Editor’s Note: Procurement Insights European Union Edition contributor Alastair Merrill, reflects on his time as the Scottish Government’s Commercial Director and Chief Procurement Officer from 2009 to 2015.
How do you sum up five years and seven months? It was July 2009 that I took up the post of the Scottish Government’s Procurement and Commercial Director. And in February 2015, after fourteen years almost to the day as a civil servant in Scotland, I left Her Majesty’s employment to take up a post at the University of St Andrews. Looking back on what has been one of the most interesting, stimulating and rewarding periods of my career, much has changed, and largely for the better, but big challenges remain if Scotland is to remain a global leader in public procurement.
Back in 2009, Audit Scotland report had just published a report, “Improving Public Sector Purchasing”, which examined the achievements of the first three years of the McClelland reforms. Lots done, but lots more to do was the overall message – and the same, arguably, could be said today…
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Procurement Insights 
Posted on April 29, 2015
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