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NAO – Lessons learned report – competition in public procurement – 19 July 2023
This report is a useful reminder for us all on what we should be doing to enhance competition in our public procurements. This National Audit Office report examines whether government has mechanisms in place to understand and encourage competition in public procurement, and how government departments can make their use of competition more effective. The…
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The new Procurement Bill – Moving from MEAT to MAT – What Does It Mean for Procurement Teams?
There is an ongoing debate among procurement professionals about the change in the New Procurement Bill to the basis of assessing competitive tenders from Most Economically Advantageous Tenders (MEAT) to the Most Advantageous Tenders (MAT). Is there a do-nothing option? At first glance, some of you may say there is little difference. In many cases,…
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The Aussies and Kiwis are coming …. the Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand have prompted amendments to current procurement regulations.
These changes have been introduced in light of the requirements of the UK’s new Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand and apply to all public procurement. The main change to current procurement regulations is the removal of the use of the Prior Information Notice for making a call for competition (and the Periodic…
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The new Procurement Bill – The ability to make post award changes to a contract is likely to be tempered by enhanced disclosure and transparency.
Change is inevitable and nowhere is this truer than with contracts. It is almost inevitable that the moment a contract is signed it is out of date and in need of revision; and this goes on throughout the contract’s life. However, in the world of public procurement change is regulated and this regulation is itself…
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All change – A new Standard Questionnaire, an extended implementation deadline and further change to follow under the new Procurement Act
The Cabinet Office has published PPN 03/23 Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) and accompanying statutory guidance. This had initially been effective from 1 April 2023 but this has now been pushed back to 1 June 2023. The SQ was originally introduced in 2016 as a means of standardising the supplier selection process in above threshold procurement…
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England’s NHS Provider Selection Regime – where competitive tendering is only an option rather than a requirement.
The NHS Provider Selection Regime (PSR) will be a new set of rules for procuring healthcare services in England. The PSR is intended to provide a regulatory framework for the award of healthcare contracts by NHS commissioners and local authorities that falls outside the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the New Procurement…
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The UK Procurement Bill’s proposed change from five current procurement procedures down to two raises many questions for contracting authorities and their suppliers.
Under the existing Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) regime public sector buyers must select which of the five permitted procedures most closely matches their strategy, and thereafter they must follow the selected procedure’s rules with little room for flexibility. The current PCR 2015 regulations offer a range of options, depending on the buyer’s need, from…
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Are you a contracting authority? – Coventry University says it is whilst Cambridge University claims it is not. What is going on?
I received an interesting question last week concerning UK Universities and why some say they are not contracting authorities and therefore not subject to PCR15 / public procurement law. It is all down to their income streams. If they are financed for the most part (more than 50%) by public funds, then they fall within…
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When is it right to exclude a tender submission? – it is all about the fundamental principles.
We have all seen it before. There hidden in the small print deep in the tender submission is a list of caveats and assumptions that underpin the tenderer’s price. Often these assumptions are a reasonable and necessary part of the process. However sometimes technical and pricing assumptions can be a devious mechanism used by the…
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The New Procurement Bill – more transparency but at what cost?
Enhanced transparency requirements are a key feature of the new public sector Procurement Bill and this will have a significant impact on day-to-day procurement activities. Some examples (there are more!) include requirements for: · A central online transparency platform that will allow suppliers to access public procurement data. This will most likely be developed and…
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Progress update on the new Procurement Bill – go live looks like spring 2024.
The Procurement Bill has completed its passage through the Committee Stage in the House of Commons. The Bill will now progress to Report and Third Reading. Once the Bill receives Royal Assent (which they expect to be later this spring – work will be undertaken to finalise the secondary legislation (Statutory Instruments, or regulations). Following…
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A painful lesson – Bromcom Computers Plc v United Learning Trust
With the substantive issues decided by the Courts in favour of Bromcom, the litigation now proceeds to a trial on exactly how much it should receive by way of damages. This hearing is expected to take place later in 2023. The sad truth about this case is that damages and costs could amount to more…
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The new Bill debarment and exclusion of bidders will be a war zone
The Procurement Bill introduces new grounds for exclusion from all public sector tenders where a supplier has committed a sufficiently serious breach of any relevant contract. This exclusion for poor performance could apply when a breach has resulted in contract termination, the award of damages or a settlement agreement between the supplier and any relevant…
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Call for evidence – your chance to shape the new Procurement Bill, however act fast as time is tight
The Procurement Bill was debated at a second reading in the House of Commons on Monday 9 January 2023 without any major opposition and has now been sent to a Public Bill Committee which will scrutinise the Bill line by line and is expected to report to the House by Thursday 23 February 2023. It…
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How to prepare – It is time to put the new Procurement Bill on your to do list!
The new Procurement Bill means change – change brings opportunity as well as risk. The new Bill will be the most significant change to public procurement practice in a generation. Whilst it has echoes with the outgoing Public Contract Regulations 2015, it brings entirely new elements and will require every public sector organisation to make…
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Government puts a good spin on the benefits of the new Procurement Bill, however the knives are out in the House of Commons and everything could change.
This week the Cabinet Office Government Commercial Function published a report; Benefits for Prospective Suppliers to the Public Sector .The document sets out how the new regime will deliver a range of benefits for suppliers of all sizes wishing to do business and deliver contracts for the public sector. However, the Bill is yet to…
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Oh what a tangled web we weave when we design to run roughshod over the rules
The case of Consultant Connect Limited v NHS Bath is most extraordinary. So many breaches of the regulations all happening during one procurement process is rare. Contracting authorities must comply with both Regulations 18 and 33 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) when awarding call-off contracts, and in this case they clearly did not.…
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New Procurement Bill reaches the House of Commons, but progress is taking longer than expected.
The Procurement Bill completed its committee and report stage in the House of Lords and was passed to the House of Commons on 14 December 2022. The current amended version of the bill has been published and can be found here: Procurement Bill The second reading in the Commons took place on 9 January 2023.…
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Disclosing details of other bidders: a balancing act of transparency vs commercial interests
Do public bodies need to release the names of parties who took part in a procurement exercise and failed to secure a bid? Under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, there is no obligation to disclose details of other bidders beside the specific requirement in the standstill letters, where only details of the successful contractor must…
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Contracts Finder thresholds changed again
Procurement Policy Note 01/23 – update to legal and policy requirements to publish procurement information on Contracts Finder The Public Contracts (Amendment) Regulations 2022 came into force on 21 Dec 2022. This makes two changes to the Below Threshold Regime: a) The contract value limits have been amended: from £10,000 to £12,000 for central government…
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In2 the bargain 