situation.
She said: “We have various procurement requirement s and we’ve already enquired about using a number of the frameworks.
“Having the support of Scotland Excel’s frameworks will allow us to save money and resources, letting us concentrate on our core business of manufacturing and supplying signage.”
To find out more about the free temporary associate membership, visit https://scotlandexcelcovid19newsroom
By working together, members can realise a host of social, economic and environmental benefits