Another PPN - UK Public Policy Notice PPN11/20 - Reserving Below Threshold Procurements

 One that I missed but Eddie Regan at BIP Solutions didnt...

We know something of the possible future for UK Public Procurement thanks to the Green Paper.  One element of that is being adopted from 1/1/21 - which is that procurements below the thresholds ;

● Reserve the procurement by supplier location, AND/OR

● Reserve the procurement for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) / Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs) -

Thresholds are ;

Supplies & Services - £122,976 

Works - £4,733,252

The second one of these extends the provision in the PCR 2015 for VCSEs to include SMEs and I have few problems with that.  The provisions are currently for central government only, but will surely be extended to Local Authorities who will welcome it.

The first provision though worries me.  In several ways.

Firstly, there is the effect on the Union - this is UK legislation and expressly stops the location being based on the four nations (and procurement is a devolved authority, so Scotland, Wales and particularly Northern Ireland will presumably create their own rules based on the UK ones).  But you can see the problems with Scottish contracts for Scotland, English contracts for England etc.

Secondly, the region should be based on a county.  Now Yorkshire is big.  But Rutland and the Isle of Wight are small.  I can see the sense in restricting IoW contracts to the island.  But Rutland?  Surely there is value to be had in sourcing from Leicestershire or Northamptonshire?  But a political advantage in drawing only from Rutland companies....  (I know nothing about the Rutland apart from the TV comedy programme, so I hope that people there do not think I am suggesting they are particularly likely to have problems.  It just happens to be the smallest county)

Thirdly, the geographical restriction will be loved by councils and councillors who want to spend money in their own constituencies.  There are obvious worries about Value for Money, and of course unethical buying behaviour (much in the news at the moment).

So, I remain to be convinced.

Procurex Scotland- Tuesday 6th October 2015

Pretty much straight after the weekend I shall be going to Glasgow for the annual Procurex Scotland event, on Tuesday 6th October 2015 at the SECC.  Some very interesting talks - which I may well miss because I shall be presenting in one of the Key Event Zones.  You can't say you haven't been warned.

Hope to see you there - always an interesting event.

If Scotland is a wee bit far there Procurex events in 2016 in Wales, Ireland, and the North and South of England (some of which I shall not be at, so you can pick and choose).

Procurement Risk and Scottish Independence

First of all I should declare that I am genuinely interested in the topic of Scottish independence.  My wife is Scottish, and so is my daughter (though her twin brother is English – don’t ask).  My personal preference is for a continued Union, but we need to recognise that there is a considerable percentage of the population of Scotland that seeks independence.  Regardless of the desirability of independence, it is a possible outcome of the referendum in November 2014, and so businesses should be considering the impact on their businesses.  Procurement and Supply Chain personnel in particular should be drawing up outline contingency plans.

Standard Life has drawn up a contingency plan to move its operations to England in the event of independence, and this has predictably created a political storm.  However it is only sensible to consider the options, whether or not the consequences of that are politically sensitive.

Given that one of the parties in the government is committed to an in/out referendum on membership of the European Union in 2017, some of the same issues will need to be considered ahead of that.  3 years till a referendum, and 5 years or so till a Brexit (as it is called) may seem like a long time, but it should still be a factor in long term supply chain considerations.

What are the issues?  Well, some/all of the following, and probably some more I have missed.

 -     Currency of transactions £/EU/£S – and exchange rates

-      EU membership (Scotland and Britain)

-      Legal basis of contracts (already an issue - are you aware of the differnce between English and Scottish business law?)

-        Formal barriers to trade
-        Soft barriers to trade e.g. Buy Scottish/ Buy English campaigns
-        Interest rates
-        Transport/customs
-        Infrastructure/cost of doing business
-        Personnel/skills movements  - the brain drain vs. immigration
-        Resentment/politics
-        Refocusing of market efforts
-        Decline of “UK national” coverage
-        Time zones
-        Interest rates/cost of living
-        Economic impact
-        National and nationalist politics
-        Procurement legislation (as set by the EU, and applied by different national governments, and as guidedd by the WTO agreement on public procurement 1996, and re-negotiated in 2011)