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On 30 June 2022, the Cabinet Office published a policy paper, “Transforming Public Procurement – our
transparency ambition”
(“Paper“). The Paper introduced a number
of public procurement transparency reforms in furtherance of the
new transparency agenda, as set out in the Transforming Public
Procurement Green Paper and the recent Procurement Bill. Please see
our Transforming Public Procurement Webinar from
February 2021 for a detailed review of the proposed changes in
the Green Paper.
The Paper explains how information will be made more accessible
by the public sector through the use of centralised information
systems, additional disclosure and reporting obligations.
The transparency reforms
The Paper sets out three central reforms that aim to increase
transparency in public procurement:
- New procurement notices which cover the entirety of the
procurement process from planning to contract expiry. As
it stands, transparency obligations only bite at the tender and
contract award stages of the procurement cycle. Under the new
rules, information produced at every stage, such as information on
potential future procurements at the planning stage, will be
required to be published. Suppliers will be better positioned to
engage with the procurement process, identify and plan for
contracting opportunities. The media and the general public will
also be more informed about how taxpayers’ money is spent, with
the intention to increase accountability in the system. - A streamlined registration service to enable suppliers
to input information about their businesses and answers to
frequently asked questions across different procurements known as a
‘Tell-us-once’ system. A Register of Suppliers
will be designed to create a centralised register into which
suppliers can feed information using organisational identifiers.
The intention is that this system will make the bidding process
more efficient across all public organisations by reducing
duplication of work for suppliers. - A centralised digital platform that will display all
information from the notices (and some information from the
Register of Suppliers) and, over time, incorporate data analysis
tools to analyse commercial procurement data. Contracting
authorities, suppliers and interested parties will be able to see
live opportunities and existing public sector contracts and
performance data on current contracts (including spend
comparisons).
Procurement notices
The Paper confirms that introducing the new procurement notices
outlined in the Procurement Bill is the highest priority, with the
division of notices into five broad stages under the proposed
reformed regime:
- Stage 1 – Planning Stage: Pipeline
Notice, Planned Procurement Notice and Preliminary Market
Engagement Notice. - Stage 2 – Tender Stage: Tender Notice,
Mandatory Transparency Notice, Dynamic Market Notice,
Below-Threshold Tender Notice. - Stage 3 – Award: Contract Award
Notice. - Stage 4 – Contract: Contract Details
Notice, Below-Threshold Contract Notice. - Stage 5 – Implementation: Payments
Compliance Notice, Payments Compliance Notice, Contract Change
Notice, Contract Termination Notice.
Next steps
Transparency is at the heart of the procurement reforms, and the
Procurement Bill itself is currently at the Committee Stage in the
House of Lords. The Government has confirmed that at least six
months’ notice will be given before the new regime comes into
force.
Further detail on the planned transparency changes and the
Procurement Bill will be fleshed out in secondary legislation and
associated guidance.
The Cabinet Office has commenced work on new draft templates for
the new procurement transparency notices in Find a Tender, which
will be tested by eProcurement suppliers during the development
process. Work will also shortly commence on the data analysis
elements of the central digital platform.
Read the original article on GowlingWLG.com
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