The next NAP and the Cabinet Office Part 2 Consultation on draft regulations to implement the Procurement Bill - Transparency Notices Deadline 25 August

UK Open Government Network
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Public consultation new public procurement transparency notices UK Procurement Bill

"This is a consultation on the secondary legislation required to implement the new public procurement regime established by the Procurement Bill. This is a technical consultation, split into two parts. This second part of the consultation focuses on the transparency provisions and notices that will be used by contracting authorities to fulfil their legal requirements under the Bill. It also includes information on the proposed approach to transitional arrangements for procurements already underway at the time that the new regime enters into force and the position on other legislation that will need to be amended in order for the full provisions of the Bill to take effect. Questions largely seek to understand to what extent the draft secondary legislation provisions implement the policy intent as established in the Bill.

How to respond

You can respond to this consultation here.

We cannot accept postal responses to this consultation unless there are exceptional circumstances. If you need to send in a postal submission, contact the Procurement Reform Team on procurement.reform@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

The closing date for Part 2 of the consultation is 25 August 2023

Part 1 of the consultation closes at 11:45pm on 28 July 2023"

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Public consultation on The Procurement (Transparency) Regulations - closes 25th August

With the current public consultation on these regulations, we now have much more meat on the bone regarding what the new procurement noticing platform and contract register (aka the UK central digital platform) will look like.

The upgrading of Find A Tender Service offers the prospect of major improvements in market engagement, competition, transparency and data collection and use. Overall, there are reasons that this could be one of the most transformational parts of the wholesale changes being made due to the forthcoming Procurement Act.

For a start, it will be a single digital platform. Currently, English and central government contracting authorities have to publish two different notices in different formats at each stage for most tenders and contract awards, one on Contracts Finder and one on Find a Tender service which replaced OJEU. Suppliers have two places to look for opportunities.

More information will be available in a single place on the pre-procurement
stage, e.g. planning and introducing a Procurement Termination Notice for cancelled tenders might help spot missing contract award notices, which have been such a problem during Covid.

I’m also hopeful that the transparency of contract awards under frameworks will dramatically increase with the introduction of the Contract Details Notice for Frameworks and that more copies of contracts will be published.

The introduction of unique IDs for contracting authorities and suppliers will unleash a lot more information about who is buying what from who and for how much.

Until now, we have had four statutory instruments (SI) governing public procurement in the UK, so the upgrade from SIs to a Procurement Act, underpinned by this SI should help with contracting authorities’ compliance with the new law.

I’m helping the Open Contracting Partnership prepare their response to the consultation, and I’m hoping suppliers, in particular, will have their say as, despite the title, this is as much about market engagement and increasing competition as it is about transparency. The launch of a new central digital platform will also be critical to delivering some of suggestions that were received for the next NAP.

There are just under two weeks to go before the consultation closes on 25th August. This is a great and last opportunity to help shape the replacement for Contracts Finder and Find a Tender Service by submitting your comments on the draft regulations.