Cabinet Office consults on draft regulations to implement Procurement Bill

The Cabinet Office has launched a consultation on the secondary legislation required to implement the new public procurement regime established by the Procurement Bill.

The technical consultation is split into two parts. This first part of the consultation refers predominantly to areas of the Bill which require lists, calculations or further definitions to be used in practice and covers 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.

Questions seek to understand to what extent the draft secondary legislation provisions implement the policy intent as established in the Bill and will be scored on a scale from ‘Strongly Agree’ to ‘Strongly Disagree’.

The consultation opens on 19 June and closes on 28 July.

The Cabinet Office said the second part of the consultation will cover the transparency provisions and notices that will be used by contracting authorities to fulfil their legal requirements under the Act.

It will also include 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 Act to take effect.

Part 2 is expected to launch in July 2023 – the Cabinet Office said further details would be provided in due course.