Key Facts

• Amendments 13 and 14 aim to prevent direct contracts from being awarded to excludable suppliers with national security concerns.
• During the COVID pandemic, £10 billion worth of PPE was written off due to poor procurement practices.
• The National Audit Office investigation found that only 55% of contracts above £25,000 had their details published within the recommended timeframe.
• Amendment 103 seeks to prevent preferential treatment conferred on suppliers by recommendations from Members of Parliament.
• Amendment 111 requires public declarations of private interests within five working days for those involved in recommending suppliers for contracts under emergency provisions or direct awards.
• Efford cites the PPE procurement during COVID as an example highlighting the need for improved transparency and accountability.
• The UK has fallen in Transparency International's corruption index for public sector corruption.
• Former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi did not update his list of ministerial interests for a significant period after taking office.
• Each former Prime Minister can appoint peers to the House of Lords, leading to an increase in the number of peers.
• £10 billion of public funds were written off due to ineffective PPE contracts.
• Council tax is proposed to increase by up to 15% in some boroughs.
• Some £3.4 billion went to Conservative donors and friends through contracts during the pandemic.
• A former Minister was paid £100,000 while lobbying for Randox which provided defective tests.
• Clause 82 requires contracting authorities to prepare a conflicts assessment before making a direct award.
• Clause 81(3) states that suppliers with an unfair advantage due to conflict of interest must be excluded.
• Schedule 5 lists justifications for limited tendering based on intellectual property, exclusive rights, and technical reasons.
• Direct awards under the Government have caused significant damage to public interest.
• Companies referred through VIP lanes were 10 times more likely to win contracts without proper due diligence.
• The Welsh Labour Government managed an open and transparent PPE supply chain during the pandemic.
• Clause 42 permits Ministers to award contracts during emergencies.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, £10 billion of public money was spent on PPE that was later written off.
• The Government pays £770,000 a day to store unused PPE.
• Amendments 103, 104 and 108 aim to strengthen oversight mechanisms for emergency procurement powers.
• Clause 42 introduces a new power for a Minister of the Crown via statutory instrument to allow contracting authorities to award contracts directly within specific parameters.
• The clause is designed to prevent abuse and only applies in extremely rare scenarios, subject to parliamentary approval within 28 days.
• Competitive tendering procedures can switch to direct award under Clause 43 if no suitable tenders are submitted due to corruption or procedural breaches.
• Clause 44 introduces mandatory transparency notices for direct awards.
• Transparency should be extended to include Ministers, Lords, and civil servants.
• Increased transparency is expected to restore public trust and reduce costs.
• Clause 45 sets out procedures for awarding public contracts under frameworks.
• Subsection (4) allows direct award of contracts without further competition if certain conditions are met.
• Subsection (5) requires frameworks to state goods, works or services that can be procured and their estimated value.
• Clause 46 outlines the competitive selection process for contract awards.
• Clause 47 sets maximum terms: eight years for defence and security or utilities frameworks; four years otherwise.
• Open frameworks must be reopened at least once every five years, with a total duration limit of eight years.
• Clauses 45 to 49 cover framework arrangements in procurement contracts.
• Frameworks have a term limit of four years with exceptions for up to eight years in defence, security, and utilities sectors.
• Clause 47 allows extensions if the nature of goods, services or works requires it, but contracting authorities must justify this extension.
• Open frameworks can be re-opened on an annual basis as allowed by legislation.
• Amendment 4 proposes changing the financial threshold from £5 million to £2 million.
• The amendment aims to strengthen transparency and accountability in major projects.
• Key performance indicators are necessary to ensure businesses adhere to social, environmental, and economic commitments.
• The Bill as introduced had a KPI publication threshold of £2 million.
• The threshold was increased to £5 million in the House of Lords to reduce administrative burdens.
• Clause 52 requires contracting authorities to publish at least three key performance indicators for public contracts worth more than £5 million.
• Amendments 75, 78 and 80 ensure greater scrutiny where there is a change in transparency requirements for financial thresholds.
• Clause 53 sets out the need for publication of contract details for all contracts over £5 million.
• According to the Government’s figures, one-third of public money (£300 billion annually) is spent on procurement.
• The Labour Party would introduce a Ukraine-style publicly accessible dashboard if they were in government.
• Amendments 34 to 36 allow utilities and non-central government authorities to negotiate shorter time periods for tender submissions.
• A minimum period of 10 days applies if no agreement is reached on a shorter timeframe.
• Clause 55 requires contracting authorities to publish procurement termination notices as soon as reasonably practicable.
• Amendment 37 to clause 56 concerns technical specifications related to standards.
• Contracting authorities must use international standards before specific UK standards if they are available.
• The amendment would require tender documents to consider equivalent standards from other states or territories.
• The Procurement Bill aims to simplify regulatory frameworks and increase flexibility in public procurement.
• Clause 56 of the bill requires contracting authorities to use performance or functional requirements over descriptive characteristics to focus on desired outcomes rather than specific methods.
• Contracting authorities must refer to international standards where they exist, allowing for equivalents, as required by the World Trade Organisation’s Government Procurement Agreement.