MG ALBA, Scotland’s Gaelic Media Service, operates the Gaelic television channel BBC ALBA in partnership with the BBC. We are also responsible for FilmG, in collaboration with Cànan Graphics Studio, and we deliver LearnGaelic in partnership with the BBC, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Bòrd na Ceiltis (Alba).

MG ALBA is funded by The Scottish Government with an annual grant of around £14m. This is spent as follows:

• Approximately £10m on TV Programming and Rights with around 50 live agreements in any one year. Spends with individual production companies vary from £3m pa to just a few thousand pounds.
• Approximately £1m on operating costs varying from property rentals, utilities, consultancy, leases though to capex purchases and the like. The top 35 suppliers make up 80% of this spend.
• Approximately £2m on salaries and on costs (which is out of scope for the review we wish to procure)

MG ALBA wishes to procure an internal audit review of its procurement processes starting with obtaining quotes to purchasing approvals, through issue of POs, goods receipt processes (where relevant) to authorisation and payment of invoices.

The objective of the review is to test compliance against the procurement policies of the business and to evaluate them against best practice. Hence giving the directors confidence that processes are well controlled, are in compliance with policy and value for money is being obtained. Specific issues MG ALBA expects to be addressed in the audit report are as follows:

• An assessment on whether the current procurement policy and procedures are in alignment with the law
• Identify strengths and weaknesses of the current arrangements compared to industry best practice and recommend where and how improvements can be implemented
• Assess whether there are sufficient resources dedicated to procurement
• Identify training needs

Points of relevance are as follows:

• The systems used are Approval Max (since 1st April 2021) and Xero (since 1st April 2019)
• We anticipate that the audit can be carried out remotely as all documents are stored electronically
• All payments are handled electronically through Royal Bank of Scotland
• There is no requirement to speak Gaelic. All the documents are in English
• A copy of our procurement policy is on our website using this link

Tenders, which should be no more than 3 pages in length (excluding front page, contents page and CVs of staff), should include the following:

• The fee costs should be provided on a fixed price basis (we do not expect the fees and expenses to exceed £7,500 ex vat)
• Brief CV of the staff involved in the audit
• An explanation of the audit approach
• An indication of the level of expertise within the company in relation to procurement within the public sector/media sector in UK

Tenders will be assessed on the following criteria:

• The level of fee (40%);
• The quality and experience of the proposed audit team (20%);
• The suitability of the audit approach (20%);
• The added value that the internal audit service will bring to MG ALBA (20%).

The closing time and date for applications, sent to tender@mgalba.com, will be 5pm on 10th September 2021 with an appointment being made by 15th September 2021.

We would like the review to take place and a report be produced by the end of October 2021 in time for an audit committee meeting in November.

Should you wish to tender for this appointment and require further information or clarification of any of the above please contact me at nevil.lee@mgalba.com