Praise for Scottish Government as it lowers PBA threshold

The Scottish Government has announced that the threshold for using project bank accounts (PBAs) has reduced from £4.1 million to £2m.

Since 31 October 2016 PBAs have been mandated for use by Scottish Government bodies.

Praise for Scottish Government as it lowers PBA threshold

Alan Wilson

As from 19 March 2019 public bodies must include a PBA in tender documents for public works contracts with an estimated value or more than or equal to £2m (£5m for civil engineering projects).



The Scottish Government has been praised for this action by the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group Scotland – the representative body in Scotland’s construction industry.

Speaking on behalf of the group its national executive officer Alan Wilson said that he was delighted with the announcement: “We have been pressing Scottish Government for some time to reduce the threshold to £2m. Clearly Scottish Government has been listening and industry SMEs will be the prime beneficiaries of this lowering of the threshold.”

Scottish public bodies responsible for a total of £1 billion of projects have either:

  • used a PBA(s);
  • included a PBA in their ITTs;
  • indicated their intent to use a PBA

The Scottish Government is also stepping up its efforts to encourage all bodies involved in public sector procurement to implement PBAs.


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