In this insight, Capsticks summarises the latest update from the Cabinet Office in relation to the new Procurement Bill which will replace the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 in late 2023/24.
Timetable & next steps
The Cabinet Office has confirmed that the Procurement Bill has completed its journey through the House of Lords. It will now be considered by the House of Commons with Royal Assent expected in the spring of 2023 (but it won’t come into force then – see below). This is when the Bill has completed all of the parliamentary stages and is formally agreed by the King that the Bill will become law as a new Act of Parliament.
As previously, the Cabinet Office confirms that there will be a six month period before the new legislation is in force. This looks likely therefore to be towards the end of 2023.
A new digital platform is being developed and this will use the current “Find a Tender Service” platform. A test environment should be available in the spring and procurement practitioners should therefore be talking to their e-providers to understand how they propose to engage with this.
Changes to the Bill
As the Bill has progressed through the House of Lords some changes have been made to the original Bill which was published in May 2022. It is likely that further changes will be made as the Bill is reviewed by the House of Commons.
Notable changes so far are:
- A duty to have regard to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has been added, together with provisions which support this including a prohibition on requiring insurance to be in place before the award of a contract.
- Where a contracting authority undertakes preliminary market engagement, it will now be mandatory to publish a notice prior to this (this was optional under the original drafting).
- It is now stated that a voluntary standstill period in relation to contract modifications must be not less than eight working days.
- Open frameworks which relate to light-touch services will now not be limited in length.
- The threshold for publishing Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data has been increased to cover contracts valued at £5 million (previously it was £2 million).
Source: Capsticks
Date: 3 January