Public Procurement Thresholds 2017 – update

Details of current UK thresholds can be found on: UK Public Procurement Thresholds

Details of current EU thresholds can be found on: EU Public Procurement Thresholds

When procuring goods or services over the financial threshold a public authority must do so under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015  in Scotland. The current thresholds are as follows: Public contracts

	Supply, Services and Design Contracts	Works Contracts	Social and other specific services
Central Government	£106,047 €135,000	£4,104,394 €5,225,000	£589,148             €750,000
Other contracting authorities	£164,176 €209,000	£4,104,394 €5,225,000	£589,148            €750,000
Small lots	£62,842 €84,000	£785,530 €1,000,000	n/a

Social and other specific services are subject to the new ‘light touch regime’ as described in a previous blog. Utility contracts

	Supply, Services and Design Contracts	Works Contracts	Social and other specific services
Utility authorities	£328,352 €418,000	£4,104,394 €5,225,000	£785,530              €1,000,000

Defence and security contracts

	Supply, Services and Design Contracts	Works Contracts	Social and other specific services
Defence and Security authorities	£328,352 €418,000	£4,104,394 €5,225,000	n/a

Concession contracts For the first time Concession Contracts are covered in EU Law under a separate directive and therefore separate regulations in the UK. The EU Directive is found here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/GA/TXT/?uri=celex:32014L0023 The UK regulations here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/273/contents/made The UK Directive gives instruction on how the value of a concession contract should be calculated: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/273/regulation/9/made The thresholds for publication in the OJEU refers to Article 8 (1) of the EU Directive which is:

1. This Directive shall apply to concessions the value of which is equal to or greater than EUR 5 186 000.

The Sterling equivalent is £4,104,394. Calculating estimated value The calculation of the estimated value of a procurement exercise shall be based on the total amount payable, net of VAT, as estimated by the contracting authority, including any form of option and any renewals of the contracts as explicitly set out in the procurement documents. Contracts subsidised by public funds All applicable contracts which are subsidised by 50% or more of public funds must be advertised in the OJEU. From time to time a public body may part fund a project and request that the recipient of funding must advertise the procurement in line with public contracts regulations even if their contribution is less than 50% of the overall value. As such any recipient of public funding on a project should verify with the funding body what is expected of them in procuring for the project. What are small lots? See this blog. How do I know if a contract is classed as works? Many contractual requirements are a mixture of works and services. Whichever element is the highest in value should be taken as the contract nature when determining what threshold to apply. If you are unsure whether a specific element is classed as works or services then you can refer to Schedule 2 of the regulations which lists all activities which constitute works by CPV code: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/schedule/2/made If the CPV code which fits your requirement is not in that list then it is not classed as a Works contract.

Questions? Leave a comment below.