Knowledge Drop for Contracting Authorities Part 4 of 6 mp4

Government Commercial Function

7 May 202407:47

Summary

TLDRThe 2023 Procurement Act Knowledge Drop Series dives into the updated supplier exclusion regime, emphasizing the protection of public interests. It introduces new grounds for excluding suppliers and individuals, allowing self-cleaning to avoid exclusion. The Act also outlines a debarment list for suppliers and mandates consistent feedback to bidders. Post-award, it requires publishing contract details and performance indicators, enhancing transparency and compliance.

Takeaways

🛡️ The Procurement Act 2023 introduces changes to better protect Contracting authorities from risky suppliers, ensuring effective competition, public confidence, and the safeguarding of interests in various sectors.
🚫 New grounds for supplier exclusion are established, including misconduct by suppliers or connected individuals, preventing avoidance through subsidiaries or rebranding.
🔄 Suppliers can avoid exclusion by demonstrating satisfactory self-cleaning activities, such as improving compliance and training procedures.
📋 Exemptions to exclusion rules exist under exceptional circumstances, like overriding public interest or in critical defense and national infrastructure situations.
🔍 Procurement and commercial teams can assist in navigating the exclusions process, ensuring fair and consistent application.
📝 The Act includes a provision for a debarment list, clearly outlining which suppliers must or may be excluded from procurements.
🕵️‍♂️ The procurement review unit will manage the investigation process for the debarment list, ensuring transparency and fairness.
🏛️ A new National Security procurement unit is being established to support exclusions and debarments on national security grounds.
📰 The debarment list will be published and maintained to assist Contracting authorities in the mandatory and discretionary exclusion stage of their procurements.
📋 The Act requires an assessment summary to be provided to each supplier post-tender assessment, including the successful one, to improve feedback consistency.
⏱️ There is a change in the standstill period from 10 calendar days to eight working days before entering into a contract with the successful supplier.
📝 Post-contract award, a mandatory contract detail notice must be published within 30 days, especially for contracts valued at £5 million or more, including redacted contract documents and key performance indicators.

Q & A

What is the primary aim of the Procurement Act 2023?
-The primary aim of the Procurement Act 2023 is to better protect Contracting authorities from suppliers who pose a risk to effective competition, public confidence, reliable delivery of contracts, the protection of the public, the environment, public funds, national security, and the rights of workers.
What are the new grounds introduced by the Procurement Act for excluding suppliers?
-The Procurement Act introduces new grounds to support Contracting authorities to exclude suppliers for misconduct by other suppliers and by individuals who are connected with a supplier, meaning suppliers cannot avoid exclusion by bidding in the name of a subsidiary or by dissolving and reforming under a different name.
How can suppliers avoid exclusion from a procurement procedure?
-Suppliers can avoid exclusion by demonstrating satisfactory self-cleaning activity, such as taking effective remedial action to prevent further misconduct, for example, by improving compliance and training procedures.
What are the exemptions to the exclusion rules under the Procurement Act?
-There are exemptions to the exclusion rules where exceptional circumstances apply, such as where there is an overriding public interest in permitting a supplier to compete or in situations relating to critical defense and national infrastructure matters.
What is the role of the procurement and commercial teams in the exclusions process?
-The procurement and commercial teams can assist in navigating the exclusions process, ensuring that the process is consistent, fair, and transparent.
What is the purpose of the debarment list under the Procurement Act?
-The debarment list is a new provision under the Procurement Act that sets out which suppliers must and may be excluded from procurements. It is intended to help Contracting authorities navigate the mandatory and discretionary exclusion stage of their procurements.
How will the debarment list be managed and maintained?
-The investigation process for adding suppliers to the debarment list will be managed in most cases by the procurement review unit, ensuring consistency, fairness, and transparency. A new National Security procurement unit is also being established to support exclusions and debarments on national security grounds.
What changes are introduced in the award procedures under the Procurement Act?
-The Procurement Act requires an assessment summary to be provided to each supplier that has had their tender assessed, along with the successful supplier's assessment summary. It also introduces a mandatory contract award notice signaling the intent to award a contract, and a change in the standstill period from 10 calendar days to eight working days.
What is the new requirement for publishing contract details after it has been entered?
-A mandatory contract detail notice has to be published within 30 days in most cases for the majority of contracts awarded with a total value of £5 million or more. Contracting authorities are also required to publish copies of their redacted contract documents and details of three key performance indicators.
What is the role of the procurement review unit in the context of the Procurement Act?
-The procurement review unit will manage the investigation process for the debarment list, ensuring consistency, fairness, and transparency in the process of adding and removing suppliers from the list.
What is the significance of key performance indicators in the context of the Procurement Act?
-Key performance indicators are important as they are regarded by the Contracting Authority as most material to the performance of the core contractual obligations. They must be published along with the contract details after the contract has been entered.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Supplier Exclusion and Debarment in the Procurement Act 2023

This section of the script discusses the changes in the supplier exclusion regime under the Procurement Act 2023. It outlines the new grounds for excluding suppliers who pose a risk to effective competition, public confidence, and other interests such as national security and the rights of workers. The act introduces a more robust approach to supplier exclusion, including misconduct by connected individuals and the inability to avoid exclusion through subsidiaries or name changes. Suppliers have the opportunity to demonstrate self-cleaning activities to avoid exclusion. The script also introduces the concept of a debarment list, managed by the procurement review unit, and the establishment of a National Security procurement unit for handling security-based exclusions and debarments. The debarment list will be published to guide contracting authorities through the mandatory and discretionary exclusion stages of procurements.

05:01

📋 Changes to Contract Award Procedures and Publishing Requirements

This paragraph details the modifications to the contract award procedures and post-award publishing requirements as stipulated by the Procurement Act 2023. It addresses the need for consistency and usefulness in the feedback provided to suppliers, with the introduction of an assessment summary for each tendered supplier, including the successful one. The script mentions a new step requiring a mandatory contract award notice to be published, initiating an eight-working-day standstill period before contract signing. Post-contract award, a contract detail notice must be published within 30 days for contracts valued at £5 million or more, including redacted contract documents and key performance indicators. The paragraph concludes with a recap of the changes and previews the next part of the series, which will cover contract governance, modifications, performance, termination, transparency, and compliance with the legal regime.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Procurement Act 2023

The 'Procurement Act 2023' is the central legislation being discussed in the video, aimed at reforming the process by which public sector contracts are awarded. It introduces new rules and procedures to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability in public procurement. The Act is designed to protect various interests including effective competition, public confidence, the environment, public funds, national security, and workers' rights.

💡Contracting Authorities

Contracting Authorities are the entities responsible for procuring goods, services, or works from external suppliers for the public sector. In the context of the video, they are the primary audience for the knowledge drop series and are directly affected by the changes introduced by the Procurement Act 2023, which they must adhere to in their procurement processes.

💡Supplier Exclusion Regime

The 'Supplier Exclusion Regime' refers to the set of rules and criteria that determine when a supplier can be excluded from participating in a procurement process. The video discusses how the Procurement Act 2023 has changed this regime to better protect Contracting Authorities from suppliers who may pose a risk to the public interest, such as those involved in misconduct or connected to individuals with a history of misconduct.

💡Self-cleaning Activity

In the context of supplier exclusion, 'Self-cleaning Activity' is a term used to describe actions taken by a supplier to demonstrate that they have addressed and rectified any previous misconduct. The video mentions that suppliers can avoid exclusion by showing satisfactory self-cleaning, such as by improving compliance and training procedures, thus preventing further misconduct.

💡Debarment List

The 'Debarment List' is a new provision under the Procurement Act 2023 that specifies suppliers who must or may be excluded from public procurements. It is a tool to ensure transparency and consistency in the exclusion process, managed by the procurement review unit, and includes suppliers who have been found to have an exclusion ground applying to them without sufficient self-cleaning evidence.

💡National Security

The term 'National Security' is used in the video to highlight a specific ground for exclusion or inclusion of suppliers in the procurement process. It is mentioned in the context of a new National Security procurement unit being established to support exclusions and debarments on national security grounds, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding the nation's security interests in procurement decisions.

💡Assessment Summary

An 'Assessment Summary' is a document that the Procurement Act 2023 requires to be provided to each supplier whose tender has been assessed. It includes a summary of the assessment and is meant to be less burdensome for Contracting Authorities by allowing them to redact commercially sensitive information from their existing procurement documents rather than creating new ones.

💡Contract Award Notice

A 'Contract Award Notice' is a mandatory publication signaling the intent to award a contract, as required by the Procurement Act 2023. It must be published after the issuance of assessment summaries and starts the standstill period, during which no contract can be entered into until the period has elapsed.

💡Standstill Period

The 'Standstill Period' is a specified time frame during which no contract can be finalized, allowing for any potential challenges or objections to be raised. The video mentions that this period has been changed from 10 calendar days to eight working days under the new Act, emphasizing the need for Contracting Authorities to observe this period before entering into contracts.

💡Contract Detail Notice

A 'Contract Detail Notice' is a mandatory publication that must be published within 30 days of contract entry, as per the Procurement Act 2023. It is required for most contracts awarded with a total value of £5 million or more and includes details such as redacted contract documents and key performance indicators, ensuring transparency in the procurement process.

💡Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Key Performance Indicators, or 'KPIs', are metrics used to measure the performance of a contract against its core obligations. The video explains that Contracting Authorities are required to publish details of three KPIs that they consider most material to the performance of the contract, providing a clear benchmark for evaluating the success of the procurement.

Highlights

The Procurement Act 2023 introduces changes to the supplier exclusion regime to better protect Contracting authorities from risky suppliers.

New grounds for excluding suppliers have been introduced, including misconduct by connected individuals.

Suppliers can avoid exclusion by demonstrating effective self-cleaning activities and improved compliance procedures.

There are exemptions to exclusion rules, particularly in cases of overriding public interest or Critical Defense and National infrastructure matters.

A debarment list of suppliers will be established under the Procurement Act, clearly outlining mandatory and discretionary exclusions.

The debarment list will be managed by the procurement review unit and a new National Security procurement unit for National Security-related exclusions.

Contracting authorities are required to provide an assessment summary to all suppliers post-tender evaluation.

The procurement process now includes a mandatory contract award notice to be published after issuing assessment summaries.

The standstill period has been reduced from 10 calendar days to eight working days before a contract can be entered.

A mandatory contract detail notice must be published within 30 days for contracts valued at £5 million or more.

Contracting authorities must publish redacted contract documents and details of three key performance indicators post-contract award.

The Procurement Act aims to improve transparency and compliance in the procurement process.

The material provided is for learning and development purposes and should not be considered as legal advice.

Fact sheets for exemptions are available on gov.uk, covering various sectors such as concessions, defense, and utilities.

The Procurement Act 2023 emphasizes the importance of contract governance, including modifications, performance, and termination.

The Act outlines the role of the procurement review unit in enhancing compliance with the legal regime.

The material is accurate as of October 2023, indicating the recency and relevance of the information provided.