Cabinet Office announces consultation on draft regulations for the Procurement Bill

The Cabinet Office has announced Part 1 of a two-part technical consultation on the draft regulations to implement the new public procurement regime established by the Procurement Act (as the Bill will become following Royal Assent).

This first part of the consultation refers mainly to areas of the Act which require lists, calculations or further definitions. The consultation contains 9 questions covering the following subjects:

• Scope of Light Touch Regime Contracts and Reservable Light Touch Services;
• Exempt Contracts: Vertical and Horizontal Activities Calculations;
• Exempt Contracts: Utilities Intra-group Turnover Calculations;
• Utility Turnover and Supply Tests;
• Intra-UK Procurement;
• Definitions of ‘Central Government Authority’ and ‘Works’ for Thresholds;
• Disapplication of section 17 of the Local Government Act 1988; and
• Disapplication in regard to NHS procurement.

Respondents complete a survey with the 9 questions, choosing from a range of responses from ‘Strongly Agree’ to ‘Strongly Disagree’. They can provide written comments, where they disagree or strongly disagree.

Part 1 of the consultation will close at 23:45 on 28 July 2023, with Part 2 of the consultation is expected to launch in July 2023.

Part 2 will cover the transparency provisions and the notices used by contracting authorities. It will also set out:

• the transitional arrangements for in-flight procurements when the Act comes into force; and
• changes to other legislation for the Act to have full effect.

Further updates

To support public bodies, suppliers and their advisers navigate the Procurement Act, we will shortly launch our procurement reform page. This will bring together expert commentary, insight and tools to help make sense of the changes and how they will impact your organisation.