Covid-19 and UK Public Procurement regulations

The UK Government has issued a new PPN (Procurement Policy Note) about public procurement in the time of the Coronavirus.  Information is here.

Some commentary can be found at Telles.eu

Brexit and Public Procurement

So now the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has voted to leave the European Union, what will change in our Public Procurement?

In the short term, nothing much.  What do I mean by the short term?  Well at least two years, which is how long it will take Article 50 to be applied to allow us to leave.  Bearing in mind the politics, than probably means at least 2 and a half years so 2019.  Some commentators are saying 2020 would be more realistic, but who knows? 

What will happen then?  A lot will depend on what happens in the intervening time.  Will the UK stay together or break up?  Which could lead to quite different procurement regimes in the 4 major countries (which are at the moment only a bit different).

It is likely that whatever else happens England (largest country in the UK) will be pulling out of the EU procurement rules, so what will happen in England?

Well again, possibly not a lot for a while.  The UK is a signatory to the World Trade Organisation Government Procurement Agreement which underpins much of the EU procurement regulations.  Given that outside of the EU we will probably use the WTO in redeveloping our trading relationships with other countries, it is fairly unlikely that we shall pull out of that agreement (at least not quickly).

The WTO GPA sets in place a series of rules for procurement above a certain value or threshold, which is the same as the one in the EU regulations.  So thresholds and processes will remain in place, but might be amended.

There would be no ability to appeal to the European Court of Justice as EU procurement directives would not apply (unless that is part of our settlement in leaving).

Could we have a Buy British or Buy English campaign?  Probably not because it would clash with the WTO GPA, and anyhow could have negative consequences on Value for Money (if the foreign providers do not provide better VfM we would not contract with them).

Things like the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) that came in in April 2016 but still has not actually surfaced, may change some time in the future.

So lots or uncertainty, but given that we need rules for public procurement to avoid corruption and to obtain value for Money, and that we are already signed up to rules for this, and that changing public procurement policy is unlikely to be top of the agenda for a post Brexit country, I think we shall only be seeing small changes for the next 5 years or so.  After that, who knows?  As they say, a week is a long time in politics - let alone 5 years.  In the meantime PCR 2015 stays in place.

So there is still a point in going to EU Procurement training (well, I would say that wouldn't I?)  as nothing is going to change for a few years.  After that, then I am sure we will have new public procurement training to clarify the new rules as and when they emerge.

Brexit and Public Procurement

I've been meaning to mention the impact of possible Brexit on Public Procurement, but just haven't had the time.  And it looks like Pinsent Masons have covered most of what I wanted to say - here linked on the excellent Spend Matters blog.

In short, if we stay nothing changes.  If we leave, nothing changes - at least not for quite a while.  And even then it might not.  We are signed up to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, which is the basis of quite a lot of the EU Procurement directive, and therefore our procurement regulations.  Deciding what whether we would leave that agreement, and if so what we would change will probably not be top the the government's agenda post Brexit.

As Pinsent Masons have pointed out, rather than reducing bureaucracy the Government seems quite keen on adding things on top of the directive (with good intentions) so we might end up with more regulation rather than less.

Any how over the next 5 years, I would not expect to see a lot of change.  After that?  Who knows.

New Public Contract regulations - other blogs

On Wednesday I ran my first event of the PASS  series of Impact of the New Public Contracts Regulations 2015.  Not as especially catchy title, but as one of the delegates said "it's not something we want to know about, it's something we need to know about".

Very interesting session with very knowledgeable and engaged delegates, two of whom were good enough to give me a lift to the station because I over ran.

If you want some additional information, a pair of law lecturers from Swansea and Leicester are going through the regulations in tandem on their blogs - one per post.  This onerous task (which I discovered from Peter Smith's Spend Matters blog)  will take them until autumn, but it is an interesting exercise for anyone wondering (as I do) where the challenges to the new regulations are going to arise.

The blogs are;

www.telles.eu
www.howtocrackanut.blogspot.co.uk

Impact of the new UK Public Contracts Regulations 2015

My friends at BIP Solutions PASS training are running a bunch of courses to help people understand the new UK Public procurement regulations and what it means in practice.  Remember the new regulations are already in place for Central government, and start today for other government bodies (unless you are in Scotland of course, when the regulations will come later in the year).

There is massive interest in these events (some of which are sold out, which is something to lift a trainer's spirits).  Full details are at the link here, but new dates and locations are being added quite regularly at the moment.

The locations are really spread around the country, so there should be one fairly near you - rather than the more standard axis of London, Birmingham, Manchester.

I am delighted to be one of the consultants delivering these events, along with my colleagues Eddie and Digby.

If you wish to attend (or miss) one of my events I should be presenting at:
Cambridge 8th April 2015
York           15th April
Newcastle   16th April
Sheffield     22nd April
Birmingham 30th April
(I'm mostly doing other things in May)
Lincoln        3rd June
Cambridge   4th June
Birmingham 10th June
Nottingham 17th June
Newcastle    23rd June

Oh, and I shall be at a new event in Birmingham on 4th July which I shall cover later.
All dates subject to change, and of course we may move around presenters depending on circumstances.

So, hope to see you there - do bring questions and examples

New EU regulations and Procurex North

Procurex North is this week at Manchester Central on Thursday 26th  February.  Which just happens to be the day that the new UK Procurement regulations come into force for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  So bound to be lots to discuss - and a lot of reading, rereading and arguing for us consultants to make sure we understand it before then.  Or at least think we understand it.

Procurex North is free if you are in the Public Sector, and £95 if you are in the private sector.  Hope to see you there in the Supplier zone.  I hope you will be gentle with your questions - or rather be as rough as you like with the questions but be forgiving of my answers.

New EU procurement regulations - update

It looks like the new EU procurement regulations will be applicable to UK Central Government from 26th February (except in Scotland), and other bodies from 1 April 2015 (except in Scotland).

And I got confirmation from the publisher that we shall be printing an updated edition of Excellence in Public Sector Procurement just as soon as we can.  So I should better get on with writing.

New UK Procurement regulations - February 2015

The new UK Procurement regulations, enacting last year's EU procurement directive, have now been introduced to parliament and will take effect in England,Wales and Northern Ireland on 26th February 2015 I believe (the document linked to by www.gov.uk still helpfully has the phrase "date to be inserted" where the date should be, so I am not certain).  Scotland will follow later in the year (reminding us once again that Scotland, whilst part of the Union, is a different country with a different legal system).

These new regulations are something we have been discussing for a couple of years, and anticipating in earnest since this time in 2014 when the directive was passed.

There are some significant changes such as new procurement routes (Innovation partnership, competitive procedure with negotiation) and some more minor ones (the process should generally be faster).

If you want to know more then you can read the PDF at this link here, or attend one of the training courses that I have been plugging run by BIP Solutions or the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply where it will be it will be a little bit more digestible.    There is also a government discussion document about the introduction of the new regulations which is available here.

When I have had time to digest the changes, we shall also update our book Excellence in Public Sector Procurement (Emmett & Wright, Cambridge Academic 2011) which naturally will need to take account of the new regulations.  No timescale for that, but not before the summer I expect.