Free associate membership to support covid-19 response

Public and third sector organisations across the country have taken advantage of Scotland Excel’s free temporary associate membership, designed to support them during the current coronavirus pandemic.

Since March, more than twenty organisations have taken up the free temporary offer including the National Galleries Scotland, Salvation Army, Hey Girls, Furniture Plus, Castle Furniture, Key Support, Paramount Care, Recycling First Project and Bishopston-based social enterprise Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company.

As the centre of expertise for local government, Scotland Excel 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.

Scotland Excel took the decision early in the pandemic response to support public and third sector organisations with free access to several of its frameworks.

Convener of Scotland Excel, Councillor John Shaw, explains: “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 and I’m happy to say that several of our members, both new and old, have taken advantage of our framework to source PPE. This is just one example of how we can help large and small public and third sector organisations at this critical time.”

Michelle Ferguson, Director of Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company, said: “As a third sector organisation, Scotland Excel’s offer of temporary associate membership was perfect for us during the current situation. We have various procurement requirements 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. I would recommend any Scottish public sector or third sector organisation to take advantage of their free associate membership offer.”