The Public Contracts Regulation 2015 was enforced on the 26th February 2015. With the introduction of the new regulations, there have been a few changes that have affected the publication of Low Value/Sub-OJEU notices.
Below is a summary of the changes that have been made which affect Low Value/Sub-OJEU notices:
Contracts Finder
Contracts with a value over £25,000 (£10,000 for Central Government) must be advertised on the Crown Commercial Service site aka Contracts Finder. This includes contracts between £25,000 and the European threshold £172,514 and to notices published in the Official Journal. Further details on Contracts Finder can be read on a previously published blog.
Part B Services v Light Touch Regime
Under the previous regulations, services were split into Part A and Part B. All services fell into one of 27 service categories, where 1-16 were Part A and subject to the full procurement regulations whereas Part B were service categories 17-27 and were essentially exempt from the rules (although an award notice was required).
Section 7 of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 details the rules surrounding the procurement of services that are considered “social and other specific services” and above the set threshold of EUR 750 000. As explained in the EU fact sheet on a new simplified regime for service contracts the “contracting authorities have to publicise in advance their intention to award contracts of this value and announce the contract award decision after the procedure”. This is known as the ‘Light Touch Regime’. Further details on Light Touch can be read here.
PINs in Restricted Procedures
PIN can now be used, by sub-central contracting authorities, as a means of calling for competition in place of a contract notice (Regulation 28) and can also be used in place of a PQQ stage with selected suppliers being taken straight to the tendering stage. This is in addition to the traditional use of a PIN which is to notify the market of a possible opportunity so, under the new regulations; the PIN has a dual function. If the PIN is being used as a call to competition it must contain the information in Annex V Part B I and II in the 2014 Procurement Directive. For further information on this please see the previous blog published on this.
Ban on PQQs
As part of the Public Sector Directive 2015 the Cabinet Office has introduced strong restrictions on Public Sector Buyers when it comes to prequalification of suppliers and the use of supplier questionnaires as per Lord Young’s report. Arguably, in doing so this can benefit Suppliers as they will be asked relevant and proportionate questions, which could make it easier for SMEs and VCOs to participate. More details can be found by reading the article Ban on PQQs.
Electronic Documents
Regulation 53 of the Public Contracts Regulations states that “contracting authorities shall, by means of the internet, offer unrestricted and full direct access free of charge to the procurement documents”. In essence, all documents must be electronically available via URL or on the notice itself (this can be done with our myTenders service) from the start of the procedure. Sending out documents by e-mail does not fall under full direct access as per Regulation 53(2) as “readily available” access has to be made available at any time and therefore emailing of documents does not satisfy this requirement as it relies on the actions of the contracting authority (they are not readily available at any time). To read a more detailed information on this, please see follow the following link to a previous blog Electronic Documents.
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