Webinar and series of articles: The Road to Reform of Public Procurement

In December, the government published its response to the consultation on proposed reform to public procurement law set out in the Green Paper. A link to the response can be found here.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the procurement team at Bevan Brittan LLP will be publishing a series of articles to delve into the details of the government’s proposals and what this means for contracting authorities and bidders. These articles will be issued on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week between 3 March and 5 April 2022 and available on our website thereafter. A list of these articles is published below.

We first wanted to summarise some of the key changes in person via a webinar delivered by Emily Heard, Matthew Mo and Fran Mussellwhite, which you can view at this link.

Menu of articles:

1. An overview: 3 March 2022
2. Principles and objectives, the National Procurement Policy Statement and the PRU: 8 March 2022
3. Single set of Regulations with exemptions, interface with health procurement, light touch regime and Concessions: 10 March 2022
4. New procedures, including for urgent procurements, emphasis on pre-market engagement and planning: 15 March 2022
5. Evaluation (MAT not MEAT), links to NPPS and other legislation, risk of challenge on these wider policy oobjectives: 17 March 2022
6. Exclusion: grounds for exclusion, debarment register, past performance and supplier registration system: 22 March 2022
7. Purchasing tools – new DPS+, new rules for open and closed frameworks: 24 March 2022
8. Transparency – notices, debriefing, what has to be published and Open Contracting Data Standard: 29 March 2022
9. Remedies: reforms to Court process, no independent review up front by the authority, disclosure, new test for automatic suspension, no cap on damages, no tribunal and alternative route via PRU: 31 March 2022
10. Contract Management: prompt payment, amendments to contracts after signature: 5 April 2022

We are a nationally recognised team specialising in public procurement law and procurement litigation. We would be happy to talk to you further to discuss how we can help your organisation prepare for and adapt to the proposed changes.