Contract Notices should be used to advertise all Route 3 procedures. The only exceptions to this are:

• Use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication (only available in strictly defined and exceptional circumstances)

• In a Restricted Procedure, or Competitive Procedure with Negotiation, sub-central organisations can use a Prior Information Notice (PIN) if certain information is set out in the PIN. A sub-central Organisation is any Organisation which does not belong to Central Government or National Health Services.

The Contract Notice must contain the minimum and specific requirements for your procurement exercise. 

Indicative Budget

You may choose to indicate:

• the available budget for delivering the service in question,
• specify the outcomes desired and
• invite providers to submit proposals for achieving the outcomes within the resources available.

Stating an indicative budget ensures that bidders' tenders for delivering the service are affordable. This may be appropriate if, for example, a procurement exercise fails and the organisation moves to negotiation with suppliers. In other circumstances, stating an indicative budget may make it difficult for an organisation to assess that the service represents value for money.

Establishing a Timetable for the Procurement Process

This is particularly important if there is an expectation that suppliers will submit consortia bids to allow discussions between suppliers to take place.

Publication of Contract Notices

All Contract Notices must be published on Public Contracts Scotland (PCS). 

PCS is the national advertising portal which provides suppliers with free access to contract opportunities. It guides you:

• through the process of creating a Notice on its website and
• automatically creates a notice on the Find a Tender System (FTS)

If using PCS-T or the SPD (Scotland) word document,  you must set out the specific requirements and minimum standards for your procurement.  These must be relevant and proportionate and included in your Contract Notice (or the PIN if that is being used as a call for competition).This is not necessary if using the online SPD (Scotland) Module on PCS as the relevant information is contained within this module.

You will receive a PCS alert after you have submitted the Contract Notice for publication on PCS. 

You must retrospectively update your online SPD (Scotland) with your FTS reference number if using the PCS Module.

Accessing the Procurement Documents

You Contract Notice must contain details of how bidders can access your procurement your documentation.

From the date you publish your Notice you must make your Procurement Documents available:

• on the internet
• in unrestricted and full direct access form
• free of charge

The Regulations define ‘procurement documents’ very widely.  This includes all documents related to the procurement i.e. including technical specifications, terms and conditions and tender documents to be used at subsequent stages

In practical terms, it is not always possible to have all documents available at the start of your procurement exercise.   Only in an Open Procedure are you required to have  the ITT available from the outset.  For all other procedures you must provide sufficiently precise information.  This will allow bidders to understand the nature and scope of your requirement and decide whether to request to participate.

PCS-T Publication Procurement documents must not be published in PCS-Tender until the FTS Publications Office confirms the FTS notice has been published.

Prior Information Notice (PIN)

All Organisations may give advance notice of planned procurements.  This is done through the publication of a Prior Information Notice (PIN) which is not used as a means of calling for competition.