We’ve had lots of helpful documents and fantastic commentary explaining the progress of Procurement Reform over the last few years and with the Procurement Bill now at Report Stage in the Commons, I’m starting to feel like there’s light at the end of the legislative tunnel.
For those keeping score the ‘Report Stage’ is stage nine out of a total of twelve…the twelfth stage being Royal Assent which should start the six month countdown to the Procurement Act’s entry into force.
The Report Stage provides an opportunity for the whole House to discuss, propose changes or additions and then vote to amend the Bill. The proposals that were considered on the 9th of March include amendments such as:
- The removal from the supply chain of “companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China”.
- A proposed requirement for the Real Living Wage where contracts are directly awarded, as well as a proposal for a definition as to how the Real Living Wage should be calculated.
Another interesting element is covered in two related proposed amendments relating to direct awards and transparency notices:
- “Provision under subsection (1) must not confer any preferential treatment on suppliers connected to or recommended by members of the House of Commons or members of the House of Lords” and,
- “Any Minister of the Crown, Member of Parliament, Member of the House of Lords or senior civil servant involved in recommending a supplier for a contract under section 41 or 43 must make a public declaration to the Cabinet Office of any private financial interest in that supplier within 10 working days”.
Once the Report Stage is complete, the next stage is a debate on the Bill’s third reading. Once that is complete then the Bill moves on to its final stages which are a consideration of the amendments and then the final stage (twelve) where it will receive Royal Assent.
Once the bill becomes an Act the secondary legislation, that is required to make some elements of this Act a reality, will be finalised along with any amendments to existing legislation. This may include repealing the legislation that is being replaced, as well as making changes to other extant pieces of legislation that ‘refer to’ or otherwise interact with the current procurement legislation.
Augmenting all of this activity will also be Procurement Policy Notes, guidance, training and other relevant materials.
Although these reforms represent the largest and most significant change to public procurement for about 30 years, it is worth noting that much of this is legislative change…or to put it another way, the fundamental dynamic of public procurement remains where we will continue to seek effective competition and maximise value for money. What is changing are many of the procedures and process we have become used to over the last few iterations of the legislation in 2006 and 2015.
I strongly believe that the most important first step is to gain a clear and unambiguous understanding of the language used throughout the new legislation, where for instance the current ‘Procurement Principles’ will change to be called the ‘Procurement Objectives’, where the ‘Negotiated Procedure Without Prior Publication’ will become the ‘Limited Tendering Procedure’, and many more besides.
