New Procurement Regulations published

The Government has published the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, implementing the Concession Contracts Directive 2014/23 and the Utilities Contracts Directive 2014/25 respectively. Together with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, they form a package of measures to improve public procurement processes.

The Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/273) impose obligations on contracting authorities and utilities concerning the award of concession contracts.

The Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/274) impose obligations on utilities in relation to how they award contracts for the execution of works, the supply of products or the provision of services.  

Both sets of regulations come into force on 18 April 2016 and apply to new procurement exercises commenced on or after that date. There are transitional provisions and savings where the procurement procedure started before 18 April 2016.

The Crown Commercial Service has issued Procurement Policy Note 02/16 announcing the new regulations and explaining when they come into force.

We will be looking in detail at the Concessions Regulations in our forthcoming Procurement Update seminars which we are running from 18 -21 April in Bristol, London, Leeds and Birmingham. For more details, and to book a place, see the Events page on our website.