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Pre-procurement considerations under the Act

Q&As raised on the pre-procurement elements of the Act.

FAQs

  • I didn't see any detail in the consultation as to what kind of spend is over £100m – all spend, or procurement spend? Capital or revenue or both?
    Section 93 states that the reference value is where the authority “will pay more than £100 million under relevant contracts”. “Relevant contracts” is then defined as public services, supply or works contracts. This means that the section 93 obligation covers the total amount the authority is committed, or will be likely to be committed, to pay to the supplier in total under each of the public contracts it is planning to enter into during the reporting period. It would not include the authority’s payments to its own staff engaged on the contract – under their internal employment contracts. But, if the relevant public contract provided for the authority to make payments to the supplier’s staff as part of the amount payable to the supplier, this would presumably be covered.
  • What about unplanned spend?
    The consultation did note that there is no intention to hold authorities tightly to their pipeline notice to the extent that a new contract opportunity genuinely arises following publication of the notice. Where this happens, authorities should take care to document the circumstances which explain why the contract could not be included in the pipeline notice initially. When completing the pipeline notice, authorities will need to document their best understanding of the position at the time of completing the notice. 

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