Before embarking on an advertisement, the NHSScotland body should consider whether the regulations are relevant to its procurement. The regulations only apply to contracts with a value over certain thresholds. The current threshold figures that apply are contained within Scottish Procurement Policy Note SPPN 11/2009. These thresholds are updated every two years.
PPP contracts usually encompass a combination of works and services, works and supplies or supplies and services. Therefore, it is not immediately obvious which of the above thresholds should apply to a PPP procurement. It is important that NHSScotland bodies take advice on this point to avoid a potentially serious regulatory breach, but it would in practice be unusual for the value of a PPP procurement to fall beneath any of these thresholds. (This guidance assumes that the NHSScotland body has chosen to advertise its PPP scheme as a "services" contract under the competitive dialogue).