The Cabinet Office has recently revised timescales for the public procurement reforms and postponed introducing the draft Procurement Bill into Parliament.
The National Procurement Policy Statement this month applies to all contracting authorities who are subject to the procurement rules. Whilst broadly welcomed it raises a number of practical challenges for local authorities and the wider public sector.
Following the recent National Audit Office (NAO) report and challenge by the Good Law Project into government procurement during coronavirus, we discuss the pitfalls of direct awards and the key lessons for higher education institutions.
Since 1 January, the rules that apply to central and local government and other public funded bodies, such as universities, which prevent the grant of subsidies have been in a state of flux.
For contracting authorities and suppliers bidding for public sector contracts, the procurement rules remain largely unchanged, at least for the moment.
The Cabinet Office's procurement policy note (PPN) confirms that the "extreme urgency" exemption can be used as one of the tools to respond to coronavirus (COVID-19).
The concept of social value in public procurement is well known. However, despite its introduction in 2012, there is relatively little practical guidance on how to apply social value in procurement procedures.
In a recent decision in Sopra Steria Group SA v European Parliament [1] , the General Court of the European Courts of Justice considered conflicts of interest at bidder level.
We have highlighted the most important procurement law cases from 2018 and summarised the key issues to keep you up to date with the latest developments.
The outcome of the appeal in Faraday Development Ltd v West Berkshire Council has important implications for public bodies and developers looking to structure land arrangements outside the scope of the public procurement rules.
The latest guidance note issued by the UK government in the event of a 'no deal ' Brexit relates to the practical implications for the public sector in relation to the current UK procurement rules.
